Preparing teachers to provide an equitable and socially just education has become a focus for many teacher preparation programs across the country. Yet, relatively little research attention has been given to the role of mentor teachers--the people who student teachers identify as most influential in their learning to teach--in this work. This…

Contemporary activists and scholars have framed how Black males are faced with constant policing and killing of Black bodies by White police officers (Coates, 2015) and how Black boys are being sent to punishment rooms in urban schools (Ferguson, 2000). Therefore it is not surprising that teaching in our politically and racially charged times can…