Teaching Religion as a Part of the Social Studies: Teacher Subjectivity, School Structures, and Superstructures

• In Event: Crown Plaza Roundtable Session 11
  In Roundtable Session: Religion, Identity, and Schooling

Abstract

In this paper, I explore two questions related to the teaching of religions as a part of the secondary social studies classroom: 1) how do the subjectivities of a teacher contribute to the way he or she teaches about religion as a part of the social studies? And 2) what broader forces, both in the school setting in particular and society at large, influence teachers’ pedagogical and curricular choices around this topic? This paper is styled as a qualitative study, using both interviews with, and classroom observations of, experienced secondary social studies teachers at three sites in the suburbs of a major metropolitan area.

Author

• John P. Shekitka, Manhattanville College