Anna Richert | Small Moments That Matter: Managing the Moral Dilemmas of Teaching

Register for Fall Forum: http://www.regonline.com/fall_forum_2010 

Friday, November 12, 8:00am-9:45am

Fall Forum Featured Session

Should I change this student’s grade? Should I notify her parents?  What is in the best interest of this student? Questions like these keep many teachers awake at night. This session will focus on the small moments that raise big dilemmas for teachers. Given the inherent uncertainty of teaching, how to respond to these dilemmas is seldom clear.  Still, teachers are called upon to act, knowing such actions often have lifelong consequences. They must draw not only on what they know, but what they believe and value.  Because teachers make profoundly influential decisions in students’ lives, teaching is moral work.  In this session, we will consider – and practice – moral decision-making in teaching.

Anna Richert is a Professor of Education at Mills College and Director of Mills Teacher Scholars, supporting classroom-based research by Bay Area teachers for more than a decade. Her research, writing, and practice focus on inquiry and equity in teaching. She is writing a book about managing the moral dilemmas of teaching for Teachers College Press and recently co-authored with Claire Bove, “Inquiry for Equity,” a chapter in the Handbook of Reflective Inquiry, edited by Nona Lyons.  With her colleagues at Mills College in Oakland, Richert grapples with how to prepare and support teachers to create new learning opportunities for children whose lives have been challenged by racism.

Register for Fall Forum: http://www.regonline.com/fall_forum_2010