Becoming Teachers of Inner-city Students: Identifiction Creativity and Curriculum Wisdom of Committed White Male Teachers (original) (raw)
Pathways to teaching: African American male teens explore urban education
2011
The need for African American male teachers is clear ; however their pathway to teaching disrepair. This article shares research findings and a description of a pre-collegiate co designed to encourage high school students of color , including African American male explore teaching. More specifically, drawing from survey and interview data, the researche examine factors that influence 11th and 12th grade African American males' (N consideration of a teaching career and explore the impact of a pre-collegiate pathway to tea program. The results of this mixed methods study expose the complexity of effective recruit while also demonstrating how a successful program has the capacity to encourage young Af American males to reframe their thinking and see themselves as potential future teachers. Keywords: African American male teachers , African American male teacher pipeline , collegiate teacher pipeline The pathway, or pipeline to teaching, metaphorically refers to the stages along the w becoming a teacher (Torres, Santos, Peck, & Cortes, 2004). The pathway starts long bef teacher accepts his or her first teaching assignment; it starts with early school experiences continues throughout completing high school, graduating from college, and passing te licensure examinations. For African American males, the pathway to teaching is replete wit cracks and potholes at every juncture. Others have referred to this as a leaky pipeline (Bro
White Women Preparing to Teach in Urban Schools: Looking for Similarity and Finding Difference
The Urban Review, 2007
Research points to particular problems in the experiences of White teachers teaching students of color (Cochran-Smith et al., 2004). Despite good intentions, teaching students of diverse backgrounds and experiences can be challenging for teachers who are unfamiliar with their students' backgrounds and communities. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of notions about ''good urban teaching'' for three women in a preservice teacher preparation program. Reporting on two years of data, we show how the three women negotiated their beliefs and identities in light of program demands and classroom realities. The lack of synchronicity within the women's experiences highlights that the traditional (white, female, middle class) students in preservice teacher education programs are not homogeneous. The significance of this difference is highlighted through the concept of heterogeneity. We define heterogeneity as the differences that exist among traditional students in preservice teacher preparation programs. Our research suggests that heterogeneity is complicit in the progress or lack of progress of preservice teachers developing professional identities. Keywords Teacher preparation Á Urban education Á White preservice teachers Current trends in public school enrollment and teacher characteristics (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2001) indicate the overwhelming probability that Black children will experience mostly White teachers in their education. There is little indication that this pattern will be changing soon. Those studying to be
The New Educator, 2018
Told from the perspective of two early career professors teaching courses in elementary education diversity, this study uses purposive sampling and qualitative methodologies to examine how white students with impervious dispositions that would likely not qualify them to work with diverse children at this point in their lives present us with opportunities to better understand the deeply rooted and complicated nature of whiteness in teacher education candidates and teacher education programs. We found that among white students who seemed challenged most by course content in our classes, a recurring narrative was that many seemed to think they were being indoctrinated into anti-American values. Through interrogation of their own experiences in school, some found their personal experiences with discrimination made them less open to accepting the legitimacy of the lives of marginalized peoples. In some ways, they felt the values they were taught from their families and communities were being threatened by an overt attention to diversity in the class. Our aim is to disrupt the notion of the single caricature of an angry, resistant white student and search, rather, within the roots of white identifications and learn what our deeper understandings reveal in terms of our ability to more effectively teach courses such as these.
Star Teachers" and "Dreamkeepers": Can Teacher Educators Prepare Successful Urban Educators?
1996
Questions addressed in this paper include: what it means to be a successful teacher in poor, urban, ghetto areas; whether schools of education can prepare white, middle-class young men and women to be successful teachers in such areas; and if it is possible to prepare them, how to do it. Two case examples illustrate some unique challenges found in urban schools, and theory is cited from works by Gloria Ladson-Billings, Martin Haberman, and Beverly Cross. It is concluded that successful teachers on any level and with any group of students help students expand their vision of what is possible in their lives and help them to achieve it; successful teachers teach people, not simply technical proficiency or knowledge about subjects. It is further suggested that Schools of Education rarely place middle class, white preservice teachers in urban settings, thus they are unprepared for teaching in these environments. Even when teacher education programs claim to prepare preservice teachers to work in ethnically, racially, and culturally diverse settings, the programs tend to be descriptive rather than critical, presenting generalizations that reinfcrce rather than challenge existing stereotypes. It is recommended that teacher educators be willing to make a classroom of preservice teachers feel uncomfortable about their beliefs about race, class, and injustice if society is going to make it possible for a few of them to rethink their cultural and ideological heritage, so that they can become successful teachers of African American and other urban students. (Contains 10 references.) (NAV)
Peabody Journal of Education, 2020
Calls for the increased recruitment of Black male teachers continue to abound in both education and popular discourse. An underpin of this call is the potential contributions that Black male teachers can make with Black male students by serving as critical institutional agents or even role models. Less attention, however, has been paid to Black men's orientations toward teaching and how they make sense of their work as teachers. Using a philosophy of Black education approach, the current study examines the teaching experiences of three Black male teachers with particular attention given to their pathways into teaching and their decisions to work at Padmore Academy (pseudonym), an all-Black male academy. My findings suggest that these Black men view teaching through a communal lens and identify teaching Black boys through a holistic and relational approach as a critical need in Black communities. More particularly, they identified entering the teaching profession as a "calling" and, in deciding to work at Padmore Academy with its all-Black male student population, as part of an educational movement that could repair, enhance, and strengthen various aspects of Black communities. Implications are provided for preservice teacher programs in supporting Black boys and men considering teaching.
Teacher education programs in the United States (U.S.) struggle to prepare teachers to meet the complex needs of elementary and secondary students in public schoolsespecially those of color, those living in poverty, and those whose first language is not English. In this article, we argue for focused attention on preparing educators to teach African American male students as these students face particular institutional challenges in successfully navigating the U.S. public school system. Drawing from the significant body of research on teacher education and teacher learning for equity and social justice, four Black teacher educators discuss challenges they have faced in classes designed to prepare teachers to teach Black male students. Through an analysis of commonalities in their experiences, they propose means for teacher educators to foster greater understandings of the heterogeneity found among Black male students so that teachers can craft more responsive and responsible educational experiences for Black males.
2011
Across the United States students of color make up approximately 69% of the urban school population. More than 85% of the classroom teachers are White and predominantly females and 40% of the urban schools do not have teachers of color in their classrooms. Educational systems often struggle in their efforts to support the needs of racially and culturally diverse students; students" educational success is usually not regarded as a function of students" culture. The study comprises a narrative inquiry, captured in the stories of five White teachers, and analyzed through the lenses of critical social theory, critical pedagogy and socio-cultural theory. Teachers shared their stories regarding their awareness of racial and cultural differences and the effects these differences have on teaching practices and engaging students of color in learning. They articulated how their personal and professional life experiences may have changed their understanding of racial and cultural differences as well as challenged them to change their teaching practices in order to provide culturally relevant instruction and elicit engaged interactions from their students of color.
A Narrative Inquiry- What Does It Mean to Be a Black Male Teacher
Nationwide, only 2% of K-12 teachers in the United States are Black males. As student demographics are shifting, more Black male teachers are needed in urban schools as well as in suburban settings (where this research took place). Research has shown that when Black students see examples of same-race teacher role models in schools, it increases student outcomes and influences future aspirations. Therefore, my narrative research study examined the stories of Black male educators in suburban elementary and middle schools with mostly students of color. Stemming from my own story of why I became a teacher, my motivation for this topic was to discover (a) why Black males became teachers in a White female-dominated profession and (b) what unique role Black males believed they played in their classroom and school community. Based on in-depth interviews with seven Black male educators, findings revealed that the participants aspired to help people before they became teachers. All the participants had either a person or event that influenced them to become teachers. A noteworthy finding is that only three of the seven participants had a Black male teacher during their high school and college years. The remaining four participants never had a Black male teacher. Another main finding included the Black male presence, which focused on how the participants reported setting a positive tone in the classroom and creating an engaging learning environment. Although the participants never used the term culturally sustaining pedagogy, they all said they infused cultural elements into their daily lessons to enhance students' racial identity and promote learning. The participants valued building rapport and relationships with students. These relationships extended outside the classroom, where participants gave students meaningful advice for their future. The participants took pride in being positive role models for their students, even as some of their colleagues and administrators viewed them as BLACK MALE TEACHER V disciplinarians. This study's findings have implications for increasing the number of teacher preparation programs for Black males, providing incentives for Black males to become teachers, and offering culturally sustaining pedagogy professional development for teachers who teach Black students.
Teacher Education and Black Male Students in the United States
Multidisciplinary Journal of Educational Research , 2013
Teacher education programs in the United States (U.S.) struggle to prepare teachers to meet the complex needs of elementary and secondary students in public schools - especially those of color, those living in poverty, and those whose first language is not English. In this article, we argue for focused attention on preparing educators to teach African American male students as these students face particular institutional challenges in successfully navigating the U.S. public school system. Drawing from the significant body of research on teacher education and teacher learning for equity and social justice, four Black teacher educators discuss challenges they have faced in classes designed to prepare teachers to teach Black male students. Through an analysis of commonalities in their experiences, they propose means for teacher educators to foster greater understandings of the heterogeneity found among Black male students so that teachers can craft more responsive and responsible educational experiences for Black males.