The Practices of Critically Conscious Teachers

• In Event: 35.082 - Roundtable Session 14
  In Roundtable Session: 35.082-20 - Teaching Critically

Abstract

Proposing potential for grassroots reform of schools by teachers, the researcher explores a salient component of critical consciousness: the ability for individuals to understand their own social placement based on race and economic status and to apply that understanding to their students’ social placement. To understand teachers’ awareness of and response to the phenomenon of social placement, and its relationship to schooling, the researcher conducts case studies of teachers known for success with children from historically marginalized populations. Employing interviews of participants, their students, classroom observation, and collected documents, the researcher conducts inquiry into participants’ lived experience, classroom practices, and students’ voices. These enable the researcher to excavate deeper understanding of the tensions and complexity inherent in teaching for change.

Author

• Debra Boros Erikson, Murray State University