Centering the Legacy of Black Educators in Teacher Education

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 3:45 pm - Gold 1
  In Roundtable Session: Healing and Honoring: Black Teachers' Practices Across Time

Abstract

In the field of education, majority of the theorists that are prominent in elementary education, child development, and curriculum studies are white men. In education courses, African worldviews and epistemologies are delegitimized, therefore many educators enter the field of education unable to draw on the philosophies and practices of Black educators and educators in their work with children. The purpose of this study is to explore how centering the philosophies and contributions of Black educators in in a curriculum course shapes students' understandings of legacy of Black thought and practice in education, and how the completion of the Black Educator Legacy Project informs their approach to curriculum development, classroom instruction, assessment, cultivating positive learning environments, and impacts their teacher identities.

Author

• Natasha A. Thornton, Spelman College