Culture and teaching
Culture and teaching (CAT) engages the study of a variety of
social and cultural interactions that shape teaching and learning
in formal and informal settings. The track encourages interdisciplinarity
as a habit of mind. The cultural study of teaching foregrounds important
connections between experiences and practices in homes, communities,
schools, and classrooms. The cultural study of teaching also seeks
to understand how educators’ and learners’ identities and experiences
profoundly impact teaching, learning, and learning to teach. Scholarship
in the cultural study of teaching and learning, teacher education,
and urban education is at the cutting edge of educational research.
Faculty members in the CAT track are dedicated to issues pertaining
to equity and social justice in both research and teaching. The
track focuses on theory, practice, and the nexus of the two.
Degree program information in culture and teaching
Ph.D.: for experienced professionals
who want to develop advanced research, knowledge, and leadership
skills in their chosen field
Faculty
Timothy J. Lensmire
Tim’s teaching, research, and writing are animated by commitments
to and hopes for radical democracy. His past research focused on
the teaching of writing in schools. Drawing on Mikhail Bakhtin and
John Dewey, among others, he criticized and reconstructed traditional
and progressive conceptions of the teacher's role, student voice,
and community in the writing classroom. His current research and
writing are grounded in critical white studies and focused on an
ethnographic interview study he completed recently in a small rural
community. The goal of this work is to build descriptions of, and
theoretical insights about, the racial identities of white people,
as part of a larger pedagogical and political project concerned
with race and social change.
Bic Ngo
Bic’s research examines how and why schools and classrooms advantage
some groups over others, as well as the ways schools and classrooms
are critical sites for social and cultural transformation. She employs
ethnographic methodology and engages critical, cultural and feminist
theories to explore the implications of globalization and immigration
for teaching, learning and curriculum. Her work has explored issues
of culture and inequality in the education of Hmong American and
Lao American students and families. Currently, her research seeks
to explicate the impact of culture change on Hmong students' education,
and the implications for how we theorize immigrant identity and
anti-oppressive education.
Mistilina Sato
Misty’s research seeks to better understand the ways in which teachers,
as people and as professionals, engage in processes of developing
their practice, leadership, personal and professional identities,
and their collegial relationships and communities. The theoretical
lens she brings to her research is one of practical reasoning. Practical
reasoning recognizes the intellectual process of taking everyday
action through a process of deliberation, foregrounds the local
and timely nature of action, and emphasizes the personal identity
of the teacher. Recent studies have focused on teacher leadership
and the teacher change process, specifically in the context of science
education, National Board Certification, and everyday or formative
assessment integrated in the teachers’ instructional practice.
Thom Swiss
Thom’s writing and teaching focus on popular culture in general
and digital media, creative writing, and popular music in particular.
Drawing on research practices in cultural and media studies, he’s
interested in the contexts in which writing takes place and the
possibilities for new literacies that are emerging from new technologies.
His courses typically include texts from a range of disciplines
and perspectives. Thom joined the education faculty in 2006. Previously
he taught at the University of Iowa and as professor of mass communication
at the University of Minnesota.
Student profile
Louise Covert
I taught English/language arts for 15 years, and I earned National
Board Certification in Early Adolescent/English Language Arts in
1999. Since that time, I have worked an adjunct faculty member at
Saint Mary’s University and the coordinator for Education Minnesota’s
statewide electronic mentoring program for novice teachers. In 2004,
I decided return to graduate school at the University of Minnesota.
In the first two years of the Ph.D. program, the course work
expanded my understanding of the historical and sociological influences
on education in the United States. This deepened my interest in
learning more about teacher identity and development and communities
of practice.
The culture and teaching program’s emphasis on social justice
inspired me to learn more about critical pedagogy and cultural competency
in teaching. My research interests include teacher identity and
development, and critical white studies.
Publications
Peckover, R., Peterson, S., Christiansen, P.,
and Covert, L. (2006, Summer). Constructivist pathway to teacher
leadership. Academic Exchange Quarterly, (10) 2, 136-140.
Presentations
National Staff Development Council Annual Summer
Conference 2005 Teachers, Leadership, and Learning Session Presenter:
Connect and Support with eMentoring
New Teacher Center, University of California,
Santa Cruz Annual Conference 2004: Quality Mentoring Session Presenter:
Connect and Support with eMentoring
AERA 2004: Constructivism Research 2 Co-presenter
of paper: Facilitating Development of Constructivist Teacher Leadership:
Transforming Teacher Understanding of Self as Inquirer and Collaborator
AERA 2003: Working within Systems: Self-study
of Innovative Practice (A Dialogue). Co-presenter of paper: Self-Study:
A Conversational Path to Shared Program Accountability.
Professional organizations
Revised November 2006
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