Where Are We Going, Where Have We Been? Co-Writing for Climate Justice

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Sunday 9:50 am Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: Integrating Climate Justice Education Across Teacher Education Programs: A Remedy of Critical Transdisciplinarity and Collective Action (Table 6)

Abstract

Objectives: We know little about how teacher candidate (TC) learning of climate justice transfers into their work as teachers of record; however, if prior research on the influence of teacher education coursework on teaching practice is any indication (e.g. Grossman, et al., 2008; Whitney, et al., 2002), it is likely that such transfer won’t happen on its own. Thus, in an effort to support this transfer, we engaged a cohort of TCs in writing about their experiences learning about climate justice through climate fiction and art in their teacher education program (TEP) and envisioning their future teaching practices related to climate justice.

Framework: We use the idea of modest utopias, “specifically those in the form of institutional innovations in educational settings” which are “crucial in preparing societies for more comprehensive and far-reaching transformations” (Rajala, et al., 2023, p. 113). We connect this literature to the work on writing as a means of envisioning possible futures (Sools, 2020).

Methods: The authors and five TCs met for a two day workshop during the summer before the TCs began their first year of teaching. Prior to workshopping, the authors analyzed TC coursework on climate justice. From these data, we drew broad themes to present to TCs. During the workshop, TCs engaged in co-writing exercises where they expanded on these themes and envisioned how they might connect them to future classroom practice. This writing was then compiled into an article for publication.

Data and Analysis: Data include the coursework from the climate justice unit, the writing TCs did during the workshop, and field notes and memos recorded by the authors during and after the workshop. We coded data first using open codes, then pattern coding using consolidated codes of emergent themes (Saldaña, 2009).

Results: TCs resonated with the pre-selected themes including “Artistic expression to support climate hope” and “The difficult balance between hope and realism.” However, they also offered new themes that did not appear in their initial coursework because they stemmed from experiences with student teaching. These included “the challenge of fitting climate justice into existing curriculum,” and “varied student capacity to talk about climate change.” TCs were eager to write about their experiences as learners but hesitant to speculate about their futures as teachers. However, when we tied the purpose of speculative writing to the work TCs had done with climate fiction and the importance of imagining potential futures, this writing became easier.

Significance: In the midst of ongoing climate catastrophe, it is important that teacher educators not only teach about climate justice but also support TCs in envisioning themselves as teachers of climate justice. Here we present an emerging method for supporting beginning teachers in both reflecting on their learning and imagining themselves as teachers of youth who are making sense of a precarious climate future. This method also provides teacher educators with important data about what TCs did and did not take up in coursework on climate justice, thus providing vital data for the improvement of future coursework.

Authors

• Maia Goodman Young, University of Washington

• Ledah Kaplan Wilcox, University of Washington