Changing Narratives: Understanding the Development of Teachers’ Practices in Discussing Structural Inequities

• In Event: Fostering Curiosity and Disrupting Power: Teacher Professional Development for Transformative Classrooms

Abstract

Objective
Many scholars investigating race and racism in the context of K-12 schools have centered their studies around text-based classroom discussions. Some of this scholarship has argued that by centering texts by and about people in minoritized racial groups, teachers can interrupt the whiteness of the cannon. Others have argued that text-based discussions are places that are ripe for explicit discussions about race and racism. Still others have investigated the ways that racist practices can be interrupted in the context of text-based discussions. While there is a significant body of scholarship on the role of classroom discussions in combating racism, little of this work has focused specifically on how teachers learn to combat racism within the context of discussions. This study addresses this gap by asking:

● What, if any, developmental trends exist in how teachers learning to lead discussions about race and racism develop their practice over time?

Framing
We ground our investigation in theoretical conceptualizations that see race as a social construct with social, political, and legal dimensions, which operates as “a way of comprehending, explaining, and acting in the world” (Omi & Winant, 1994, p. 13). In particular, our work rests on critical race theory, a lens which focuses on how policies and practices in American schooling have, across history, worked in a variety of institutionalized ways to uphold white supremacy (Ladson-Billings, 2003; Solorzani & Yosso, 2001; Chapman, 2007).

In addition, we ground our work on conceptualizations of text-based discussion, which see the goal of classroom activity as engaging students in collaborative meaning-making with texts (Lee, 2007; Levine, 2014). This lens arises out of perspectives on literacy learning, which foreground student sensemaking as opposed to leading students to “correct” interpretations (Anagnostopoulos et al., 2008).


Methods
This study was conducted during a two-year school-university partnership in a large city in the United States. Using a qualitative case study approach (Yin, 2009) we drew on four primary data sources: video and field notes of teacher professional development sessions, video stimulated recall interviews focused on in class discussions teachers facilitated, interviews, and classroom artifacts. Analysis included inductive and deductive coding using codes created and honed iteratively. Twenty percent of all data sources were double coded for consistency and validity.

Results
We found developmental trends among teachers learning to lead discussions about race and racism over time. Data indicate three developmental stages teachers progress through when learning to lead discussions. These include 1.) Making room for student talk; 2.) Changing their orientation as a teacher; and 3.) Becoming a discussion facilitator. Within each of these stages there were distinct practices we noticed teachers engaging in during classroom discussions. Appendix 1 notes the stages and practices that emerged out of our data set.

Scholarly Significance
This work begins to uncover the developmental trends teachers go through in learning to engage children in rich discussions about race and racism. These findings make an important contribution to the field in supporting teachers in using anti-racist pedagogies.

Authors

• Sarah Schneider Kavanagh, University of Pennsylvania

• Katie Danielson, University of Portland

• Elizabeth Gotwalt, University of Maryland