John Dewey's Imaginative Vision of Teaching

"Deron Boyles is a wonderful writer and a powerful thinker. In this book, he brings together a lifetime of theory and practice in defense of public education. He addresses his undergraduate audience in a way that both challenges and instructs them--but, even more importantly, reassures them that they have the capacity to humanize schools through their intelligent action."

Kyle Greenwalt, Associate Professor, Department of Teacher Education, Michigan State University and President-Elect of the John Dewey Society

“John Dewey’s Imaginative Vision of Teaching: Combining Theory and Practice by Deron Boyles (2020) stands apart from other texts on Dewey by speaking directly to under-graduate students to help them reconceptualize teaching and learning as transactional inquiry. Deron Boyles uses a conversational and approachable tone throughout the book. As a result, this new text provides both clarity and practical examples that illustrate teachers’ power as co-learners who can change the course of education in U.S. schools. (The book) will guide the serious undergraduate student in imagining a classroom where the joy and beauty of learning take place “in the doing instead of the preparing to do” (p. 54). Further, it will encourage students to question the very nature of the structure and curriculum of U.S. schools.”

Reviewed by Cristy Sellers Smith, Pacific University, for Curriculum and Teaching Dialogue, Volume 23, Numbers 1 & 2

“John Dewey’s Imaginative Vision of Teaching is a remarkable achievement. Here, a first-rate scholar deliberately and successfully writes a philosophical text for undergraduates and does so without compromising scholarly integrity. Dewey advocated teaching and curriculum that addresses not only the students’ intellect, but their needs, desires, and interests in a demanding and disciplined manner. Deron Boyles enacts Dewey’s philosophy of education rather than just writing about it. Established scholars will also find the book a rewarding read.”

Jim Garrison, Virginia Tech Past President, John Dewey Society, Philosophy of Education Society, and Society of Professors of Education

“In the last twenty years, there has been a resurgence of Deweyan language in schools and teacher preparation programs without an analogous adoption of the central meanings driving Dewey’s educational vision. In this insightful text, Boyles unravels the complex web of John Dewey’s philosophy and weaves it into one of the most careful and accessible introductions to his philosophy of education in recent memory. This is an invaluable resource for anyone who wants to understand the richness of Dewey’s ideas in the context of contemporary educational practice.”

Aaron Stoller, Director of the Office of Academic Programs, Colorado College

“For many undergraduates, John Dewey’s ideas tend to disappear amidst dense philosophical texts. In this engaging book, Boyles brings Dewey’s ideas to life, enabling his key ideas to jump off the page and into practice, while never divorcing them from their important theoretical contexts. Boyles demystifies Deweyan teaching by grounding it in helpful explanations and contemporary examples. Boyles provides an accessible way for preservice teachers to envision becoming the sort of imaginative, trusting, and risk-taking teachers that Dewey described and many of us hope to see in our schools today.”

Sarah Stitzlein, Professor of Education, University of Cincinnati President, John Dewey Society

“Deron Boyles knows Dewey’s philosophy, he knows teaching, and he knows the reality of learning and working in schools. This makes him a particularly acute commentator about ‘what the known demands,’ as Dewey would put it. This book, drawing on previous work, but fully and carefully rethought for undergraduates, takes those undergraduates seriously. Boyles recognizes that these smart and good young people who are considering teaching already suspect what he—and Dewey—are trying to teach them: that the practices that made them successful in school are not the experiences needed for education. He invites them to try on, with Dewey, an ‘imaginative view of teaching.’ It’s an invitation hard to resist.”

Barbara S. Stengel, Professor of the Practice of Education, Emerita, Vanderbilt University Past President, Philosophy of Education Society

“Deron Boyles is one of the most knowledgeable and captivating Deweyan philosophers of education working today. In John Dewey’s Imaginative Vision of Teaching, his compelling blend of philosophy and educational practice, as well as his thoroughly original voice, is on full display. A great teaching text, in every sense of the term.”

Kathleen Knight Abowitz, Professor, Miami University and Past President, John Dewey Society

“Boyles’s re-turn to a Deweyan Imagination by teachers with students offers a significant opportunity for the ‘new normal’ in schooling. The pandemic/post-era insistent focus on different technological processes must entail more. From this gifted scholar and reformer, there is attention to reconsider Dewey for new contextualized inquiry with new ideas, new meanings, a new future.”

Lynda Stone, Samuel M. Holton Distinguished Professor, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1.
John Dewey’s Imaginative Vision of Teaching

Chapter 2.
Dewey and the Arts: Everyday Experience, Advocacy, Policy, and Critical Problems for Imaginative Teaching

Chapter 3.
Dewey’s Theory of Knowledge: Knowing as Meaningful Classroom Practice

Chapter 4.
Dewey’s Naturalism and Realism: Ecology and Classroom Practice

Chapter 5.
Dewey’s Ethics Applied to Schools: Against School-Business Partnerships and Corporate Exploitation

Chapter 6.
Dewey and Diversity

About the Author

Index

Deron Boyles

Deron Boyles is Professor of Philosophy of Education in the Department of Educational Policy Studies at Georgia State University. His areas of research include school-business partnerships, epistemology, and the philosophy of John Dewey.