Reflective A/r/tographic Journaling About Arts-Oriented Community-Building: A Loving Remedy for Just Education Renewal

• In Event: Artful Reflections: Reimagining the Teacher as Learner Through Creative Practice

Abstract

This project is a reflection on our experiences leveraging arts-oriented community-building activities in arts education courses for preservice elementary teachers through a/r/tographic journaling. This methodology allows us to lovingly share reflections on our community-building experiences through artistic means. The journal will be arranged organically by theme in a way that welcomes dialogic engagement with the ideas expressed therein. At a time when postsecondary education contexts are under legislative attack, when we are still recovering from the ravages of Covid-19, and when the nation is rent by extreme politics, we see arts-oriented community-building practices as a loving remedy for education renewal and a means of helping students feel a sense of safety, welcome, belonging, even love, in our classrooms.

Authors

• Karenanna Boyle Creps, Michigan State University

• Dominic Hateka, Michigan State University

• Anthony Dickson, Michigan State University