Engaging Pre-Service Teachers in the Drama in Teacher Leadership

Dr. Jerome Cranston; Kristin Kusanovich

doi:10.18432/R22S75

Authors

Dr. Jerome Cranston University of Manitoba
Kristin Kusanovich Santa Clara University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18432/R22S75

Keywords:

Ethnotheatre, Ethnodrama, Teacher leadership, Transdisciplinary, Arts-based research

Abstract

This paper presents the findings of a qualitative research study that examined the effects of a transdisciplinary ethnotheatre workshop designed to support the professional development of school leaders as they navigate the complexities of teacher leadership. The site of inquiry was a pre-service teacher leadership workshop held in a graduate school class where participants analyzed, witnessed, and enacted ethnodramas, problematizing tensions in teacher leadership. Using a constant comparative approach, the participant journals were read and re-read, coded, and then categorized thematically with particular focus on negative case analysis. The authors present excerpts from the ethnodrama scripts used in the workshop alongside the research findings, which suggest that, while some participants perceived the injustice of a given situation presented in the ethnodrama, and could articulate how the process of ethnotheatre created avenues for learning about the lived reality of teacher leaders, others indicated either a lack of awareness or a tacit acceptance of the bullying and discriminatory behaviors embedded within the scripts.

Author Biographies

Dr. Jerome Cranston, University of Manitoba

Jerome A. Cranston, Ph.D., is the Executive Director Student Academic Success, and is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education, University of Manitoba. He has spent much of his professional life practicing and studying educational administration and uses critical perspectives to uncover how organizational structures and behaviors can act as blinders to social injustice and inequity in the education system.

Kristin Kusanovich, Santa Clara University

Kristin Kusanovich, MFA, is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Theatre & Dance at Santa Clara University. Ms. Kusanovich is a professional choreographer, director, and workshop facilitator committed to enlivening discourse around issues of justice, ethics and civic engagement through the arts.

Cranston and Kusanovich’s co-authored book Ethnotheatre and Creative Methods for Teacher Leaders was published in 2016 by Palgrave Macmillan in their series on Creativity, Education and Arts.

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