Commitments to a Community of Artistic Inquiry: Becoming Pedagogical 
through A/r/tography in Teacher Education
Author: Gouzouasis, Peter
Date: 2013-02-14
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Art,Research Methodology,Inquiry,Preservice Teacher Education,Elementary Education,Preservice Teachers,Art Education,Music Education,Case Studies,Student Experience,Student Research,Foreign Countries

The purpose of this inquiry is to investigate how a/r/tography is uniquely situated to enact, develop, and problematize &quot;becoming pedagogical&quot; in an arts-based cohort in a teacher education program. This particular study purposefully grapples with visual and performing arts, in an elementary teacher education program, as teacher candidates &quot;learn to learn&quot; how to inquire through their disciplinary and interdisciplinary frames of mind. We take the position that arts-based research adds to the diversity and complexity inherent in understandings about education and pedagogy. This research was infused through principles of teaching, music and movement, and visual arts education classes at The University of British Columbia. To learn about adopting an a/r/tographic stance in their journeys of becoming teachers, teacher candidates were actively involved in arts-based research workshops, the development of an art exhibition, learning to infuse creative pedagogies across the curriculum, and sharing their arts-based research projects. Their art took the form of public performances with artistic (music, dance, drama, visual) representations of curriculum. Featured in this essay are the stories of &quot;becoming&quot; of two pre-service teachers whose learning interwove basic notions of a/r/tography. Their work subsequently influenced 
the projects of hundreds of pre-service teachers since their experiences as teacher candidates. Through examining this form of praxis, we learned that pre-service teachers who embrace an a/r/tography project--as a mode of artistic expression, as the creation of mature works of art, and as reflective-reflexive inquiry--experience the most success during coursework, during practicum, and into their teaching careers. They possess an ongoing commitment to becoming a/r/tographers and expanding their careers and career paths through artistic inquiry. They are more open to change and 
professional growth. Moreover, artistry--in the form of visual arts, music, dance, and drama--continues, being and becoming a strong influence in the identities of those individuals. The significance of this work expresses what happens when projects in university coursework shift to a professional perspective and to an embodiment of becoming a/r/tographic. The significance of enabling teacher candidates opportunities to work, both &quot;with&quot; and &quot;as&quot; teacher researchers--to create alongside others who are questioning ways of learning, knowing, and doing research; to engage with reflection in a deeply compelling manner--reaches beyond current, traditional conceptions of teacher education to a place of a community of learners engaged in artistic, creative inquiry. We suggest a substantial, artistic, creative shift in the conceptualization and practice of teacher education. (Contains 10 footnotes.)