The Moral Dilemmas of Teaching: Small Moments that Matter

The Moral Dilemmas of Teaching:

Small Moments that Matter

Anna Richert, PhD

October 20, 2015

4:30-6:00pm

CERAS 527

Anna Richert is the Edward Hohfeld Professor of Education and Faculty Director of the Mills Teacher Scholars at Mills College in Oakland, California. Her recent book, What Should I Do: Confronting the Dilemmas of Teaching in Urban Schools, which was funded in part by her Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship in Bellagio Italy, focuses on how teachers learn to grapple with the moral dimensions of their challenging work. Determined to reveal the profound complexity of teaching, Richert has spent more than two decades studying the work of teaching, the challenges of learning to do it well, and the ways of supporting teachers on this learning journey.

Teachers are confronted every day with a multitude of decisions about what to do, what to say, and how to respond to students. There is seldom a simple “right” answer to the many questions that emerge from the daily happenings of the classroom. Anna Richert calls these the “small moments that matter.” She argues that the decisions teachers make—even those they make quickly in the moment—have significant consequences for students. It is the reality of those consequences that underscores the moral nature of teachers’ work. As we take up the theme of “pondering excellence in education” let us consider the inherent moral nature of our complex work and how we learn to manage the moral dilemmas we face.