Exploring Tensions: A Self-Study of A Teacher Educator’s White Fragility in Mentoring Novice Teachers

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines the tensions encountered and lessons learned when a White teacher mentor discovered white fragility in her mentoring practices with a Black novice teacher. It was the mentor’s first attempt to ‘wake up white’ and acknowledge her White identity in her mentoring actions. The mentor engaged a secondary English as a New Language teacher in six observation cycles to support the teacher with culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP). The mentor discovered her restraint in conversations when the teacher reflected on teaching students about racism. Further, the mentor enacted white fragility when she avoided discussing the teacher’s critically conscious pedagogy, stifling opportunities for deep reflection. The mentor’s actions indicate that she had not engaged in necessary self-work before mentoring the teacher in CRP. Self-work that the mentor had missed includes exploring her White identity, privilege, and cultural competence. Implications for White teacher educators, mentors, and supervisors include the need to engage in ongoing self-work and professional development to explore White identity and privilege and develop racial literacy to engage in race talk.