PDC06: Centering Race and Racism Through Action Inquiry in Graduate Education

Session Type: Professional Development Course

Abstract

This course is designed as an interactive experience to assist experienced and new graduate-level instructors who are interested in actively addressing racism through their curriculum and teaching by integrating research-based tools and pedagogical strategies. Through presentations, hands-on demonstrations with worked tools and examples from the instructors’ research and teaching, and group activities, participants will (a) apply culturally relevant and critical race pedagogy to curriculum development, (b) consider ways of constructing assignments to foster reflection about and inquiry related to race and racism, (c) describe the epistemological traditions and methodological characteristics of action inquiry, (d) identify pedagogical approaches to teaching graduate students how to design anti-racist research projects that utilize critical theories and prioritize social change, and (e) understand equity and equity-mindedness as meaningful educational outcomes. Participants will complete a two-part activity using the Center for Urban Education’ s inquiry protocol titled “Document Analysis for Equity-Minded and Culturally Inclusive Practices.” Participants will first apply the protocol to a syllabus provided by the course instructors and then apply it to their own course syllabi. Participants will be asked to complete pre-course readings, email their selected course syllabi in advance of the course, bring two hard copies of their syllabi with them, and bring a laptop or mobile device to work on revisions of their syllabi. Participants should have taught at least one graduate-level college course as the primary instructor or as a teaching assistant. No experience with action research is required.

Sub Unit

• Professional Development and Training Committee

Instructors

• Milagros Castillo-Montoya, University of Connecticut

• Estela M. Bensimon, University of Southern California

• Erin L. Castro, University of Utah

• Alicia C. Dowd, Penn State University