“I Can Get at These Kids”: A Narrative Study Exploring the Reasons Black Men Teach

Abstract

In response to the crisis affecting black boys in public schools (skewed numbers of black boys out of school on suspension and referred for special education services, as well as low high school graduation rates), the researcher sought to amplify the voices of black male teachers who serve as walking counter-narratives for the boys they teach and with whom they interact on a daily basis (Lynn, 2006). This narrative study focuses on the interviews of four black male K-12 teachers, born between 1972 and 1987. The researcher listened to these teachers’ stories, observed selectivities, and silences (Casey, 1993), and looked for the patterns that arose among the educational, experiential, and cultural experiences that these teachers have had. Four themes emerged that addressed the influences on these men’s decisions to become K-12 teachers: the separate becomes connected, and the self is transformed; Black woman as inspiration; it takes a village; and transforming society by fighting students.I walk into the facility, and there was a little kid. He walks up to me and he, like he hits me on my arm, and he said, you know, uh, “Come and help me with my homework.” The kid doesn’t know me; I don’t know who this kid is and uh … I walk over, and I begin to help the kid with his homework, and when I started doing that, it was like, almost like immediately I knew for the first time this was the thing, this was the area I really wanted to be a part of … uhm … words can’t really explain it, but it was like something within myself I really knew this was the thing I’ve been missing. You know, this was the part that’s been missing for a while. This was the avenue that I been searching for. –Mr. Matthew Jamison

Citation

Nicole Hicks Tafari, D. (2013), "“I Can Get at These Kids”: A Narrative Study Exploring the Reasons Black Men Teach", Lewis, C.W. and Toldson, I.A. (Ed.) Black Male Teachers (Advances in Race and Ethnicity in Education, Vol. 1), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 93-106. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2051-2317(2013)0000001011