Poetic Differentiation in the Higher Education Preservice Teacher Classroom

• In Event: Reimagining Inquiry Through Poetics, Comics, and Healing Arts

Abstract

This manuscript employs arts-informed research and qualitative narrative analysis to examine how five undergraduate students engaged in differentiated instruction in a preservice teacher course. These students opted to express their learning through poetry. By fostering a classroom environment rooted in the student-centered practice of differentiated instruction, these students comfortably and creatively conveyed their past inspirations, current learnings, and future classroom hopes through poetry. The findings suggest that experiencing DI firsthand may empower future educators to create inclusive and collaborative classrooms, rooted in their own experiences as students and what inspires them to be future educators. Such an experience has the potential to bridge the gap between theoretical understanding and practical implementation of differentiated instruction.

Authors

• Eleni Duret, San Jose State University

• Avery Cloward, San Jose State University

• Diana Briseno, San Jose State University

• Gannon Granada, San Jose State University

• Elizabeth Petty, San Jose State University

• Nicole Trach, San Jose State University