Teaching Is ...: Through the Eyes of Preservice Teachers

• In Event: Exploring Pedagogies for Developing a Critical Inquiry Stance to Teaching

Abstract

A diverse group of student teachers in an alternative certification program participated in seminars integrating Boal’s (1979) Theater of the Oppressed activities. Participants created embodied images that expressed their visions for teaching. The research, analyzing photos and video transcripts from seminar meetings and interview transcripts, brought to light the student teachers’ tacit reasons for becoming a teacher. The analytical and artistic processes of noticing, reflecting, and inquiring further into the embodied images to craft a data poem allowed me to understand their hopes and dreams. Image Theater activities support the student teachers to connect with their affect and desire and then make choices that would help them to build to building a democratic and a humane learning environment.

Author

• Foram Bhukhanwala, Arcadia University