In this article, the author focuses on a case study of an African-American teacher's perceptions about teaching and instructional practices in an urban middle school, Bridge Middle School. He provides a counter to some negative conceptions of Black teachers in general through a focus on this teacher: the way she thinks about her roles and responsibilities as a teacher as well as her pedagogical approaches. In essence, the author considers the perceptions and instructional effectiveness of Ms. Shaw, an experienced, African-American female, social studies teacher. He demonstrates that while conventional wisdom might suggest that the mindsets, perceptions, thinking, and practices described in this article are disadvantageous or ineffective, Ms. Shaw demonstrates that this "wisdom" can actually be myopic in scope and not necessarily accurate. In his effort to debunk some commonly held notions about Black teachers, the author employs a counter-narrative analytic tool to explain some of what he learned about Ms. Shaw's work at her school. Then, he expounds upon what he means by counter-narrative. (Contains 3 figures and 2 notes.)