1. WHY TEACH?
Kurt Love, Ph.D.
Central Connecticut State University

2. “TRUTH”
What is “truth”?
How do we know it when we see it?
What makes knowledge “true”?

3. Truthiness
What color is the sky?

4. Truthiness
What color is the sky?

5. Truthiness
What color is the moon?

6. Truthiness
What color is grass?

7. Truthiness
What color is grass?
Purple
Green/Yellow
Yellow
Blueish

8. “TRUTH” AND “FACT”
We often state:
TRUTH = FACT and FACT = TRUTH
Is there a difference between truth and fact?
What is fact? What is verifiability? What is validity?
Facts are a series of events that we agree upon.
Facts are supported by a consensus; therefore,
facts are aligned with the values (perspectives)
of a cultural.

9. FACTS FROM CULTURAL VALUES
Cultural Value “Fact”
Patriotism Columbus was a hero
explorer
John Locke argued for
personal freedoms
Are there elements
of social control? Helen Keller is an
inspiration because she
overcame her adversities

10. “American Mythology”
• George Washington chopped down a cherry tree, but couldn’t tell a lie
• Thomas Jefferson was a strong voice for public education
• Betsy Ross sewed together the first American flag
• “Honest” Abraham Lincoln grew up in a log cabin and fought for the abolition of slavery
• Nothing of historical value occurred before European “settlement”
• Lead up to Revolutionary War had only Patriots and Loyalists
• Only great individual leaders make meaningful social change...and those changes have all
been morally correct
• America has always been on the morally right path, especially when it came to issues of
genocide
• Slavery was wrong, but we no longer see any effects of it in America
• Streets are paved of gold and anyone who works hard enough will be successful in
America
• Using two nuclear bombs against Japan was morally justified
• America is the model country for the world

11. “Science Mythology”
• The best way to understand nature is to isolate and atomize it. In fact, all
other ways are subordinate and borderline socially inept.
• Capitalism and government have no governance over scientific research
• Science includes the only right ways to determine truth
• Any other ways of assembling truth are simply ignorant and part of what
Carl Sagan calls a “Demon Haunted World”
• The previous statement is culturally neutral. In fact, ANYTHING that
science claims is true is culturally neutral.
• Science is always moving us towards an ultimate and undeniable truth
about the universe
• There are no mystical aspects about the universe; there are only aspects
that science has yet to understand

12. Truth & Power
• “Truth” is a construct of those in power.
• “Truth” is often “myth” handed down from
one generation to another

13. Truth & Power
(Reality) in U.S.
“Truth” claims from the dominant discourse
• God is the “Truth”
• Science is the “Truth”
• Free Market is the “Truth”
• Europeans have “Truth” in religion, science,
academy, literature, and economics

14. What is the Earth?

15. What is the Earth?

16. What is the Earth?

17. What is the Earth?

18. What is the Earth?

19. Thinking
Convergent Thinking -
All paths lead to a single destination. This is rooted in a
belief that there is only one “Truth.”
Traditional Liberal/Progressive
scaf
Truth Thought fold
New
Truth
d Thought
scaffol
Thought Thought

20. Thinking
Divergent Thinking -
Explore many paths in authentic settings with questions
that have no predetermined answer.
Transformative
New New
Thought Thought Relationship
Critical Communities
Info Questioning
New New
Thought Thought Relationship

21. “WISDOM”
What is “wisdom”?
How do we know it when we see it?
Where does “wisdom” come from?

22. “CONSCIOUSNESS”
What is “consciousness”?
How do we know it when we see it?
Where does “consciousness” come from?

23. CONSCIOUSNESS
Expanding one’s consciousness
Shifting our ways of relationally knowing the world
and viewing “realities”
Having deep understandings of the various
paradigms of thought and their boundaries
To what extent do teachers develop lessons with
driving questions that help students increase their
consciousness?

24. CONSCIOUSNESS
Teaching towards consciousness
Shifting our ways of relationally knowing the world and
viewing “realities”
Having deep understandings of the various paradigms of
thought and their boundaries
Instead of asking:
What is Spanish vocabulary for a common marketplace?
Asking:
To what extent are Spanish-speaking peoples connected to and
affected by the global marketplace?

25. “SPIRITUALITY”
What is “spirituality”?
How do we know it when we see it?
Where does “spirituality” come from?

26. SPIRITUALITY
Can spirituality have a place in the public school if it is
seen in this way:
RELIGION = SPIRITUALITY and
SPIRITUALITY = RELIGION
Spirituality can be one’s deeper sense of self
and/or feelings of interconnectedness

28. TRUTH & CONSCIOUSNESS
Fact Relationship
School? Experience
Reason
Your classroom?
Argument Consciousness
Philosophical Truth Spiritual Wisdom

29. Zoe Weil & How We Might Change Teaching