Teacher reflection and race in cultural contexts: history, meanings, and methods in teaching

Because reflection around race in cultural contexts and diversity are seldom taught or practiced among teachers, and because an increasingly large number of students of color are not succeeding in P-12 classrooms, this article attempts to advance a concept of race reflection in cultural contexts. Several issues are considered, including (a) the necessity of race reflection in cultural contexts for both White teachers and teachers of color; (b) racial and cultural mismatches between teachers and students, which could stifle learning; and (c) the need for pedagogical tools to enhance discussions and activities around difficult topics such as race. A chart is presented as one tool for race reflective dialogue and activity in teacher education and beyond. Additionally, two methods of race reflection in cultural contexts are provided for personal and group introspection: race reflective journaling and critically engaged racial dialogue.

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TEACHER REFLECTION HAS BEEN and continues to be the focus of both theoretical writing and empirical research. A major reason for this focus is that teachers' reflective thinking could be essential in leading them into deeper understanding around areas that might otherwise be ignored, misunderstood, misrepresented, misinterpreted, or unsettled. I have come to recognize the value of reflection in my own work (e.g., McCutcheon & Milner, 2002; Milner, 2003a, 2003b). From that work, I have come to believe that there is often a void in teachers' reflective thinking where diversity is concerned. For the most part, P-12 classroom teachers have been taught to generally deliberate upon their practices in order to affect change--reflective thinking that allows them to think about what theyare doing and why they are doing it to strengthen and/or transform their practices. But reflection on diversity is seldom taught or practiced.

Reflection around race in cultural contexts should become central in reflection, expanding teachers' general reflection to more directive reflection. The notion of race in cultural contexts refers to the many educational issues associated with race--the endemic and ingrained perceptions and realities that exist in education as a consequence of one's skin color. These perceptions and realities exist in a variety of cultural contexts that range from socio-economic realities, value systems, knowledge dispositions, as well as ways of knowing, communicating, and understanding. My argument for a reflective focus on race in cultural contexts is motivated by the increasingly large numbers of White teachers in increasingly diverse schools across the United States.

I am not suggesting that White teachers cannot be effective in classrooms with diverse learners. Indeed, there is compelling research to suggest otherwise (Ladson-Billings, 1994). However, many teachers have never had significant interactions with individuals whoare racially different from them. They have never taught, gone to school, or lived in neighborhoods with people of color. My point here is that many (but not all) White teachers have adopted color-blind ideologies in a variety of teaching contexts (e.g., urban, suburban, and rural), and this thinking could be disadvantageous for learning among students of color (see Johnson, 2002; Lewis, 2001). In addition to White teacher considering race in cultural contexts, teachers of color also need to reflect about issues of race and contexts as they often operate through oppressive misconceptions where race is concerned. Regarding this issue Tatum (2001) wrote:

   In a race-conscious society, the development of
   positive sense of racial/ethnic identity not based on
   assumed superiority or inferiority is an important task
   for both White people and people of color. The development
   of this positive identity is a lifelong process
   that often requires unlearning the misinformation
   and stereotypes we have internalized not only about
   others, but also about ourselves. (p. 53)

While researchers and practitioners alike recognize the importance and the effectiveness of teacher reflection in some form, what reflection actually mean and how it is accomplished still remain vague. In this article, I discuss reflection with the goal being to explicate reflection around race in cultural contexts I begin with a historical discussion followed by general meanings of reflection, with the subsequent section advancing reflection around race in cultural contexts. I conclude with methods that could help teachers engage in this idea of reflection.

A Historical Look at Teacher Reflection

The work of Dewey (1933) has been foundational in establishing a knowledge base about reflection. Dewey argued that reflective thinking must be an educational purpose and aim in order for learning to occur. (1) In his words, reflection "emancipates us from merely impulsive and merely routine activity" (p. 17). Dewey maintained that reflection occurs when teachers experience difficult situation in practice and are charged with thinking through them. For teachers to engage in their work absent of thought would result in less than professional, intellectual, and appropriate behavior, which could lead to ineffective interactions with students. When stressing the importance of reflective thought and reflective practice in education, Dewey illuminated on nature: