Stronger Together: Origins of the Black and Brown Future Teachers Project

• In Event: Black to the Future:  Afro-Futuristic Approaches to Teacher Education for Students in the Urban South

Abstract

    This paper draws from an ongoing study to investigate Black and Brown pre-service teachers’ experiences as they matriculate through a teacher education program at a large public university in the Urban South.  It centers the initial phase of a student-faculty-staff collaboration to form an organization to support students, called the Black and Brown Future Teachers Project (BBFTP).  Initially, multiple Black undergraduate students came to my office with nearly identical grievances in addition to feelings of isolation.  As a Black teacher educator, I recognized many of the students’ obstacles as echos of my own as a student.
    Concerns included critiques of the White-centric curriculum and culturally inept university supervisors, all of whom were White female retirees.  Some of the students endured financial stress, some were overwhelmed with the edTPA and other high stakes assessments.  The only students put on professional development plans (PDPs) were also the only Black male candidates in the program.
    During the first semester of the BBFTP, Black and Brown students -- along with faculty and staff of Color allies -- met biweekly.  The trajectory was largely determined by the students, and meetings often served as a safe space to gather, share stories, and support one another.  In addition, BBFTP hosted one talent showcase and went to the movies as a group.  A few BBFTP members participated regularly in the college-wide yoga programming.  

    I drew on Womanism to frame the study.  Womanism is a worldview that occurs entirely separate from those that predominate in westernized universities.   A central tenet of a womanist worldview that distinguishes it from many other worldviews is the location of intervention for activism (Marpayan, 2012).  While many social justice endeavors identify political, geographical, and institutional places sites to enter the work, Womanists believe that the most important place to enter is one’s self.  Womanism, therefore, is inherently embodied.  Considering the individual and collective stress students reported as impetus for the group’s formation, the embodied nature of BBFTP’s programming was appropriate and impactful.  

In this qualitative case study, I gathered data from student, faculty, and staff interviews, meeting and event observations, and my own journal as faculty advisor to the group.  I analyzed the data using Womanist principles to uncover themes and patterns.  

    Overall, student participants felt more supported and less isolated than in previous semesters as a result of BBFTP participation.  Three students cited work responsibilities and two cited long commutes to campus as barriers to full participation.  Faculty reported optimism about ways the the university supported the group.  Staff of Color indicated their positive feelings about being included in a student-support (yet non-work obligated) initiative.  

This study is significant because it outlines considerations and tangible steps we took to establish a student support organization for Black and Brown teacher education students.  This may be helpful to those working on similar initiatives.  

Author

• Jillian Carter Ford, Kennesaw State University