Academics have a responsibility to raise human consciousness and make connections to those elements of power and politics often hidden from public view, yet the strong arm of neoliberalism has tightened its grip on the structure, and scope of higher education and this includes the moral rigor of teacher education courses. Therefore, emancipatory learning spaces are critical to the development of competent and conscious educators. This article presents one example of the transformative possibilities in learning to teach that emerges from the emancipatory pedagogy of Critical Studyin’. The article includes student work from one course assignment as an example of Critical Studyin’ in action to highlight the kinds of critical knowledge students can acquire when learning to teach is situated as a morally engaged endeavor. The article concludes with implications for teaching and learning to teach in neoliberal times.
AcostaM. (2015). “No time for messin’ around!” Black educator urgency and Implications for the preparation of urban educators. Urban Education. Advanced publication online. doi:10.1177/0042085915613545
2.
AndersonJ. D. (1988). The education of Blacks in the South, 1860-1935. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.
3.
AppleM. (2006). Interrupting the right: On doing critical educational work in conservative times. In Ladson-BillingsG.TateW. F. (Eds.), Education research in the public interest: Social justice, action, and policy (pp. 27-45). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
4.
Bonila-SilvaE. (2009). Racism without racists: Color-blind racism and the persistence of racial inequality in America (3rd ed.). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
5.
Brown v. Board of Education (1954), 347 U.S. 483
6.
Cochran-SmithM. (1997). Knowledge, skills and experiences for teaching culturally diverse learners: A perspective for practicing teachers. In IrvineJ. J. (Ed.), Critical knowledge for diverse teachers and learners (pp. 27-87). Washington, DC: American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education.
7.
CrenshawK. (1989). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory and antiracist politics. University of Chicago Legal Forum, 1989, 139-167.
8.
FranklinV. P. (1984). Black self-determination: A cultural history of the faith of the fathers. Westport, CT: Lawrence Hill.
9.
GirouxH. A. (2015). Democracy in crisis, the specter of authoritarianism, and the future of higher education. Journal of Critical Scholarship in Higher Education and Student Affairs, 1(1), 101-113.
10.
GordonB. (1990). The necessity of African-American epistemology in educational theory and practice. Journal of Education, 172(3), 88-106.
11.
Hill-CollinsP. (2000). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment. New York, NY: Routledge.
12.
JamesC. L. R. (1989). The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L’Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution. New York, NY: Vintage Books.
13.
KhalifaM. (2014). Can Blacks be racists? Black-on-Black principal abuse in an urban school setting. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 28, 259-282. doi:10.1080/09518398.2014.916002
14.
KingJ. E. (1991). Dysconscious racism: Ideology, identity, and the miseducation of teachers. Journal of Negro Education, 60, 133-146.
15.
KingJ. E. (1995). Culture-centered knowledge: Black Studies, curriculum transformation, and social action. In BanksJ.BanksC. M. (Eds.), Handbook of research on multicultural education (pp. 265-290). New York, NY: Macmillan.
16.
KingJ. E. (1997). “Thank you for opening our minds”: On praxis, transmutation and Black Studies in teacher development. In HollinsE. R.KingJ. E.HaymanW. C. (Eds.), Preparing teachers for diversity (pp. 156-169). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
17.
KingJ. E. (2008). “If justice is our objective”: Diaspora literacy, heritage knowledge, and the praxis of Critical Studyin’ for human freedom. In BallA. (Ed.), With more deliberate speed: Achieving equity and excellence in education—Realizing the full potential of Brown v. Board of Education (National Society for the Study of Education 105th Yearbook, Part 2, pp. 337-360). New York, NY: Ballenger.
18.
KoontzA. (2015). The responsible methodologist: Inquiry, truth-telling, and social justice. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press.
19.
Ladson-BillingsG. (1994). The dreamkeepers: Successful teachers of African American children. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
20.
PerryT. (2003). Up from the parched earth: Toward a theory of African-American achievement. In PerryT.SteeleC.HilliardA. G. (Eds.), Young, gifted, and Black: Promoting high achievement among African-American students (pp. 1-108). Boston, MA: Beacon.
21.
RandolphA. (2013). The wrong kind of different: Challenging the meaning of diversity in American classrooms. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
22.
Siddle-WalkerV. (2000). Valued segregated schools for African American children in the South, 1935-1969: A review of common themes and characteristics. Review of Educational Research, 70, 253-285.
23.
SleeterC. E. (2012). Confronting the marginalization of culturally responsive pedagogy. Urban Education, 47, 562-584.
24.
ZeichnerK. (2010). Competition, economic rationalization, increased surveillance, and attacks on diversity: Neo-liberalism and the transformation of teacher education in the U.S. Teaching and Teacher Education, 26, 1544-1552.
