Starting with the Teacher in the Mirror: Critical Reflections on Whiteness from Past Classroom Experiences

Abstract

While critical whiteness studies have been a robust field of research for the last several decades, scholars have recently called for a refocus in critical whiteness studies to address the current cultural and political climate within educational spaces. The purpose of this article is to answer this call and highlight ways white teachers and teacher educators can begin to use racial reflexivity as a means of dismantling racism and white privilege in our society. Here, I utilize one model of white racial identity development to contemplate and interrogate my own teaching history within five vignettes. By placing these vignettes within the framework of critical whiteness studies and white racial identity development, I am able to re-present how I have counteracted my own race-evasiveness and to outline ways whites can seek to do the same.