Year
2004
Season
Spring
Paper Type
Doctoral Dissertation
College
College of Education and Human Services
Degree Name
Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership (EdD)
Department
Education
First Advisor
Dr. Elinor Scheirer
Second Advisor
Dr. Charles Galloway
Third Advisor
Dr. G. Pritchy Smith
Fourth Advisor
Dr. David Fenner
Department Chair
Dr. Joyce T. Jones
College Dean
Dr. Katherine M. Kasten
Abstract
This qualitative study examined how experienced African American teachers in predominantly African American schools perceived and conceptualized their worklives as classroom teachers, and, how they viewed their personal and professional identities in relationship to their lives as teachers. In depth interviews of 10 experienced African American teachers provided the data for the study, analyzed through the interpretative use of appropriate literature screens. The teachers understood their experience of teacher worklife and their lives as human beings through three distinct dimensions of personal and professional identity: the self, including perceptions of race and gender; the interactive dimension within the educational environment; and transcendent notions of calling and personal spirituality within the global dimension.
This study underscored how deeply the notion of race is woven into the societal fabric of America. These teachers described an educational environment beset with the same ills as the larger society in terms of cross-racial interaction and relationships among teachers and between teachers and students. In the end, the teachers' collective voice is fundamentally optimistic and resilient, as they looked towards the future with a sense of hope born of a shared and deeply-rooted personal spirituality.
Suggested Citation
Larsen, Kristen Marinus III, "Across the Divide: The Working Lives of African American Teachers in the Classroom" (2004). UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 321.
https://digitalcommons.unf.edu/etd/321