A teacher’s lived experiences are important in shaping her subsequent practices in the classroom. Teachers must look at the connections between those experiences, their identities, and classroom practice. The foundation for my research is built on history’s record of education’s effects on Black people. My own identities, the tenets of culturally relevant pedagogy, my efforts to attain classroom praxis, and an autoethnographic account of my lived experiences and how they have shaped my pedagogy, lend structure to both the project and this narrative. This research offers a critical reflection from a Black feminist perspective as a prelude to creating a classroom where students are taught using culturally relevant pedagogical strategies.
By incorporating each of these elements, I have been able to identify myself as a woman, a feminist, and a scholar. Within this frame, I am free to explore, to learn, and to grow with the students in my care. Together, we are able to learn from one another (as advocated by culturally relevant pedagogy) and to examine ourselves and our experiences critically (as advocated by Black Feminist Theory). Additionally, this offers me both an opportunity and an incentive to examine myself – my identities, my classroom praxis, and the confluence of those present elements with my lived experiences in what is termed Reflexive Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (RCRP): truly, it offers me an opportunity to achieve a better teaching identity and a better self.