Breaking the Concrete:

Professional Development that Promotes Critical

Pedagogy and Social Change

Isabel MoralesUniversity of Southern California

Education 700Dr. Gallagher

The Rose that Grew From Concrete – Tupac Amaru Shakur Did you hear about the rose that grew from a crack in the concrete? Proving nature's laws wrong it learned how to walk with out having feet. Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams, it learned to breathe fresh air. Long live the rose that grew from concrete when no one else even cared.

Why do some teachers (of low-income youth of color) fail where others succeed?

How can teachers develop effective practices, that not only allow students to see themselves as roses but also as agents for breaking the concrete?

Schooling and Democracy

•Dewey (1916)Education is about discovery and action; inquiry about the world, aimed at evaluating and reconstructing society

•Pangle & Pangle (2000): Citizenship education as the reason for founding a public education system

•A Nation at Risk (National Commission of Excellence in Education, 1983, p. 9)

Education as the foundation of “American prosperity, security, and civility”

•Common Core Standards (National Governors Association, 2010, p. 3)

Academic literacy skills as “essential to both private deliberation and responsible citizenship in a democratic republic.”

Critical Pedagogy

•Paulo Freire (1970): Education as rooted in the struggle against oppression and liberation“Praxis” Action and reflectionShared inquiry empowerment

•Gramsci (1971)Hegemony: social control, power relations, reproduction of systems that support the interests of the ruling elite

•Giroux (1988)Public schools and educated youth represent the promise of a democratic future“Education is not only about issues of work and economics, but also about questions of justice, social freedom, and the capacity for democratic agency, action, and change…” (p.15)Educators as “public intellectuals”

Sociocultural Theories of Learning

•Vygotsky (1978)Social construction of knowledgeLearning as a social process

•Lave and Wenger, 1991; Rogoff, 1990Participation in communities of practice

•Cochran-Smith & Lytle (1999)Importance of critical inquiry

Why do some teachers (of low-income youth of color) fail where others succeed?

PROCESS and PURPOSE over peopleDemystifying “good teaching”

“Rather than putting the work of highly effective urban educators on a pedestal, implying through their stories that they have some mystical gift that allows them to reach the unreachable, we must work to understand their success. This happens by examining what they do, why they do it, and how they do it (the purpose and the process).”(Duncan-Andrade, 2007)

Gangstas, Wankstas, & Ridas

• Gangstas: Dissatisfied, dislike students and community, supportive of repressive policies

• Wankstas: Talk the talk, but don’t walk the walk. (Want to educate all students, make excuses for why they cannot and detach themselves from their work.)

• Ridas: Emotionally involved, develop strong relationships with students.

• One group’s students consistently demonstrated high achievement– Traditional standards (test scores, grades, college

attendance)– Standards of critical pedagogy (critique of

structural inequality, critical reading of the word and their world, individual and collective agency for social change)

(Duncan-Andrade, 2007)

5 Pillars of Effective Practice (Ridas)

1) Critically conscious purposeWanting to change the world and seeing students as agents of change.

2) DutySense of responsibility to the students and community

3) PreparationPlanning, rethinking curriculum, seeking professional development, expanding knowledge

4) Socratic sensibilityUnderstanding that they have more to learn. Self-critique and solicit critical feedback from others.

5) TrustCommitted to building trust with students. Seeing their students as their own children, not “other people’s children” (Delpit, 1995).

(Duncan-Andrade, 2007)

Why do some teachers (of low-income youth of color) fail where others succeed?

(Maslow, 1943)

How can teachers develop effective practices, that not only allow students to see themselves as roses but also as agents for breaking the concrete?

©Association of Raza Educators

Critical Inquiry Groups as Professional Development

Shared Inquiry and Participatory Action Research

(Mirra & Morrell, 2011)

Impact of Shared Inquiry on Urban Teacher Development

(Mirra & Morrell, 2011)

• Teacher Identity– Collective identity– Working from a position of responsibility

instead of power– Creation of a professional community– Producers of new knowledge and counter-

narratives– Engagement

Impact of Shared Inquiry on Urban Teacher Development

(Mirra & Morrell, 2011)• Classroom Practice

– Youth publications– Integration of media, technology, and action

research into curriculum– Revising curriculum to incorporate

colleagues’ ideas and influence– Sharing of work at academic conferences

(AERA, DML)– Class projects bridging classroom and

community

Implications for Teacher Education

• Community-centered pedagogy for increased motivation and engagement

• Redefinition of “highly qualified”• Creation of supportive professional networks• Reclaim teaching and offer a counternarratives

to the discourse present in the media and public policy

• Expanding the learning community: more dialogue across constituencies

• Courage, vision, and agency• Create spaces for innovation

©Watts Youth Collective