Dr. Mindy Carter | Associate Professor, McGill University, Canada
Friday, October 20, 2023 | 12:30 – 2:00 p.m. (PST) | via Zoom
Faculty Host: Dr. Rita Irwin
Vie the Seminar Poster
Abstract
This research focuses on the experiences of elementary and post-secondary pre- and in-service drama teacher’s agency in Montreal, Quebec. It looks at how this agency engages with the educational calls to action (#62 i and #63 i, ii, iii and iv) from Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) using drama education and theatre. It is about a quest that is hard to imagine given Canada’s ongoing and historical colonial legacy. Between 2014 and 2019, two research projects took place with pre- and in-service teachers focusing on the question What dispositions do pre- and in- service teachers need to develop in order to enact critical-creative agency through the lived provincial arts curriculum? to guide this initial imagining. The three case studies or vignettes in this presentation are exemplars for how primarily pre- and in-service teachers in Quebec use teacher agency to engage with the TRC’s educational calls to action while co-creating collaborative drama and theatre performances. The significance of providing these examples for those interested in taking up the calls to action in the TRC is that they cover a range of practical pre- and in-service K-University contexts using both drama education and theatre performances to learn and present shared understandings. The diverse examples of how students and teachers can use the arts (i.e. which include scripts, performances, interviews, focus groups and monologues) to take up the TRC’s calls to action in pedagogical spaces are a reminder that there is no formula that can be applied in all instances. This is the case because participant lived experiences and the unique collaborative communities that develop in the rehearsal space are contingent upon the individuals who contribute to the conversations, learning and community.
Short Bio
Dr. Mindy R. Carter is an Associate Professor in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education (DISE) at McGill University in Montreal, QC Canada. Carter conducts research in curriculum studies, teacher identities, drama, and theatre education primarily with in-service and pre-service teachers focusing on questions of social justice, art processes, and the relations of schooling. Carter’s recent book (2022) published by The University of Toronto Press Smallest circles first: Exploring reconciliatory praxis through drama education won the 2023 American Alliance for Theatre Education’s (AATE) honourable mention award. Recently, Carter also received the 2023 AATE Johnny Saldana award for Outstanding Theatre Educator and the 2022 Canadian Society for the Study of Education’s (2022) Mentorship award for her work with graduate and undergraduate students.