Doing the Work: The Narrative of a PhD Student Putting Theory into Practice while Teaching

• In Event: Bridging Preservice and Inservice Teacher Perspectives

Abstract

The American Educational Studies Association 2024 Call for Participation & Proposals is a call to action, an invitation to engage in meaningful conversations that ultimately produce action. This paper contributes to the conversation by sharing the experience of a PhD student who also works as a veteran teacher and academic interventionist. This narrative focuses specifically on the ways this student took the aspects of theory that he discussed in his coursework and applied them in the urban classrooms where he worked. However, he also discusses how his urban classroom experiences over the last seventeen years substantiated thoughtful dialogues with his classmates as facilitated by his professors. It was in this PhD program where he learned the language for his professional education experiences. And it was in his role as an educator in middle schools, high schools, and a major research university where he made sure to do the work.

Author

• Antwuan Williams, Wayne State University