"Not a Solo Journey": Co-Planning to Catalyze Teacher Agency for Designing Equity-Centered Biology Units

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session Ten
  In Roundtable Session: Together We Rise: Transforming Teacher Education Through Collaborative and Critical Inquiry (Table 16)

Abstract

This qualitative case study follows the experiences of two Teachers of Color who engaged as a teacher-design-team (TDT) to co-plan equity-centered curriculum units for their biology course. In these units, they strived to situate student learning in relevant phenomena and issues of social justice. Teachers perceived their TDT work as bolstering opportunities to center equity in their curriculum as well as their commitment to teaching. Teachers perceived that trusting relationships, shared vision for the curriculum, shared language and professional learning experiences around an equity framework, and time spent on unit mapping supported TDT success. This case study illustrates factors perceived as supporting successful TDT work and extends the literature on TDTs into science teachers’ efforts to center equity in curricula.

Author

• Monica Sircar, Stanford University
  Presenting Author