CONNECT . MOTIVATE . INSPIRE .
“YOU CAN’T SIT BEHIND A DESK. YOU HAVE TO BE VISIBLE AND BE OUT IN THE COMMUNITY.” --JACKSON STATE UNIVERSITY TEACHER EDUCATION PROFESSOR
as a positive role model for Black students and to go beyond the textbook to teach students about cultural pride and resilience, something many of them never experienced in their own education. As one candidate shared with us: “My opinion of an effective teacher is someone that students can look up to. They understand what you must learn in the classroom, but you want to teach them other things outside of the things in the book. You want to teach them like lifelong lessons and things they should know in the future.” Teacher candidates at JSU are aware that they are role models for students and have a responsibility to create a safe and respectful environment that encourages creativity, critical thinking, and active learning. Candidates we interviewed spoke about the importance of being a positive role model, including the importance of recognizing Black students’ assets, supporting their goals and dreams, while holding them to high expectations. These commitments stand in the face of centuries of educational denial, inequality, and marginalization of Black students. Research has found that having even one Black teacher in elementary school not only makes children more likely to graduate from high school
it makes them much more likely to enroll in college as well, and yet, Black people are still only about 7% of the teaching profession (Rosen, 2018). Black men make up just 2% of the teaching profession (Koenig, 2021). National estimates indicate that state public school teachers are “on average 27 percentage points more likely to be white than their students” (Schaeffer, 2021). These statistics – grim under any circumstances – are particularly distressing given that there was a time – before the Brown v. Board of Education decision – when Black students were taught almost exclusively by Black teachers who were advocates and active members of their own communities. While we are certainly not arguing against desegregation – as schools with large numbers of Black children were and continue to be under-resourced in comparison to schools with a majority white population – it is important to understand the Black student experience in the United States within a larger historical context to understand teacher education at JSU. JSU is one of many HBCUs that is trying to reclaim its roots in teacher education and help teacher candidates to strategically dismantle barriers to Black students’ academic achievement, including challenging racist practices in schools,
providing holistic support for students who are struggling, and making sure that all students feel respected and welcome in the classroom. In short, candidates at JSU are faced with undoing centuries of racist practices that framed Black students (and Black families) as culturally deficient and academically inferior. So, while having Black teachers is not a cure-all for Black students, there is ample evidence to support that it can make a huge difference. Indeed, the most common motivation for these candidates to teach was so that they could be effective role models and mentors for Black students – especially Black male students – as these students were not accustomed to seeing Black men in intellectual or leadership positions. One candidate told us: “When I was growing up it was only two males in my elementary school. I didn’t have one male that actually taught me. So, I felt there was a need for African American teachers, especially since I was one that was raised in a single parent home.” Candidates shared that just seeing a Black man standing in front of the classroom can be a profoundly motivational experience for many Black students. For example, one candidate reflected: “I feel like I can never say that I’m a teacher and
walk into a classroom. This is what generally has happened: I can walk into a classroom, and everything could just shift like everything will just shift to myself or to me. All the students will look, look, and wonder. Like their eyes are sparkling, like who is this person? It’s amazing because I’ve never said a word. All I did was just walk into the classroom. They’ll take notice of you in almost every aspect they can manage to think of. They’ll ask you questions. How old are you? Where are you from? What are you doing? They’ll also consider your body language. The different things that you display to them is what you will be to them.” JSU teacher candidates also recognized that they have a responsibility to empower students to be future leaders, as best expressed by one candidate: “I’m interested in teaching because I’m in a spot to develop America’s future. Children are always going to be our future and if we get them and teach them while they’re young they will be taking over this country eventually and they’re getting into the mindset of, ‘I can be a better me if I’m better I could better my country.’ So just to be in that position to put them in that mindset and to open their eyes to see that they can change the world is why I want to be a teacher.”
4 5 | HBCU TIMES SPRING ISSUE 2024
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