Relationships in Personalized Learning: Teacher, Student, and Family

Rich, personalized relationships thrived among the teacher, student, and family in the segregated South, and several researchers have provided in-depth and insightful accounts into this historical phenomenon (Edwards, 1993a; Irvine & Irvine, 1983; Lightfoot, 1978; Siddle-Walker, 1996). By documenting African American teachers’ voices at the Caswell County Training School, Siddle-Walker (1996) paints a vivid picture of traits, policies, and support that allowed the personal, intellectual, and social development of students. For example, teachers were active community members as well as powerful and positive role models. Teachers taught, but this activity involved much more than instructing students in a given subject. Faculty members served as advisers to extracurricular clubs, spent funds for transporting students to after-school competitions, and opened their homes to students. Teachers also transcended the boundaries of their profession by visiting their pupils’ homes and churches, and many taught Sunday school at churches where their students attended. These visits blurred the lines of authority between teacher, parent, and preacher and functioned as a community-sanctioned safety net. Billingsley (1968) and Belt-Beyan (2004) reiterated this point. According to Billingsley (1968), before desegregation, the African American community was an institution to which parents and children specifically looked for strength, hope, and security: