Engendering a Metacreative Becoming in Preservice Elementary Teachers

• In Event: 73.060 - Roundtable Session 31
  In Roundtable Session: 73.060-2 - Imagining the Road Ahead: The Elliot Eisner SIG Inaugural Roundtable

Abstract

This research changes the focus of an Art for Pre-Service Teachers course from artistic training in making objects to an introduction to creative practices that prioritize an attitude of open-ended inquiry: a metacreative foundation that nurtures a Deluezian (1987) becoming. Two challenges are explicitly addressed: the problem of secondary ignorance (Eisner, 2002); and the anticipation of failure as explained by negative past experiences influencing future expectations (Rosiek, 2013).  This four year teacher-research study was conducted in two north Georgia locations. Analysis of multiple data sources from 69 pre-service teacher participants reveals shifts in student attitudes about personal creativity. This suggests that teachers who internalize creativity are more likely to actively implement it into their future classrooms.

Author

• Tammy C. Cline, University of West Georgia