“I cannot do this anymore”
a teacher educator responds to the covid-19 and racism pandemics of 2020
Keywords:
Teacher formation; race-consciousness; self-study.Abstract
In this reflective self-study, the author explores how she transformed one teacher education course from the status quo in response to the dual pandemics of Covid-19 and racism during the summer of 2020. Using a critical approach to language use in teacher preparation, Kirton, an African American mother of two young sons, examines the importance of silences and race conscious language in the preparation of teachers. Findings indicate that the work of critical approaches to the study of race and racism in teacher education requires an ongoing archeology of the self (Sealey-Ruiz, 2020), which can be sustained through multi-modal approaches to language, time to journal and reflect, and the co-creation of shared space to ask and respond to the most difficult questions in education.
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