Place-Based Professional Learning at a Historic Site: Museums as Sites of Potential Racial Literacy Development

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 3:20 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 4
  In Roundtable Session: Critical Approaches to Curriculum in History Education (Table 2)

Abstract

This qualitative study using ethnographic methods focuses on teachers’ experiences with racial literacy development at the George Washington Teacher Institute, a historic site-based week-long professional development program committed to critically teaching enslavement. Preliminary analysis of observation data of program activities and teacher (n=12; 9 identifying as white; 3 identifying as Black) surveys and interviews suggest that 1) teachers displayed Critical Humility and Critical Reflection in varying degrees throughout the program; and 2) there were racialized differences in teachers’ experiences of the program. Implications for museum educators and social studies researchers are discussed.

Author

• Rachael E. Rudis, Michigan State University