Intern Teachers Using <i>Currere</i>

Leslie L. Palmer

Intern Teachers
Using Currere

Discovering Education as a River

PETER LANG

New York • Bern • Berlin

Brussels • Vienna • Oxford • Warsaw

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Palmer, Leslie L., author.
Title: Intern teachers using currere: discovering education as a river / Leslie L. Palmer.
Description: New York: Peter Lang, 2019.
Series: Complicated conversation: a book series of curriculum studies; vol. 55 | ISSN 1534-2816
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019023903 | ISBN 978-1-4331-7138-3 (hardback: alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-4331-7139-0 (ebook pdf) | ISBN 978-1-4331-7140-6 (epub) ISBN 978-1-4331-7141-3 (mobi)
Subjects: LCSH: Interns (Education)—Training of. | Education—Curricula. Curriculum change. | Critical pedagogy. | Pinar, William F.
Classification: LCC LB2806 .P346 2019 | DDC LB2806 .P346 2019
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019023903
DOI 10.3726/b15829

Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek. Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the “Deutsche Nationalbibliografie”; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de/.

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Reprint or reproduction, even partially, in all forms such as microfilm, xerography, microfiche, microcard, and offset strictly prohibited.

About the author

Leslie L. Palmer’s experience includes teaching elementary, middle, and high school, as well as eight years as Director of Student Teaching for the St. Mary’s College Master of Arts in Teaching program. She holds a PhD from the University of Maryland, College Park, in teaching and learning, policy, and leadership.

About the book

Intern Teachers Using Currere: Discovering Education as a River is about a new way of grounding students in teacher preparation programs that allows them to access their previous experiences and concepts of education as the basis for developing their individual understandings of curriculum in the fullness of its meaning. Currere is shown as a remarkable process that can have a tremendously positive influence on a teacher’s developing identity, her understanding of lived curriculum, and her emerging recognition of pedagogy.

The metaphor of a river is used to open up the phenomenon of using Currere to understand curriculum through various sources that reveal relationships with language, dwelling, identity, and hermeneutic phenomenology. The initial themes that arise include moments, in-between spaces, abundance, resilience, and the flow of lived experience. Further conversation and interpretation reveal deeper pedagogical themes, including navigating unexpected experiences; the difficulties of finding authenticity in a mentor’s classroom; the constant state of being watched, observed, and evaluated; exploring the teacher-self; and discovering the curriculum and pedagogy of lived experience.

Based on these emergent themes, this book explores ways in which the lived experience of using Currere to understand curriculum has pedagogical implications for teacher practice and teacher preparation. It suggests that opportunities for intern teachers to use the Currere process can help them discover for themselves what it is to be a teacher; develop orientations of stewardship toward professional practice; deepen their understandings of curriculum in its abundance; and create a lived curriculum of pedagogical care in their classrooms for the children whom they have committed to serve.

Advance Praise for

Intern Teachers Using Currere

“Leslie L. Palmer’s phenomenological study of intern teachers using Currere is an extraordinary description of a teacher educator’s effort to bring deep insight and understanding to the learning of aspiring teachers. Palmer is a gifted writer, and this is a compelling story of her work and their learning to teach.’”

—David Imig, Senior Fellow, Carnegie Foundation, Stanford; President Emeritus, American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education; Professor of the Practice, University of Maryland

“With the metaphorical force and tranquility of a river, you will be brought into this phenomenological journey with intern teachers using Currere to understand curriculum. The author is a creative navigator through the various tributaries of this metaphorical river who helps return her fellow travelers to the wellspring of their existence as teachers. This book is a must read for all teacher educators and teachers in preparation, as well as teachers in the field. Prepare for a phenomenal ride to what calls YOU to teach!”

—Francine Hultgren, Professor and Chair, Department of Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership, University of Maryland

“This book offers educators a viable and exciting way to break the stranglehold testing has on public education. By focusing on the lived experience of both educator and student, Leslie L. Palmer offers us a way to more fully understand the power, joy, and complexity of what it means to be a teacher by addressing the pressing need to once again humanize education. This work invites us to cease defining children by test scores and shift our focus toward once again teaching the whole child with intention and with the vital awareness of the ‘lived curriculum’ that children experience in their classrooms each and every day.”

—Michael S. Glaser, Professor Emeritus, St. Mary’s College of Maryland; Poet Laureate of Maryland 2004–2009; Board Member, Maryland Humanities, 2011–2018

This eBook can be cited

This edition of the eBook can be cited. To enable this we have marked the start and end of a page. In cases where a word straddles a page break, the marker is placed inside the word at exactly the same position as in the physical book. This means that occasionally a word might be bifurcated by this marker.

contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1. Catching the Currents of Currere to Discover Lived Curriculum

Chapter 2. Currere: Running the Course of Lived Curriculum

Chapter 3. Philosophical Currents That Guide the Phenomenological Exploration of Curriculum as Currere

Chapter 4. Currere as Wellspring Toward Understanding Curriculum

Chapter 5. Living Currere: Envisioning the Future, Returning to the Source, and Embracing the Present

Index←ix | x→ ←x | xi→

Acknowledgments

Throughout my doctoral journey, Dr. William Pinar’s name represented the best thinking in the curriculum theory field. His Currere process inspired me personally and has also become the foundation of my thinking about curriculum and teacher preparation. I had the good fortune to meet Dr. Pinar, and I am so proud to know him now both as a mentor and as a friend.

My deepest, and most sincere, gratitude goes to my advisor, Dr. Francine Hultgren, for setting me on the path of phenomenology and Currere from the very beginning of my doctoral odyssey. Without her support and belief in me, this work would not have been possible.

Dr. Michael Glaser and I share a deep friendship based on a shared belief in the limitless potential for education as a transformative place for children–and the adults who care for them. His insights and honesty have helped me stay true to my course. I am so grateful.

While his doctoral student, Dr. David Imig supported my pursuit of an individual writing project that became Starting the conversation: Using the Currere process to make the teaching internship experience more positive and encourage collaborative reflection in internship site schools. Writing this paper revealed the incredible potential for Currere as part of teacher education and professional development. Dr. Imig’s sincerity and curiosity continue to inspire me.←xi | xii→