Date Approved
2011
Degree Type
Open Access Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department or School
Teacher Education
Committee Member
Christopher Robbins, PhD
Committee Member
Pamela K. Smith, PhD
Committee Member
Paul J. Ramsey, PhD
Abstract
This autoethnographic research follows my personal and professional experiences as an elementary teacher reflecting upon the travails and joys that come with journeying toward a more liberating pedagogy and democratic experience along with first grade students. Braced with Freire’s 1970 summoning to resist dehumanization in society and education, I have pursued with disappointment existing democratic and humanizing trails in schools. Excited to exit one district and move to another known as “exceptional” in the region, I found myself even more limited by a tightly controlled system. Unwilling to give up hope, I began in my second year to infuse more unmasked efforts toward democratic and critical pedagogy. The accompanying transformation of my intellectual, professional, and personal growth has resulted in even more hope and conviction about the possibility of public schooling in the US, and I move forward with renewed gusto.
Recommended Citation
Lin, Ellen, "Emancipatory education and democratic politics: An analysis of the sociological imagination in a first grade classroom" (2011). Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations. 419.
https://commons.emich.edu/theses/419