Critical Pedagogy

As a genre, science fiction is uniquely suited for highlighting and modeling the basic tenets of critical pedagogy, that branch of educational philosophy and theory devoted equally to 1) exposing the hidden power structures embedded in educational practice and 2) articulating equitable and sustainable alternatives. The science fiction novum – that is, the technological or scientific newness found within the text – serves as a catalyst not only within the textual universe but also, potentially, within the universe of the reader. New questions arise. Previously hidden beliefs come to light. Tacit assumptions are exposed. The unfamiliar nova of science-fiction can lead to new interrogations of our own all-too familiar surroundings, causing us to see our previously unquestioned worlds in a new way. These new understandings are at the heart of critical pedagogy. The learning spaces within science fiction texts can expose the fault lines within the educational structures of the real world. Questions about what it means to be human, about the proper limits of technological power, or about the relationships and obligations of one species to another have profound implications for 21st century educators and learners, particularly those who are interested in creating just and equitable learning spaces. Learning Space: Exploring Critical Pedagogy through Science Fiction draws on popular science fiction stories to provide current and future educators with the language, concepts, vocabulary, and practices to cast a critical lens upon their own learning spaces and their own pedagogical practices. For example, a critical examination of the way that Yoda trains Luke Skywalker in The Empire Strikes Back reveals a great deal about the insidious nature of deficit thinking, assuming that students learn best when they “empty their minds” and remain “passive.” The assumed hierarchical power structure between teacher and student, and the assumed relationship between learners and the knowledge with which they are supposed to be filled – all of these are called into question when viewed through a critical lens. The more we recognize the injustice in Yoda’s pedagogy, the more we might begin to see it in our own. Similarly, Isaac Asimov’s classic Foundation trilogy imagines a world in which mathematical modeling and statistical computation are used not only to predict what people might do but instead to determine what they should do. This kind of algorithmic determinism is unfortunately common in contemporary education, and yet far too few educators and learners recognize just how much of their own agency has been given over to the machines. By highlighting the algorithmic inequities in the world of Asimov’s text, we begin to recognize similar inequities at play in our own world. Ultimately, this book uses science fiction to highlight educational inequities in such wide-ranging topics as standard English, literary canons, machine learning, notions of academic dishonesty, epistemicide, inequitable school discipline, and more. More importantly, however, it provides a framework for moving forward, giving current and future educators the critical knowledge and skills both to recognize pedagogical injustice and to create viable, just, and sustainable alternatives.

The purpose of Pedagogy of Humanization: Preparing Teachers for Culturally Sustaining Classrooms is to build a critical mass of educators who know how to employ the principles of critical pedagogy in elementary classrooms. This includes attention to the various knowledge, skills, and dispositions required of critical pedagogues in their curricula, instruction, assessment, classroom environment, and relationships. From Critical Race Theory (CRT) to restorative justice-oriented classroom management, the theoretical is made practical. Moreover, the structure of the book follows the curriculum of a traditional teacher education program, making it complementary to any teacher education course. The Pedagogy of Humanization is the first book to bring together the practice (how) and theory (what and why) of inclusive and asset-based teaching. In this book, a group of teacher-educators across disciplines explore their personal and professional identities to reveal the potential for applying each tenet of culturally relevant pedagogy in their respective fields. Filled with anecdotes, exercises, user-friendly theories and examples, readers will learn how teachers can humanize themselves to have the capacity to be effective teachers of children who have been dehumanized and underserved by traditional teaching and schooling. Pre-service teachers will read this book so that they can connect the material they study in teacher education courses to the daily work of being an educator who aims to be justice-oriented. However, this is not a “foolproof” guide or “how-to” manual that could be completed without direct support from mentors and colleagues. Instead, readers will practice the sort of engagement in individual and community growth that ignites the possibility of teaching as a force for social change. In many ways, chapters of the text could be used through a flipped classroom approach whereby faculty invert the typical cycle of content acquisition and application. The book will prove to be a valuable resource as a teaching text in classrooms devoted to critical pedagogy, Critical Race Theory, social justice, and other topics necessary to produce teachers who are prepared to maximize their effectiveness in educating today’s students.

How do Paulo Freire's ideas echo across time and contexts? What does the dialogical nature of text mean for critical pedagogy today? Inspired by Paulo Freire, this text utilizes a dialogical framework, inviting the reader into a deeper conceptual and contextual consciousness through the use of many voices. The core of this book has been stored away for several years waiting for loving students of Freire to bring it to life. The original group of lectures is a collection of speeches from keynote panelists given at a Critical Pedagogy conference in 2015 hosted by the Paulo Freire Democratic Project, Attallah College of Educational Studies at Chapman University in Orange, California. Over 200 people attended the conference coming from all parts of the world. Special guest speakers included Dr. Nita Anamaria Freire from Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso (Paulo Freire’s wife), Dr. Antonia Darder from Loyola Marymount University, Dr. Donaldo Macedo from University of Massachusetts, Dr. Peter McLaren and Dr. Tom Wilson from Chapman University. A highlight of the event was the rededication of the Paulo Freire Critical Pedagogy Archives housed in the university’s Leatherby Libraries. These archives hold Paulo’s personal notebook of study, his spectacles, instructional activity cards, and love notes to Nita. The collection also comprises original curriculum developed by Joe Kincheloe, protest posters from all over the world from Peter McLaren, paper mache puppets and curriculum developed by Alma Flor Ada and newspaper clippings and correspondences of Henry Giroux. Freirean Echoes acts as both an archive housing the writings of these and other scholars and activists for posterity. and as a living collection, allowing for the author voices to be in dialogue with each other and with the reader. This collective “talking text” echoes, reverberates, and amplifies critical Freirean ideas, thereby inviting the reader to extend Freirean thought into their lived experiences.Perfect for courses such as: Special Topics on Emerging Issues in Sociology of Education | Introduction to Educational Theory | Politics and Education and Special Topics in Comparative Education | Pedagogies of Social Change | Foundations: The Dialectics of the Global and the Local | Social Construction of Difference | Voice, Diversity, Equity and Social Justice | Introduction to Critical Pedagogy

Anticipating Education is an interdisciplinary collection of Britzman’s previously published and unpublished papers that examines the dilemmas created by anticipating education, provoked when teachers, students, and professors encounter the unknown while trying to know emotional situations affecting their waiting, wanting, and wishing for teaching and learning. Anticipation has a particular flavor in scenes of education and not only since schooling presents again the mise-en-scène of childhood; anticipation also signifies the estranged temporality of anxiety, phantasies, and defense that compose and decompose hopes for transforming knowledge, sociality, and subjectivity in group life. This book is composed of Britzman’s well regarded and highly cited conceptual contributions to thinking broadly on topics of intersubjectivity and pedagogy at the university and schools; the reception of difficult knowledge as unresolved social conflicts in pedagogical thought; and the significance of psychoanalysis with pedagogy. Four themes address the anxieties of teaching and learning: phantasies of education; difficult knowledge; transforming subjects; and, psychoanalysis with education.Anticipating Education is required reading for every newly-minted faculty member. The wisdom provided in this volume will prove to be invaluable to your future career.Perfect for courses such as: Foundations of Education | Theories of Teaching and Learning | Special Topics | Advanced Curriculum Theory | Philosophy of Education | Social Thought and Education | Studies of Language, Culture and Teaching | Child and Adolescent Development