What I now know: a Black male educator’s story on success

ABSTRACT

Black males leave the teaching profession higher than any other demographic. Additionally, there is a paucity of literature detailing what it will take for schools to retain and develop Black teachers according to Afrocentric epistemologies. Using Teacher Life Stories and Psychology of Black Success to ground the research, I explore my journey to success as a former elementary music teacher in an urban school educating high populations of Black and Brown students labeled incompetent. Findings from a 9-month autoethnographic study support the creation of a new critical autoethnographic (m)ode of research to story and analyze teachers’ positioned perspectives, (re)frame research and practice by attending to what is critical to researcher and participants through analysis of in-class interactions, and agentively (re)position lived experiences within broader historical and political contexts. If successful, critical autoethnographic (m)odes will foster much-needed wellbeing paths for writing and righting successful careers of teachers of color in education.

KEYWORDS:

• autoethnography
• Black
• life stories
• success
• teacher education
• psychology

Acknowledgement

The author expresses gratitude to Dr. Rebecca Marchand of Boston Conservatory at Berklee, and Dr. Travis Stimeling of West Virginia University, for advice and reviews of previous manuscripts.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.