UW-Oshkosh
Professor, Teaching & Learning
Wisconsin Teaching Scholar, 2020-21
As a teacher educator, the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) has impacted my understanding of teaching, learning and my role within a classroom in a variety of ways. Over many years I learned a great deal from my colleagues at UW Oshkosh who were engaged in SoTL research. I became more actively engaged with SoTL when I had the opportunity to participate in the Wisconsin Teaching Fellows and Scholars (WTFS) program as a Scholar from 2020-2021. The WTFS community learning experience supported me in my professional roles and in my reflections on what it means to be a teacher. As a community, we read Brookfield’s Becoming a Critical Teacher, which made me think a lot about how I conduct myself professionally. I have it in me to be the individualistic teacher who can close the door and do exactly what I want. I often want to control situations to avoid conflict or criticism. Brookfield’s work, and the discussions shared with our many colleagues in the WTFS community, really have helped me to go deeper in my self-reflection. It was particularly meaningful to learn from scholars outside of my field, from business, theater, and other backgrounds. The challenges we all face in becoming engaged, reflective teachers and creating vibrant learning communities.
The landscape of higher education is changing. Gannon’s Radical Hope: A Teaching Manifesto was another timely choice for supporting our conversations and reflections in the WTFS program. As someone with 28 years working in the University of Wisconsin system, I greatly value the energy and urgency delivered by Gannon and the ways in which my colleagues throughout the UW system are keeping hope alive in their own professional work.
One of the projects that arose from my participation in WTFS was the proposal of a new course, Pursuing the Dream: Dialogues of Culture, Language and Identity. This project aligned UW Oshkosh’s Quest III community engagement initiative with the Oshkosh Area School District’s need for literacy support in after-school programs at high-need schools. My SoTL goal was to teach the course in Spring 2023 and to analyze existing data from the course and from interviews in summer 2024, with the goal of producing a manuscript for publication as well as conference proposals. Data was gathered to examine the value of such a course for college sophomores from a variety of majors as well as the elementary students they would tutor. I presented this project as a work-in-progress at the OPID Conference in Madison, Wisconsin, in April 2024. I had the further opportunity to invite two of the university course participants to join me in coauthoring a manuscript and co-presenting a proposal to the OPID Conference in April 2025. My coauthors and I are finalizing a draft of our research manuscript and plan to send it out for review by February 2025.
In our SoTL research we found that the experiential learning in the Pursuing the Dream course was meaningful for both university students and elementary children. For myself as a university faculty member, this research illustrates a meaningful way to approach teaching and community engagement as a professor volunteering alongside my students as part of a team. I hope to incorporate more of what I learned from this experience into all my other courses.
Finally, I am very grateful for the opportunity to learn from others by participating in the OPID conference in 2024 and again this coming April of 2025. To be in a conference setting where all the participants are committed to lifelong learning and to improving their teaching is truly inspirational. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning fits wonderfully with my role as a teacher educator and as someone who wants to listen to and learn from all the voices in my classrooms. Thank you for this opportunity.
Biography:
Donald Hones is a professor of ESL (English as a second language) and bilingual education at UW Oshkosh. A university faculty member since 1997, Hones focuses on pedagogy scholarship, student learning, and evidence-based teaching practices. He has published narrative studies on pedagogical practices of ESL teachers in the field, papers on how university faculty and public-school teachers can collaborate to create better outcomes for ESL students, and guidance for ESL educators on how to meet state standards for the K-12 curriculum. Hones teaches and conducts research on English language acquisition among immigrant and refugee populations in northeastern Wisconsin. He has led study abroad trips to Costa Rica and developed exchange programs for pre-service and in-service teachers from across the globe. He leads the New Voices Summer English Project, an intern supervision program he created for English learners in Oshkosh and Menasha, Wis. In 2023 he earned a substitute-teaching license to substitute teach in high-need areas in Oshkosh-area public schools. He also works as an English Specialist with the US State Department. Hones has taught more than 5,000 students during his career at UW Oshkosh, the majority of whom have gone on to be teachers.
Publications:
Hones, D., Wendler, T. and Garton, W. Pursuing the Dream: SOTL Research with Second Year College Students. Manuscript being prepared for submission to the Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.
Presentations:
Hones, D., Wendler, T. and Garton, W. Pursuing the Dream: SOTL Research with Second Year College Students. Proposal under review for OPID Conference, Madison, April 2025.
Hones, D. (2024). Bridging Classrooms and Communities. OPID Conference, Madison, WI.
De Montigny, S., Li-Hsuan, H., DeMuynck, E. and Hones, D. (2024). UW Oshkosh OPID Roundtable. OPID Conference, Madison, WI.