Journey to Transformation in Teaching and Research: Teaching for Critical Citizenship

• In Event: Taking Responsibility: Autoethnography as Reflexive Practice in Social Studies Research and Teaching

Abstract

This research effort is an autoethnography that emerged as a result of a larger qualitative multiple-case study informed by the pedagogical research tradition. As a teacher educator and researcher passionate about preparing pre-service and beginning teachers to be change-agents within the classroom, it was imperative that I was self-reflexive regarding my own methods and processes of teaching as I underwent this inquiry (Johnston, 2006). The main research source was a personal journaling effort offering reflection regarding pedagogical and curriculum choices as well as instructional practice within the pre-service teacher course and the process of pedagogical research. Since autoethnography seeks to reveal not only the self, but also the relations with others (Adams, Jones & Ellis, 2014), other research data sources include instructor feedback on course assignments, instructor class blog interactions as a part of the teacher education course, instructor lesson plans, as well as course correspondence with students via electronic mail and text message. One of the primary themes that emerged from this inquiry was the difficulty in actualizing critical pedagogy and critical citizenship theory within a teacher education program that emphasized standardization and technical skills. Professional conflict and tension existed in the social studies methods course between preparing teacher candidates with technical skills such how to write an objective and lesson plan, teaching about types of assessment, and knowledge of the various teaching models and delving into more theoretical and critical issues related to social studies (Segall, 2008). An additional theme was my adoption of an “ethic of care” pedagogy with the pre-service teachers (Noddings, 2002, 2013; Johnson, 2014). The primary purpose of this ethic of care was to provide a nurturing space in which pre-service teachers could wrestle with the process of “becoming”…becoming teachers and wrestling with critical issues that might challenge student teachers’ conceptions of teaching social studies and citizenship.

Author

• Sunny Wells, Baylor University