“There Was Complete Silence”: Reflections on Teacher Preparation for Social Justice Education in a Predominantly White Community

Abstract

This reflective narrative explores two university professors and one preservice teacher’s attempts to teach for social justice through justice-oriented children’s literature in an introductory level education course. Situated in a predominantly White context, the teacher educators reflect on their experiences piloting Book to Art, an afterschool book club that encourages preservice teachers to develop their equity literacy in the context of interactive read alouds with justice-oriented children’s literature books. Grace, the pre-service teacher, considers her role in designing and implementing her lesson, as well as the challenges she experienced educating young children about segregation and racism using Jacqueline Woodson’s The Other Side. This article contributes to a growing body of literature that illustrates how teacher educators can facilitate the critical consciousness and social justice praxis of White pre-service teachers who will likely go on to teach in mostly White communities.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Katie Ginn, Anna Sinclair, and Dr. Ruth Wharton-McDonald for serving as critical friends in this project.