Irreconcilable Differences: Black Teachers’ Lives and K-12 Schools

Benson, Tracey; Salas, Spencer; Siefert, Bobbi

doi:10.1007/s11256-020-00591-x

Cited by 13 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…And finally, beginning in June 2024, the level at which the TFs were retained over the course of their commitment will be evaluated, annually. Given, the demand for STEM teachers of color and teacher turnover in high need school districts (Benson, Salas, & Bobbi, S. 2021) and the national teacher shortage (Dos Santos, 2021; Sutcher, Darling-Hammond & Carver-Thomas, 2019), particularly in critical need areas like mathematics the data will be instrumental in supplementing the body of knowledge relative to attracting, preparing and retaining teachers of color (See, Morris, Gorard, Kokotsaki, & Abdi, 2020).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Leveraging community-based assets in coaching, wellness and mentorship to increase the African American and Latinx math teacher workforce

Warner

2023

SUP

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PurposeThere is some evidence to suggest that the historical challenge associated with recruiting and retaining Black and Brown Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) collegians is tied to early their teaching and learning experiences in Mathematics. This paper describes an National Science Foundation (NSF) funded project (NSF #2151043) whose goal is to attract, prepare and retain math teachers of color in high need school districts ensure that those teachers remain in the field long enough to make a meaningful impact on the minds and hearts of BIPOC students who are often, extrinsically, and intrinsically, discouraged from pursuing careers in STEM professions.Design/methodology/approachThis mixed-methods study, which began in the summer of 2023, seeks to recruit, prepare, support and retain nineteen (19) Black and Brown math teachers for two (2) high need urban school districts. The expectancy value theory will be used to explain the performance, persistence, and choices of the teachers, while grounded theory will be utilized to understand the impact of the intensive mentorship and wellness coaching that applied over the first year of their preservice preparation and subsequent in-service years.FindingsMeasures of project efficacy won’t begin until 2025 and as such there are no findings or implications to draw from for the study at this time.Originality/valueThe intention of this paper is to augment the body of knowledge on recruiting and retaining Black and Brown math teachers for urban schools where the need for quality STEM teachers is critical.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Leveraging community-based assets in coaching, wellness and mentorship to increase the African American and Latinx math teacher workforce

Warner

2023

SUP

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“…Our interviews with Fitzgerald were part of a larger "humanizing" project (San Pedro & Kinloch, 2017) aimed at examining the lived experiences of Black and Brown in New Latino South contexts (see e.g., Benson et al, 2020;Salas, 2008Salas, , 2013aSalas, , 2013bSalas, Smith, Seifert, & Francis, 2019;Siefert, Salas, & D'amico, 2015). Black teachers' lives matter, and so too do the stories they tell and the meaning they assign to their narratives.…”

Section: The Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These bracketed segments or "quotations" were the prompts for initial and integrative memo-writing about Fitzgerald's decision to become a TESOL educator, the critical incidents that shaped his choices, and the meanings he assigned to his professional becoming (for methodological precedents, cf. Benson et al, 2020;King, Barnes, & Salas, 2020;Salas, 2008Salas, , 2013aSalas, , 2013b.…”

Section: Data Generation and Analytic Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“You Teach What?” Black Males, New Latino South Classrooms, and Wanderlust

2021

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An abundant and longstanding body of scholarship has underscored the White femininity of the U.S. K-12 teaching workforce and the need to diversify its ranks. Black males, in particular, potentially struggle with the notion of becoming teachers given their often highly negative lived experiences with schools and schooling including low expectations, racial stereotypes, microagressions, and disproportionate discipline and punishment. For those Black males who do enter teaching, they are often recruited as role models or "Otherfathers" to Black boys -expected to police first and teach second. However, relatively little has been said about Black males' choices to work with transnational children of immigration -especially in the context of the New Latino South. Theorizing an in-depth qualitative interview series through a Vygotskian framework of lived experiences/vivencias, in this article we narrate how Roman Fitzgerald (a pseudonym) came to be an ESOL Department Chair in the same mega-urban school district he had attended. Our findings point to socially constructed limitations that Black males face as they navigate graduate level teacher licensure programs and the profession -and their consequences for Black male teacher recruitment and retention in urban school contexts."You teach what? Okay, you're sure?" -it was my principal. He did not want me to be a TESOL teacher. He was trying to get me to teach Algebra 1; he was trying to get me to teach Calculus; he was trying to do something Math. He was like-"TESOL? Okay, do you want to teach math?" I was like, "No. You want me to teach all African American kids?" -That's how they want to frame you.In fall 2016, Roman Fitzgerald (a pseudonym), the protagonist of this analytic narrative and a Black, male, Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) educator, described his principal's initial reaction to his professional identity. With his Graduate Certificate in TESOL in hand and a year of substitute teaching in various schools across his childhood K-12 district, Fitzgerald was tapped for an interview with the system's largest K-8 STEM magnet. The principal, also a Black male and native to the city, questioned, with palpable incredulity if Fitzgerald really wanted to teach what his license CONTACT Spencer Salas

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“…14). White supremacy culture has been identified in K-12 schools (Benson et al, 2021;Holcomb-McCoy, 2021;Tosolt, 2020) and "lend[s] further evidence to the connection between societal norms and White supremacy culture" (Tosolt, 2020, p. 782). While some may argue that these habits do not contribute to harm in substantive ways, the ways of being within white supremacy culture are especially important to consider in K-12 schooling environments because of precisely this misconception.…”

Section: Critical Whiteness Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The purpose is process: Exploring humanizing social emotional praxes in elementary education

Drake

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v CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTIONSocial emotional learning (SEL) is defined by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), the flagship organization for SEL in the U.S., as: the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish, and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions. (2020a, para. 1) By learning about various abilities (i.e., self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making) and related skills intended to facilitate students' social relationships and manage their emotions, SEL purportedly guides students to develop the social emotional competence to be successful in school, future careers, and life.Despite its popularity in PK-12 U.S. public schools, however, SEL frequently runs the risk of becoming "white supremacy with a hug" (Simmons, 2021). Students from marginalized backgrounds-students of color, gender-nonconforming youth, and/or youth whose families are forced to survive economic instability or poverty in under-resourced communities, among other students with identities that are subjugated-are often subjected to SEL as white supremacy, an enactment devoid of a sociopolitical analysis that legitimizes and honors their emotions and relationships. Schools and teachers often implement SEL to control students, particularly students of color (Kaler-Jones, 2020), creating "spaces that are safe from righteous rage, or worse, plans to weed out children who display it" (Duncan-Andrade, 2009, p. 9). This qualitative dissertation therefore explores how educators may approach and implement social emotional praxis that is both humanizing and healing for students most neglected and harmed in and by schools.

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Irreconcilable Differences: Black Teachers’ Lives and K-12 Schools

Cited by 13 publications

References 53 publications

Leveraging community-based assets in coaching, wellness and mentorship to increase the African American and Latinx math teacher workforce

Leveraging community-based assets in coaching, wellness and mentorship to increase the African American and Latinx math teacher workforce

“You Teach What?” Black Males, New Latino South Classrooms, and Wanderlust

The purpose is process: Exploring humanizing social emotional praxes in elementary education

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