The Community as a Teacher Educator: Preparing Critically Conscious Social Studies Teacher Candidates in Detroit

Abstract

The primary purpose of this paper is to explore the use of community-based pedagogy within a social studies methods course, which can foster the interest of potential educators to teach in similar ways in their own future classrooms. Purposefully, this paper analyzes the experiences of two teacher candidates in an advanced-level PreK-8 social studies methods course as they are connected to the local Detroit community in order to demonstrate community-based pedagogy. Significantly, this form of teacher education challenges traditional academic hierarchies and uplifts the local community as an asset for empowering classrooms. Additionally, this paper examines how incorporating community-based pedagogy influenced two teacher candidates in the development of a critically conscious teaching praxis. Specifically, this paper utilizes a critical qualitative research project to better understand the opportunities and challenges of teacher candidates as they attempt to develop a critical and place-conscious social studies teaching praxis within clinical field placements. Furthermore, this paper discusses how teacher education programs can best support teacher candidates in the co-creation of community-based pedagogies for learning environments rooted in social justice.

Opening Act: Neocolonial Urban Education Reform and the Detroit Public Schools

“…Although Detroit has always had silos of freedom spaces, in the past 10 years community-led organizations have coalesced around central fronts of struggle. Economic justice, water as a human right, educational liberation, and land-based struggles have garnered the attention of a nexus of youth, students, teachers, local activists, residents, popular educators, and allies (Popielarz, 2018; We the People of Detroit Research Collective, 2016). The effects of political economic oppression have not suppressed the will to live and flourish.…”