I. Theory

Theory: Stronger Together

When I started my master’s program in curriculum, my knowledge of theory was limited to literary criticism. As I was exposed to educational theories, I found myself straining to understand which one was “right” or “best.” This Western desire to rank and categorize is one of the notions that theory itself has helped me unpack. Delgado Bernal and Aleman (2017) use the metaphor of the trenza, or braid, to describe how their practice flows from weaving together different theories and strategies (p. 21). The trenza metaphor has allowed me to see not only how theories build on one another and work together, but how individual theorists are inspired by a "braid" of their own identities and experiences. 

On the Culturally Relevant Pedagogy and Decolonial Pedagogy pages, I detail my understanding of these theories based on the reading I have done, as well as relay how the theories have impacted my thinking. Each page also includes free resources that helped me better understand the theories; these resources can be accessed by clicking the included images or links.