One strand of my research examines how teachers, learners, and families can cultivate flourishing, resiliency, and compassion in times of crisis, uncertainty, or discomfort. I situate my work within a framework of critical and multimodal literacies, and I use a variety of arts-based methodologies in my teaching and research. I especially focus on the transformative possibilities of life writing for helping people tell stories about what matters most for them in teaching and learning. This work has helped me to identify important questions around how to support educators as they choose to be their most compassionate selves and how we put compassion in the heart of what we do in schools.
I am currently working on a book project entitled Teaching Through Vulnerability, Discomfort, Mindfulness, and Compassion. The life writing and literary métissage (Chambers, Hasebe-Ludt, Leggo & Sinner, 2012; Hasebe-Ludt, Chambers, & Leggo, 2009) approach to this book is designed as a four-strand braid. Each strand is organized around the active verb “practising” to dig deep into the dynamic, and often difficult, processes of teaching and learning: (1) Practising Vulnerability; (2) Practising Discomfort; (3) Practising Mindfulness; and (4) Practising Compassion. Each strand is composed of different genres of life writing: theoretical and analytical introduction, letter writing, journal pieces, comic, photos, creative non-fiction, collages, and scenes from a play. The multimodal life writing pieces are worked examples (Gee, 2010) of contemplative practices and pedagogical praxis.
Photo Credits: Visual piece in process, Daralyn Davidson Tree of Life Mandala: Co-created piece with D. Kearns Logo from: http://wellbeinginschools.ca All other photos are mine.
Another strand of my research, that is also grounded in a compassionate stance, is to explore how flourishing literacies in and out of school can contribute to students' well-being and well-becoming. As part of the Well-being and Well-Becoming in Schools in Canada Research Initiative, please check out our website http://wellbeinginschools.ca, I am beginning to explore questions such as: What does literacy sound, look, and feel like when it is flourishing in schools? Does that flourishing look the same for all learners in all contexts? How do we co-construct responsive and inclusive environments for individual literacy learners to flourish within diverse classroom/school ecosystems? How can flourishing literacy contribute to flourishing well-being and well-becoming? What is literacy AS a way well-being and well-becoming? What is literacy FOR well-being and well-becoming? How can compassionate networks of parents, students, teachers, literacy leaders, and administrators work together to meet the needs for more flourishing and inclusive literacy in our province?
Photo Credits: Daralyn Davidson
I have been particularly influenced in researching flourishing, inclusive literacy because of a recent research study I conducted with 11 parents of children with dyslexia. In a two phase research study, parents engaged in open-ended, in-depth interviews about their lived experiences of being parents of children with dyslexia. In the second phase, six of the parents engaged in an arts-based focus group where they created visual arts pieces that helped them voice both the challenges and difficulties, but also the joy, hope, and strengths of their experiences. This research study deepened and expanded my commitment to advocate for a more inclusive literacy praxis that is grounded in critical and affirmative disability theories for families of children with dyslexia. It has also strengthened my commitment to explore the importance of parent partnerships within the context of teacher education.