Meditations, Currere, and Transforming the Inner Landscape in Teacher Education

• In Event: The Teaching of Daoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism: Mindful Meditation Through the Lens of Culture and Curriculum

Abstract

This presentation explores the intersections of using currere and Daoist/Buddhist mindful meditations in teacher education, from both a teacher educator’s and a teacher’s perspectives. Mindful meditations come from Buddhism and Daoism in Eastern philosophy and religion while currere is an approach of working from within in American curriculum studies that draws upon phenomenology and analytic psychology. While sharing the emphases on students’ personal growth, they also have different angles: Meditation is based on a sense of interconnectedness while currere focuses on subjectivity. The combination of both approaches in teacher education enhances each other, and this presentation explores the relationships between the two for renewing integrative pedagogy in teacher education.

Authors

• Hongyu Wang, Oklahoma State University - Tulsa

• Jo Flory, Oklahoma State University