Silencing and Legitimizing Dominant Ideologies in Literacy

In this qualitative study, we engage in a critical discourse analysis of the counternarratives of a Black female preservice teacher (Paula) to understand how she experienced planning and teaching a literacy lesson, using a picture book about a Black girl's experience of racism, in her white mentor teacher's classroom. Drawing upon counternarratives and theories of curriculum and dominant ideologies, we explore how racetalk was silenced and dominant ideologies were legitimized. We also discuss how Paula learned from and resisted lessons in silencing racetalk from her mentor teacher. Lastly, we explore intersections of race, gender, and agency in student teaching. We conclude with implications that include exploring how race, gender, and power dynamics influence literacy in internship classrooms; accounting for students' intersectional identities in theories of teacher development; dispelling myths about racetalk; informing mentor teachers about the competencies that student teachers bring; and recognizing racial literacies as an asset.