The Use of Poetic Inquiry to Examine Prospective Teachers' Responses to Literature About an Other

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 71
  In Roundtable Session: Teacher Education and Arts-Based Educational Research

Abstract

The US sociopolitical climate is increasingly xenophobic, yet more and more teachers are—and will be—working in classrooms with students who are unlike them. One means to counter assumptions prospective teachers (PTs) may carry into the field is through reading literature by and about diverse groups. This work-in-progress examines written responses of PTs engaging with children’s literature focused on Muslims in the Middle East. We use poetic inquiry to understand and convey the results as students respond to a literary “Other” who is—in contemporary political / social media—often portrayed in negative and dangerous ways. As well, we interrogate our own process of re-viewing and re-writing student stances into poems that exhibit both scholarly integrity and poetic artistry.

Authors

• Laura Apol, Michigan State University

• Mark D, McCarthy, Michigan State University