Recently in Faculty news Category

A film/poem written by Thom Swiss, professor of culture and teaching in Curriculum and Instruction, will air on French television and in French-speaking Africa, for the next few months as part of a
global media show, "Mensomadaire." The film, a collaboration with
director Yoshi Sodeaka of Japan, is titled "Blind Side of a Secret," and
includes spoken parts in English, French, and Dutch. And early version
of the piece can be seen and heard
at: http://www.hyperrhiz.net/issue04/swiss/index.html

Bic Ngo and Jill Leet-Otley presented at the 6th International Conference on Teacher Education & Social Justice. The conference took place at the University of Illinois-Chicago, on December 5th and 6th, 2009. Their presentation was entitled, Is There a Hmong Gender "Norm"?: Perspectives of Hmong American Policymakers on Gender, Early Marriage and Education.

What are the epistemological and ethical considerations in research with immigrant populations?

Download conference call for papers [pdf] and conference flier [pdf]

CALL FOR PAPERS

The Ethics and Politics of Research with Immigrant Populations
President's Interdisciplinary Conference
June 4-5, 2010
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

Deadline for Submissions: December 21, 2009

CONFERENCE CHAIRS

Bic Ngo, Assistant Professor, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Minnesota
Martha Bigelow, Associate Professor, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Minnesota
Stacey Lee, Professor, Department of Educational Policy Studies, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Bic Ngo, Ph.D., assistant professor and Martha Bigelow, Ph.D., associate professor (Curriculum and Instruction) received a President's Interdisciplinary Conference award from the Graduate School to convene a conference in Spring 2010.

Read the full CEHD News item.

Recently, Bic guest-edited a special issue on Immigrant Education for the peer-reviewed journal, Theory into Practice. This issue includes articles about Lao, Somali, Hmong and Caribbean immigrants, among others. She also completed a single-authored book manuscript, Unresolved identities: Discourse, ambivalence and urban immigrant student. In this poststructuralist ethnography, she examines the ways immigrant youth identities are shaped by dominant discourses that simplify and confine their lives and experiences within unitary dualisms of good/bad, traditional/modern and success/failure. Highlighting the discourses we use to make sense of urban, immigrant students, enables Bic to illuminate implications for improving critical multicultural pedagogy. Currently, Bic is working on a few publications from her research with Hmong American high school students, parents, community leaders and youth activists. These works-in-progress explore the changing perspectives and practices related to early marriage, gender and sexuality among Hmong American students and community members.

Tim is on sabbatical and working on his next book. The book is grounded in an interview study he did in rural Wisconsin, and Tim is describing and theorizing white racial identity, as part of a larger effort to improve anti-racist teacher education. For an overview of the sorts of theoretical and political commitments he is bringing to this work, see his recent article in Curriculum Inquiry (Volume 38, no. 3, 2008), entitled "How I Became White While Punching de Tar Baby."

Misty has received a two-year Young Scholars Fellowship from the Knowles Science Teaching Foundation. Her research study focuses on the development of formative assessment practices in high school science teachers' classrooms. She is also working in partnership with the Science Museum of Minnesota to develop and support regional teacher action research groups focused on Cultural Relevance in Science Pedagogy (CRISP). Her research on the preparation of teachers for culturally diverse classrooms continues with the Minnesota Teacher Education Research Consortium, a collaboration among the University of Minnesota, St. Catherine's University, and Minnesota State University at Mankato. Finally, Misty has been working with the Teacher Support Partnership, a collaboration of the Minnesota Department of Education, Education Minnesota, Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, and the University of Minnesota, to develop a set of state-wide guidelines for induction of beginning and transitioning educators in Minnesota's schools. She has been a lead editor on the development and writing of the early drafts of these guidelines. Recent publications include "Improving teachers' assessment practices through professional development: The case of National Board Certification" in the American Educational Research Journal in fall 2008 and an upcoming article in Phi Delta Kappan titled "The poverty of Payne: The need for an alternative vision of teacher development co-authored with CaT professor Tim Lensmire.

Thom's been collaborating with friends and colleagues in the classroom and elsewhere.

Along with Rick Beach, Chris Anson, and Lee Ann Breuch, he's the author of a new book, out this month, titled Engaging Students in Digital Writing. His co-edited book, Highway 61 Revisited, a critical book on Bob Dylan's musical journey from the Iron Range of Minnesota to the karaoke bars of Japan, will be published by the University of Minnesota Press next Spring. He collaborated with Colleen Sheehy, former Education Director at the Weisman Art Museum, on this volume. This summer, Thom will be teaching a course at the 5K level on education, youth, and popular music.

Assistant Professor Bic Ngo had edited a new book with Kevin Kumashiro. Expected publicaion date is April 2007. The publisher's overview follows.

This edited book offers a range of conceptual and curricular resources for elementary and secondary educators and teacher educators interested in exploring new and innovative ways to challenge racism, classism, sexism, heterosexism, and other forms of oppression in the classroom (i.e., new and innovative approaches to anti-oppressive education). It blends analyses of and recommendations for K-12 education and teacher education, and focuses on the barriers we often confront when teaching, learning, and learning to teach towards social justice. The authors work in K-12 schools and teacher-education programs across North America, and advocate perspectives and practices that, when combined, promise to take the field of anti-oppressive education in helpful, groundbreaking directions. This book is divided into six Parts, each Part consisting of two or three chapters that explore, in different ways, a theme of anti-oppressive education. The chapters reflect a range of content areas (social studies, English language arts, "foreign" languages, health, natural sciences, and mathematics) in both K-12 education and teacher education; student and teacher populations (elementary, secondary, university); social differences and oppressions (based on race, culture, social class, gender, sexual orientation, language, age, disabilities); activities (simulations, service learning, book clubs, lesson planning); and research methods (historiography, curriculum analysis, discourse analysis, case study, self-study).

Kumashiro, Kevin and Ngo, Bic (Eds.) (in press, expected April 2007). Six Lenses for Anti-Oppressive Education: Partial Stories, Improbable Conversations. Peter Lang Publishers, Counterpoints: Studies in the Postmodern Theory of Education Series edited by Joe Kincheloe and Shirley Steinberg.

A chapter on "New Media Writing and Pedagogy" by Culture and Teaching faculty member, Thom Swiss, in collaboration with Maria Damon, has just been published in the book Creative Writing:Theory Beyond Practice.

FROM THE 'DRIVEN TO DISCOVER' WEBSITE

“You’d be reading about teachers’ lifestyles in the tabloids,� says education professor Thom Swiss. At the same time, says his colleague, Tim Lensmire, “there would be stories about celebrities not being able to afford buying a house.�

Swiss and Lensmire. along with colleagues Bic Ngo and Misty Sato, comprise the faculty involved in a new PhD program called “Culture and Teaching.� The program, conceived of and developed by Ngo and Sato, is dedicated to helping future researchers and educational leaders understand teaching and learning as cultural, social and moral events. All four are faculty members of the University’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction, in the College of Education and Human Development.

The four colleagues brainstormed the answer to this question together. While the team’s responses ranged from serious to lighthearted, the exercise was an enlightening look at the “contemporary struggle over the place of teachers in society,� says Lensmire.

All four said the reversal would primarily be a boon for society, students and teachers alike.

“Teachers would actually be asked their opinions about things like the war in Iraq, or maybe even educational issues,� says Ngo. Additionally, she said, “children would be better cared for, as teachers would donate money and create foundations specifically aimed at caring for children.�

Sato said celebrity salaries would earn teachers greater respect and authority. “Ultimately, students’ performance would not be measured on a single standardized test, but teachers would be trusted by their clients, as doctors are, to make professional judgments about student learning and progress.�

While speculating on such a fantastic scenario might be, to some, more disheartening than helpful, Lensmire says it’s important for people to examine their views about societal roles.

“It’s an exercise that leads to asking important questions about the value of education in our society and how we value the people who are responsible for helping others learn.�

Misty Sato’s research seeks to better understand the ways in which teachers engage in processes of developing their practice, leadership, identities and collegial relationships. Bic Ngo’s writing explores the implications of globalization and immigration for teaching, learning and curriculum, especially in relation to Hmong American and Lao American students and families. Tim Lensmire’s current research focuses on providing descriptions of, and theoretical insights about, the racial identities of white people, as part of a larger pedagogical and political project concerned with race and social change. Thom Swiss’ writing explores digital media, creative writing, popular music and the possibilities for new literacies emerging from new technologies.