“You Won’t Break My Soul”: Nurturing Black Prospective Teachers’ Well-Being
Location
Boston 1
Session Format
Presentation
Abstract
While institutions are eager to recruit more Black students, they often fail to protect students from microaggressions on campus. Black prospective teachers enrolled in teacher preparation programs often find themselves isolated and subjected to comments or actions that negatively target a marginalized person or group, negatively affecting their well-being (James, 2019). To focus on humanizing retention strategies for prospective Black teachers, we read books that used the concept of a sugar jar to discuss boundaries, Black healing, barriers, forgiveness, and self-care strategies to support them. The research questions guiding this study are: What perspectives do prospective Black teachers share about their well-being, particularly how they describe the roles of race, culture, and social well-being? What self-care strategies support their learning experiences? What support do prospective Black teachers need from faculty to support their well-being? For our research approach, we used autoethnography, which recognizes the importance of allowing individuals to express their unique experiences, perspectives, and stories that may have been historically silenced or neglected within mainstream discourse (Golba, 2022). Findings indicate that while self-care is a lifelong journey, there are strategies inside and outside the classroom that students and professors can implement to support Black prospective teachers’ well-being.
Keywords
Black Teacher Development, Well-being, Critical Teacher Preparation
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Id-Deen, Lateefah; Hopkins, MaKayla; Williams, Ashley; and Johnson, Tamera, "“You Won’t Break My Soul”: Nurturing Black Prospective Teachers’ Well-Being" (2024). Georgia Educational Research Association Conference. 42.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gera/2024/2024/42
“You Won’t Break My Soul”: Nurturing Black Prospective Teachers’ Well-Being
Boston 1
While institutions are eager to recruit more Black students, they often fail to protect students from microaggressions on campus. Black prospective teachers enrolled in teacher preparation programs often find themselves isolated and subjected to comments or actions that negatively target a marginalized person or group, negatively affecting their well-being (James, 2019). To focus on humanizing retention strategies for prospective Black teachers, we read books that used the concept of a sugar jar to discuss boundaries, Black healing, barriers, forgiveness, and self-care strategies to support them. The research questions guiding this study are: What perspectives do prospective Black teachers share about their well-being, particularly how they describe the roles of race, culture, and social well-being? What self-care strategies support their learning experiences? What support do prospective Black teachers need from faculty to support their well-being? For our research approach, we used autoethnography, which recognizes the importance of allowing individuals to express their unique experiences, perspectives, and stories that may have been historically silenced or neglected within mainstream discourse (Golba, 2022). Findings indicate that while self-care is a lifelong journey, there are strategies inside and outside the classroom that students and professors can implement to support Black prospective teachers’ well-being.
