Loving and Healing as Change-Makers: Preservice Teachers Writing for Change Through Multiple Means and Modalities

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 8:00 am Four Seasons Ballroom 4
  In Roundtable Session: Teacher Learning Toward Remedy, Repair, and Equity in Literacy Instruction (Table 2)

Abstract

This cross-institutional study examines how preservice teachers (PTs) amplify their voices as change-makers through multimodal writing in writing methods courses. The study draws on pedagogies of being well and writing well in post-secondary writing. Further, it is anchored in the understanding that literacies are multimodal and culturally sustaining for young learners and PTs. Data explores how PTs engaged in multigenre writing, focusing on writing for change. Findings reveal that writing well and being well are integrally intertwined, with writing as a tool for healing and advocacy around professional and sociopolitical topics. Writing preparation through a teacher-as-writer approach focused on the well-being of PTs and the world, empowering PTs, enhancing their ability to foster change, and supporting well-being in educational contexts.

Authors

• Erica Holyoke, University of Colorado - Denver

• Susan Tily, University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire