By providing explicit instruction, teacher educators can play an essential role in helping teacher candidates develop as reflective antiracist educators. Using critical ethnography and case study, we examined the role of explicit instruction in helping teacher candidates develop skills in critical reflection. Findings revealed that explicit instruction was helpful in improving students' critical reflections of political and social contexts, but not historical context. This work also demonstrated how critical reflection can provide insights into teacher candidates' developing racial identities as they begin to make connections between historical and sociopolitical contexts, their identities and experiences, and equity issues in K-12 classrooms.