Critical Reflexivity and Black Intellectual Thought: A Freedom-Focused Approach for the Elementary Classroom

• In Event: Black Teacher Educators Centering Black Intellectualism and Humanity in Their Theory, Pedagogy, and Praxis

Abstract

“To be seen as fully human is my freedom dream.” Dr. Erica Buchanan-Rivera opens her book Identity Affirming Classrooms: Spaces that Center Humanity with this powerful phrase. Buchanan-Rivera goes on to articulate the educational imperative of cultivating classroom environments that yield joy, justice, healing, and wholeness for children and educators alike. This bold vision, both aware and optimistic, points to the oppressive realities and liberatory possibilities that teacher educators seek to impart upon the pre-service teachers with whom we work.

Underpinned by the personal reflections of the author, this paper will address how one Black woman professor at a predominantly white institution in the U.S. Midwest uses Black theologies, critical pedagogies, and freedom dreams to prepare pre-service teachers for work in culturally and socioeconomically diverse elementary classrooms. Building upon ideas inspired by course discussions and student work–including field notes and vignettes generated using qualitative research methods–the author will take the following question to task: What does it mean to approach teacher education with a mind “stayed on freedom”?

To answer this key question, the author will discuss the people, places, and materials that inform and characterize her approach to teacher preparation. The author will describe her partnering elementary school–a school that exists at the rare intersections of being urban, public, lottery-based, lower income, and Reggio-inspired–and the cooperating teachers that have helped our pre-service teachers understand the sociopolitical dynamics that shape the experiences of students in this unique educational setting. The author will also describe how the coursework she uses with her students, such as: documenting and analyzing students’ words and work; prioritizing the “hundred languages” of children; designing lesson plans that build upon students’ identities, abilities, and interests (Minor, 2018); and engaging in critical reflexivity through writing, reflect key elements of a Black Teacher Educator Praxis. Finally, the author will argue for the importance of Black intellectual contributions and freedom-focused interventions within the field of teacher education, demonstrating how a racial equity focus–rooted in Black Intellectual Thought–can improve the way we prepare educators for teaching, learning, and problem solving within the spectrum of educational contexts we inhabit today.

Author

• Brooke Harris Garad, Butler University