Through Our Eyes: The Lived Experiences of Black Male Early Childhood Teachers

Abstract

The experiences of Black male early childhood teachers are the beginning to changing the narrative of them only being seen as disciplinarians. It’s important we capture their voices so they can share their authentic experiences on becoming teachers. In this qualitative study, I used the portraiture methodology (Lightfoot, 2005) to co-create three counternarratives (Delgado, 2005) with Black male early childhood teachers. Additionally, I interviewed three school principals to capture their thoughts on the impact of Black male teachers. I also conducted two classroom observations to see interactions between the Black male teachers and their students. Lastly, two Black male teachers used a visual data protocol to capture how students view their Black male teachers. The findings from this study showed that Black male teachers have a true love for their children and community, principals also shared the importance of having Black male teachers, and children expressed their sincere connectedness to their Black male teachers.