Examining the Intellectual Biography of Pre-Service Teachers: Elements of "Critical" Teacher Knowledge (original) (raw)
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Guiding White pre-service and in-service teachers toward Critical Pedagogy:
Guiding White pre-service and in-service teachers toward Critical Pedagogy: Utilizing Counter-cultures in Teacher Education Brad J. Porfilio Lewis University Curry S. Malott D’Youville College This essay documents a few key examples of the critical pedagogy and curriculum that we employ to challenge pre-service and in-service teachers to consider the concrete and theoretical contexts of taking on a social-activist-teacher persona. Our vision of social justice is rooted firmly in the critical tradition, as it is anchored in excavating unjust social and economic formations that imperil the vast majority of the world’s population, while concomitantly empowering the economic elite. Not only do we believe that teacher educators must take the lead in helping their students recognize the social, political, and economic forces creating injustice in schools and in the wider society, but they must help current and future teachers develop emancipatory visions of how to develop instructional designs, collaborate with educators, and engage in activist initiatives, which have the potential to eliminate social inequalities and build institutional structures based on democracy, equity, and fairness (McLaren, 2005). Like many teacher educators, we have worked in institutions where almost 95% of the teacher education students have self-identified as “White.” Because of the difficulties of working with this nearly ubiquitous at-risk group (at risk for acting as oppressors), we focus our attention in this essay on the challenges White in-service and pre-service teachers pose to practicing critical pedagogy.
Educational Foundations, 2011
This essay documents a few key examples of the critical pedagogy and curriculum that we employ to challenge pre-service and in-service teachers to consider the concrete and theoretical contexts of taking on a socialactivist-teacher persona. Our vision of social justice is rooted firmly in the critical tradition, as it is anchored in excavating unjust social and economic formations that imperil the vast majority of the world's population, while concomitantly empowering the economic elite. Not only do we believe that teacher educators must take the lead in helping their students recognize the social, political, and economic forces creating injustice in schools and in the wider society, but they must help current and future teachers develop emancipatory visions of how to develop instructional designs, collaborate with educators, and engage in activist initiatives which have the potential to eliminate social inequalities and build institutional
Pedagogies: An International Journal, 2018
Many teacher education programs provide teachers with opportunities to read, write, and discuss critical pedagogy, with the hope that such work will allow them to develop more equitable and just teaching practices. Yet, there often remains a gap between the theoretical discussions of teaching and learning in teacher education classrooms and the pedagogical practice in those teachers' K-12 classrooms. In this study, we examine how one teacher, Gabriela, used narratives to make connections between her third-grade classroom and the critical concepts she was exploring in a teacher education course. Embedded within an ethnographic case study of an inservice teacher education program, we used a discourse analytic approach to examine both the sociocultural knowledge and the identities Gabriela constructed through narrative as she engaged with issues of language, race, and power within the course. We consider some of the affordances of narrative in this space, including how it allowed Gabriela to integrate her understandings of multiple course topics, to position herself in multiple ways as a teacher, and to disrupt her existing understandings of race and racism in the classroom. This analysis suggests that critically oriented teacher education programs might more intentionally make space for narrative to connect critical theory and pedagogical practice.
2018
More than ever, 2017 marks a social, cultural, and political moment during which the knowledges generated in curriculum studies and educational foundations are needed in our public school classrooms. Key among these knowledges is conscientization, or a critical consciousness that orients one toward action for a more just world (Freire, 1970). The work of bringing these academic perspectives to bear in public schools begins in preservice and in-service teacher education. This special issue uses empirical qualitative research methods to (a) critically examine experiences of white teachers' processes of consciousness-raising (b) document pedagogy and curriculum that has been influential with predominately white preservice teachers, and (c) advance an emergent discussion on the differently-oriented engagement and conscientization of teachers of color in both institutions serving primarily students of color and predominately white institutions. Following increasingly complex and critical orientations in curriculum studies and educational foundations, we deploy race-based critical theories including: critical White studies and whiteness) in advancing the engagement and conscientization processes of preservice and in-service teachers.
A critical pedagogy of race in teacher education: Response and responsibility
We teach in a land-grant university located in an urban setting, but it is not an urban university. Rather than reflecting the cultural and linguistic diversity of the metropolitan area and schools, students who attend the university and enroll in our courses for preservice teachers are predominantly white. This context creates a specific set of challenges related to our work as critical educators. We have found that a critical pedagogy of race with white preservice teachers needs to position them as "responsible" without necessarily positioning them to feel "guilty." While the challenges of doing this work are complex, in this chapter we share texts and pedagogies we have used to constructively address them.
Using the critical race theory methodology of counter-storytelling, the authors provide narratives of their experiences as teacher educators to consider why and how the racial power of Whiteness continues to derail teaching and learning for social justice in US teacher preparation programs, despite the democratic intentions, hard work and good will of many teacher educators. Contending that Whiteness serves as a hidden referent structuring interactions and activity within US teacher preparation programs, the authors draw on their narratives to highlight and analyze moments in time when teacher educators actively and fully participate in and enact the obstruction of social-justice-oriented educational endeavors, thus ensuring that future teachers will not be prepared to teach all students.
Journal of Urban Learning Teaching and Research, 2012
This paper responds to the call for further inquiry into the experiences of graduates of urban-focused teacher education programs. I present and analyze the experiences of Mia, a White, monolingual English female who earned licensure in secondary social studies through a graduate-level, equity-focused teacher preparation program before accepting a position at a large, traditional, diverse, underperforming, urban middle school. The paper explores how negotiating tensions in curriculum and interactions with colleagues in her school context contributes to her identity development with respect to culturally responsive, equity-oriented pedagogy.
Brazilian education activist Paulo Freire (1970) argues that to create social change, oppressed people must have critical consciousness about their conditions, and that this consciousness is developed through dialogue. He theorizes that dialogue allows for reflection and unity building, tools needed to transform society. When considering racial oppression in K-12 schools, racial minority teachers have an often-untapped insight and power to transform classrooms and schools (Kohli, 2009). Connected through a commonality of racial oppression, it is important for teachers of color to engage in cross- racial dialogues about manifestations of racial injustice in K-12 schools and to develop strategies for change. Utilizing Freire’s conceptual lens and a critical race theory (CRT) framework, this article highlights critical race dialogue about the educational experiences and observations of 12 black, Latina, and Asian American women enrolled in a teacher education program. Through cross-racial discussions, the women were able to broaden their multicultural understanding of racial oppression as well as strategize solidarity building among diverse students in urban classrooms. This study demonstrates knowledge and insights of teachers of color and highlights the importance of interracial dialogue in school contexts.