Teaching

I look upon teaching as a vocation, as a calling to serve others. At the university, in a school of education, this takes the form of engaging students in an examination of their beliefs and understandings about teaching, schooling, and the larger social and political orders. Because when we teach, we teach who we are, it is helpful to have some understanding of who we are and the kind of teachers we want to be. All of the varied conceptions of teaching and the curriculum embody strengths and weaknesses. I strive to engage students in exploring these strengths and weaknesses and enlarging our conceptions of self, teaching, and schooling. In exploring these issues with students, I come to see schooling, teaching, and the curriculum in renewed and enriched ways.

Courses frequently taught:

EDUC 5065: Curriculum Theories
This course is an introduction to, and general exploration of, issues in curriculum. In many ways the curriculum is the centerpiece of educational activity. It includes the formal, overt, organized bodies of knowledge as well as the more tacit impressions that students receive and create in school. The curriculum encompasses students' understandings of the social and natural worlds, the moral values taught and modeled in classrooms, and the personal dispositions encouraged by a school's structure and its teachers' instruction. In short, the curriculum includes all that students learn in schools.

Few people readily agree on what ought to be included in a school's curriculum. Some focus on "book-learning" while others emphasize experiential approaches. Some individuals believe that schools should focus on information and leave values to the family. Others insist that it is impossible to delete values from any educational setting. One way to understand the differences that exist is to look at the various stances taken. In this class we examine the ways in which distinct educational traditions (i.e. conservative, progressive, radical, and spiritual) identify what ought to be taught and, to some degree, how it ought to be taught. Hopefully, after examining the readings and engaging in discussions, each individual will come to a better understanding of the distinct conceptions of education and the curriculum, and a more articulated view of her/his own educational orientation. Much of this class is an exploration and articulation of students’ individual educational "values." This requires an understanding of the distinct viewpoints offered in the readings and a reflection on, and expression of beliefs about what ought to be taught in schools. Within each tradition I have selected readings that should provide some understanding of the basic tenets of that stance and other readings that will pursue particular issues pertinent to that tradition. We end each tradition with a reading that is less discursive and more narrative; a work of fiction or a memoir. I have found these final selections to provide rich and enjoyable bases for discussions.

EDUC 8804: Radical Educational Theories
In this class I provide both a general elaboration and an in-depth exploration of radical educational theories. During the last two decades the academy has seen an explosion of radical conceptual frameworks, empirical explorations, and turf wars within the various radical educational arenas. Neo-Marxist analyses of class domination, feminist delineations of patriarchy and gender domination, culture and race-based critiques of racism and white privilege, sexual identity explications of homophobia, and postmodern/structural examinations and exhortations have flourished and, to some degree, recently waned. On the periphery of these 'traditional' radical analyses is the emancipatory spiritual critique of schooling. This critique maintains that schools ignore key features of the human experience and as a result leave us alienated and searching for meaning. Since the amount of work is vast and the territory covered expansive we will have to approach the terrain selectively, with some care and attention. Rather than touch on each and every type of analysis, I have selected readings to introduce essential features of the radical approach to schooling and education.