Anne and Emmett: University education students’ reactions to a course in countering racism and antisemitism in the classroom

Abstract

Teacher educators are called to replace the foregrounding of courses from Eurocratic practice to those that better prepare pre-service teachers to use equity pedagogy to address issues of justice. This study analyzed the reactions of twelve undergraduate and graduate education students in a one-semester course that used the lives of Anne Frank and Emmett Till to learn pedagogical insights to counter racism and antisemitism in the classroom. Themes that emerged from the findings were the ways that children hide and are made visible in classrooms and the role of the teacher in this phenomenon; the importance of respecting and partnering with families; the benefits of teaching through stories, teaching against the grain, and recognizing the ability of children to use critical thinking to support change; and the impact of a professor’s ability to “cross borders” through authentic dialog and model how to have weighty conversations with practical applications.