Teaching outside one's race: the story of an Oakland teacher

Radical Teacher, Summer, 2004 by Bree Picower

Carrie's classroom was truly a unique place. From floor to ceiling, student artwork depicting the Middle Passage, lynching, the African continent, and more covered every available spot on the wall. Desks piled high with books, notebooks, atlases, thesauruses, markers, and other resources were pushed to the perimeter of the room and all work took place on the huge rug of the United States in the center of the room. Carrie and her students would be sprawled barefoot on the rug, hard at work, while R&B, gospel, or African music played on the boom box in the corner. I was always struck by how independent her students were. They didn't come running over for attention or approval like many children would. They just worked on their own or with friends, approaching Carrie for assistance when needed. Teacher-led lessons usually centered around the overhead projector and often involved call and response or group recitation. The kids were always working on long performance pieces on African or Mexican history (Carrie had one Mexican student) that they performed throughout the state. Carrie always incorporated the cultural history of whoever was in her class, whether they were African American, Mexican, or Cambodian. I shared my observations with her, and Carrie and I continued to develop what I now consider to be one of the most valuable relationships of my life.

Carrie's approach to teaching is closely aligned with the definition that Ladson-Billings uses to describe a culturally relevant teacher. She sees teaching as an art and believes "that all of their students can succeed rather than that failure is inevitable for some" (p.25). Her special education inclusion student, Malik (ii), who had been labeled "uneducable," was expected to achieve at the same level as the other students and was given the support needed to be successful.

Ladson-Billings claims that "Such teachers can also be identified by the ways in which they structure their social interactions: Their relationships with students are fluid and equitable and extend beyond the classroom" (p.25). Because Carrie has taught at the school for thirty years, she has taught the parents of most of her students. She often said, "See, you're just like your mama was!" and knows this to be true. These deep and long standing relationships with her students' families allows her to educate the whole family because she still sees their parents as learners. Parents often spend hours in the classroom, grappling with the same issues that the class is learning. The classroom itself is an extension of the children's families. At Prescott, it was expected that teachers would stay with their students for more than one grade. They believed that the splitting up of children and teachers every year mirrored the practice of splitting up African American families under slavery and therefore they made every attempt to keep classes together for as long as possible. Most teachers kept their classroom for two or three years, but Carrie moves with her students from first grade through graduation.