Pedagogical Negotiations and Authentic Intellectual Work: A Phenomenological Examination of High School Teachers’ Experiences

Abstract

This article focuses on the following questions: 1) How do secondary social studies teachers working in schools of color experience pedagogical negotiations when trying to teach students thoughtful, critically informed citizenship and government and school accountability mandates? and 2) How does teaching with lessons grounded in the principles of authentic intellectual work (AIW) affect this negotiation experience? We employed a phenomenological framework as the methodological basis for eliciting two classroom teachers’ experiences, both of whom have advanced degrees in social studies education and several years of teaching experience in schools of color and of poverty. The findings show that prior to the incorporation of lessons based on the principles of authentic intellectual work, these teachers’ negotiation experiences had strong negatively affective dimensions based on a zero-sum pedagogical conceptualization of curriculum. Following the introduction of lessons based on AIW, these negatively affective dimensions began to recede from their experiences and were replaced by more positive ones. Given that classroom teachers are the ultimate arbiters of curriculum in their classrooms, this research has implications for improving the experiences of secondary social studies teachers working in schools of color.

High School World History Teachers’ Experiences: Learning to use Authentic Intellectual Work in Schools of Color

“…It expands on the work done by John Saye and associates which explores substantively the extent to which AIW fails to pervade the social studies classroom (Saye & SSIRC, 2013;SSIRC, 2010) but which examines only briefly some of the reasons why classroom teachers may choose not to adopt the AIW framework (Brush & Saye, 2004). It adds to my previous studies (Brkich & Washington, 2011) on classroom teachers' negotiations of whether to adopt the framework or not in their classroom, but adds a substantive dimension focusing on teachers' experiences as teachers in schools of color. By viewing their lived experiences through an existentialist's lens and analyzing these experiences through a framework of hermeneutic phenomenology, framing the essence of my coresearchers' experience broadens, deepens, and complicates our understanding of the reasons for which the AIW framework may falter at the classroom door.…”

“…As mentioned in the findings, these are: (a) balancing process learning and world history content; (b) the crystallization of professional identity; and (c) positioning toward educational theory. The first essential element, balancing process learning and world history content, represents an ongoing struggle in which high school social studies teachers engage, particularly when the stresses of standardized measures of achievement are added (Brkich & Washington, 2011). Adding to this that scholars have for some time explored the role the culture wars have played in shaping the ways classroom teachers select and balance social studies content and instructional methods (e.g., Nash, Crabtree, & Dunn, 2000), classroom teachers such as the ones in this study may feel themselves pulled in multiple directions.…”

“…Mike and Sam, for example, felt the framework challenged them positively to produce their highest quality work, and that by requiring them to exercise themselves professionally, it valued them as professionals. Contrarily, by the very language the AIW framework uses—classifying some approaches as authentic and others as inauthentic, with the associated moralizing connotation—risks demeaning the work of teachers in schools of color who do not meet its lofty and sometimes-seen-as-unobtainable standards (Brkich & Washington, 2011). Jake's case is most telling, having experienced learning to use the AIW framework as an ad hominem attack on his eleven years of experience.…”

“…Building on existing professional relationships developed throughout the course of another research study (Brkich & Washington, 2011), I elected to continue my research at Thomas Jefferson High School (TJHS, a pseudonym). TJHS is located in a college town in the Southeastern United States, the population of which is in excess of 100,000 yearlong residents.…”

“…Because of the study's specificity, it leaves open numerous opportunities to widen the research focus. Previously published phenomenological research (Brkich & Washington, 2011) examines how government and economics teachers in schools of color experienced using authentic intellectual work in their classrooms. While the research argues that AIW presents promise for teachers in schools of color, particularly relating to teacher burnout prevention and increased levels of student participation, the study's sample was small and its contributions are limited at best.…”