Toward a Clown(ing) Pedagogue: (Re)thinking Curriculum through a Clown Process Ontology

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 9:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Creative Curriculum & Playful Pedagogies

Abstract

This theoretical paper considers how clown(ing) the curriculum can provide previously unforeseen ways of doing pedagogy. We find this work particularly important in a context fraught with increased demands for classroom teachers to adhere to scripted curriculum and increased focus on end of course exams, which teacher and school assessment measures continue to emphasize while evaluating k-12 teacher and school effectiveness. Thus, we wonder how a clowning stance can provide new and previously unimagined ways of disrupting the status quo currently so entrenched in classroom curriculum and instruction. Relying on Manning's (2016) process philosophy, this paper argues for a clown process ontology to disrupt, create, and (re)vision possibilities for classroom curriculum.

Authors

• Joseph D. Sweet, University of North Carolina - Pembroke

• Amalie Strange, Arizona State University