Rewriting Teacher Education: Food, Love, and Community

• Main Authors: Imandeep K Grewal, Amanda Maher, Hanna Watters, Donacal Clemens, Kaitlyn Webb
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: OpenED Network 2019-12-01
• Series: Journal of Culture and Values in Education
• Subjects: Narrative Inquiry; Voice; Teacher Education; Humanizing Education
• Online Access: https://cultureandvalues.org/index.php/JCV/article/view/51

In this article, we present the intertwining stories of a teacher education learning community who are (re) writing the current dehumanizing narrative of standardization, crisis mongering, and survival of the fittest ethos that continue to harm our learners, teachers, and communities.  We argue that when teacher education candidates are repositioned from consumers of theory and methods to inquirers of practice, their collectively constructed knowledge not only illuminates locally significant issues but also disrupts institutional hierarchies. Drawing from narrative inquiry theory and a collaborative methodical approach, we—a professor and students—share our personal stories of learning together in a required teacher education course and practicum placement at a local high school. Bringing together conceptions of voice, human capability, and “place”, we provide a layered framework to understand pedagogical practices that operate to unravel systems of standardization and hyper-individualism. Our inquiry approach, public narration, and our democratization of knowledge serve as an example of teacher education pedagogy with a disruptive agenda.