Problematizing the Profession of Teaching From an Existential Perspective

Aaron Zimmerman, Texas Tech University.

At a time when the purpose of education is increasingly conceived in terms of attaining skills necessary for the job market, and teaching and learning are assessed in terms of objective outcomes, this collection of fresh essays on the existential dimension of education as an institution offers an indispensable corrective. In wide-ranging reflections on the professional and inter-personal aspects of education, the authors show how existentialism's emphasis on subjectivity, authenticity, and lived experience can enrich our thinking about teaching and learning and improve our practices in the classroom as it exists now. Any educator seriously interested in his or her profession will find timely insights in this thoughtfully conceived volume."" — Steven Crowell, Rice University""Historically, education and educational science have been torn between, on the one hand, ideas stressing technical rationality, efficiency, and evidence-based approaches and, on the other hand, ideas highlighting the need for deeper understandings and imaginative orientations. In the light of these trends, the book Problematizing the Profession of Teaching from an Existential Perspective is a fresh contribution that offers new insights to the field of teacher professionalism and teacher development. I recommend this book to everyone who is interested in gaining a deeper understanding of what it means to be and become a teacher."" — Silvia Edling, University of Gävle

• Preface — Considering Teaching and Teacher Development from an Existential Perspective: An Introduction; Aaron S. Zimmerman.Section I. Existentialism And Curriculum And Instruction.Chapter 1. Possibility and Rebellion in Sartre and Camus: Existential Possibilities for Education; James M. Magrini and Elias Schwieler.Chapter 2. Learning Objectives Reconsidered in Light of Existential-Phenomenology and Mindfulness; Glen L. Sherman.Chapter 3. A Precious Darkness: Utilizing Existential Loneliness to Achieve Culturally Relative Self-Actualization in the Classroom; Christopher Kazanjian and Sandra Kazanjian.Section II. Existentialism And Assessment.Chapter 4. Under Observation: Student Anxiety and the Phenomenology of Remote Testing Environments; Tyler Loveless.Chapter 5. Assessments of Ambiguity; Steven J. Fleet.Section III. Existentialism And Teacher Development.Chapter 6. Kierkegaard and the Power of Existential Doubt in Teaching: Transformation of Self and Profession; Dan Riordan, Paul Michalec, and Kate Newburgh.Chapter 7. Rational Communication in University Education: A Jaspersian Theory; Daniel Adsett.Chapter 8. Foundations of Education: Absurdity and Ambiguity; Stephanie Schneider.Section IV. The Teaching Of Existentialism.Chapter 9. Agency Precedes Essence: Existentialism, Ecology, and the New Materialisms; Daniel O'Dea Bradley.Chapter 10. Teaching Is ¦ Other People: Existential Reflections on Coteaching Phenomenology With Undergraduate Students; Lauren Manton, Brigid Flaherty, Cecelia Little, and Peter Costello.About the Authors.