In the spring of 2012 students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst School of Education received national attention when they refused to participate in the field test of a teacher performance assessment being run by Pearson Incorporated and Stanford University. Students, led by their professor, demanded they be given informed consent about…

This article examines the idea of loss in relation to elementary education. The goal is to show the importance of teachers attending to their students' individual experience and, in particular, to the ways schools can make children feel lost or found. The article relies primarily on classroom narratives, focusing heavily on stories about one…

This essay is a call for a more psychoanalytically informed approach to educational psychology and teacher formation. To this end, the author gives an overview of a course in psychology that he recommends for inclusion in teacher education. This course is in two parts. The first part is an introduction to some important elements of psychoanalytic…

By examining the potential of purposefully implemented critical bicultural pedagogy (CBP) for student empowerment, this article responds to "Culture and Power in the Classroom: Educational Foundations for the Schooling of Bicultural Students" by Antonia Darder (Boulder, CO: Paradigm, 2012). Using a theoretical framework based upon…

What is the lived experience of teachers and students in school? How does that lived experience constitute a kind of learning on its own apart from any particular outcome? This article addresses the ways teachers and students encounter one another in schools and why the quality of those encounters is paramount in both the child's and the…

In this article the author examines the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) to argue for changes in "standards-based" perspectives and practices that grew out of No Child Left Behind. Drawing on an article by David T. Conley, cochairman of the Validation Committee for the CCSS, the author offers a new model for the professional…

This personal reflection explores the role of counter-narratives and courageous conversations in the elementary curriculum. It explores how the intentionality of Black Heritage Day at the Folk Arts-Cultural Treasures Charter School and its curriculum guides students and teachers in exploring issues of race, culture, and history. (Contains 1…

Earlier essays in this symposium describe Restorative Justice processes in schools, referred to in our school as a Fairness Committee. Implementing these collaborative, restorative processes does not come without challenges. This essay will explore some of the historical and theoretical roots of the Fairness Committee in Lawrence Kohlberg's work…

In the article, we explore conditions under which people may allow their listening to be interrupted, that is, allow themselves to start listening for something they had not been trying to hear previously. We present empirical evidence for the conditions by analyzing an interview with a teacher who tells us how his listening was interrupted as he…

This article offers yet another look at the challenge of teaching, in this case through the eyes of writers like John Passmore, Michael Novak, and Emmanuel Levinas. It is an attempt to combine the fundamental qualities of good teaching as set forth by Passmore, with the notion of "caritas", literally meaning willing the good of the other, and the…

In this essay, the author describes his understanding and experience with descriptive review processes, as developed by Patricia Carini (Himley 2000) and members of the Prospect Center in North Bennington, VT. The author critically reviews the benefits and limitations of using descriptive review as a form of assessment of students, teaching…

This essay is a descriptive review of the child. It was written in preparation for a collaborative, inquiry-based protocol that was developed at the Prospect School in North Bennington, VT. Focusing on Aisha, a twelfth-grade student, this descriptive review discusses the following: physical presence and gesture, disposition and temperament,…