Using Artmaking Processes to Interrogate Contradictions and Conflicts of Teacher Identity

• In Event: Reconceptualizing Schools, Teachers, Community Spaces, and Shakespeare Through Arts-Based Inquiry

Abstract

As institutions, schools are panopticized sites that surveil both students and teachers. As former K–12 teachers, we found that we were positioned as jailers while also feeling under surveillance and jailed ourselves. Theoretically, we drew on frameworks from sociocultural theory, teacher identity development, and Foucault’s panopticon. Methodologically, we worked through the lens of a/r/tography using arts-based research methods and narrative inquiry to create pieces of artwork that explored the tensions that arose from being jailed-jailers. In this paper, we describe our Snowball Critique Method and explore the denoted and connoted images that emerged in our artwork. Finally, we offer suggestions on how similar arts-based methodology could be used in teacher education and professional development programs.

Authors

• Samuel Herreshoff Peck, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

• Laura Lemanski, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

• Amanda Christine Shopa, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities