Exploring the Use of Children’s Artwork and Writing as Provocation Toward Developing Dispositional Thinking in Pre-Service Teachers

SIPA 220

Most would agree that teaching is demanding work that requires teachers to know something and to think. While it is generally assumed that teachers should think deeply about their subject matter, the myriad ways teachers might draw upon thinking to understand children and pedagogy is less understood. This interactive session applies recent scholarship on the development of dispositional thinking in children to a teacher education context. It invites participants to explore how dispositional thinking can be developed in the context of a course designed to teach reading and writing methods. Discussion will be prompted using provocations designed to develop dispositional thinking in preservice teachers. Participants will be offered definitions and examples of what is meant by dispositional thinking, invited to engage in an experience that mirrors what preservice teachers are asked to do, and encouraged to imagine how what has been illuminated might be applied in different contexts.