Engaging Preservice Teachers’ Critical Consciousness Through Drama

• In Event: Thursday Roundtable Session 10:50 am
  In Roundtable Session: Innovations and Tactical Tools for Critical Teacher Preparation (Table 8)

Abstract

This qualitative study aims to understand the opportunities and tensions preservice teachers face in engaging critical consciousness through drama. As the researcher and data facilitator, I employ drama artifacts, field observation, and in-depth interviews with preservice teachers as data sources. My interpretive findings illuminate how drama can be a powerful platform for preservice teachers' emotional engagement, interrogation of their beliefs, and dialogic meaning-making. The study also surfaces tensions from the drama, including emotional overwhelm, experiencing a lack of safety, and delayed critical engagement. These tensions shed light on the complexities of critical consciousness. By acknowledging both opportunities and tensions, we can harness drama’s potential to empower future educators as agents of change.

Author

• Saesaem Yoon, University of Washington - Tacoma