Learning from Abuela: La Chakra as a Methodology for Teacher Education Ecosystems

• In Event: Unforgetting to Imagine Otherwise: Methodological Multiplicity in Teaching and Teacher Education

Abstract

This work explores how we can reimagine education at the teacher preparation level through an ecosystem of frameworks. This ecosystem is inspired by a methodology of agricultural and communal environments from Andean Indigenous ancestral knowledge: la Chakra . La Chakra embodies an agricultural, spiritual, and communal environment where communities come together to nurture and sustain communal land while creating intergenerational and spaces of care and responsibility. La Chakra provides a lens through which to envision teacher education’s future as a relational and communal educational ecosystem. This work argues not for a new framework in education, but asks that we engage with educational frameworks in a relational manner in order to envision a new path for teacher education.

Author

• Jessica Velez Tello, Brooklyn College - CUNY