Teachers in turbulent times: Mentorship, mindfulness, and meditations from early-career STEM teacher-leaders

• In Event: Frameworks for STEM Equity in a Time of Polycrisis: Navigating Tensions in Theory, Practice, and Policy

Abstract

This paper explores how three BIPOC early-career math and science teachers navigate the shifting terrain of educational leadership in an era marked by overlapping crises of racial injustice, environmental challenges, and political polarization. These current public-school STEM educators received their teacher training in a Master of Arts in Teaching program grounded in culturally sustaining pedagogies (Paris & Alim, 2017) and engaged in targeted professional development and mentorship to develop not only their disciplinary knowledge, but also their capacity as teacher-researchers and teacher-leaders. In addition to their teacher training, they received specific training in mindfulness, resilience, and research through their participation in the National Science Foundation (NSF) Noyce program.

Drawing on three years of qualitative data from a larger, five-year, iterative-sequential mixed-methods (Privitera & Ahlgrim-Delzell, 2019) study and rooted in a commitment to preparing high-quality STEM teachers for high-need schools, the research team examines how these educators enact leadership that disrupts inequities in STEM education while contending with institutional constraints and policy tensions. We use a qualitative case study (Yin, 2009) methodology to examine data sources that include teacher interviews, leadership reflections, professional development effectiveness surveys, and classroom artifacts. Through narrative and thematic analysis (Saldaña, 2001), we trace how these teachers navigate public school systems as BIPOC teacher-leaders serving predominantly BIPOC students and explore the facets that impact their effectiveness, satisfaction, and professional development.
Our findings illustrate the complexity of being an early-career teacher-leader in public high schools today; teachers face both subtle and explicit resistance as they decenter Eurocentric narratives and ways of doing school, while creatively inspiring their students to see themselves as leaders and developing their own capacity to lead in their buildings. We highlight the importance of preparing teachers who are not only scientifically literate but also emotionally resilient and culturally responsive, even in times of polycrisis; we center their voices by inviting them to present our research with us as the experts of their own experience.
Implications for teacher-educators and beginning-teacher support staff include suggestions for incorporating mentorship and leadership training into teacher education programs to provide future educators with tools for growing self-determination, critical consciousness (Farinde-Wu et al., 2021), and critical competency (Kelly, 2020). Additionally, we explore the role that education research can play in the development of pedagogical capacities. The teacher-researchers also suggest strategies for educator preparation programs and school administration to support the retention of early-career STEM teacher-leaders.

Authors

• Caitlin M. Donovan, Duke University

• Akanke Mason-Hogans, Riverside High School

• Anik Sen, Riverside High School

• Bre Anna Clinkscales, Jordan High School