This study engaged the narratives and conversations of five white teachers in an urban school district as they explored the implications associated with seeing themselves as raced individuals. It also explored how an awareness of these narratives shaped the instructional environment created by these teachers. An important element in the analysis was the "silences," paying attention to what was not being said. Race was the absent identity category in the conversations: whites do not describe themselves as white; rather, white is the norm, the given. Data analysis suggested several implications: (1) much of teacher education considers multicultural education from a white perspective for the purpose of learning about the other; (2) a pedagogy that engages race and culture in the classroom invites difference, acknowledges difference, and creates a learning environment in which all students are encouraged to learn as a result of their difference; (3) a vital component of teacher education should be to develop educational experiences providing opportunities for future teachers to critically examine the instructional decisions that they make in their classrooms; and (4) although whites need to become cognizant of themselves as raced and specifically of their positions as white educators, they can only do so with the assistance of persons of color. (Contains 38 references.) (ND)