This I Believe: Race, Educator Identity, and One Middle School Teacher Life
Location
Session 4 Presentations - Educators & Race
Proposal Track
Research Project
Session Format
Presentation
Abstract
In this research project, I used a critical autoethnographic approach to examine one middle grades educator’s experience as a P-12 and post-secondary practitioner, navigating systems and politics of practice across various contexts, given race, specifically blackness, as one non-negotiable component of educator identity. In doing so, I considered the ways in which race as a factor of identity, shapes or otherwise impacts the experiences, interactions, and perceptions of an educator of color over time, across pedagogical contexts, and through a myriad of situational events. The strength in this project was that the nature of the research lent itself handily to an autoethnographic approach. The component of race---a social construct that in a racialized social setting and by extension, educational setting, becomes identity important---was explored through narrative and considered in its multi-layers. The conclusions of this study may serve to broaden the range of voices currently represented in circles of teacher education and practitioner academic communities, adding to, or providing implications and counter perspectives about ways in which educator practices, professional principles, and collegial interactions are touched and shaped by race as a factor of educator identity.
Keywords
educator identity, middle grades teacher education, black teacher educators, autoethnography
Professional Bio
Kristie W. Smith, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Middle Grades Teacher Education at Columbus State University. Kristie is also a long-time middle grades educator, an active member of the Association of Middle Level Education, and a council member for the American Educational Research Association's Middle Level Education Research Special Interest Group. Currently, Kristie is serving as the faculty advisor for the Collegiate Middle Level Association chapter-at-large, eastern region.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Smith, Kristie W., "This I Believe: Race, Educator Identity, and One Middle School Teacher Life" (2021). Georgia Educational Research Association Conference. 79.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gera/2021/2021/79
This I Believe: Race, Educator Identity, and One Middle School Teacher Life
Session 4 Presentations - Educators & Race
In this research project, I used a critical autoethnographic approach to examine one middle grades educator’s experience as a P-12 and post-secondary practitioner, navigating systems and politics of practice across various contexts, given race, specifically blackness, as one non-negotiable component of educator identity. In doing so, I considered the ways in which race as a factor of identity, shapes or otherwise impacts the experiences, interactions, and perceptions of an educator of color over time, across pedagogical contexts, and through a myriad of situational events. The strength in this project was that the nature of the research lent itself handily to an autoethnographic approach. The component of race---a social construct that in a racialized social setting and by extension, educational setting, becomes identity important---was explored through narrative and considered in its multi-layers. The conclusions of this study may serve to broaden the range of voices currently represented in circles of teacher education and practitioner academic communities, adding to, or providing implications and counter perspectives about ways in which educator practices, professional principles, and collegial interactions are touched and shaped by race as a factor of educator identity.
