Associate Director of Masters of Arts in Teaching Rice University
The stories of African American male teachers have been historically left out of teachers’ narratives, and little research exists surrounding the ways African American teachers can impact culturally relevant curriculum (Lynn, 2006; Milner, 2008). The presented narratives often paint a negative picture of African American teachers and their schools (Milner, 2008). Although there have been tremendous efforts to increase this diversity for students and staff, Bond et al. (2017) reported that “the teacher workforce has gotten less ethnically and racially diverse and more female…which has had an adverse effect particularly on students of color” (p. 25). Ladson-Billings (2020) demonstrated that this decline began shortly after Brown v Board of Education. As the African American students left their schools, the African American teachers stayed and subsequently lost their jobs. The Albert Shanker Institute recognized that teacher diversity is an area of concern in the United States (ShankerInstitute.org).
The purpose of this poster presentation is to share the stories of 4 Black male educators and give strategies on how teachers can incorporate storytelling and students' voices based on the research that I have done.