Step 4 Write or Dictate Narratives: The polyphony of voice as uniqueness of human experience
Photovoice Worldwide
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Aspasia Dania, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece?
“…in discussions about social justice, I am the facilitator of my students’ collaborative interaction, seeking to cultivate new seeds of thought in their relational experience.”?
In this edition of our newsletter, Dr. Dania explores the idea of using fictional narrative as a means of reflecting on common themes and preparing for caption-writing in photovoice.?
One of the assignments I used with my third-year pre-service Physical Education teachers at the University of Athens in Greece aimed at helping them understand how our work as teachers could plant seeds for social justice and educational change. Eager to move beyond lecture-based debates and engage them in critical and thought-provoking discussions, I worked with photovoice, introducing them to the many different ways photos can help people reflect on their experiences and open up to new types of thought.?
During our last lecture before Christmas holidays, I asked them to take their own photos on the topic ‘How would social justice look like in the University’ and write a caption they considered to be relevant. After they returned from their two-week break, my intention was to work with them in small groups and facilitate idea sharing based on caption-writing.?
As a teacher educator with a special interest in social justice, I was eager to re-orient my students’ taken-for-granted ways of describing and interpreting modern educational policies, to ensure diversity and inclusion at all levels of their action. For me, that was a path of solidarity and professionalism toward educational change. While preparing a short guide on how to write a group narrative based on caption writing, I thought: As teachers, are we prepared to use the potential of social justice to develop our students’ agency, or do we just seek to raise their awareness on social justice issues?’?
This question seemed to trouble me a lot. I knew from experience that social justice depends both on what is happening and how people interpret things that are happening. By staying cognizant to this realization, I decided to practice with my own pictures and captions and prepare a narrative on the topic: How could social justice inform wider understandings in academic teaching? Using a photo I took of Sycamore trees in a park in spring as an opportunity for getting ‘out of self’ (Wyatt & Gale, 2013), I wrote a fictional narrative to experiment with different ways of preparing to write titles and captions. The title I initially chose for this photo was "Social Justice Forces in academic discussions."
I had read about using fictional narratives as a means of presenting opposing arguments (Kara, 2013), allegories, and metaphors (Netolicky, 2016), as well as life experiences (Wiebe, 2014), but I hadn’t used it in my teaching or research. However, I was convinced it would help me re-appreciate both my ideas and perceptions of social justice within an academic context.???
Fictional Narrative??
The following fictional story demonstrates an alternative way of re-storying ideas, experiences and concepts while preparing for caption-writing in photovoice.??
Setting: It is a normal day at a faculty of education in Southern Europe. The classroom is finally quiet, after the students’ noisy departure at the end of the lecture. They seem rather unhappy because most of them did not do well on a midterm exam. The lecturer packs his things quickly and rushes to a room upstairs, where a curriculum assembly meeting is already taking place.??
Mills (the lecturer): I am sorry for being late, there were some students at the end of the lecture who needed some clarification on today’s exam. They seemed rather displeased with the way we are evaluating their skills and knowledge. I hope I did not miss much from today’s meeting.?
Crista: We were discussing the need to make changes in our curriculum. It seems that over the years we have been trying to make progress with our courses, but what we seem to do is circle around the boundaries of our students’ understandings and capacities. I know that we all use reading and writing assignments and resources as part of our courses, but isn't it true that modalities seem to favor certain types of thinking and learning over others??
Paul: True, and apart from that, every one of us is a theorist (Mackinnon, 2013). We seem to individually apprehend our subjects/topics and present them in ways that do not resonate with students, or that they have trouble following. Also, there are lot of power issues involved. I think that our current approach does not allow us to appreciate diversity and equity in our teaching as much as we need to.??
Jessica: What do you mean by “everyone is a theorist?” I don’t agree. I am using dialogue and discussion in all my classes. I also include various audio-visual methods and hands-on assignments, but students seem to prefer traditional lectures. They have been socialized in that way during their years in education, and it is not easy for them to debate and share opinions.?
Crista: I think we are not suggesting that students need to engage in debates to enact progress or change. What we are talking about is helping them to open up, break out of isolation, and start to build connection. As teacher educators, we are not intended to just inform, our role is to provoke and empower our students, to escape contestation and promote care, hope, and belief in their potential.??
John: I think that what you are doing right now is very disrespectful and provoking.? Don’t you think we all know that? That is why we are academics. I have been publishing articles and conducting studies about how learning takes place within modern university contexts. Within most of my studies, the research outcomes are rather discouraging; modern students are not motivated to learn, and, in many cases, their academic skills do not align with 21st-century learning standards. So, please don’t tell me that I am only a theorist.?
Mills: I guess John is right. I experienced that earlier in my lecture. I gave my students an online test based on content I had asked them to read in the previous lecture. I also described criteria for evaluating various learning outcomes within the test. To my surprise, less than half of the students who took the test managed to perform well based on the course standards.??
Crista: Can’t you see that we are trapped in a way of thinking that does not let us, our students, and our program move forward and make a change? We are here for more than an hour narrating our program outcomes through a success/fail paradigm, which, instead of helping us to envision something different, makes us feel impotent in changing the way we are accountable both to ourselves and our students.?
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Jessica: That’s enough. I can’t stay and listen to this stuff. I have lots of administrative duties and I feel I am wasting my time here. We are all publishing and producing knowledge. Students who want to enact change can use this knowledge and ask for our help if needed. I did that when I was a PhD student, and that is why I am an academic staff member now. It is their time to act, as younger people. I cannot think of another way [closes the door and leaves the room with frustration].?
In the above fictional story, Crista is trying to ask, ‘What kind of world do we want in academia?’ Are we ready to escape individualistic indulgence and re-address what counts as legitimate and recognized knowledge and academic practice?’ As she does so, a sense of frustration is evoked in her colleagues’ responses, and this brings discomfort.?
By engaging in fictional writing, students/ teachers/ researchers/ study participants have the opportunity to revisit past experiences with fresh eyes (Wiebe, 2014) and reflect on common themes and established ways of thinking about a situation.?
The modeling of different reactions to what occurs as fictional dialogue can help students who are preparing to work on the concept of social justice re-appreciate the constraints and affordances of engaging with uncomfortable discussions within academic contexts.? After reading this story, the following questions could have been used for facilitating critical dialogues on photo captions/group narratives:?
By using fictional stories when preparing captions for photovoice projects, we have an opportunity to move beyond ‘the heat of emotional involvement’ to a state of re-appreciation for why what is happening can, in fact, deepen understanding and construct alternatives. What could be helpful at this stage is practice and experimentation with different styles of writing (e.g., descriptive writing, poetry, prose, diaries, memoirs, etc.). These styles could help us craft the fiction differently and envision alternative ways of captioning each photo.???
After my short experiment with fictional storytelling, I can see that, prior to discussing the concept of social justice with my students, it was imperative for me to reflect on what ‘I have not seen’ in that concept so far. Both the fictional dialogue and my experiences at the university help me to re-appreciate polyphony of voice as the uniqueness of human experience. This is definitely the caption I would now choose for my photo. By reflecting on this new caption, I can appreciate the fact that, in discussions about social justice, I am the facilitator of my students’ collaborative interaction, seeking to cultivate new seeds of thought in their relational experience. To do so, it is not enough to simply prepare for my course; I need to be ready to deal with discomfort and prejudice (both mine and my students’) and accept that not all students will be eager, ready, or interested to engage in provoking or discomforting dialogues, even if this is my perception of good teaching. Perhaps, this makes me unsure about the progress or outcomes of my teaching. But this is what academic teaching is about: connectedness with an emphasis on appreciating situational dynamics and actualizing affective potential.
About the Author??
Aspasia Dania is an Assistant Professor in Physical Education Teacher Education at the School of Physical Education and Sport Science, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. She teaches Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy at undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral levels. She leads the Social Pedagogy Professional Association Special Interest Group on Social Pedagogy, Sports and Physical Education and Chair-Elect of the Teaching Games for Understanding Special Interest Group. Her research interests focus on teacher education and professional development, game-based education, qualitative research methods, and curriculum planning, all focusing on social justice.?
Recommended Resources for Step 4: “Writing or dictating narratives”?
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10 个月Wow!! Thank you for this inspiring edition.