1. Breaking the Concrete:
Professional Development
that Promotes Critical
Pedagogy and Social Change
Isabel Morales
University of Southern California
Education 700
Dr. Gallagher

2. The Rose that Grew From Concrete
– TupacAmaruShakur
Did you hear about the rose that grew
from a crack in the concrete?
Proving nature's lawswrong it
learned how to walk with out having feet.
Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams,
it learned to breathe fresh air.
Long live the rose that grew from concrete
when no one else even cared.

3. Why do some teachers (of low-
income youth of color) fail where
others succeed?
How can teachers develop effective
practices, that not only allow
students to see themselves as roses
but also as agents for breaking the
concrete?

4. Schooling and Democracy
•Dewey (1916)
Education is about discovery and action; inquiry
about the world, aimed at evaluating and
reconstructing society
•Pangle&Pangle (2000):
Citizenship education as the reason for founding
a public education system
•A Nation at Risk (National Commission of Excellence
in Education, 1983, p. 9)
Education as the foundation of “American
prosperity, security, and civility”
•Common Core Standards (National Governors
Association, 2010, p. 3)
Academic literacy skills as “essential to both
private deliberation and responsible citizenship
in a democratic republic.”

5. Critical Pedagogy
•Paulo Freire (1970):
Education as rooted in the struggle against
oppression and liberation
“Praxis” Action and reflection
Shared inquiry  empowerment
•Gramsci (1971)
Hegemony: social control, power
relations, reproduction of systems that support
the interests of the ruling elite
•Giroux (1988)
Public schools and educated youth represent the
promise of a democratic future
“Education is not only about issues of work and
economics, but also about questions of
justice, social freedom, and the capacity for
democratic agency, action, and change…” (p.15)
Educators as “public intellectuals”

6. Sociocultural Theories of Learning
•Vygotsky (1978)
Social construction of knowledge
Learning as a social process
•Lave and Wenger, 1991; Rogoff, 1990
Participation in communities of practice
•Cochran-Smith & Lytle (1999)
Importance of critical inquiry

7. Why do some teachers (of low-income
youth of color) fail where others
succeed?

8. PROCESS and PURPOSE over people
Demystifying “good teaching”
“Rather than putting the work of highly effective
urban educators on a pedestal, implying through
their stories that they have some mystical gift
that allows them to reach the unreachable, we
must work to understand their success. This
happens by examining what they do, why they
do it, and how they do it (the purpose and the
process).”
(Duncan-Andrade, 2007)

9. Gangstas, Wankstas, &Ridas
• Gangstas: Dissatisfied, dislike students and
community, supportive of repressive
policies
• Wankstas: Talk the talk, but don’t walk the
walk. (Want to educate all students, make
excuses for why they cannot and detach
themselves from their work.)
• Ridas: Emotionally involved, develop strong
relationships with students.
• One group’s students consistently
demonstrated high achievement
– Traditional standards (test
scores, grades, college attendance)
– Standards of critical pedagogy (critique of
structural inequality, critical reading of the
word and their world, individual and
collective agency for social change)
(Duncan-Andrade, 2007)

10. 5 Pillars of Effective Practice
(Ridas)
1) Critically conscious purpose
Wanting to change the world and seeing students as
agents of change.
2) Duty
Sense of responsibility to the students and
community
3) Preparation
Planning, rethinking curriculum, seeking professional
development, expanding knowledge
4) Socratic sensibility
Understanding that they have more to learn. Self-
critique and solicit critical feedback from others.
5) Trust
Committed to building trust with students. Seeing
their students as their own children, not “other
people’s children” (Delpit, 1995).
(Duncan-Andrade, 2007)

11. Why do some teachers (of low-income
youth of color) fail where others succeed?
(Maslow, 1943)

14. Impact of Shared Inquiry on
Urban Teacher Development
• Teacher Identity
– Collective identity
– Working from a position of responsibility
instead of power
– Creation of a professional community
– Producers of new knowledge and counter-
narratives
– Engagement
(Mirra& Morrell, 2011)

15. Impact of Shared Inquiry on
Urban Teacher Development
(Mirra& Morrell, 2011)
• Classroom Practice
– Youth publications
– Integration of media, technology, and action
research into curriculum
– Revising curriculum to incorporate
colleagues’ ideas and influence
– Sharing of work at academic conferences
(AERA, DML)
– Class projects bridging classroom and
community