Narrative Practice as Embodying Desire and a Feel for "Good" Teaching

• In Event: Navigating Tensions in Teacher Educator Practices

Abstract

Treating narrative as practice has proved fruitful for understanding how teachers story themselves and their work. But what about the bodies implicated in such practice? Employing a liturgical framework, I explore the embodied activity within two teacher preparation programs to consider the possibility of narrative practice as not only the telling of story but also the doing of story. As I show, participation in learning activities conscripts candidates’ bodies in the enactment of particular pedagogical narratives, which gives them a feel for a story of good teaching and may serve to orient their instructional desires.

Author

• Ian Parker Renga, University of Southern Maine