TeachingInColor FINAL DIGITALPages - Flipbook - Page 5
T
he concept of representation weighed heavily
discipline policies which eventually placed
on my decision-making as one of a few Black
me at odds with administrators. Over time,
teachers at a predominantly Latinx high
the good reputation I developed in my quest
school in a segregated neighborhood on
to ensure Black teachers were seen as
the Southwest side of Chicago. Most of my
professionals was jeopardized by efforts to
students had never had meaningful interaction with a Black
represent the interests of Black and Latinx
American. My time volunteering with diversity-focused
students. This tension between professional
youth development organizations taught me that when
expectations and the well-being of students
people lack personal experience with groups of people
of color — ever-present in public schools
they consider to be other, stereotypes often fill the void. I
today — is borne almost entirely by educators
worried that my students would assume I embodied every
of color.
negative stereotype they had ever heard about Black
For educators of color, the pages of
Americans. In response, I purposely behaved, dressed, and
#TeachingInColor Magazine may feel as
spoke in ways that challenged stereotypical depictions of
familiar as those of your diary.
Black Americans to expand my students’ understanding
For education policymakers, the stories
of Blackness.
herein may seem new or strange, but they
I soon learned that most of my white and Latinx
are neither. The stories in this edition,
colleagues also had not had meaningful interaction with
including my own, are likely to share common
Black men. Facing Stereotype Threat, which psychologist
elements because the experiences of
Claude Steele describes as anxiety resulting from the
educators of color are shaped by the places
opportunity to confirm a negative stereotype about a
where we work and the people with whom
group to which one belongs, I set out to prove that Black
we work. White women still dominate the
teachers were competent and hardworking. I volunteered
teaching profession in North Carolina. We
to participate in professional learning communities. I started
published #TeachingInColor Magazine to
a service-learning club and organized an annual field trip to
amplify stories and ideas from Black, Latinx,
Washington, DC. I founded the school’s tennis program and
Asian, and Native educators across the
began organizing an extracurricular activity fair to get more
state. Whatever your background, we hope
students involved. I extended myself in ways that my white
that reading these stories prompts you to
colleagues neither wanted nor needed to.
consider what has occurred for us to arrive at
Representation also shaped how I designed my
the present moment and what must occur for
curriculum and how I wielded power as a teacher. I wanted
North Carolina’s, and the nation’s, educators
my Black and Latinx students to transcend the narrow
to truly represent ALL students. ■
boxes in which their classmates, teachers, or the police
might place them. I sidestepped overly punitive school
welcome
Jerry J. Wilson | Director Policy & Advocacy, CREED
