African American Studies Commons^™

Bridging Connections Between Teachers' Racial Identities And Their Teaching Practices, Sandras M. Barnes

Educational Studies Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine how three Black female teachers and three White female teachers of kindergarten, first grade, and eighth grade understand the connections between their racial identity and their teaching practices . Specifically, it sought to understand how they experience their first awareness of racial difference and the influence their family, community, and school had on their construct of race. Also, how their preparation to teach reinforced, expanded, altered, or demystified their understanding of racial differences as a means to teach all children . The study used a phenomenologically based, lived experienced methodology to interview …