Despite the expressed need for bicultural teachers, research on teacher attrition has demonstrated that a growing number of bicultural educators are leaving the classroom. Bicultural male teachers, in particular, experience high rates of teacher attrition. Schools, unfortunately, are contexts in which Latino male teachers are constantly experiencing dilemmas related specifically to both their gendered and racialized positionality as males of color. Grounded in Antonia Darder’s critical bicultural framework, this autoethnographic study explored the complex factors that drive Latino male teachers out of the classroom, through an in-depth and grounded examination of a Latino male teacher who left the classroom. The study contributes to the conversation on bicultural teacher attrition, gendered relations, and their relationship to both teacher preparation and the education of bicultural students. Furthermore, the study explored how racism, sexism, classism, trauma, and heteronormativity mitigate the experiences of Latino male teachers, and how these manifest themselves through the hidden curriculum, asymmetrical relations of power, gendered essentialism, policing of behavior, the culture of silence, conditions of isolation, and disabling cultural response patterns. The implications of such factors in the life of one Latino male teacher are carefully analyzed and discussed, in an effort to consider their significance in rethinking teacher preparation programs, with respect to the needs of Latino males. Moreover, the study offers an engagement with critical autoethnography as a significant tool of reflection in the educational process and emancipatory process of bicultural teachers.

As Latino English language learners (ELL) flood national classrooms their non-Latino, English-speaking teachers are faced with meeting the academic needs of limited English proficient students who hail from cultures unlike their own. This study investigated actions taken by teams of non-Latino, English-speaking educators of Latino (ELL) in order to be effective teachers of this minority population. Two premises prompted the search for what enabled non-Latino English speakers to be effective teachers of this minority population. The supposition was that the non-Latino teacher of ELLs must have: (a) familiarity with the language of the minority; and (b) a high affinity for Latino cultures to affect learning. Support for neither premise was found in this research. However, a mediating factor emerged showing that teams who were successful in moving toward instructional effectiveness for their ELLs incorporated other professionals in the building. These additional team members spoke the minority languages and were familiar with the minority cultures. Two avenues of action found through rigorous readings was the focus of this research. Each was found to be beneficial in moving a collaborative team toward instructional effectiveness for their Latino ELLs. The first is for the team embedded within the bounds of a Professional Learning Community (PLC) to team well adhering to the principles of the PLC. The second is to build an environment of trust within the team. Implications for future research could include a comparison of PLC element and trust facet strength in a multicultural setting as opposed to a single minority.