Protests, Voting Rights & A New National Anthem: Engaging from In-Between Teacher Educator and High School Teacher
Abstract
Through this presentation I will share an example from my Professional Development School (PDS) classroom that illuminates a form of “teaching courageously in-between,” which “thrives on passionate involvement, brave commitment and unfaltering advocacy for disenfranchised, underrepresented, and invisible groups and individuals,” while cultivating hope for better lives in diverse schools, families, and communities (He et al, 2013, p. 133). I will discuss a series of lessons that transpired through (1) intentionally connecting theory to practice, (2) engaging carefully with both high school students and teacher candidates in the PDS classroom, and (3) thoughtfully designing learning experiences that explore the political and social impact of Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson, Missouri on conceptions of what it means to be global citizens. I hope to challenge teacher educators, practicing teachers and school leaders to re-imagine the possibilities associated with educational space and position by shattering preconceived notions about what it means to engage as a professional educator. I will attempt to illustrate how and why in-between spaces for teaching and learning “help create equitable and just opportunities” and inspire curricular and learning environments that “bring out the best potential in diverse schools, communities and societies” (Carlyle, 2011, p. 122).
Carlyle, S. E. J. (2011). Inquiry into lived experience: Cross-cultural, in-between, and exiled perspectives. Curriculum Inquiry, 41(1), 114-125.
He, M. F., Haynes, A., Janis, S. E., Ward, C., Pantin, M. M., & Mikell, C. (2013). Teaching courageously in-between contested race, gender, class, and power in the U. S. South. In W.M. Reynolds (Ed.), A curriculum of place: Understandings emerging through the Southern mist. New York: Peter Lang.
Presentation Description
This presentation will illustrate one teacher educator’s experience serving as a high school teacher in a Professional Development School (PDS). Through an example from a PDS classroom, the complexities of navigating overlapping spaces that demand a full awareness of both teacher candidates’ understanding of content pedagogy and high school students’ social and political literacy will be discussed. Narrative inquiry is used to write into these lived experiences that reveal the contradictory and contested nature of engaging with and participating in separate spaces that position an educator in-between teacher educator and high school teacher.
Keywords
teacher education, teaching, learning, curriculum, social studies education, challenges, possibilities, narrative inquiry, lived experience, professional development
Location
Magnolia Room B
Publication Type and Release Option
Presentation (Open Access)
Recommended Citation
Janis, Sonia, "Protests, Voting Rights & A New National Anthem: Engaging from In-Between Teacher Educator and High School Teacher" (2015). Curriculum Studies Summer Collaborative. 14.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/cssc/2015/2015/14
Protests, Voting Rights & A New National Anthem: Engaging from In-Between Teacher Educator and High School Teacher
Magnolia Room B
Through this presentation I will share an example from my Professional Development School (PDS) classroom that illuminates a form of “teaching courageously in-between,” which “thrives on passionate involvement, brave commitment and unfaltering advocacy for disenfranchised, underrepresented, and invisible groups and individuals,” while cultivating hope for better lives in diverse schools, families, and communities (He et al, 2013, p. 133). I will discuss a series of lessons that transpired through (1) intentionally connecting theory to practice, (2) engaging carefully with both high school students and teacher candidates in the PDS classroom, and (3) thoughtfully designing learning experiences that explore the political and social impact of Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson, Missouri on conceptions of what it means to be global citizens. I hope to challenge teacher educators, practicing teachers and school leaders to re-imagine the possibilities associated with educational space and position by shattering preconceived notions about what it means to engage as a professional educator. I will attempt to illustrate how and why in-between spaces for teaching and learning “help create equitable and just opportunities” and inspire curricular and learning environments that “bring out the best potential in diverse schools, communities and societies” (Carlyle, 2011, p. 122).
Carlyle, S. E. J. (2011). Inquiry into lived experience: Cross-cultural, in-between, and exiled perspectives. Curriculum Inquiry, 41(1), 114-125.
He, M. F., Haynes, A., Janis, S. E., Ward, C., Pantin, M. M., & Mikell, C. (2013). Teaching courageously in-between contested race, gender, class, and power in the U. S. South. In W.M. Reynolds (Ed.), A curriculum of place: Understandings emerging through the Southern mist. New York: Peter Lang.
