This I Believe: Race, Educator Identity, and One Middle School Teacher Life

• In Event: Navigating the Complexities of Middle-Level Education

Abstract

In this research project, I used a critical autoethnographic approach to examine one middle grades educator’s experiences as a P-12 and post-secondary practitioner, navigating systems and politics of practice across various contexts, given race, specifically blackness, as one non-negotiable component of educator identity. In doing so, I considered the ways in which race as a factor of identity, shapes or otherwise impacts the experiences, interactions, and perceptions of an educator of color over time, across pedagogical contexts, and through a myriad of situational events. The component of race---a social construct that in a racialized social setting and by extension, educational setting, becomes identity important---was explored through narrative and considered in its multi-layers.

Author

• Kristie W. Smith, Kennesaw State University