The Pedagogy of Teacher Activism

Keith Catone is a Principal Associate for Community Organizing and Engagement at the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University. He received the 2015 American Educational Research Association Division K (Teaching and Teacher Education) Outstanding Dissertation Award and earned his Ed.D. from Harvard University.

Through the artful science of portraiture, The Pedagogy of Teacher Activism presents the stories of four teacher activists-how they are and have become social change agents-to uncover important pedagogical underpinnings of teacher activism. Embedded in their stories are moments of political clarity and consciousness, giving rise to their purpose as teacher activists. The narratives illuminate how both inner passions and those stirred by caring relationships with others motivate their work, while the intentional ways in which they attempt to disrupt power relations give shape to their approaches to teacher activism. Knowing their work will never truly be done and that the road they travel is often difficult, the teacher activists considered here persist because of the hope and possibility that their work might change the world. Like many pre-service educators or undergraduates contemplating teaching as a vocation, these teacher activists were not born ready for the work that they do. Yet by mining their biographical histories and trajectories of political development, this book illuminates the pedagogy of teacher activism that guides their work.