Main Description: In Search of Wholeness: African American Teachers and their Culturally Specific Classroom Practices is a theoretical and practice-oriented treatment of how culture and race influence African American teachers. This collection of essays, edited by Jacqueline Jordan Irvine, assumes that teachers cannot become fully functional persons and competent professionals if their cultural selves remain denied, hidden, and unexplored. Part one reviews the literature related to teachers’ race and culture. Part two includes research studies about teachers confronting issues of culture and race in their personal and professional lives. The final chapter focuses on the responses of three of the teachers whose stories are portrayed in the book. In addition to the compelling case studies, other topics explored include: multicultural professional development for African American teachers, African American teachers’ perceptions of their professional roles and practices, a comparison of effective black and white teachers of African American students, the development of teacher efficacy of an African American middle school teacher, the professional development journey of an effective African American elementary school teacher, seizing hope through culturally responsive praxis, collective stories on culturally specific pedagogy. In Search of Wholeness is an indispensable and groundbreaking collection that administrators, students, and educators of all ages will not want to be without.

Contents:

Foreword—James W. Fraser

Introduction: The Common Experience—Jacqueline Jordan Irvine

Part I: The Salience of Race and Culture on Teachers and Teaching: Research and Theory

Multicultural Professional Development for African American Teachers: The Role of Process-oriented Models—Gretchen McAllister Black Teachers’ Perceptions of their Professional Roles and Practices—Franita Ware Does Race Matter?: A Comparison of Effective Black and White Teachers of African American Students—Patsy Cooper

Part II: The Stories of Culturally Responsive Teachers

The Development of Teacher Efficacy Beliefs: A Case Study of an African American Middle School Teacher—Gloria Harper Lee The Influence of Professional Development on a Teacher’s Changing Praxis: The Journey of an African American Teacher—Kim Archung Chasing Hope through Culturally Responsive Praxis: One Master Teacher and her African American Eighth Grade Readers—Maria Leonora L. Karunungan African American Teachers’ Culturally Specific Pedagogy: The Collective Stories—Jacqueline Jordan Irvine

Responses from the Teachers: Comments from Beverly Cockerham, Vivian Stephens, and Pat White