A Phenomenology: Exploring African American Men's Characterizations of Their K-12 Teaching and Learning Experiences in a Large Urban School District

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the urban public school learning experiences of African American men as they recall them and to advance situational pedagogies that are effective at meeting the needs of African American male students. The researcher also drew upon the teacher preparation experiences of current urban public school teachers to determine the extent to which they felt their teacher preparation programs prepared them to address the pedagogical, social, and emotional needs of African American male students. The primary research question of this phenomenological study was, how do African American men who attended a large urban public school system on the east coast characterize their learning experiences? To further guide the research, the researcher posed the following questions: 1. How do African American men characterize their experience as male urban public school students? 2. What do African American men identify as the most critical qualities of urban teachers? 3. How do urban teachers describe their preparation for teaching and learning practices with African American male students? To explore these experiences, the researcher employed a qualitative phenomenological approach to inquiry. The researcher also employed a pragmatic interpretive framework, one focused on praxis; the application of what became known through data collection and interpretive analysis. Four African American men and six teachers of African American male students agreed to either a one-on-one semi-structured interview or to a focus group discussion. Through the interview process, the researcher gathered data rich enough to provide thick descriptions of the K-12 learning experiences of African American men and the teacher preparation experiences of current teachers of African American male students as they recalled them. Once the data were collected and analyzed, the researcher presented findings, results, conclusions, and recommendations.Ed.D., Educational Leadership and Management -- Drexel University, 201