Frames of Reference: The Impact of Race on Teaching Strategy and Classroom Discussion

Abstract

In this article, I examine the role of teacher racial identity on teaching strategy and the treatment of race in classroom discussions. I explicate how the pattern of minimizing the negative racial comments made to English language learners played out in participants’ teaching and how it is reflective of socially constructed notions of race and racial discourse. The treatment of racial issues, in this sense, can be seen as a microcosm of larger social, historical, and political factors that shape individuals’ thinking about equity and diversity. I argue that by analyzing these underlying factors in teacher education courses, the unconscious and often subtle ways that stereotypes based on race, culture, or English language proficiency, can be demystified and disrupted.