A.B. Harvard University
M.Ed. Harvard Graduate School of Education
Ed.D. University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Areas of Expertise:
My areas of specialization are curriculum and pedagogy, lifespan development, early childhood education and ethical, religious and spiritual dimensions of education. I teach courses in both the graduate and the undergraduate education departments, coordinate the graduate curriculum concentration and elementary licensure program and also direct the program on spirituality and education.
My Saint Michael's:
I like the strong sense of community at Saint Michael’s among faculty, staff and students and the atmosphere that encourages us all to talk about the ethical dimensions of education and about our sense of mission and purpose in life. As to Saint Michael’s students, I appreciate their interest in and support of each other. I like the balance that many have between respectful openness to new points of views and willingness to question them thoughtfully. I appreciate their desire to find a way to include a focus on academics with strong friendships and service.
One of my favorite classes is Pedagogy because it is a very challenging but ultimately rewarding class to teach. It is a required undergraduate elementary education class. The students must gain many skills and master many theories in order to create a month long thematic unit on a topic that interests them--and that they will some day teach. I see so much growth in most students over the semester which results in unique and interesting units that they are proud of. Another class I enjoy teaching is a graduate course on Spirituality and Education. I appreciate the diversity of perspectives that students (who are also teachers) bring to the class and the depth of class discussions as we explore many theoretical frameworks and personal interpretations. I often hear back from these graduate students that the course helped them to make changes in their classrooms that they feel are transformational in some way for their own students.
You can get a great deal of personal attention from excellent faculty members here if you want it.
My research interests include: Teaching for diverse learners; ethical, religious and spiritual dimensions of education.
I graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with a major in social relations and received my master’s degree in education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. I then founded and taught in innovative university laboratory schools and other schools for a number of years before earning my doctorate in education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a focus on curriculum and foundations. I have published a number of articles relating to creative, ethical, religious and spiritual dimensions of development and education.
Aostre Johnson, professor of education, was selected as a Fulbright Scholar by the Council for International Exchange of Scholars for spring 2013. Aoestre will be based at All Hallows College of Dublin City University in Ireland, where she will do research on intercultural contemplative education methods in various kinds of schools. She will also lecture on contemplative education.