Collaborative Feedback Loops: Using Teacher Action Research to Support Practice in Culturally Sustaining Art Pedagogy

• In Event: Cultivating Art Teachers’ Identity Awareness Through Critical Reflection: Perceptions, Context, and Positionality in Art Education

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this research was to explore strategies used in professional learning communities and teacher action research to support new art teachers in revising curriculum related to the current New York State Department of Education’s Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education Frameworks.

Theoretical framework: Existing research in teacher professional identity development focuses on how reflexivity and participation in a critical community examining anti-racist pedagogical strategies can support new teacher development (Kraehe & Acuff, 2021). There is much recent literature on the importance of teacher professional identity development (Gindi & Ehrlich, 2018). Researchers agree that identity development is neither isolated or static (Avraamidou, 2014); rather it is dynamic, social and requires self reflection (Beauchamp & Thomas, 2009). This paper draws on existing research in teacher professional identity development and focuses on how reflexivity and participation in a critical community examining anti-racist pedagogical strategies can support new art teacher development. This emphasis on cultivating stronger cultural competencies and capacities for teaching art towards equity and justice is also reflected in the current New York State Department of Education’s Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education Frameworks.

Methods: Through participatory teacher action research, a small group of art teachers identified a curricular component they intended to explore, documented their collaborative critical reflections, and collected data about their evolving pedagogy in their own arts classrooms. Teachers employed qualitative methods of observation and reflection in the classroom as well as collected artifacts such as lesson plans. Iterative data collection and analysis focused on both professional learning community meetings as well as the individual action research projects each participant pursued. This multi-modal approach allowed us to better understand the strategies for navigating cultural biases and planning justice oriented lessons in arts education.

Data sources: This research project engaged with multiple data sources. Professional learning committee meetings with participants were recorded and transcribed. Additional data included art teachers’ analyses and reflection on their own practice shared in these meetings. Artifacts of teachers’ practice including lesson plans and student artwork were also collected and analyzed to triangulate the data.

Results: Results identified core strategies for teacher educators and school administrators to support new art teachers in cultivating stronger cultural competencies and capacities for teaching towards equity and justice. These initial strategies reveal a set of practical pedagogical tools that can be employed in teacher action research to support teacher identity development.

Significance: The results of this research are significant to teacher educators as they point to best practices in supporting new and novice art teachers as they develop their teacher professional identity within an equity-centered approach to teaching. Increasingly schools of education are asked to quantify the impact their graduates have on student learning. Supporting recent graduates in curriculum development and revision helps art teacher educators recognize areas for development in their own pedagogy and encourages collaboration and reflection as a career long process in art education.

Author

• Susan McCullough, Queens College - CUNY