DePaul Teaching and Learning Conference 2022

Zoom Link: https://depaul.zoom.us/j/94220142175?pwd=aUlvN1BSOEw0VkVyZ1o1L0pQOThFUT09
Feedback Link: bit.ly/22tlconsessioneval

Professors of teacher education employ self-study research to improve their pedagogy and better align their teaching with the values and methods they espouse to their preservice teacher candidates. In this session, we will share our experience employing self-study research to improve our teaching practices. We will describe our integration of self-study with the transformational approaches of education theorists Paolo Freire, John Dewey, and Daisaku Ikeda to enact complex and engaging learning activities. This work includes dialogic practices that flatten hierarchies between teacher and student and empower students to be responsible for their own learning. Participants will discuss how they can adopt and implement self-study methodology to benefit their classroom practices. We will discuss the creation of critical dialogue groups with colleagues in order to reflect on pedagogical methods in the classroom. These practices align with principles of abolitionist teachings, which Love (2019) argues, requires educators to be familiar with the historical and contextual role of education as a tool used to foster and maintain White Supremacy, hegemony, and dominant group ideologies that oppress marginalized groups and people. For that reason, the implementation of the self-study methodology equips educators with the tools and practices that focus on reflection and how their teaching methods empower student learning, growth, and reflection. Moreover, the self-study methodology provides educators with the opportunity to (re)evaluate the utility of their pedagogy in preparing and teaching students to think critically, while also supporting both Love’s call for abolitionist teaching and Freire’s argument for an anti-banking approach to education.