Novice Teachers of Color Fighting to Embody Racial Literacy in Racialized Secondary School Contexts

• In Event: Racial Identity & Teacher Education: Critical Conversations about Privilege and Power

Abstract

As bans against “Critical Race Theory” continue to spread across the U.S., teachers of Color (ToCs) must be equipped with forms of racial literacy that provide them with the frameworks, tools, and skills to disrupt racism and sustainably teach in justice-oriented ways. This critical ethnographic case study presents the experiences of five first-year ToCs who had their racial literacies and critical praxis cultivated and nurtured in an Ethnic Studies Teaching Pathway in a politically conservative region in California. I draw attention to the ways they engaged their racial literacies to disrupt racism in their secondary schools, as well as the ways pervasive forms of whiteness, conservatism, and racism hindered their ability to fully realize their critically transformative visions.

Author

• Corinna D. Ott, University of California - Riverside