Reflections from Effective Teachers of African American Students

Reflections from Effective Teachers of African American Students
Author: Kenya LaTrece Haynes
Publisher:
Total Pages: 660
Release: 2007
Genre: African American students
ISBN:

This research was a qualitative study of 10 elementary school teachers working with predominantly African American students in a large urban school district. The primary focus of this study was to analyze the perceptions of effective teachers of African American students. The hope is that the data presented in this study will initiate trends that assist in effectively preparing teachers to attain successful outcomes with African American students. Through document analysis and interviews with selected university faculty, this interpretive qualitative study also examined the multicultural education training component that targets African American students in the undergraduate elementary teacher preparation program at a highly selective public university in Texas. The data were collected through interviews and document analysis. The themes that emerged from data collected with the 10 elementary school teachers included (a) perceptions of culture, (b) beliefs about teaching, (c) academic accountability, (d) teacher preparation, and (e) contributions to success. This study utilized Ladson-Billings' (1995a, 2001) theoretical framework of culturally relevant pedagogy to examine teachers' perspectives. Supplemented with interviews of selected university faculty, this study also utilized document analysis of relevant teacher preparation programs and educational policies. Along with uncovering areas of further research, an examination of the various components of this study identifies recommendations for reform of educational practice, teacher preparation programs, and educational policy.

The Impact of Classroom Practices

The Impact of Classroom Practices
Author: Antonio L. Ellis
Publisher: IAP
Total Pages: 173
Release: 2021-02-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1648024009

Debates regarding the qualities, skills, and dispositions of culturally relevant teachers and teaching have raged in teacher education for several decades. Ladson-Billings’ (2009) The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African American Children was a groundbreaking work that has become a foundational study that informs the work of culturally-relevant (Ladson-Billings, 2009) and culturally-sustaining (Paris & Alim, 2017) teaching. In her book The Dreamkeepers she describes effective teachers who are able to draw from the cultural wealth, knowledges, and heritage of Black communities. The Dreamkeepers ensured that their Black students were academically successful, retained, and grew both in terms of their cultural competence and their sociopolitical awareness. In other words, according to research by Ladson-Billings (2009), effective teachers possessed both pedagogical and relational dispositions, which leave lifelong impacts on the academic and social lives of the students they teach. While being a foundational text, what remains missing from the research on culturally-relevant and even culturally-sustaining teachers are “narratives” (read: stories, testimonios, etc.) related to how the race of particular E–12 teachers positively impact the lives of their students. For instance, Dr. Antonio Ellis (the first editor of the proposed book) describes his high school music teacher Mr. Linard McCloud) as “a highly effective African American music educator who changed the course of his life” (p. 170). Ellis (2016) describes McCloud as being loving, caring, creative, culturally sensitive, attuned, hopeful, flexible, organized, and thoughtful. Because Mr. McCloud possessed the aforementioned characteristics and dispositions, Ellis contends that he was motivated to achieve academically and socially in his urban high school. In addition, according to Ellis (2016), Mr. McCloud was a highly impactful educator because he went beyond the call of duty as a teacher—a practice that is not so common in schools, particularly urban ones. Not only did McCloud teach in the classroom setting, but he also built strong relationships with families, community members, and external stakeholders including local businesses, colleges, and universities. Mr. McCloud used these networks to leverage opportunities for his students academically, personally, and professionally. Like many of his high school classmates, Ellis (2016) contends that he would not have graduated from high school if it were not for the care and mentorship he received from Mr. McCloud. In this proposed edited volume, it is the editors’ goal to honor teachers like Mr. McCloud who have made a difference in the lives of their students by learning from their impactful practices. Employing a “critical storytelling” methodology (see Hartlep & Hensley, 2015; Hartlep, Hensley, Braniger, & Jennings, 2017), each chapter contributor will use his or her own narrative to show the power of influential teachers in classrooms. While this framework centers race, lived and learned experiences, the storyteller is the most important unit of narrative; hence, The Impact of Classroom Practices: Reflections on Culturally Relevant Teachers will include African-American storytellers who reflect on the impact of classroom practices of teachers from diverse backgrounds who they deemed culturally relevant and responsive to both their academic and social needs. This work will offer recommendations to pre-service teachers and in-service teachers who desire to leave a lasting impact on the students they teach.

Take Me to School

Take Me to School
Author: Serena Casey
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2021-04-18
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1664167676

Serena Casey takes us on a journey through her life and career as an educator. It is both a personal tale of growth and an insightful look at what constitutes good teaching. Her own teachers, her colleagues, her bosses, and mostly her students star in this touching story of what a life of teaching has meant to one woman. Anyone who is a teacher—or who has ever been a student—will be glad to have taken this journey with her.

The Dreamkeepers

The Dreamkeepers
Author: Gloria Ladson-Billings
Publisher: Jossey-Bass
Total Pages: 210
Release: 1997-01-29
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9780787903381

Education, like electricity, needs a conduit, a teacher, through which to transmit its power-- i.e., the discovery and continuity of information, knowledge, wisdom, experience, and culture. Through the stories and experiences of eight successful teacher-transmitters, The Dreamkeepers keeps hope alive for educating young African Americans. --ReverAnd Jesse L. Jackson, president and founder, National Rainbow Coalition In this beautifully written book Ladson-Billings illustrates the inspiring influence of a select group of teachers who keep the dreams alive for African American students. ?Henry M. Levin, David Jacks professor of Higher Education, Stanford University Ladson-Billing's portraits, interwoven with personal reflections, challenge readers to envision intellectually rigorous and culturally relevant classrooms that have the power to improve the lives of not just African American students but all children.

Confronting the Barriers to Understanding Teaching and Learning Experiences of Marginalized Groups in Public Schools

Confronting the Barriers to Understanding Teaching and Learning Experiences of Marginalized Groups in Public Schools
Author: Christy M. Dodge
Publisher:
Total Pages: 456
Release: 2013
Genre:
ISBN:

The achievement gap between African-American and European-American students in U.S. public schools is a problem with no simple explanation, and one that leaders struggle to correct. The researcher's central premise is that there are many ways to improve education for African-American students and that the racial achievement gap is inexcusable. African-American women may offer a unique perspective on this topic, by virtue of their status as women and as African Americans, as well as their experiences as students and teachers. The researcher set out to conduct research exploring the perspectives of African-American female teachers with respect to perceived and actual barriers to the effective education of students, specifically African-American students, teachers' coping strategies, and teachers' recommendations for change. However, major obstructing factors prevented the necessary collection of data for that research. In the dissertation, the researcher describes the current climate of education reform in the United States and critiques current reform efforts. She conceptualizes reasons for the structural factors that contribute to and explain the difficulty in collecting data on the experiences and perspectives of African-American teachers in U.S. public schools. Factors that may have prevented schools from allowing access to interview and observe African-American teachers are analyzed. Additionally, the researcher explores the question of why, in the rare cases in which schools did grant permission for the research, African-American teachers may have been uncomfortable participating in interviews about and observations of their experiences and practices. In theorizing about these factors, the researcher discusses the nature of the proposed research, her orientation, and the rationale for the proposed study. Major factors potentially influencing the decisions of school leaders and teachers not to participate are also presented. These include the nature of the public school teaching profession; race relations and history in the United States; education and experience in the United States; and laws, policies, and practices applicable to public education. In evaluating these elements, the researcher brings to light several factors that may prevent such research. The researcher concludes by presenting similar research initiatives and theories on how comparable research goals may be met, and by discussing areas for future research.

Culturally Responsive Teaching and Reflection in Higher Education

Culturally Responsive Teaching and Reflection in Higher Education
Author: Sharlene Voogd Cochrane
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 185
Release: 2017-02-03
Genre: Education
ISBN: 131528331X

Culturally Responsive Teaching and Reflection in Higher Education explores how postsecondary educators can develop their own cultural awareness and provide inclusive learning environments for all students. Discussing best practices from the Cultural Literacy Curriculum Institute at Lesley University, faculty and administrators who are committed to culturally responsive teaching reflect on how to create an inclusive environment and how educators can cultivate the skills, attitudes, and knowledge necessary for implementing culturally responsive curriculum and pedagogy. Rather than a list of "right answers," essays in this important resource integrate discussion and individual reflection to support educators to enhance skills for responding effectively to racial, cultural, and social difference in their personal and professional contexts. This book is as an excellent starting point or further enrichment resource to accompany program or institutional diversity and inclusion efforts.

Teacher Education and Black Communities

Teacher Education and Black Communities
Author: Chance W. Lewis
Publisher: IAP
Total Pages: 351
Release: 2014-05-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 162396699X

The field of education has been and will continue to be essential to the survival and sustainability of the Black community. Unfortunately, over the past five decades, two major trends have become clearly evident in the Black community: (a) the decline of the academic achievement levels of Black students and (b) the disappearance of Black teachers, particularly Black males. Today, of the 3.5 million teachers in America’s classrooms (AACTE, 2010) only 8% are Black teachers, and approximately 2% of these teachers are Black males (NCES, 2010). Over the past few decades, the Black teaching force in the U.S. has dropped significantly (Lewis, 2006; Lewis, Bonner, Byrd, & James, 2008; Milner & Howard, 2004), and this educational crisis shows no signs of ending in the near future. As the population of Black students in K-12 schools in the U. S. continue to rise—currently over 16% of students in America’s schools are Black (NCES, 2010)—there is an urgent need to increase the presence of Black educators. The overall purpose of this edited volume is to stimulate thought and discussion among diverse audiences (e.g., policymakers, practitioners, and educational researchers) who are concerned about the performance of Black students in our nation’s schools, and to provide evidence-based strategies to expand our nation’s pool of Black teachers. To this end, it is our hope that this book will contribute to the teacher education literature and will inform the teacher education policy and practice debate.

Teacher Journeys

Teacher Journeys
Author: Rita Gilbert Greer EdD
Publisher: Archway Publishing
Total Pages: 477
Release: 2020-04-24
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1480888001

Where you live does not define who you are or who you can be. Those were the words of a wise woman who did not know that she was a teacher or that her words would be remembered and passed on to future generations long after she died. However, this wise woman did know that to make her belief come to fruition, education was the key. For many African Americans who travelled life’s highway during the twentieth century, caring teachers were their guiding star, their map, their GPS, and their light through the tunnel. Teachers gave students confidence, hope, determination, knowledge, and a feeling of “yes you can.” In this book, the author rejects the idea that anybody can teach and provides clear, distinct criteria for anyone thinking about teaching as a career. The stories she shares also serve as a thank you to all of America’s teachers. Discover how African-American teachers have inspired students to succeed and pay it forward with the remarkable stories in Teacher Journeys. We must have outstanding teachers in today’s schools. Expectations are key to student performance and teacher success. If teachers have realistic expectations, our kids will try to live up to them. No child wants to be a failure and no good teacher wants their students to fail. —Daisy R. Wright, Teacher Without knowledge and skills, opportunities cease. The burden of developing and imparting the knowledge and skills has been placed squarely upon teachers, regardless of how unfair and lopsided it seems. If anyone is thinking about becoming a teacher, he or she must understand that this profession makes the biggest imprint of any occupation in society. —Verna Cahoon, Principal

The Trouble With Black Boys

The Trouble With Black Boys
Author: Pedro A. Noguera
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 375
Release: 2009-06-09
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0470452080

For many years to come, race will continue to be a source of controversy and conflict in American society. For many of us it will continue to shape where we live, pray, go to school, and socialize. We cannot simply wish away the existence of race or racism, but we can take steps to lessen the ways in which the categories trap and confine us. Educators, who should be committed to helping young people realize their intellectual potential as they make their way toward adulthood, have a responsibility to help them find ways to expand identities related to race so that they can experience the fullest possibility of all that they may become. In this brutally honest—yet ultimately hopeful— book Pedro Noguera examines the many facets of race in schools and society and reveals what it will take to improve outcomes for all students. From achievement gaps to immigration, Noguera offers a rich and compelling picture of a complex issue that affects all of us.

Culturally Responsive Pedagogy: Teaching Like Our Students’ Lives Matter

Culturally Responsive Pedagogy: Teaching Like Our Students’ Lives Matter
Author: Sheryl Taylor
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 268
Release: 2011-07-19
Genre: Education
ISBN: 178052031X

At its core, culturally responsive pedagogy represents a professional philosophy that is based on teachers' fundamental commitment to students' success. Authors Taylor and Sobel believe that teachers want to approach their teaching from the pivotal point that each of their students' lives matter. Working from a broad perspective of culture, the authors view culturally responsive teaching as a contextual and situational process for both teachers and students—all students—including those who are from a diversity of languages, cultures, racial/ethnic backgrounds, religions, economic resources, interests, abilities, and life experiences as well as students who are members of the society's 'mainstream' cultural, linguistic, and socio-economic background. Recognizing that teachers are conduits of culture regardless of what content they teach, the authors assert that when culture is coupled with pedagogy the result involves a complex and comprehensive mix of knowledge and skills for teachers to use to engage a diverse student population This book is intended as a guide and practical discussion for K-12 teachers who are committed to culturally responsive pedagogy and recognize the structural inequalities in society that are reflected in its schools. Such teachers acknowledge that schools have a history of failing to serve students who are outside of the 'mainstream' culture. For those teachers who recognize the sociopolitical nature of education and the role their own cultural background and privilege play in their work as a professional educator, they will find meaningful applications of research-based exemplars used to create and manage rigorous learning environments that maximize students' opportunities to learn.