"This dissertation uses the theoretical framework of Critical Whiteness Studies (CWS) across three discrete articles to examine teaching and teacher education. CWS offers a mechanism to highlight and critique the ways Whiteness operates within teaching and teacher education. Across the pieces, I argue that Whiteness is both pervasive and shifting as it takes shape in many different forms to help maintain power. In the first article, I examine how a White, female elementary student teacher's beliefs about race emerge through her personal experiences, professional experiences, and in discussing her pedagogical choices. While I argue that Ms. B's beliefs about race are problematic, this article is really a story of missed opportunities. Despite the best of intentions on all of our parts, I will show how each of us---Ms. B, her teacher preparation program, and me as a researcher---had and missed chances to do better when it came to her racial beliefs. The second article follows Ms. B (who becomes Mrs. B) into her first year of teaching. The purpose of this article is to highlight the ways Whiteness prevents teachers like Mrs. B from engaging in the issue of race in meaningful ways. Findings demonstrate that Mrs. B attempts to teach about race in critical ways, but falls short. She also perceives barriers to teaching about race in critical ways, such as prohibitive district stances and a lack of time. In this article, we see the ways Whiteness is perpetuated throughout Mrs. B's practice through the uncritical ways she teaches about race and her inability to overcome the barriers she perceives as preventing her from doing this work. The final article is unique in that it is not an empirical study, but rather a fictionalization grounded in tenets of CWS that draw upon my own experiences working with "Beckys" within teacher education. This story is written in the form of a monologue that describes what happens when a teacher educator crosses a "Becky" (a White woman who weaponizes her racial identity) in their teaching---how Becky's visceral response to being confronting about her racist ideas results in tangible and negative consequences for the teacher educator. While I draw upon my own experiences to write this fictionalized monologue, it is purposefully written in a way that the reader could (hopefully) be able to identify with the protagonist as they struggle with the ramifications of confronting a Becky about race through the monologue. By using a shared framework of Critical Whiteness Studies across the three distinct pieces of this dissertation, I am able to interrogate the ways Whiteness operates in similar, yet different ways in both teaching and teacher education. Across the pieces, I argue that, without sustained and directed focus, Whiteness will continue to morph and maintain power, despite anyone's best intentions."--Pages ii-iii.
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