Americans Who Tell the Truth: Bridging Critical Pedagogy From University to Schools

• In Event: Student and Scholar Activism: Reciprocal Mentoring for Social Justice

Abstract

This paper details the enactment of critical pedagogy through a graduate-level course centering on the Americans Who Tell the Truth project. Artist Robert Shetterly has painted the portraits of over 250 Americans who exemplify courageous citizenship (www.americanswhotellthetruth.org) and included related materials and curriculum on social justice topics.

The paper (1) Describes the creation of a critical pedagogy community which mirrors the academic content through class activities and structures; (2) Analyzes the ways in which different modes of expression of critical pedagogy were used to deepen the discourse and disrupt typical hierarchies of power and privilege; (3) Explores the enactment of multiple models of apprenticeship and collaboration in designing curriculum and teaching methods.

Students enrolled in a university course on Critical Pedagogy worked with the faculty member, the artist himself and with one another to develop and enact curriculum and teaching related to specific portraits and curricular areas. Critical pedagogy is characterized by its emphasis on disrupting hierarchies of power, privilege and voice and challenging single narratives and narrow definitions of “truth” and history. As Ayers and Ayers (2014) state: “…in the best classrooms, students and teachers explore a kind of transactional negotiated memory, a way of viewing the past not only with multiple lenses but of allowing the present to engage with, debate with, and feel responsibility for the past and the future.” (88). This paper describes how these critical pedagogy principles were manifested in the coursework and class interactions and then were used to design and enact similar goals of disruption and challenge with elementary and secondary students.

The class itself modeled a critical pedagogy approach, with particular attention to: shared leadership, student voice, reciprocal mentoring, and disruptions of single stories and totalizing narratives which deny the complexities of social positioning and change. There were clear connections between what students were studying, how they took leadership roles in the university classroom and how they designed their work with teachers and school-aged learners.
Student projects were conducted across a variety of age-groups and settings, and addressed various social justice issues. A project for second graders addressed issues of food justice through literacy, vocabulary development, research, discussion, and daily lessons tied to the stories and messages of activists working for social change; another project” was co-planned with a 4th grade enrichment facilitator and utilized visual teaching strategies to build on students’ prior knowledge about Native Americans while challenging possible assumptions; the third project was designed for high-school age students and asked them to interrogate whose stories they have learned, to critically examine how history is constructed, and to develop a deeper understanding of the complexities of oppression and prejudice.

Kincheloe (2008) says that “In critical pedagogy, the theoretical domain always interacts with the lived domain, producing a synergy that elevates both scholarship and transformative action” (12). This paper exemplifies the powerful possibilities that occur when student and scholar activism are rooted in specific contexts and link academic knowledge to activist-oriented research.

Authors

• Mara Sapon-Shevin, Syracuse University

• Christine Morgan, Syracuse University

• Eryka Murphey, Syracuse University

• Theresa Helyn Neddo, Syracuse University