Unsettling Beliefs

Teaching Theory To Teachers

Edited by:
Josh Diem, University of Miami
Robert J. Helfenbein, Indiana University

A volume in the series: International Social Studies Forum: The Series. Editor(s): Cathy A. R. Brant, Rowan University.

Published 2008

This volume explores issues involved with teaching social theory to preservice teachers pursuing degrees through teacher education programs and experienced teachers and administrators pursuing graduate degrees. The contributors detail their experiences teaching theoretical perspectives regarding race, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, power, and the construction of schools as an institution of the state. The editors and contributors hope to offer the beginning of a colleagial dialogue within the field of education (both inside and outside the academy) about the relevance and pedagogical issues associated with such material. Additionally, the contributors offer advice on missteps to avoid and provide success stories that give hope to those who also wish to engage in the practice of teaching theory to teachers.

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments. Foreword, Steve Tozer. Introduction, Josh Diem and Robert J. Helfenbein. Unsettling Beliefs: A Cultural Studies Approach to Teacher Education, Robert J. Helfenbein. Why Teaching Critical Social Theory as “Theory” Might Not Be Enough, Avner Segall. Teaching Theory Through Performance: Role Playing Cultural Capital in the Classroom, Beth Hatt. A Story of “Accountable” Talk: Unsettling the Normalization of a Culture of Performance at Márquez Elementary, William R. Black. Critical Pedagogy as Alternative Crisis Curriculum, William Gaudelli. Thinking Beyond Achievement in Education: Teaching Gender through a Radical Feminist Framework, Robert K. Pleasants and Matthew B. Ezzell. “But That Stuff is in the Past”: Teaching Whiteness and Challenging Meritocracy in an Undergraduate Teacher Education Course, Josh Diem. Positioning Culture in the Curriculum: A Freirian Orientation Toward the “Thinking that Gets Thought” in Teacher Education, Erik Malewski. Challenging Patriotism and Nationalism through Teacher Education: The Implications of Preservice Teachers’ Understandings of Human Rights, John Myers. Critical Thinking, Social Justice, and the Role of Philosophy, Kathy Hytten. Beyond Utopianism and Pessimism: Teaching “Prophetic Pragmatism’s” Tragic Sense, Kip Kline. Crying Out Without Voice: The Silence of Teachers, Richard Conley. Teaching Theory as “Other” to White Urban Practitioners: Mining and Priming Freirean Critical Pedagogy in Resistant Bodies, Sherick A. Hughes. Social Justice Activist Teaching in the University Classroom, Silvia Cristina Bettez. About the Contributors.

REVIEWS
"In sum, Diem and Helfenbeim’s book makes an important contribution to the field of education by offering a theoretically rich compilation of insights from innovative and reflective educators who are committed to issues of equality, justice and social change. The book tackles a number of highly relevant and complex pedagogical issues that many preservice educators encounter in the classroom. The book is accessible and practical for novice instructors as well as advanced educators." Dr. Carolyn Vander Schee Northern Illinois University in Education Review (Read full review)