Introduction

It is the summer of 2020 and the vision of the United States, our direction and our education is more blurry than ever. In the past 6 months COVID has run rampant through the states as has riots and the fight for social justice and equality. May 25, 2020, an African-American man, George Floyd, dies at the hands of police officers after allegedly using a counterfeit bill to pay for cigarettes. Not the first to die in police custody, but a death that would trigger a movement for social justice. For me, it once again brought into question: What is it to be minority in the United States? Living in a place you call home only to feel like an outsider? With Floyd’s death came an insurgence of rage, an awareness of blatant inequality, and for many, the realization that “we” can do better.

When I accepted the invitation to write for this book, I didn’t think I had much to offer. It was prior to the recent events described above and I wrote a dissertation 3 years ago, which I had thought, only benefited myself. It was based on the questions I had about my life experiences and I was simply curious to know if others felt the same way. Now, with the state of the union in question, it has become more apparent that minority teachers, their experience, stories and the knowledge they have to share will be vital in moving society towards the direction of progress.

My research into minority teachers began close to home. It was a personal topic: how I straddle the line of two cultures as well as its effects on me personally and professionally. Growing up, I thought culture was only about religion and ethnicity, not knowing that culture extends to nations, social groups and institutions (Culture, n.d.). Students enter the classroom with cultural baggage that affects their learning styles and behaviors. Why wouldn’t it be the same for educators? Teachers do not enter the classroom as blank slates with no past or background; they enter with their own cultural baggage. Teachers are individuals with a background, affiliations, and identities outside of the classroom. Although much research has been conducted on minority students’ culture and its influence on learning and the classroom, less research has been done on minority teachers’ culture having an influence on teaching and the classroom. In this study, I explored the role a minority teacher’s culture plays in the classroom. More specifically: How their cultural identity shaped by their background and experiences, influences their teaching in regards to classroom curriculum, environment and relationships with students?

As I delved into the reflection of my own teaching practices and the influence my culture has on my teaching, I sought to gain more insight into this phenomenon by speaking with two other minority teachers: one Hispanic teacher coming from a border town in Texas and the other, an African American woman teaching in Houston. Both had families that had lived in the U.S. for generations in contrast to mine, both held varying teaching styles, goals, and focus as their culture shaped their ideology, classroom, and relationships with students.

Minority Teachers in the United States

Although the population of public school teachers has become more diverse over the years, it is not as racially diverse as the larger population or that of students. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, in the 2017–2018 school year, 48% of students were White, 15% Black, 27% Hispanic and 5% were Asian with the number of minority students projected to increase by 2029 (2020). Unfortunately this does not mirror the demographics of teachers in the United States which showed 7% of teachers being Black, 9% Hispanic and 2% classified as Asian in comparison to 80% of the teachers being White (NCES, 2019). The benefits of having minority teachers in the classroom is becoming more apparent through research yet we still encounter a diversity gap. Such a significant gap between students and teachers can be attributed to “education requirements, low pay, unhappy workplaces, and lack of respect” (Meckler & Rabinowitz, 2019). The path from high school to teaching in the classroom weens minority students out of the process of becoming educators. Students of color are less likely to enroll in college, teacher preparation programs, take the certification exam and graduate (US Department of Education, 2016).

So what of the minority teachers currently working in schools? Since my initial investigation, there has been more research compiled regarding minority teachers and their experiences. Leah Schafer writes for the Graduate School of Education at Harvard and looks into the experiences of minority teachers, focusing her attention on Black and Latino teachers (2018). Adam Wright (2017) and Constance Lindsay (2017) conducted two separate studies correlating the positive outcome of minority students when they have teachers of the same race. These studies also focused on the African American population. One study conducted by Danielle Magaldi, Timothy Conway and Leora Trub (2018) included participants from Puerto Rican, Jamaican, African, Dominican and Black American. Within the study, they found teachers to feel overlooked and unprepared with minimal multicultural training/courses during their teacher preparation programs. When it came to looking for a South Asian perspective, particularly teachers of Pakistani origin within the United States, the research falls short.

Methodology

I was a qualitative researcher before I even knew what a doctorate was. My father worked for the airlines since I was five. This allowed us many opportunities to fly across the world. What I loved the most amongst the chaos of the airport crowds was observing people, wondering who they were and where they were going. It’s on these trips that I would learn people’s stories just by sharing an armrest. On a flight from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City, seat 32B would become more than a number but a face with a story to tell. To me, there was no other choice than to conduct a qualitative study. As explicated by Polkinghorne (2005), “qualitative research is inquiry aimed at describing and clarifying human experience as it appears in people’s lives” (p. 137). Its methods are often used to answer “the whys and hows of human behavior, opinion, and experience” (Guest et al., 2012, p. 1). Within qualitative research, the best way to conduct my study was through narrative inquiry and by telling the stories of these two teachers alongside my own.

Narrative inquiry is much more than a simple method in which researchers are “just telling stories.” “Narrative is a way of characterizing the phenomena of human experience and its study” (1990, p. 2). Clandinin and Connelly made it clear that narrative inquiry is a way of understanding experience (Clandinin, 2013). It is an approach to the study of human lives that honors and gives credence to lived experience as an important source of knowledge. Clandinin and Connelly explained, “People by nature lead storied lives and tell stories of those lives, whereas narrative researchers describe such lives, collect and tell stories of them, and write narratives of experience.” (1994, p. 2). How else would I know more about a teacher, their life and the way they teach unless I got to know them, ask questions and gain more insight into who they are personally and professionally?

With my methodology decided, I began data collection consisting of me journaling my past as well as keeping a researcher reflective journal to capture my thoughts and interactions with the students. With the basis of narrative inquiry in the telling and retelling of stories, interviews were conducted with the two participants to hear and use their stories as the main source of my data. As Seidman (2006) stated, the purpose of in-depth interviewing is not to obtain answers or evaluate but to gain an understanding of the “lived experience of other people and the meaning they make of that experience” (p. 9). Following the three-interview model adapted from Dolbeare and Schuman (Schuman, 1982), enabled the establishment of the context of the participants’ experience. Teacher backgrounds were obtained as well as their sense of ethnic culture and self-described identities (Seidman, 2006). Participants reconstructed their current experiences in the classroom making possible connections to previous stories and experiences. This process allowed participants to reflect on the meaning of their shared experiences.

With much of the data consisting of interviews with participants, a thematic and structural analysis approach was used. Prior to determining themes, interviews were coded using a clean transcript. Coding, as described by Richards and Morse (2012), is the first step to opening up meaning. “It leads you from the data to the idea, and from the idea to all the data pertaining to that idea” (p. 137). Analytical coding, coding that comes from interpretation and reflection on meaning, is a prime way of gathering categories and themes as well as the data needed to explore them (Richards, 2009, p. 103). Codes were categorized, then analyzed, and overarching themes identified.

Three teachers participated in this study: a Hispanic elementary school teacher, an African American middle school teacher, and me, an American Muslim middle school teacher. The inquiry began with a self-study to reflect on my teaching and cultural influences in the classroom. It was soon apparent that collecting narratives from other teachers of cultures differing from my own, would be beneficial to exploring the research question. Two participants were chosen based on convenience. Both participants were teachers that had been teaching for over 5 years, were minorities, and willing to share stories about themselves and to reflect on their teaching. They were also two teachers with whom I had a rapport, which facilitated establishing a comfortable interview environment.

Elena

Elena (pseudonym) was a 32-year-old Hispanic teacher who taught second grade in a suburban elementary school. Originally from a Texas border town, Elena had the opportunity to attend a college in the southeast and returned to Houston upon her college graduation. For 8 years, Elena taught at a Title I school in the same district. This was her first year “across the river” at a new elementary school located in an economically advantaged area.

Dominique

Dominique (pseudonym) was a 30-year-old African American teacher who taught U.S. history in a Houston middle school with grades seven and eight. Growing up in the Deep South (Georgia) and then moving to Texas, Dominique was southern through and through. Her school, O’Hare Middle (pseudonym) was a suburban school with approximate 1200 students. As reported in the Texas Tribune, students performed below the state average in passing TAKS scores in 2010 and teachers had less experience than the state average.

Atifa

At the time of this inquiry, I taught at the school located in Northeast Houston in the district in which I lived. Out of the 65 teachers on our campus, 54 were White making up 94.6% of the teacher population, one was African American, one Hispanic, and one was Asian (TEA website). The one Asian making up 2% of the population was me.

Findings and Discussion

As a researcher, you try not to let your own research agenda get in the way. I set out to explore how other minority teacher’s culture influenced their classroom. With my previous experience, I was curious to see if they had negative experiences as well. I was secretly hoping I was not alone in my experiences. Where I was seeking to find commonalities in our negative experiences, I actually found the beauty of being a minority teacher. Personally this study changed the lenses through which I viewed being a minority teacher. Socially, the implications of this study further justified the need for minority teachers and what districts needed to do in a time of racial inequality and social unrest. Through coding and categorizing, themes began to emerge. The two most significant themes were: (1) minority teachers as role models and (2) culturally responsive teaching.

Theme One: Minority Teachers as Role Models

Growing up as a minority, it can be difficult to figure out where you “fit in”. It’s as Dominique described as being “too Black for the White folks and too White for the Black folks.” It was hard enough trying to relate to the peers around you who were different than you, let alone trying to relate to the teachers. I can count on one hand how many minority teachers I had in public school. Through interviews with participants, I became aware that I was not the only one that felt the way I did growing up. Those emotions and insecurities growing up, led us to become the teachers we are today. Teachers that wanted to impress upon their students to accept who they are, complete with all their quirks, and go forward in life confidently.

Elena grew up with her grandmother who would “dress to the nines” and dye her hair blonde to “keep up with the Joneses” in a time and place where it wasn’t accepted to speak Spanish outside your home or share your ethnic heritage. It was a time where she felt she had to fit into White American society. Growing up bicultural and having a grandmother with this mindset, Elena often questioned her own appearance when she was younger. She recalls, “My hair was different. All of theirs was straight and thin; mine is thick and curly. They were so skinny. I felt like I was hairier too because you would see it so much easier than theirs.” With age came self-esteem and self-assurance but Elena wondered if she would have been more opinionated and confident at an earlier age if she learned to embrace her difference instead of comparing herself to others as she tried to fit in.

Now coming into a new school, Elena felt she still stood out among the staff in her appearance and the way she dressed; she felt she was “much more unique looking”. She usually comes to school in crocs, not a lot of jewelry, a silly or thought provoking shirt and her hair as she would describe it, curly and “all over the place”. When asked what she hopes students gain from her appearance and how she dressed, she hoped “that they can feel comfortable being themselves too. We like seeing who you are and enjoy being part of that.”

Surprisingly, the concept of beauty and natural hair came up with Dominique as well. She shared her thoughts on beauty. “We are so tied to these Eurocentric values and that straight hair is professional, straight hair is valued as a sign of beauty,” she offered. Dominique’s mother had been putting a perm in her hair to achieve the straight sleekness since she was 12 and Dominique has continued doing it ever since. It’s not until recently that Dominique began wearing her hair “natural”, although not without resistance and questions from others. This resistance not only came from the outside community but within her own family. Wearing her hair natural is met with mixed emotions. Her mother’s side of the family is quite supportive while her father’s side sees it as unprofessional.

Dominique recognized the power of appearance as well, especially with wearing her hair natural. She described it best by saying, “Even though you’re not intentionally trying to send a message or make a statement, [you do and you should].” She explained:

I had a student come up to me, it was not my kid and she was just like “Thank you so much for wearing your hair like that. It’s really pretty and it makes me feel like its ok for me to wear my hair like that too.”

For Dominique, it was important for Black girls to see people they interact with, particularly professional educated Black women, with natural curls especially when they are “given images that they’re not pretty or that society is not going to accept them unless they look like this.” She found it comforting to be surrounded by Black women who have natural hair and she knew the students felt the same. When asked if being a “proud Black woman” was something instilled at an early age, she responded with it being “something I grew into.”

For me, the concept of beauty tied in with being and feeling different. I knew early on that I was different than most of the kids I went to school with. I was not as skinny, as blonde and not as light skinned as they were. Much like Elena, I too felt that I had more hair on my body than my friends, when their hair was actually much lighter and less noticeable. As a young kid, particularly a young girl, you do not want to be different. You grow up with Barbies and society ingraining in you its notion of beauty. Nobody in the media looked like I did and I, much like other ethnic girls, strived to be a type of beautiful that I was not, nor ever would be.

Natural hair was something that had been an issue with me and journaled about as well. With my hair being naturally wavy, I straightened it regularly to “fit in”. As the other two teachers mentioned, embracing natural hair confidently as something beautiful became easier as I got older. I wanted to show students that even though it may appear to some as messy and “unkempt” to have my hair in frizzy curls, as Dominique mentioned in her interview, “it does not make me any less professional, beautiful or educated. It is simply how my hair grows out of my head.”

Being a role model was never more apparent to me than with my Southwest Asian students. I had Southwest Asian parents, mothers particularly, excited about me being their daughter’s teacher. They wanted their daughters to see a highly-educated woman that was similar to themselves. One parent in particular kept in contact with me regularly and would often say, “Can you tell my daughter that? She does not believe me but she’ll listen to you.” For my young Southwest Asian girls who were most often so quiet in class, I unknowingly became a role model; an example of confidence and what they could achieve.

As a nation, we must increase the minority representation within the demographics of our educators. “Many believe that minority teachers are best situated to counter negative stereotypes and to serve as role models, mentors, or cultural-translators” (Egalite & Kisida, 2015, p. 1). The teachers within this study demonstrated their ability to be the role models, mentors and cultural translators our students need. The benefits of having minority teachers are far more than we can imagine. In an article written for Educational Leadership, Mary Futrell said, “It is essential for all teachers to have the knowledge, skills, and training to successfully teach diverse student populations. But it is equally important for all students to have the opportunity to be taught by teachers who reflect their diversity (1999, p. 30)”. As I listened to the stories and responses from participants and journaled about my own experiences, Mary’s sentiment became more apparent to me. Minority teachers have something different to offer, as evidenced in participants’ natural ability to relate to and advocate for minority students.

Theme Two: Culturally Responsive Teaching

Out of the few minority teachers I had growing up, I never encountered a teacher of Southwest Asian ancestry. Of course, I had caring teachers along the way but not one who brought my culture into the classroom, let alone someone who truly understood the struggles of an immigrant child from Pakistan. The same was true for participants Dominique and Elena. Being a minority as a child was difficult, and as an adult it continued to bring hardships. On the other hand, as a teacher, being minority provided an advantage in the classroom. Along this line of thought was the most prominent theme that emerged among the three participants: culturally responsive teaching.

Geneva Gay defines culturally responsive teaching as “the cultural knowledge, prior experiences, frames of reference, and performance styles of ethnically diverse students to make learning encounters more relevant to and effective for them” (2018). In addition, culturally responsive teaching is “designed to help empower children and youth by using meaningful cultural connections…” (Vavrus, 2008). Under the umbrella of culturally responsive teaching, two sub themes arose: awareness and understanding of being minority as well as validating and empowering students.

Awareness and Understanding of What It Is to Be a Minority

Being bicultural can be a mix of any two cultures with which one identifies. Ethnically speaking, it is likely to mean having a culture at home that is most likely different than the mainstream culture in which one lives. When you grow up with a subculture, you frequently question why you are required to do certain things and others do not. Then as a young adult, there is often a tendency to “play both sides” or to create a third culture by merging the two cultures together. Although a bicultural identity was more pronounced with Dominique and myself, cultural differences between Elena’s home and that of her friends were still apparent.

Being a fourth-generation Hispanic living in El Paso, the mainstream culture of the town was blended into Elena’s family culture. However, many aspects still differed. Attending church, remained an expectation, as was participating in CCD or Confraternity of Christian Doctrine classes, something her friends didn’t have to do and she questioned often. Religiously, her parents had everything blessed, they had a crucifix up in the house and would put up a palm on Palm Sunday. Again, things her friends did not do. Her family was also more affectionate than those of her friends, offering hugs and a kiss goodnight.

Dominique referred to herself as an “Oreo,” somebody who was black on the outside but had mannerisms and “acted” white on the inside. Playing both sides, so to speak, was something with which Dominque was familiar. She was conscious of how she acted differently around her White friends versus Black friends to ensure she would be accepted by both groups. This was something she noticed in her Asian students. Dominique explained that her school had a small Asian population with the rest of the school’s population split between half Hispanic and half African American. Most of the Asian students had grown up in the surrounding neighborhood and “[were] able to float back and forth between what it means to be Asian and how you have to carry yourself, then what it means to be able to function in the school.” Finding it “weird” to watch the students’ transition among groups made Dominique recognize these students as a younger version of herself. She had to know how to function in different settings based on the culture of the students she was around. Asked if she believed “playing sides” was more specific to minority groups, she replied, “Definitely.” Dominique elaborated:

Seeing my Asian students, you know, when they’re all together, they’re “Asian” and they listen to k-pop and share stories about things their parents do to them as far as discipline or that they have to go to cultural school this weekend. But then when they get out and they go to their normal classes where they’re mixed in, just having to, I guess, assimilate…

With my campus being majority White, there were not many large pockets of other races. The students that stood out to me the most were the Southwest Asian students. Some of my students attended the same mosque as I did and it was very interesting to see them assimilate in different contexts. They abided by mainstream norms in hopes of blending in while at school and then outside of school they attended mosque and followed the Islamic culture. Watching my students brought me back to when I was in school and the struggle of making sure I fit in with mainstream culture while keeping my ethnic culture at home.

I once had twin students in my class who I suspected to be from Pakistan but through all our conversations in class about my heritage, they never brought it up. I finally had a conversation with them and mentioned they never shared they were from Pakistan. One student responded, “Eh, yeah, we don’t share that information much.” I did not react the way I should have by telling them they should not be afraid to share their heritage. I knew I was afraid too at their age; afraid of being different, scrutinized and ostracized. Truth is, there were moments even as an adult when I was scared to share my heritage because of some of the same reasons.

Validating and Empowering Students

The idea of validating and empowering students came across as one of the most important and powerful sub-themes of culturally relevant teaching among the three participants. Teacher participants mentioned celebrating and appreciating differences among students by taking an interest in who they were as individuals and ensuring differences were appreciated and embraced to empower students.

What came through most in interviews was Elena taking an interest in and learning who her students were as a whole. Teaching the second grade, Elena wanted to learn about students from the first day. In her reflection on culture she wrote, “I am very aware in particular of how unique and individual my students are and what value that brings into my classroom in terms of learning-academically, linguistically, emotionally, socially, etc.” She shared that they take time to get to know each other, their families, interests and special characteristics. One way she accomplished this was through “Student of the Week.” Giving each student a week to have the spotlight and share about themselves. Elena focused on making sure what makes a child different was seen positively, appreciated, and embraced, not just by their peers but the students themselves.

I look to find what they find special or what they think is unique and special about them and draw that out. I try to do that in the way we talk about things with myself. So, I tell them, “Oh look, I have big crazy curly hair and I should not feel weird about that.” I think that’s what I would like them to feel comfortable doing too.

Being in a school district representing so many different cultures, Dominique wanted her students to understand that she respected them and was always ready to celebrate with them. Dominique took an interest in who her students were and, much like Elena, learned about them beginning on day one. She asked them questions about their heritage, cultural traditions and life events taking place outside of school. “I want to know my kids and their cultures” she said. She had students who attended Vietnamese school on the weekends and talked to her about how much they disliked it. She also had students that participated in dragon performances for the Chinese New Year. Dominique attended Quinceañera celebrations for some of her Hispanic students and attended different churches with some of her African American students. When she had a Muslim student come in with henna on her hands, she made it a point to ask questions to learn more about her culture. Dominique loved that her students had different cultures because to her, that was what made them individuals. She let them crack jokes about their culture and have fun with it, letting them embrace it, and see that culture was part of who they were.

Being a Muslim in American schools left me feeling like I didn’t quite belong. In my classroom, I made it a point to learn about my students, where their families came from and to empower them to be themselves. Teaching World Cultures, it was easy to bring their different heritages into the classroom. We started out by creating a “selfie” that displayed students’ cultures, their interests and what made them unique. When we studied the part of the world from which their family came or students had visited, we took time to share what knowledge, pictures, and artifacts students brought to class. The biggest thing for me was recognizing where they were from and taking an interest. One time it was as simple as letting a student (Ibrahim) know on the first day of school that I was going to pronounce his name in Arabic, not knowing he was from Egypt. Never having a teacher address his culture or share similar traits, he had a big grin on his face. Sometimes that’s all it takes to build a relationship and have them invested in my class.

In addition to bringing their students’ culture into the classroom, participants recognized the need for multicultural education. As students, participants did not grow up with multicultural education in school. Even though Elena grew up in a city where minorities make up the majority of the population, the curriculum was Eurocentric with a focus on rote learning. Dominique grew up learning more about Black history at home and from books she read versus what she learned in school. Although I was Muslim, I was expected to participate in the Christmas play, make Christmas presents, and hunt for Easter eggs. Now as teachers, the three participants make conscious efforts to provide a multicultural education.

Elena understood the importance of history and multicultural education and was a proponent of history through literacy; using books to teach what she might not have time to during the regular day. When asked if this was automatically built into the curriculum, she said it was not. She included books such as Something Beautiful, where the main character found what was beautiful where she lived or One Green Apple where the main character wore a hijab. Elena also used activist books written for kids. With each book, students discussed the story, discovered and appreciated the differences of the characters and related it to themselves.

Dominique’s biggest task with the curriculum was to provide the students an opportunity to form their own opinions and realize that there was no right or wrong. She wanted to make sure her “students have an opinion and it’s not just the opinion of a textbook.” When asked how much she taught out of the textbook, her answer was simple, she did not. Dominique utilized a lot of primary sources in her teaching, providing students a chance to read different accounts of events and topics that were covered in the curriculum. When it came to teaching history, Dominique was very straightforward with her students. She shares the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of history for all ethnic groups involved. Where the curriculum and textbook left off was where Dominique filled in the gaps with resources and class discussion.

Tied to culturally responsive teaching is the idea of cultural sensitivity. Whether it be unknowingly or not, participants reported there being a lack of cultural sensitivity among staff members. With the increase in globalization, trainings and workshops on cultural sensitivity and cultural awareness have become the new ‘must’ for major corporations and businesses (Sifter, 2013). It should be no different in education. How can we expect the future generation to invest in their country if they are being met with degradation and exclusion beginning in grade school?

The lack of cultural sensitivity was more obvious with some than others at Elena’s school. Elena was the type of teacher who wanted as much diversity in her classroom as possible. She loved looking at the roster in the beginning of the year and seeing which kids would walk in the door the first day. Reflecting on students that other teachers would consider troublesome or different, Elena said, “I want those kids. I like those kids.” There was a student in first grade from India who wore a turban on his head, since he was of the Sikh faith. Having traveled to India years prior and loving the culture, Elena excitedly wondered if she would have him in class. As she shared her roster with other teachers, she shared her excitement aloud. When another teacher didn’t know what the Sikh faith was, Andrea shared her knowledge and let her know it was the boy who wore a turban on his head. Andrea shared,

The other teacher said, “Oh that one kid that wears a towel on his head?” [Elena laughs and shakes her head at me] The other teacher goes, “I think I have the kid with the towel.” I said “He’s Sikh, yes but you should call it a wrap or if it’s a turban, that’s appropriate. They [Google] said turban so ok you can call him the boy with the turban. Do not say towel.”

As Elena proceeded to tell her how certain ways the turban was wrapped meant different things, the other teacher simply passed it off, appearing to not care to learn more about the culture of her future student.

Dominique shared a story about a White coworker who once said, “I do not see race. I had a Black nanny growing up,” as though that fact counteracted the things she said and did in her classroom. Dominique described how, with good intentions, the coworker showed her students documentaries such as the one on Emmett Till (14-year-old African American boy lynched in 1955 after being falsely accused of flirting with a White woman) because, as she explained it, “They need to know this.” Reflecting on her coworkers’ wanting to show the video in class, Dominique says she did not consider the fact that the Black Lives Matter movement was at its height with police brutality on the news daily. Although Till’s story was important, explained Dominique, her coworker did not take into account the school’s demographics or that it might hit home for her students, possibly causing a stir of emotions.

My school was located in a predominantly White, Christian area and the staff reflected the same demographics. Last summer I was asked to lead a professional development session. Based on my interest, a slightly changing demographic, and noticing a need, I suggested that I lead a session on culturally responsive teaching and multicultural education. The table of teachers, all White, looked at me in silence. As much as I would have liked to think that we progressed to be able to discuss matters of race and ethnicity in the classroom, it still seemed to be taboo; something teachers still feared to discuss. By the looks on everyone’s faces, it was clear that I needed a new topic. When I changed the subject of my session, there was much more praise and acceptance of the new idea.

As we ended the 2019–2020 school year remotely, those sentiments still held true. At our last staff meeting of the year, we discussed the uncertainty of the upcoming school year and how the school district would be planning to tackle going to school in the midst of COVID. Nothing was mentioned about race riots and how our country was in shambles and hurting. When I asked if there was going to be any direction on multicultural education, professional development or addressing the race inequality, there was a quick “no” and change of topic.

Conclusion and Implication

Often, discussions on race, diversity and multiculturalism are sprinkled throughout a preservice teacher’s coursework but “teachers continue to exit their teacher preparation programs not prepared to effectively teach all students” (Hayes & Juarez, 2012, p. 3). Although unclear whether minority teachers are naturally inclined to be culturally responsive teachers, the participants within this study appeared to be aware of culturally responsive pedagogy and its implementation in the classroom. As shared by Geneva Gay (2000), for teachers to successfully teach all students, not just those in the mainstream, it is important for teachers to have the knowledge, skills and dispositions to effectively implement culturally responsive pedagogy.

I began this chapter by asking what it was to be minority in the United States. More specifically I wanted to go back to my research and look at the experiences of being a minority teacher and its effects on the classroom. Being a Pakistani Muslim teacher allowed me to share my culture and experiences with my students but also opened me up to scrutiny. It was the scrutiny that caused me to shy away from being the teacher I naturally was and should continue to be.

Through the research process, the benefits of having minority teachers in the classroom became obvious as did the need for minority teachers in the classroom, and this is a point that should be debated in future studies. Although, the most significant finding from the research was personal: the realization that being a minority teacher would allow for negative experiences but if the minority teacher is open to it, it could lead to something more positive and monumental for the students.