The Politics of Race: Through the Eyes of African-American Teachers

The Relevance of a Migration Background to the Professional Identity of Teachers

“…A Canadian study by Carr and Klassen (1997) shows that having a special responsibility for minority students is central to the interviewed and surveyed minority teachers' understanding of teaching. This special responsibility was often associated with personal negative experiences at school or experiences of discrimination (see also Foster, 1990; similar results for German immigrant teachers in Georgi, Ackermann, & Karakas, 2011). As an interview study by Solomon (1997) shows, some teachers want to be a reference person for minority students.…”

Racestillmatters: preparing culturally relevant teachers

“…CR teachers are not all of color, and not all teachers of color are CR. A CR teacher, regardless of his or her racial or cultural origin, has a conscious understanding of systemic inequities and structures that impact the success and opportunities of racially diverse students (Beauboeuf-LaFontant 1999;Foster 1990Foster , 1997. Therefore, we argue rather than a focus in teacher education on only becoming knowledgeable of students' culture, the focus instead should be on examining teacher candidates' understandings of how students' racial identity in the United States inevitably predisposes them to certain struggles or opportunities.…”

“…Scholars have argued that racially shared experiences explain why teachers of color have higher expectations and positive perceptions of minority children, and forge meaningful relationships with these students, essential elements for academic achievement (Hilliard 1997(Hilliard , 2000 and CRP. Scholars also argue that teachers of color are conscious of the "hidden curriculum" that impacts students of color and thereby urge students to invest in learning and explicitly explain the political and social justice benefits (Foster 1990). Thus, some teachers of color may have knowledge about the cultural norms and values that can define how students of color interact in schools and thus be better at mediating those norms in order to support academic achievement.…”

“…For Ronald, being an advocate of change referred to classroom instruction. As a CR teacher, Ronald is also charged with transforming practices and beliefs beyond the classroom, which coalesces with the Beauboeuf-LaFontant (1999) and Foster (1990) notion of CR and political teaching.…”

The competence to act: Chicana teacher role identity in life and career narratives

“…These studies identified the way minority teachers incorporated cultural values into their teaching, such as subsistence and survival for a native Alaskan teacher (Lipka, 1991), and respect, responsibility, and persistence for African-American teachers (Foster, 1990(Foster, , 1991(Foster, , 1994King, 1991), or how personal experience narratives mediated Navajo teachers' critical perspective of themselves and their teaching situations (McLaughlin, 1993). Foster (1991) notes that research on teachers has failed to take into account the influence of racial and ethnic identity on teachers' beliefs and practices.…”