Nurturing Joy in a Teacher Education Program

• In Event: AERA Graduate Student Research-in-Progress Session 5
  In Roundtable Session: Perspectives on Teacher Education: Innovative Practices, Education for Sustainable Development, and Joy (Table 6)

Abstract

This paper examines the pursuit of joy in postsecondary education. While there is a growing body of work done on the importance of joy in K-12 education (Emdin, 2017; Love, 2019; Muhammad, 2023; Wong & Peña, 2017), there is relatively little scholarship on joy in postsecondary pedagogies. To build on the literature, we draw on Muhammad's (2020, 2023) HILL model of K-12 education as a framework to explore joy in a university, teacher-preparation classroom. We gather data using interviews, observations, and artifact collection. Four preliminary themes emerge from our iterative analyses: nurturing joy requires extra intentionality and creativity, joy can build community, joy can be resistance to educational oppression, and attending to joy can make educators more joyful.

Authors

• Justin Hauver, Harvard University

• Ivelisse Ramos, Harvard University