Using literature and drama to understand social justice
Abstract
Enlisting pre-service teachers to engage in critical thought about diversity, equity, democracy, and power relationships is a challenging responsibility. The authors' work at a large urban community's metropolitan university in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States is designed to help pre-service teachers understand these concepts at a deeper level, thereby initiating (re)conceptualizations of the complex dimensions of multicultural education. The authors encourage beginning educators to rethink their interpretation of words and images used to construct their thinking about these issues. This essay explores a series of workshops that combined children's literature and drama to help pre-service teachers understand the parts they play in inequality, oppression, and racism and to recognize their role in larger societal constructs. The authors suggest, supporting Freire's notion that 'reading the word = reading the world,' that reinforcing children's literature with Boal's Theater of the Oppressed techniques helps transform pedagogy in ways that empower both students and teachers.
Reference
Shelton, N. R., & McDermott, M. (2010). Using literature and drama to understand social justice. Teacher Development, 14(1), 123-135. doi:10.1080/13664531003696683
Journal
Teacher development
Analysis
Is this article part of a larger project or series of studies?
no
Does this study draw on a large, preexisting data set?
no
Research Approach
Geographic Setting
Institutional Context
Certification Level
Programatic Focus
Research Location Context
Preservice Participants
Preservice Sample Size
Duration of Data Collection
Data Sources
- Audio recordings
- fieldnotes
- Observations
- Photographs
- student reflections
Data Analysis Tools
Researcher Positionality
- inside (staying their own students)
Research Questions
"This essay explores a series of workshops that combined children’s literature and drama to help pre-service teachers understand the parts they play in inequality, oppression, and racism and to recognize their role in larger societal constructs." (p. 123)
Is this research question explicit from the manuscript? Yes