Taking Risks, Challenging Assumptions, and Broadening Perspectives: Building and Sustaining a Supportive Teacher-Researcher Community

• In Event: Teachers as Co-Constructors of Truth, Knowledge, and Curriculum: Exploring Three Teachers Institutes© Across the United States

Abstract

Delaware Teachers Institute (DTI) is a professional learning partnership between the University of Delaware and five New Castle County school districts who serve primarily low-income, and historically underrepresented communities. We will share insights gained during the twelve-year history of this teacher-led organization and highlight the research of a diverse group of DTI Fellows.

A founding teacher-leader will provide a detailed account of her experiences as an Institute Fellow/teacher-researcher both locally and nationally. She has taught for over thirty years and currently teaches advanced placement psychology and sociology at a science/biotechnology magnet school serving almost 1300 students in grades 6-12. Her most recent unit, “An Understanding of How Traditional and Modern Medicine Intersect,” stems from research completed in the seminar “Bringing the Amazon Home” - a two year professional learning experience resulting in curriculum units that elevate the voices of the Lenape Indian and Amazonian Maijuna indigenous communities.

In addition to highlighting her most recent DTI curriculum unit, she will provide insights into the research and curriculum writing of DTI Fellows across all grade spans. Her previous units cover a range of topics including, but not limited to: social media and censorship, affirmative action in education, a case study of the Amish rumspringa and the sociology of religion. Highlighted units from other Fellows will include “The Amazon Rainforest Measures Up” an elementary unit addressing measurement, human impact on the environment, and Delaware history standards about change over time; “Building an Inclusive Community” an elementary ELA unit with a focus on antiracism; “People and Ecosystems: A Mutual Dependency” an interdisciplinary science/ELA unit for fifth graders that draws from research in both Delaware and the Amazon.

Each of these units is an example of the ways teacher-researchers co-construct knowledge with colleagues, university content experts, and community members. Teachers Institute seminars are designed to provide opportunities for teachers to take risks, broaden their perspectives and grow a professional learning community to sustain them during challenging times. The model also provides teachers with leadership opportunities while remaining in the classroom. As schools aim to support teacher growth and learning during a time when teachers are reporting high levels of burnout, they must find ways to create supportive conditions. Our presentation will demonstrate how Delaware Teachers Institute has responded to the needs of teachers and their students. This unique seminar experience provides opportunities to integrate a broad spectrum of community voices in consequential research and curriculum development. Participants in this session will explore the many ways DTI Fellows pursue truth, develop learning communities with shared goals, and model this pursuit for their students.

Authors

• Barbara Prillaman, Red Clay Consolidated School District
  Presenting Author

• Trish Hermance, University of Delaware
  Presenting Author