Accolades: Joan Y. Pedro

Joan Y. Pedro, assistant professor in the Department of Education and Human Services, ENHP, gave four peer-reviewed presentations in April 2006 at the American Educational Research Association (AERA) annual conference in San Francisco, Calif. AERA is the most prominent international professional organization with the primary goal of advancing educational research and its practical application. The broad range of disciplines represented by the membership includes education, psychology, statistics, sociology, history, economics, philosophy, anthropology, and political science.

• Pedro’s first paper, entitled "Using Case Writing to Critically Reflect on Classroom Practice," presented the findings of a research project on effective reflective practices in teacher education.



• The second presentation, with Assistant Professor Frederick B. King, entitled “Assessing Pre-Service Teachers’ Dispositions in a Teacher Education Program,” shared the results of a pilot study on teacher dispositions conducted at the University of Hartford.



• In the third presentation, Pedro and colleague Dennis Conrad, assistant professor at SUNY Potsdam, examined their professional and cultural identities from a Caribbean perspective in a paper titled “Knowing Your Place: Choosing and Refusing Race.”



• The fourth presentation, “Where the Ganges Meets the Nile: Identities in Crisis,” was a qualitative self-study research of teacher education practices.

In addition, Pedro recently published an article, “Taking Reflection into the Real World of Teaching,” in Kappa Delta Pi Record 42 (3), Spring 2006. This article encourages the use of reflective practices so that beginning teachers can become active partners with administrators and experienced teachers in the school community. The Record is a peer-reviewed journal that presents practical articles on compelling topics and issues important to practicing educators who teach at all levels of the education system.