This autoethnographic research follows my personal and professional experiences as an elementary teacher reflecting upon the travails and joys that come with journeying toward a more liberating pedagogy and democratic experience along with first grade students. Braced with Freire’s 1970 summoning to resist dehumanization in society and education, I have pursued with disappointment existing democratic and humanizing trails in schools. Excited to exit one district and move to another known as “exceptional” in the region, I found myself even more limited by a tightly controlled system. Unwilling to give up hope, I began in my second year to infuse more unmasked efforts toward democratic and critical pedagogy. The accompanying transformation of my intellectual, professional, and personal growth has resulted in even more hope and conviction about the possibility of public schooling in the US, and I move forward with renewed gusto.
","abstract_html":"<p>This autoethnographic research follows my personal and professional experiences as an elementary teacher reflecting upon the travails and joys that come with journeying toward a more liberating pedagogy and democratic experience along with first grade students. Braced with Freire’s 1970 summoning to resist dehumanization in society and education, I have pursued with disappointment existing democratic and humanizing trails in schools. Excited to exit one district and move to another known as “exceptional” in the region, I found myself even more limited by a tightly controlled system. Unwilling to give up hope, I began in my second year to infuse more unmasked efforts toward democratic and critical pedagogy. The accompanying transformation of my intellectual, professional, and personal growth has resulted in even more hope and conviction about the possibility of public schooling in the US, and I move forward with renewed gusto.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Lin, Ellen"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts (MA)","degree_level":"Open Access Thesis","degree_discipline":"Teacher Education","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Christopher Robbins, PhD","Pamela K. Smith, PhD","Paul J. Ramsey, PhD"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2011,"date_issued":"2011-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2011-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:16:51Z","subjects":["teaching","elementary school","public school","first grade","Teacher Education and Professional Development"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://commons.emich.edu/theses/419","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Christopher Robbins, PhD","Pamela K. Smith, PhD","Paul J. Ramsey, PhD"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Lin, Ellen"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2012-09-06T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Teacher Education"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Open Access Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts (MA)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["teaching","elementary school","public school","first grade","Teacher Education and Professional Development"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://commons.emich.edu/theses/419"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This autoethnographic research follows my personal and professional experiences as an elementary teacher reflecting upon the travails and joys that come with journeying toward a more liberating pedagogy and democratic experience along with first grade students. Braced with Freire’s 1970 summoning to resist dehumanization in society and education, I have pursued with disappointment existing democratic and humanizing trails in schools. Excited to exit one district and move to another known as “exceptional” in the region, I found myself even more limited by a tightly controlled system. Unwilling to give up hope, I began in my second year to infuse more unmasked efforts toward democratic and critical pedagogy. The accompanying transformation of my intellectual, professional, and personal growth has resulted in even more hope and conviction about the possibility of public schooling in the US, and I move forward with renewed gusto.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Emancipatory education and democratic politics: An analysis of the sociological imagination in a first grade classroom"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Christopher Robbins, PhD","Pamela K. Smith, PhD","Paul J. Ramsey, PhD"],"dc:creator":["Lin, Ellen"],"dc:date.available":["2012-09-06T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["This autoethnographic research follows my personal and professional experiences as an elementary teacher reflecting upon the travails and joys that come with journeying toward a more liberating pedagogy and democratic experience along with first grade students. Braced with Freire’s 1970 summoning to resist dehumanization in society and education, I have pursued with disappointment existing democratic and humanizing trails in schools. Excited to exit one district and move to another known as “exceptional” in the region, I found myself even more limited by a tightly controlled system. Unwilling to give up hope, I began in my second year to infuse more unmasked efforts toward democratic and critical pedagogy. The accompanying transformation of my intellectual, professional, and personal growth has resulted in even more hope and conviction about the possibility of public schooling in the US, and I move forward with renewed gusto.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://commons.emich.edu/theses/419"],"dc:subject":["teaching","elementary school","public school","first grade","Teacher Education and Professional Development"],"dc:title":["Emancipatory education and democratic politics: An analysis of the sociological imagination in a first grade classroom"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Teacher Education"],"thesis:degree_level":["Open Access Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts (MA)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:16:51Z"}