Changing Someone Else’s Story: How Social Studies Teachers Transform The Discipline

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  • March 20, 2019
Creator
  • Ender, Tommy
    • Affiliation: School of Education
Abstract
  • This dissertation examines the influence of critical pedagogy in social studies. Research indicates critical pedagogy’s lack of influence on social studies teachers (Ross, 2016; Maloy & LaRoche, 2015; Evans, 2008). However, recent political events in North Carolina and the United States, as well as the long-term effects of neoliberal policies in education, have encouraged teachers to engage in pedagogical resistance. This three-article dissertation studies the pedagogical practices of current K-12 social studies teachers in North Carolina who identify themselves as critical teachers. The first article illustrates common themes found within the teachers’ pedagogies. Using narrative inquiry, I interviewed teachers at different times of the study. The findings indicate the recognition of students as knowledge holders, evoking social justice as part of the curriculum, engaging in self-reflection, the assertion of local communities into social studies, and demonstrating critical care pedagogies as contributors to the existence of critical pedagogy in social studies classrooms. Implications suggest that scholars need to reconsider the existence of critical pedagogy in social studies. The second article investigates the effects of the body and voice on critical thought in the social studies classroom. Using the sociology of the body as a theory, I discovered three manifestations through observations and interviews: the mobility of the teacher’s body, positive voices, and situating the body as a commodity. The research suggests that these three manifestations supported the development of critical conversations in social studies classrooms. The introduction of a sociological theory indicates the need for critical, interdisciplinary work in social studies research. The third article provides space for the voices of two teachers of color in the form of counter-narratives. Grounded in Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Latino Critical Theory (LatCrit), the teachers and I created counter-narratives as resistance to dominant narratives found in social studies. The counter-narratives challenge racism and other forms of prejudice. The counter-narratives also establish community and social justice as integral pedagogical components. The implication of counter-narratives suggests the need to establish new historical and contemporary chronicles within social studies. Furthermore, it suggests the need to engage with the increasing diversities of K-12 student populations in North America. While each article represents a divergent view, all three articles reconceptualize critical pedagogy as organic practices, with little influence from higher education. The research positions these teachers as organic intellectuals.
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  • In Copyright
Advisor
  • Carrillo, Juan
  • Noblit, George W.
  • Hughes, Sherick
  • Trier, James
  • Ross, E. Wayne
Degree
  • Doctor of Philosophy
Degree granting institution
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Graduate School
Graduation year
  • 2017
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