The Teacher: Socio-historical, Cultural Contexts of Teaching
(My DREAM class to teach)
There has never been a time in the history of humans where there has not been “a teacher.” Before any formal construction of teaching, teachers have historically manifested in the form of Elders, spiritual and religious guides, nature, parents and caregivers. As teaching became a more codified profession becoming a teacher was made manifest in the mandated certification processes. What it means to be a teacher, then, has too often come down to the “methods” one is taught to use in those certification programs. When we consider why one chooses to be a teacher multiple reasons emerge, including issues of socioeconomics, job security, the desire to make a difference, and perhaps more troubling, narratives such as a desire to “save” students. Join us for a class that will examine these too often uninterrogated issues through movies/TV, texts and music.
(My DREAM class to teach)
There has never been a time in the history of humans where there has not been “a teacher.” Before any formal construction of teaching, teachers have historically manifested in the form of Elders, spiritual and religious guides, nature, parents and caregivers. As teaching became a more codified profession becoming a teacher was made manifest in the mandated certification processes. What it means to be a teacher, then, has too often come down to the “methods” one is taught to use in those certification programs. When we consider why one chooses to be a teacher multiple reasons emerge, including issues of socioeconomics, job security, the desire to make a difference, and perhaps more troubling, narratives such as a desire to “save” students. Join us for a class that will examine these too often uninterrogated issues through movies/TV, texts and music.
Below you will find a photo of each student reading out loud a book they chose from their home language. This project was a game changer - so much so that I conducted an interview study interviewing them to see what they took away from the project. I presented the findings at the Curriculum and Theorizing conference in Bergamo 2024 and am in the midst of writing this up into an article.
