Enacting Ontological and Epistemological Plurality in the Teacher Education Classroom

• In Event: 21.029 - Thinking Beyond Damage-Centered Teaching: Enacting a Humanizing Pedagogy in Teacher Education

Abstract

In this paper I examine the ontological and epistemological homogeneity in teacher education research and practice. I argue that the dependence on print-based texts in teacher education stands in stark contrast to the lives of current PSTs and the youth with whom they will work in the future, which are increasingly mediated by multimodal spaces and texts (e.g., films, social media, online spaces, and games). The expectation for PSTs to reflect on issues of identity, culture, and diversity through the written word alone disregards the embodied experiences of PSTs and often forces them to translate bodied experiences into print-text. Situated within this contradiction is also the expectation that PSTs will enter classrooms and be open to the epistemological and ontological plurality embodied by their students. Thus, I argue that a humanizing pedagogy includes enactment of ontological and epistemological plurality in teacher education programs and classrooms.

The primacy of print-based texts in teacher education marginalizes, excludes, and negates alternative ways of being (ontology) and knowing (epistemology). There is a performative contradiction inherent in the use of print-based texts to introduce preservice teachers to diverse cultures, identities, and knowledges in teacher education programs. It is crucial that today’s teacher educators shift their pedagogical orientations from viewing educational research and theory as the only/primary data source by which PSTs cultivate critical consciousness related to teaching for social justice.

In this paper, I discuss three examples from our collective practice that convey the shift towards enacting ontological and epistemological plurality in the teacher education classroom. I position multimodality as a viable way to enact ontological and epistemological plurality in the teacher education classroom. My discussion of multimodality is a way of situating epistemological and ontological pluralism within contemporary research and practice (Cervetti, Damico, & Pearson, 2006). The incorporation of multimodality, in my opinion, enables the teacher educator and preservice teacher to think, feel, practice, and embody different ways of knowing and being. Multimodality moves beyond the traditional understanding of literacy as learning how to read and write print-based texts. A multimodal approach to teacher education performs the task of creating space for diverse cultural, literacy, and knowledge practices of communities. One of the ways in which this shift can be practiced is to adopt and incorporate multimodality in course readings, assignments, and classroom engagement.

Over the past few years, we have collectively tried to incorporate multimodality within various aspects of a multicultural teacher education course. First, we redesigned course assignments to reflect the ontological and epistemological plurality we wanted our students to embody. Second, we took a more expansive approach toward required “readings” for the course. Third, we encouraged students to respond in multiple ways to the texts that we read in class. We replaced the traditional written responses typically expected in teacher education courses for a set of responses that students could choose from. In the paper, I expand on each of these examples and indicate the ways practice was able to move towards enacting ontological and epistemological plurality.

Author

• Vivek Vellanki, Michigan State University