Addressing Encumberment in Supervision: Black Teacher Educator as Broker for Change

• In Event: Self-Study as Acumen for Advancing Teacher Education Practices: Cultivating a Path of Empowerment Within Supervision

Abstract

Purpose
As a Black, female, assistant professor, I was raised by a household of teachers who instilled the importance and value of pursuing an education. My experiences as a student and professional educator across historically Black and predominantly White institutions have shaped my identity as a teacher educator. I am committed to sustaining a focus on how my practices are channeled through equity and motivation, with an intersectional focus on teacher candidates’ and in-service teachers’ beliefs and practices. I honor teaching as a complex, theoretically-informed process for emancipatory action. To deeply influence my role as a teacher educator, the practice of supervision allows me to maintain staunch diligence in ensuring that teacher candidates are allotted the opportunities to develop the future of our children by acknowledging cultural capital (Yosso, 2006, 2020) as necessary for success.

Mode of Inquiry and Perspective
By using self-study as a lens for critical consciousness and praxis (Jacobs & Perez, 2023), I examine my knowledge and practices to have a positive impact on the quality of teacher preparation programs.

●I focus on not perpetuating inequities by advocating for inclusion when interacting with teachers, teacher candidates, and PK-12 students. I believe supervision is a process where I can build relationships to help others think about and improve their practice (Bates, Drits, Ramirez, 2016). While I recognize this process of relationship building can be conflated with evaluation, it is also further compounded by being Black in spaces: facing challenges that have led me to acquire strategies to position myself to be seen as a source of support.
●I continue to craft teacher candidates’ matriculation in our programs around inquiry as a tool for supporting the development of their pedagogy (Jacobs, Dana, & Yendol-Hoppey, 2015). I reinforce inquiry as a stance (Cochran & Lytle, 2015) to respond to situations related to hegemony, discrimination, and privilege (Sensoy & DiAngelo, 2015) that need to be explicated in teaching practices (Kiefer & Burns, 2023).
●Based on my duality as a teacher educator and educational psychologist, I question how I have facilitated opportunities for teacher candidates to be critical thinkers with opportunities to apply theory to practice (Author, 2023). I have encountered a barrage of excuses about why certain responsive practices cannot be embedded in classrooms, which involves me being an advocate for, both, teacher candidates and PK-12 students.

Conclusions and Significance
By exploring real issues with my teacher candidates through case studies, critical reading exercises, and consistent reflection, I hope to affect their internal motivation to cultivate and connect the many facets of “why” of “how” the need for change and growth is necessary. I aim to contribute to teacher education by encouraging questioning and problematizing present conditions. Thus, I value self-study as a vehicle for cultivating intentional, authentic approaches to make effective decisions based on research-based evidence and instructional strategies to support and improve educational practices.

Author

• Raven Robinson-Wilson, University of North Florida