Repositioning Docile Narratives and Bodies: Critical Writing Pedagogy in Teacher Education

• In Event: Critical Writing in Teacher Education

Abstract

This paper explores how the pedagogical and curricular constructions of a writer’s workshop in an English Teacher Education program affect the development of anti-racist teacher identities. We seek a critical writing pedagogy that locates stories in social contexts to explore how systems of power affect the creation of one’s life narrative (Kamler, 2001, Anzaldua, 2015). To examine the impact of particular critical writing practices we ask: What are means for an educator to see themself in a sociocultural context? How can critical writing practices create “play/pleasure/desire” in the process of cultivating an anti-racist identity? And lastly, how does the space of a writer’s workshop change how we interact in our world and lead to anti-racist actions?

Authors

• Anna Schick, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

• Elise Toedt, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities