Christian Z. Goering

Robots Teaching Other Little Robots: Neoliberalism, CCSS, and Teacher Professionalism

The publication of A Nation at Risk (ANAR) in 1983 tilted an already shifting paradigm regarding the purpose of a public education in the United States toward one that is based on a line of reasoning that assumes: (1) education should serve the primarily economic function of preparing students for the workforce; (2) public schools in the United States are failing to produce the educational success that is imperative for national economic success; and (3) schools must be held solely accountable for producing academic outcomes as measured by externally administered tests (Mehta 2013a). A national narrative that echoes these assumptions has opened the door to modern education reforms that seek to inculcate neoliberal ideology and its attendant corporate cultural values of commercialization, privatization and deregulation into the public school system (Sloan 2008). Meanwhile, federal educational policy under No Child Left Behind (NCLB), which had already arguably eliminated the traditional American loosely coupled school system (Fuhrman 1999, 2001; Rowan 2006), has further stabilized a fertile market for private interests with Race to the Top (RTTT) by ensuring continued demand for products related to high stakes accountability. The implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) by forty-four states has further tightened the bonds between educational policy makers at the highest levels with practitioners in the classroom by establishing a common set of standards through which the aforementioned federal mandates can be operationalized (Endacott and Goering 2014, 89–92). Unlike many earlier policy reform efforts, the proponents of this market-based and economically focused vision of schooling have managed to dramatically change the technical The Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, 37:414–437, 2015 Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 1071-4413 print=1556-3022 online DOI: 10.1080/10714413.2015.1091258

Teachers' Views of the Common Core State Standards and Its Implementation.

Common Core State Standards are embroiled in controversy and politics. The need to continue to study the many facets of educational changes remains critical, especially from the perspective of the teachers experiencing such changes firsthand. Existing surveys of teacher perceptions regarding the Common Core State Standards have focused primarily on teacher awareness, preparedness and opinions regarding the quality of the Common Core State Standards and curricular alignment. This survey study addressed teachers’ views and support towards the Common Core State Standards and its implementation, their anticipated effects, and how its operation has affected their teaching, their anticipated effects, and their thoughts to leave the profession prematurely. Comparisons were made between teacher groups based on grade-level taught and years of experience. Overall, teachers had a positive attitude towards the Common Core State Standards and its implementation. Attitudes tended to be more negative as grade-level taught increased and were significantly less favorable for those with thoughts of leaving the profession early; responses varied among teachers with differing lengths of experience.

Playback and Feedback: Revelations of an “Encoding, Decoding” Analysis of Popular Songs Used to Teach English in China

Abstract In 2009 Rupke and Blank noted that the Chinese students in their study sang American songs that the researchers had never heard. This perceived dissonance could have a multitude of causes, but the authors of this article turned their attention to the curriculum used for teaching English in China to further understand the popularity and persistence of some American songs in China. Drawing on literature from teaching the discipline and language of English through the use of popular music, the literature on teaching English in China, and Stuart Halls seminal “Encoding and Decoding,” the authors examined both popular American music and American music utilized in the Chinese curriculum through the lens of cultural studies and their unique experiences teaching English. Data were varied, but all songs examined fell into Halls “negotiated code,” offering potential and limits for “communicative exchanges” between cultures. Recommendations offered include paying more careful attention to the selection process for curricular materials.

Introduction: Remixing Teaching through Music

We—Lindy and Chris—met following a presentation that Lindy gave at the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) convention in 2012. As many good conversations at conferences do, ours led to an idea of future collaboration. We ultimately decided to propose a one-day workshop on the varying uses of music in the teaching of English.

Socratic Circles in World History: Reflections on a Year in Dialogue.

ABSTRACT This article examines and offers insights to a year of Socratic circles in the context of a world history classroom. Grounding this practice in relevant research before offering examples from the classroom and providing advice to practitioners, this discussion strategy offers an antidote to the often divisive and destructive examples of interaction in our society, and is a salve to the paucity of true dialogue available to students in the context of a school day. Students benefited by asking better questions, using evidence to support their opinions and arguments, reading more carefully and with a greater sense of purpose, and connecting the past to the present, ultimately gaining perspective on the interplay between ancient times and today.

Editors’ introduction: On the promise and possibilities of arts integration in education

Arts integration has the capacity to transform education by nurturing students’ creativity and critical thinking. The current status of education in the United States (US) is stuck in a reductive, deficit-model paradigm that is frankly, not good for anyone – students, teachers, or the general public. Within the last several decades in the US, reform efforts, driven by privatization and commodification of public education, have compromised teaching and teacher education (2005; Allington, 2004; Altwerger, 2005; Bracey, 2001; Buras, 2014; Coles, 2003; Garan, 2004; Schneider, 2014, 2015; Shannon, 2003), influencing and controlling the types of instruction received by public school children, especially impoverished children. Unfortunately, this is not only a US problem as the same forces – rooted in neoliberalism – sweeping the states are prevalent throughout the world, often referred to as the Global Education Reform Movement (Sahlberg, 2006). Neoliberalism is an economic theory that emphasizes making economic gains despite the costs, involves ruthless competition, and is constructed within a market-driven mentality that negates ethical considerations (Giroux, 2011, 2014). Viewing education through a lens of economics has a way of filtering out meaningful activities deemed superfluous; art often finds itself on the chopping block. Art can make learning and just about anything more beautiful, memorable, meaningful, and fun. Arts integration – briefly, the educational approach of accessing curricular and art goals by having students create through an art form – positions students differently in their learning, moving from variations of passivity in school to being active, in charge of connecting content and skills in meaningful, evocative, and profound ways. Since neither of us began our teaching careers using arts integration techniques, we offer our individual stories to provide a sense of the journey and how we arrived at the proverbial studio. While Margaret-Mary began teaching in the early 1980s and Chris in 2000, neither of us was required to enrol in an arts course as part of their preparation as secondary English teachers. As recently as 2014, just 34 states in the US require arts requirements for their teachers (Arts Education Partnership, 2014). Given the benefits to arts integration as a pedagogical approach, both of us advocate rethinking teacher education in the US by situating arts-integrated learning directly into teacher education programming at all levels.

Using Socratic Circles to Engage English Language Learners in Historical Inquiry and Discussion

This chapter describes how Socratic circles, a dialogic tool that is shown to increase learning talk, can engage English learners (ELs) in historical discussion following inquiry methods of learning in the social studies. Drawing on the related literature, we provide educators with a background about cultural competency and positionalities, historical inquiry, and Socratic circles. Evidence-based examples and strategies are then provided for using historical inquiry and Socratic circles in the social studies classroom to teach important yet difficult concepts (e.g., democracy, liberty) and connect them to content-based curricula. We conclude by connecting dialogue to the C3 frameworks to foster ELs’ civic participation, involvement, and agency and discuss implications and applications for teacher education.

Advocacy, Humanity, and Hope in the Face of an Education World Gone Wrong

Abstract If given the choice, would we, as teacher educators, enter the profession again? Would we embark on a career that is faced with an antagonistic national context that has permeated nearly every aspect of a teacher’s existence – from the media to the teachers’ lounge, from the lack of support from parents to the lack of respect from students, from the misguided policies and accountability demands to the blanket, uncreative curriculum? How can we, as teacher educators who are doubting our own place in the field, reasonably expect to make a difference in the careers of our graduates? This chapter explores how and why the preparation of English Language Arts teachers must focus on three tenets in the present context for education: Advocacy, Humanity, and Hope. By examining different approaches that both authors have used with teacher candidates through multiple vignettes, we will create a deeper understanding of both the realities our new teachers face and the ways in which they can efficaciously face those realities and help reclaim the profession of teaching. Our work will be grounded in a blended framework of critical pedagogy and progressivism and thus examine these vignettes through that collective lens.

It’s Like When the New Stuff we Read Mixes with the Old and Becomes One

Recontextualized: A Framework for Teaching English with Music shares numerous reasons to support the use of music in the English classroom. Using music from popular culture values students’ life experiences and lends itself to in-depth discussions of the socio-political context sometimes hidden within texts. This chapter provides insight on how hip-hop music was created as a resistant and defiant expression of thought, and presents critical views of mainstream opinions.

On the frontline of CCSS implementation: A national study of factors influencing teachers’ perceptions of teaching conditions and job satisfaction

Abstract The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) represent an unprecedented change in American education. As an increasingly integral part of the school accountability movement under No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top, responsibility for implementing CCSS rests largely with school leadership. One important factor in the success or failure of these efforts is the perceptions and experiences of the teachers who will ultimately employ CCSS in the classroom. This survey study examined teachers’ views of CCSS implementation, teaching conditions, collaboration, and job satisfaction. Factor analysis revealed that the openness and activeness of school leadership had a significant effect on teachers’ perceptions of implementation, suggesting that attention to these aspects of leadership is an important consideration during transition to CCSS.