Teaching OutsideOne's RaceThe Story of an Oakland TeacherBY BREE PICOWER

THE WARNING

h, the Distria placed you|at Prescott Elementary?You better watch out—

they hate white people. Especially thatCarrie Secret— she's one of those blackradicals, you know, the Ebonics peo-ple." This was the warningI was given multiple timesin multiple ways whenpeople found out that 1had been assigned toPrescott ElementarySchool for my first teach-ing position, in Oakland,California in 1999. The"warners" were otherwhite folks who were try-ing to protect what theysaw as a young, newteacher from what theyperceived to be a hostileplace. However, I reallydidn't fit the stereotype. Ihad been involved withseveral organizations thatexplicitly addressed issuesof race and education forseveral years, often as theonly white person there. Iwas thrilled to be placed ata school such as Prescott, whose reputa-tion for high achievement for AfricanAmerican children and adoption of the"Ebonics" program had placed it at theforefront of national debate.

I am writing this paper in order toreflect on my experiences at PrescottElementary School. Here, I discuss theaspects of the school that are unique:the culturally relevant pedagogy, theother teachers on the staff including

NUMBER 70 • RADICAL TEACHER

Carrie Secret, the professional develop-ment at the school, the Ebonics debate,and, finally, racial identity developmentand how it informed relationships atthe school. A goal of this paper is tocontextualize what was really beingdone in Oakland schools in contrast towhat the media reported as teaching

Prescott Elementary students. Photo by Bree Picower.

Ebonics.' I also hope to show theimportance of successful mentor teach-ers of color in the development of newteachers at a mission driven school.

PRESCOTTELEMENTARY SCHOOL

When 1 was first assigned to Prescott, Idrove to the school to see what it waslike. It was summer and the school wasgated and locked. Erom the outside, it

looked like a barren and dismal place.There was no grass, no playground,only a huge, concrete excuse for a yard.The main building and the portableswere all a drab shade of industrial yel-low. When I was finally able to enterthe school weeks later, the differencebetween what I had seen from outside

the gate, and the realityof what it was really likeinside was like nightand day. The wallsinside the main build-ing were covered with avibrant mural tracingleaders of AfricanAmerican history. Evenbefore the school yearstarted, kids were every-where, helping teachersset up their rooms,playing in the yard, andwelcoming me and theother new teachers. Thechildren, primarilyAfrican American, butalso Latino and AsianAmerican, seemed tofeel so at home at theschool, as if they had a

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ real sense of ownershipof the place. Because I

wasn't initially assigned to a room orgrade, I took the opportunity to walkaround and introduce myself and helpthe other teachers. When I did fma!lyget my own room, filthy from beingtjsed as a storage space by constructionworkers, many children, from kinder-gartners to graduated middle schoolers,came by to help me unpack.

My class was a second and third gradeSheltered English class which consisted

11

of a very diverse group of studentsreflecting the multilingual communityot Oakland. While PresccMt as a wholewas primarily African American, mystudents were Guatemalan, ElSalvadorian, Cambodian, Filipino, andArabic as well as African American chil-dren. My classroom was in a buildingoff the main school that housed threeclassrooms—mine, Carrie Secrets, andthat of another teacher whom I hadalso been warned about—AileenMofFitt. I had been told that I shouldalign myself with Ms. MofFitt becauseshe was "the only white person that hasever been accepted at Prescott."

AFROCENTRIC ENVIRONMENTAND CULTURALLY RELEVANT

TEACHING

wirh my teaching practice. Afi:er MissMoffitt saw me at the copy machinereproducing U.S. maps depictingEuropean colonization and diminish-ing Native American land (fromBigelow, 1998), she came by my roomto give me a song about Columbus.The lyrics began:

In fourteen-hundred-ninety-two,Columbus sailed the ocean blue.It was a courageous thing to do.But someone was already there.

The song goes on to describe thedestruction of the land of variousNative American tribes, the ensuingslavery, and the spread of disease thatdecimated the people. My class per-formed this at the Thanksgiving assem-bly along with other students who cele-brated Native American dance andrecited poetry about different forms ofcolonialism. Because my personal phi-

The political nature of the school soonbecame obvious. Walking into theclassrooms and viewing the bulletinboards of the veteran teachers, Icould easily see how centralAfrican American history was tothe school. The library was filledwith multicultural texts. Carrie'sand Aileen's rooms were explo-sions of color, with paintings, _ l i T Jposters, and photographs dedicat- photogruphs aedicated toed to telling the story of AfricanAmerican people. The schoolassembly calendar, handed out the American people.first day of school, listed eventshonoring not only Black history,

Carrie's andAileen^s roomswere explosions of color, withpaintings, posters, and

telling the story of African

but Mexican history, Cambodiandance, and multicultural art.

I breathed deep and knew I hadfound my home. It seemed that theteachers here fit Gloria Ladson-Billings's (1994) definition of culturallyrelevant teachers. "They see themselvesas a part of rhe community and theysee teaching as giving back to the com-munity. They help students make con-nections between their local, national,racial, cultural, and global identities"(p.25). This was the kind of teachingthat I longed to do, and I was relievedthat I had found a place where it wasnot only going to be safe to do it, butit would also be valued and accepted. Icouldn't believe my luck.

Veteran teachers who came by myroom saw the same kind of respect forcultural diversity reflected on my walls,and it wasn't long before they weresharing materials and ideas to help me

losophy was so closely aligned with themission of the school, this year wasturning out to be a powerful and posi-tive experience for me.

CARRIE SECRET

Prior to the beginning of rhe schoolyear, I had attended a new teachertraining that was led by veteran teach-ers from the district. The first sessionwas facilitated by none other than theinfamous Carrie Secret. Her talk wasinspiring, energetic, and straightfor-ward. She shared a wealth of actualclassroom ideas that I was thirsty for asa pre-ser\'ice teacher. I approached herafter the session and let her know Iwould be teaching at her school. Weate lunch with another teacher, anolder African American minister whowould also be teaching at Prescotr inthe fall. Afi:erwards, I couldn't help but

wonder if Ms. Secret was the same per-son I had been warned about, or if Ihad gotten the names confused. I hadto question why the "warners" had feltso much discomfort and animositytowards her.

As Jordon-Irvine (2003) highlights ina story that shows the development ofKipp Academy, a white founded charterschool successful with African Americanstudents, it is often veteran teachers ofcolor who educate not only their stu-dents but other teachers as well. Theschool was started by two white. Teachfor America interns who learned toteach under the mentorship of HarrietBall, a veteran African Americanteacher. "This story of the KippAcademies illtistrates that the culturally-specific pedagogical teaching strategiesof teachers of color can be taught andadopted by all teachers, regardless oftheir race ot ethnicity. There are, in fact,

many urban teachers who have sur-~ vived and thrived only because

experienced teachers of color havementored and provided them withassistance and encouragement"(p.13). I know I too benefitedgreatly from the mentorship that Ireceived from Carrie Secret.

Early on in the school year, Iasked Carrie for her advice on aunit I was planning on African

_ American inventors, and within theday she delivered to my room a

huge bag of materials for me to use. Shealso gave me a book that described thehistorical relationship between Africansand Cambodians. This was Carrie's way.She waited for an opening, and once itwas there, her generosiry for workingwith new teachers was as endless as herhistorical knowledge. She shared count-less ideas and materials with me andwas always available before and afterschool to talk about issues and concernsI was having in my class. We began col-laborating on different projects and wemade copies of materials for both of ourclasses that we thought the other wouldwant to iise.

Carrie's classroom was truly a uniqueplace. From floor to ceiling, studentartwork depicting the Middle Passage,lynching, the African conrinent, andmore covered every available spot onthe wall. Desks piled high widi books,notebooks, atlases, thesauruses, mark-

12 RADICAL TEACHER • NUMBER 70

ers, and other resources were pushed tothe perimeter of the room and all worktook place on the huge rug of theUnited States in the center of theroom. Carrie and her students wouldbe sprawled barefoot on the rug, hardat work, while R&B, gospel, or Afticanmtisic played on the boom box in thecorner. I was always struck by howindependent her students were. Theydidn't come running over for attentionor approval like many children would.They just worked on their own or withfriends, approaching Carrie for assis-tance when needed. Teacher-led lessonsusually centered around the overheadprojector and often involved call andresponse or group recitation. The kidswere always working on long perfor-mance pieces on African or Mexicanhistory (Carrie had one Mexican stu-dent) that they performed throughoutthe state. Carrie always incorporatedthe cultural history of whoever was inher class, whether they were AfricanAmerican, Mexican, or Cambodian. 1shared my observations with her, andCarrie and I continued to developwhat I now consider to be one of themost valuable relationships of my life.

Carries approach to teaching is closelyaligned with the definition that Ladson-Billings uses to describe a culturally rel-evant teacher. She sees teaching as an artand believes "that all of their studentscan succeed ratherthan that failure is ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^inevitable for some"(p.25). Her specialeducation inclusionstudent, Malik",who had beenlabeled "uneduca-

like your mama was!" and knows thisto be true. These deep and long stand-ing relationships with her students'families allows her to educate thewhole family because she still sees theirparents as learners. Parents often spendhours in the classroom, grappling withthe same issues that the class is learn-ing. The classroom itself is an exten-sion of the children's families. AtPrescott, it was expected that teacherswould stay with their students formore than one grade. They believedthat the splitting up of children andteachers every year mirrored the prac-tice of splitting up African Americanfamilies under slavery and thereforethey made every attempt to keep class-es together for as long as possible. Mostteachers kept their classroom for twoor three years, but Carrie moves withher students from first grade throughgraduation.

"Finally, such teachers are identiftedby their notions of knowledge,"Ladson-Billings concludes. "Theybelieve that knowledge is continuallyre-created, recycled, and shared byteachers and students alike" {p.25).Carrie and her students take on seriousissues that affect their community.Throughout their elementary career,her students are engaged in learningabout issues such as the Middle Passage,the Civil Rights movement, white

This rich pedagogy^ aimed at sparking thegenius in African American students andcelebrated by leading educational researchers,^<^s the exact Same pedagogy that tgntted the

bie," was expected to flames offurv aud racial disruption duringachieve at the same *' . / "̂ _" .̂ . »-• / •level as the other stu- the national debate on Ebonics,dents and was giventhe support neededto be successRil.

Ladson-Billings claims that "Suchteachers can also be identified by theways in which they structure theirsocial interactions: Their relationshipswith students are fluid and equitableand extend beyond the classroom"(p.25). Because Carrie has taught atthe school for thirty years, she hastaught the parents of most of her stu-dents. She often said, "See, you're just

strengthen the right side of the brain,which is called upon less frequently intypical school environments.

Several researchers have documentedCarrie's practice over the last severalyears.' Asa Hilliard (2003) discussesthe existence of "gap-closing" teachers,people who are able to move studentswho usually perform poorly into thehighest quartiles on standardized tests.Carrie Secret is one of the teacherswhom he highlights as a gap closer andwhose practice deserves greater atten-tion:

We can say something aboutSecret's distinctive process. Hersuccess seems to be a product pre-cisely of her deep continuing studyto expand her knowledge of hersubjects, African history and cul-ture, and the study of racism andits manifestations, her close familyrelationship with her students andtheir families and community, heruncompromising commitment toget her students to achieve at theexcellence level, by any means nec-essary, her linkage to a network ofteachers who share her sense ofcommitment and mission; herwillingness, her keen sense ofsocial justice and her sense of dutyto save the children and to saveAfrican people, and others, from

the negative fate^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ _ that awaits many

of them. (p. 154)

supremacy, and important historicalfigures. Lessons often grow from stu-dent's observations and interactionswith the materials and writings offeredto them. Carrie is contintially growingas a learner as well. She participates inbook clubs at and outside of the school,takes classes, and keeps up on relevantresearch. For example, after readingrecent brain research, Carrie startedincorporating classroom lessons to

This rich pedagogy,aimed at sparkingthe genius in AfricanAmerican studentsand celebrated byleading educationalresearchers, was theexact same pedagogythat ignited theflames of fury and

racial disruption during the nationaldebate on Ebonics.

EBONICS AND THE STANDARDENGLISH PROGRAM (SEP)

What did the Ebonics controversy haveto do with Prescott? Right before theschool year started, I lay tossing andturning at three in the morning, worriedabout my first teaching experience. Isuddenly remembered a back issue of

NUMBER 70 • RADICAL TEACHER 13

Rethinking Schools that had addressedthe national debate around the contro-versy. I stumbled to my file cabinet andpulled it out, opening to an interviewwith, that's right, Carrie Secret. Theinterview and ensuing book on the sub-jea (Delpit and Perry, 2002) chroniclesthe controversy that erupted in Oaklandin 19%. It described the high academicperformance at Prescott Elementary asan anomaly in the District. After pre-senting achievement gap data inOakland, Delpit and Perry write:

Against the backdrop of this dis-mal picture of school failure, theabove average performance ofAfrican-American students at thePrescott Elementary School caughtthe attention of the task forcemembers. Prescott Elementary wasthe only school in the Oaklandschool distria where the majorityof its teachers had voluntarily cho-sen to panicipate in the StandardEnglish Proficiency (SEP). Thisstatewide initiative, begun in1981, acknowledges the systemat-ic, rule-governed nature of BlackEnglish and takes the position thatthis language should be used tohelp children learn to read andwrite in Standard English, (p. xi)

It was Prcscotts success with teachingAfrican American children that motivat-ed the distria to adopt SER igniting theflames of the media across the country.A great deal of research has been doneto document the way in which themedia misrepresented the Districts deci-sion to use SEP to improve the achieve-ment gap.'* Rickford and Rickford(2000) carefully analyze the eventsaround the school board's adoption ofSEP and the media's reaction to it. "TheOakland school board never intendedto replace the teaching of Standard ormainstream English with the teachingof Ebonics, or Spoken Soul. But it didintend to take the vernacular intoaccount in helping students achievemastery of Standard English (readingand writing in this variety in particular)"(p. 176). In Rethinking Schools, CarrieSecret explained, "There's a misconcep-tion of the program, created by themedia blitz of misinformation. Ourmission was and continues to be:embrace and respea Ebonics, the home

Prescott Elementary students. Photo by Bree PIcower.

language of many of our students, anduse strategies that will move them to acompetency level in English. We neverhad, nor do we now have, any intentionof teaching the home language to stu-dents. They come to us speaking thelanguage" (p.8l).

STAFF DEVELOPMENT ATPRESCOTT

The strategies that Carrie referred toand used were developed under theleadership of Wade Nobles at theCenter For Applied Cultural Studiesand Educational Achievement (CAC-SEA) at San Francisco State University.It was through this center that the SEPprogram adopted by the OaklandUnified School Distria was created. Ata staff meeting early on at my rime atPrescott, I received a CACSEA docu-ment, "Utilizing Culture in theAchievement of Educational Excellencefor African American Students"(Nobles). Referencing research by

Boykin, Foster, and Ladson-Billings,CACSEA laid out nine cultural pre-cepts, nine recurring cultural themes,and effective instructional strategies foreducating African American students.CACSEA developed a program called"Nsaka Sunsum (Touching the Spirit):Educational Process for AchievingEducational Excellence with AfricanAmerican Students" (Olson, 2001) thatwas used as the basis for Prescott's pro-fessional development throughout mytime there. Althougli the SEP programhad officially ended due to the narionalcontroversy by the time 1 started teach-ing, we were still trained to use SEPstrategies because of Prescott's deepbelief that this was the right kind ofeducation for our students.

Led by either Carrie or NebeehahShakir from the disbanded SEP pro-gram, weekly staff development cen-tered on the CACSEA program.Throughout the year, we analyzed thecultural precepts and looked for cxam-

14 RADICAL TEACHER • NUMBER 70

pies of them in our lives or classrooms.We observed each other's teaching,looking for the recommended instruc-tional strategies. We explored recurringgrammatical components of AfricanAmerican language. We discussed inte-grating culture into the language ofmathematics and other content areas.In Perry's interview (1998), Carriedescribes the program in this way:

There are three cornerstones toour SEP program: culture, lan-guage, and literacy. Our programis not just a language program thatstresses how well you acquire andspeak English. We emphasize thelearning of reading by incorporat-ing a strong literacy component.Another crucial issue is that wepush students to learn the contentlanguage of each area of curricu-lum. The Oakland SEP program isnot just a grammar and drill pro-gram, but a program that empha-sizes language and content andencompasses all areas of curricu-lum. Children are not empowered

simply because they know subject-verb agreement. That is not pow-erful for children if they don't havecontent in which to use the lan-guage. Yes, we want the children tospeak English and have positivefeelings about themselves, but thatcomes about only when the chil-dren know content. It doesn't mat-ter how well you speak if you arenot able to participate in and usethe language of the content areasduring discussion times. The otherissue is culture. If you don't respectthe children's culture, you negatetheir very essence. (p.8O)

At no point in my training or time atPrescott was 1 taught to or expected tospeak or teach Ebonics to my students,just as I was not expected to teachKhmer, Spanish, or Arabic. Rather,teachers were encouraged to teach inways that celebrated and reflected ourstudents' cultures. Ebonics was spokenthroughout the school because Prescottpromoted the home culture of the stu-dent and teachers were expected tounderstand Ebonics because it was thehome language of the majority of thestudents. It was our responsibility tohelp the students translate their homelanguage into Standard English. Theway this was done was the same way Iwas trained to do with all of my secondlanguage learners, through techniquesdesigned to familiarize and contrast theirlanguage with Standard English. Thetraining taught me a great deal about therich history of Ebonics and AfricanAmerican culture, and I think an impor-tant factor in this is that the programwas lead by veteran, successful AfricanAmerican teachers. Aileen MofFitt, mywhite ally at Prescott, explains:

As a result of studying Ebonicsthrough the Oakland StandardEnglish Proficiency Project, I havealso developed an appreciation ofthe language. Ebonics has a richnessthat goes beyond the obvious fea-tures (grammar, syntax, phonology,phonetics, morphology, and seman-tics). There are also characteristics ofthe non-verbal, the gestural, therhythmic, and the emotional quali-ty of the speech. I may be fluent inthe grammatical rules of Ebonics,but I am definitely NOT proficient

in these other qualities. Yet I canappreciate and admire them for therichness of expression that they pro-vide. Poetry in Ebonics (includingMaya Angelou's) can be music tomy ears. (Delpit, 2002, p. 42)

Despite the media's misrepresentationof the Oakland Resolution, and the dis-bandment of the official SEP program,the CACSEA training continued on atPrescott, just as it had before.

RACIAL IDENTITY ANDPOLITICS AT PRESCOTT

Because of the nature of our staff devel-opment, racial identity, racism,Afrocentricity, and white supremacywere central topics of conversation atPrescott. The staff at the school wasboth racially and generationally mixed.Becoming a part of the leadership struc-ture of the school, or gaining insider sta-tus, appeared at first glance to be depen-dent on race. However, it became appar-ent as time went on that it had more todo with your level of commitment tothe mission of the school, which in turnhad much to do with where individualswere in the development of their racialidentity. Beverly Daniel Tatum refers toracial identity development as the"process of defining for oneself the per-sonal significance and social meaning ofbelonging to a particular racial group"(Tatum, 1997, p.16). Research on thisprocess contends that this processinvolves different developmental stagesfor whites and people of color.

Establishment of a clear, affirminggroup identity and recognition ofthe necessity of colleaive action forself-determination and againstracism are the hallmarks of an adultliberation perspective for people ofcolor. White anti-racism requiresparallel elements: new idendty as aWhite, a critique of racism and theinstitutions of white society, and arecognition of the necessity for col-lective action. In essence, all mustundo the profound impact of theideology of racism on their self-con-cepts and social perspectives.However, the process of change dif-fers, reflecting the distinctions wehave been making between peopleof color and Whites. (Sparks inTatum, 1997, p.28)

NUMBER 70 • RADICAL TEACHER IS

Because of the diversity of the Prescottstaff, who they were and where theycame from directly influenced theirracial idetitity development, and there-fore their status at the school. To clarify,I will highli^t a few staff members inorder to show how their racial identitiesinfluenced their behavior and stattis atthe school, starting with myself.

I believe a major period of develop-ment for me was in the early ninetieswhen I was employed at a communitycenter that worked to meet the needs ofthe residents of three public housingsites in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The cen-ter was directed by Rose Martin, anAfrican American woman who grew upin over 12 foster families and had over-come her own stru^es with drugs andalcohol (Martin, 2002). Tlie center wasstaffed with people who had all beenborn and raised in the community.Staning as a volunteer, and eventuallybeing offered a job, I was one of theonly two white people who workedthere. Having grown up in New YorkCity, I was accustomed to and comfort-able in diverse settings, but this was thefirst time that I was the real minority. Iworked there for four years, eventuallyco-directing all K-6 programming.During my stay, I learned a great dealabout that particular community and,more generally, how to live with, workwith, respect, and be respected by peo-ple of color, i had to reflect upon myown identity as a white person, becausemuch of my way of thinking, being,and acting was different from that ofthe people 1 spent every day with. Igained an appreciation for the impor-tance of leadership of color when work-ing with communities of color, havingworked in prior settings that were "serv-ing" black children, but that were runby white adults. Working as a liaisonbetween my students' families and theirteachers, I was confronted direcdy withthe ways in which the Ann Arborschools were not meeting their needs,often arising out of a cultural mismatchbetween students and teachers.̂

After several years and a move toCalifornia. I began working at the BayArea Coalition of Essential Schools,working with schools to close theachievement gap between black andwhite students while raising overallachievement. Through this work, I was

explicitly addressing issues of equityand race with racially diverse faculties.Following the framework set out bySparks for white development, thesetwo experiences gave me the opportu-nity to identify and reflect upon mywhiteness, to recognize types of whitesupremacy and racism, and to "joinpeople of color and other exploited

Many new whiteteachers see whitenessas the absence of race,

groups to change racist systems"(Sparks inTatum, 1997, p.31). Becauseof this background, I was developmen-tally "ready" to be a member of thePrescott community, participating in anenvironment with an African Americanleadership structure and an explicitfocus on race and racism.

Some of the veteran white teachers,such as Ms. Moffitt, had been teachingat Prescott for years, and this providedthem with the opportunities to reflectupon their racial identities and buildrelationships with people of color.Through these relationships, they wereable to work on culturally relevantteaching practice and became advo-cates for their students and the school,particularly during the Ebonics debate.However, some of the new, white,younger teachers arrived at Prescottwithout having had the opportunity toreflea on their racial identity. Ladson-Billings reflects on her white pre-ser-vice teachers.

The average white teacher has noidea what it feels like to be anumerical or political minority inthe classroom. The pervasiveness ofwhiteness makes the experience ofmost teachers an accepted norm.White teachers don't understandwhat it means to "be ashy" or to bewilling to fail a physical educationclass because of what swimmingwill do to your hair ... The indict-ment is not against the teachers. Itis against the kind of educationthey receive. The prospective teach-ers with whom I have worked gen-erally express a sincere desire towork with "all kinds of kids." Theytell me that they want to make sure

that the white children they teachlearn to be fair and to get alongwith people different from them-selves. But where is the evidencethat prospective teachers can getalong with people different fromthemselves? (2001, p.81)

Many new white teachers see white-ness as the absence of race, or only rec-ognize it in opposition to "others" andthis leads to a level of discomfort whenissues of race are raised. Having lived inand among primarily other whites,many whites see themselves as part of a"racial norm" and believe that they are"color-blind," holding no prejudicestowards others (Tatum, 1997). This"color-blindness" stops them from see-ing who tbe students really are and thecultures that they bring with them tothe classroom, and therefore limits theeducational strategies that they candraw upon to teach them (Ladson-Billings, 1994, p33). At a school likePrescott, not being able to recognizeculture caused whites at this stage ofdevelopment to feel alienated by theracially charged discussions that perme-ated the school. Many of them came toteaching because they "loved children"and did not understand why "we alwayshave to talk about race." Many of theseteachers believed that they had not beenaccepted by the staff of Prescott, andfelt uncomfortable at the school.

The veteran African American teach-ers came from a very different place.Many of them had grown up in thesegregated South and valued the educa-tion they had received as children fromAfrican American teachers. They cameto teaching as a way to give back totheir community and had a sense ofresponsibility to educate AfricanAmerican children to high standards.Similar to the findings of MicheieFosters (1997) study of black teachers,"these teachers are committed toAfrican American children and thecommunities which spawn them: tobelieving in their unlimited potential,to working hard to provide a qualityeducation despite difficult circum-stances, to strutting agaitist (and help-Ing their students struggle against) allforms of racial oppression, and tobuilding a sense of conneaion betweenstudents and their communities" (p. xi).

1« RADICAL TEACHER • NUMBER 70

According to Tatum's stages of racialdevelopment, these teachers were in alater st^e, working with their studentsto "resist negative societal messages anddevelop an empowered sense of self inthe ftice of a racist society" (p. 94).

In an interview, Carrie Secret discuss-es the impact that her own raciaJ identi-ty development has had on her and herteaching praaice. She recognizes a tran-sition that she made when movingthrough the developmental continuum,one that she defines as moving frombeing "Black" to becoming "African.""When 1 was Black I was angry. WhenI became African, I was at peace. Thatblackness keeps you in a frenzy. Now Iget disturbed about things and Irespond to things, but that Africansense of peace and self, knowing who Iam...Therein lies my strength" (Olsen,2001, p.76). Carrie's racial identitydevelopment has moved her to workwith her students and other adults torecognize their unique cultural historiesand to empower them to look at waysto transform the existing structures ofwhite supremacy. "Grannie," a parentwho worked in Carrie's classroom, talksabout the effect that this racial con-sciousness has had on her own learning:

She was teaching things that wereawesome, okay? Especially whenshe started talking about beingAfrican American, because very lit-tle did I know about my history,and that was fascinating. I learned—maybe learned is not the rightword—but I began to love myselffor who I am and where I camefrom because of Carrie Secret andher class. I started to actually lovemyself from the inside out, okay?And being able to speak freely,because I am free now. I didn'twant to be black like I am. I didn'twant this kinky hair I got, okay?Now I am—hey!—I walk like apeacock with my tail feathetssptead all the time. I just learnedso much abour African Americansin her classroom, myself, and herand her style of teaching, how sheincorporates everyday life through-out our history. (Olsen, 2001,P-77)

OIL AND WATER?

When this diverse group of Prescottteachers came together at our staffmeetings, concentrating on raciallyfocused content, the difference in racialidentity development often directlyimpacted the types ot interactionsbetween people. I found that formyself, and several other newer teach-ers, entering the school with a desire tolearn from the veteran AfricanAmerican teachers about the StandardEnglish Program and culturally compe-tent teaching pedagogy was one way toearn acceptance. The veteran teachers,the "insiders" who had been there fortwenty to thirty years, had seen the frillrange of white attitudes that had cometo the school, from the missionary tothe hippie, all thinking that they knewwhat it would take to "save these poorkids." This attitude, reinforced andreflected in popular movies such asDangerous Minds and Music from theHeart, showed white teachers whoseemed to have all the answers and wereable to rescue black and brown studentsfrom their misguided communities.

In reality at Prescott, every day was astru^e for these white teachers. It wasstriking to see the difference betweenthe way students in the veteran African-American teachers' classrooms behavedand the way the students in the new,white teachers' rooms behaved.Something about the structure andrelationships between the new teachers

'When I was Black Iwas angry. When Ibecame African, I wasat peace."

and their students reinforced the worststereotypes of hoth groups. The stu-dents ran around, rarely listened, andtalked back. The teachers yelled, threat-ened, cried, and complained. The blackteachers yelled often as well, but therewas something different in the tone ofthe yelling. It was more of a mother'svoice pushing their child, not a yellcoming from a place of lack of controlor of fear. Their students were noangels, but their rooms were structured.

the environments were warm, andlearning was obviously taking place.

This exact issue of the racial differ-ence in the tone of yelling was broughtto the table at a staff meeting my sec-ond year at Prescott. It came up dtiringa discussion in which several new teach-ers claimed that they felt no support atPrescort from the veteran teachers. Theveteran teachers answered that theyoung teachers had no interest in learn-ing from them and had never attempt-ed to seek support. They were angrythat the new teachers were clearly fail-ing and were apparently doing nothingto try to improve their practice. Theveteran teachers couldn't understand;why hadn't they knocked on the doorof the older teachers and asked for help?Leslie Morrison, a newer black teacher,and I raised the issue that we had feltvery supported, but that at Prescott,you have to prove to the veteran staffwhat your intentions are and that youate willing to learn from them. Becauseof their stage of racial identity develop-ment, many white teachers wereunwilling to recognize culture as anissue, or as a doorway for success withtheir students. Thetefore they did notbenefit from the staff development atthe school, and did not know how toparticipate in the community.

I remember early on a debate thaterupted during a meeting in whichgrade level teachers were charting whatskills and knowledge they wanted theirstudents to enter their classroom withat the beginning of the year. The chartswere then to be shared with the teach-ers of the prior grade so that they couldbe tised as a scope and sequence for theyear. Ms. Charles, a veteran AfricanAmerican teacher with an outstandingrecord of success with her students, wastelling Ms. Kelly, a second year, whitekindergarten teacher, what she expectedher students to be able to do in mathwhen starting first grade. She was out-raged by how low in skills her new classwas and blamed the current kinder-garten teachers and theit low expecta-tions. The low expectations were clearlyidentifiable by what was written on thekindergarten chart. (The kindergartenteachers had charted what they plannedon teaching that year— since theycouldn't control what level of educationthe students came to school with.)

NUMBER 70 • RADICAL TEACHER 17

When this chart was shown to thewhole staff, Carrie, Ms. Drew, andother veteran teachers exploded. Carrieconfronted the newer teachers anddeclared that she remembered when thekids came with higher skills because theblack kindergarten teachers that used tobe there believed in their students andpushed them to higher levek.

This argument of a racial disparitybetween black and white teacherexpectations has been documented in2003 by Jordon-Irvine. She finds that"African American teachers of color, asa group, had higher expectations forblack students than their white coun-terparts" (p.7). Jordon-Irvine also dis-cusses the way in which AfricanAmerican teachers act as mentors andadvocates for students of color, asdemonstrated in the example of thestaff meeting above:

In addition to Mentors are advo-cate teachers who help black stu-dents to navigate school cultures,which are ofren contradictory andantithetical to their own. Theyserve as a voice for black studentswhen communicating with fellowteachers and administrators; whenproviding information aboutopportunities for advancement andenrichment; and when serving ascounselors, advisors, and parent fig-ures. Teacher-mentors and teacher-advocates are willing to exerciseresistance by questioning and defy-ing rules and regulations that arenot in the best interest of their stu-dents, (p. 8)

LESSONS LEARNED

My real teacher education did not hap-pen in a pre-service program, but rathercame from educators of colors, such asRose Martin and Carrie Secret, whotaught me about the importance of rela-tionships and culture in reaching chil-dren. Being successful in an environ-ment such as Prescott is not somethingthat a "methods" course could everteach in a semester. It requires a com-mitment to the cause of social jusdceand a true desire to change theinequities that exist within the currentstructure of education. It requiresexpanding the idea of a classroom frombeing a room with four walls to the

My real teachereducation did nothappen in a pre-serviceprogram, but rathercame from educators ofcolor, who taught meabout the importanceof relationships andculture in reachingchildren.

community it is situated in, where youare both the teacher and the learner atthe same time. It requires building realrelationships with the people you areworking with or for and seeing yourstudents and their families as youtemployer rather than your administra-tors and superintendents. It requiresexplicitly addressing your own racialidentity and taking responsibility forhow it informs your interactions andpower dynamics with others. Finally, itrequires a continual quest for bothlearning more and doing more toaddress the root causes of racism andwhite supremacy in order to really teachthe children you are hoping toeducate. SM

WORKS CITED

Bigdow, B., & Peterson, B. (1998).Rethinking Columbus: the next 500years(2nd ed.). Milwatikee, WI: RethinkingSchools.

Ddpit, L. D. (1995) Other people's chil-dren: cultural conflia in the classroom.New York: New Press.

Delpit, L. D., & Dowdy, J. K. (2002).The skin that we speak: thoughts on lan-

guage and culture in the classroom. NewYork: New Press.

Foster, M. (1997). Black teachers onteaching. New York; New Press.

Irvine, J.J. (2003). Educating teachersfor diversity: seeing with a cultural eye.New York; Teachers College Press.

Kochman,T (1981). Black and Whitestyles in conflict. Chicago; University ofChicago Press.

Ladson-Billin^, G. (2001). Crossingover to Canaan: the journey of newteachers in dii>erse classrooms. SanFrancisco; Jossey-Bass.

Ladson-Biilings,G. (1994). Thedreamkeepers: successful teachers ofAfrican American children. SanFrancisco; Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Manin, R., & Trtiax, D. (2002). Onerose bboming: hard-earned lessons aboutkids, race, andlifo in America. SouthBoardman, MI: Crofron Creek Press.

Nobles, W, Nsaka Sunsum,Educational process for achieving edttca-tional excellence. San Francisco. SanFrancisco State University. Center forApplied Cultural Studies andEducational Achievement.

Olsen, L, & California Tomorrow.(2001). And still we speak — stories ofcommunities sustaining and reclaiminglanguage and culture. Oakland, CA;California Tomorrow.

Perry, T, & Delpit, L. D. (1998). Thereal Ebonics debate: power, language,and the education of African-Americanchildren. Boston: Beacon Press.

Perry, T, Steele, C , & Hilliard, A. G.(2003). Young gifted, and Black: pro-moting high achievement amongAfrican-American students. Boston;Beacon Press.

Rickford, J. R., & Rickford, R. J.(2000). Spoken soul the story of BlackEnglish. New York; John Wiley &Sons, Inc

Tatum, B. D. (1999). "WhyarealitheBlack kids sitting together in the cafote-ria?"and other conversations about race(Rev. ed.). New York; BasicBooks

NOTES1 Delpir, 2002; Perry & Delpit.

1998; Rickford and Rickford,2000.

2 Aside from those of Rose Martin,Aileen Moffitt, Leslie Morrison,Carrie Secret, and NebeehahShakir, all names have beenchanged.

3 Olsen, 2001; Hilliard, 2003; Perry,1998,2003.

4 Perry, 1998; Rickford andRickford, 2000; Delpit, 2002.

5 Delpit, 1995; Ladson-Billings.1994.

RADICAL TEACHER • NUMBER 70