This book explores how educators working in urban schools serving predominantly Black youth make sense of their work in a time of intense change and competing political pressures. Grounded in cultural psychology and based on a three-year mixed-methods study of 85 teachers across four schools, the book shows how teachers rely on the stories and beliefs they’ve developed over time to handle the shifting demands of their jobs. These chapters explore teachers’ search for joy and meaning after the “dual pandemics" of racist police violence and COVID-19. They cover the emotional cost of trying to live up to idealized versions of teaching, the central role that a caring identity plays in sustaining teachers' work, the lure—and limits—of “woke cred,” the ways they understand their students and classroom practices, the challenges they face when responding to young people’s adversity, their desire to be identity-shapers of their students, and more. The result is a nuanced portrait of educators who are constantly rethinking their roles in ways the general public rarely sees or understands.
