Abstract
A sudden change of teaching placements forced my return to graduate school at the age of 40. Transformative graduate school learning resulted in the completion of a Ph.D. and earning a tenure track position in teacher education. This essay uses Pinar’s four steps of currere provide a lens to examine the past, look toward the future, take opportunity to look backward to the past while examining the present, and then re-enter the present. Mezirow’s transformative adult learning theory lends guidance for understanding why older adults may be uniquely poised to navigate successfully the complex maze of academia.
Highlights
Mezirow’s (1991) transformative adult learning theory lends guidance for a “complicated conversation” (Pinar, 2004) with myself as “an ongoing project of selfunderstanding in which one becomes mobilized for engaged pedagogical action” (p. 37) toward understanding how and why older adults may be uniquely poised to navigate successfully, the complex maze and rigors of academia as they hearken to the call to teaching in midlife
Each was shaped with familiar high school rituals and rhythms, they were spiced by the energy adolescent learners exude from their very pores
In the table below (Figure 1), Mezirow’s (2000) ten phases of learning inherent in the transformative process are shown in the first column; my own life connections and experiences are identified and aligned in the second column: The recursive push and pull process of currere (Pinar, 2004) creates opportunity to retrospectively examine my experiences and my actions in light of my new learning, thereby changing my sense of self in the present, as well as pushing the boundaries of my imagination for my future
Summary
Mezirow’s (1991) transformative adult learning theory lends guidance for a “complicated conversation” (Pinar, 2004) with myself as “an ongoing project of selfunderstanding in which one becomes mobilized for engaged pedagogical action” (p. 37) toward understanding how and why older adults may be uniquely poised to navigate successfully, the complex maze and rigors of academia as they hearken to the call to teaching in midlife. Teachers were required to earn a master’s degree within the first five years of licensure, so almost immediately I enrolled in a graduate program at my alma mater in education courses which allowed me to study once again with professors I had much admired and respected in my undergraduate days It meant driving 70 miles each way several nights a week, I was overjoyed to return to Indiana State to engage with Dr Chris Buethe and the other grad students to connect educational theory to our daily practice of teaching. In an interesting turn of coincidence, as I began my doctoral program, I simultaneously left my K-12 instructional coaching job to begin a new role at Butler University, a nearby liberal arts university, in a grant-funded, temporary position This new opportunity allowed me to delve into my newly discovered interest in supporting mainstream teachers to improve access and outcomes for K-12 English language learners in urban secondary schools. What I have learned about myself along the way gives me immense confidence to take risks, to take on new challenges, and best of all, to do the scholarly work I want to do, rather than to meekly and timidly do whatever is most likely to win me the approval of others just to earn tenure
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