Research in the Teaching of English Feb 2021

Playful Practices: Reimagining Literacy Teacher Education through Game-Based Curriculum Design

Grace MyHyun Kim The University of Texas at Austin ; Lindy L. Johnson William & Mary

Abstract

The prevalence of high-stakes testing, scripted curricula, and accountability measures in schools discourages experimentation with curriculum. This article encourages curriculum design experimentation in teacher education by proposing playful practices, game-like activities for designing curriculum that draws on students’ out-of-school literacies. We explore the benefits and challenges of game-based curriculum design with preservice teachers (PSTs; N = 19) in two public university secondary English education courses and trace one PST’s take-up of the curriculum design moves through incorporation of these playful practices into her classroom. Data collection occurred across one academic year and included field and observation notes, written reflections, interview data, and artifacts. Findings show the potential for game-based curriculum design in literacy teacher education to (1) create an imaginative space between teacher and student, (2) encourage collaborative production, (3) connect PST university coursework to classroom practice, (4) support students’ creative language production, and (5) create playful social contexts for participatory learning. Challenges highlight the importance of attending to power dynamics in game play and design. Implications include how game-based pedagogical invitations in teacher education can help PSTs imagine new ways to organize classroom structures and literacy learning experiences that value an interplay of youth cultures and classroom curriculum.

Journal
Research in the Teaching of English
Published
2021-02-15
DOI
10.58680/rte202131185
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Open Access
Closed
Topics
writing pedagogy curriculum design teacher development collaborative writing literacy studies
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (3)

  1. Smagorinsky et al. (2024)
    An Eight-Year Longitudinal Study of an English Language Arts Teacher’s Developm…
    Research in the Teaching of English
  2. Filipiak (2024)
    “I’m Outside the Box. Too Outside the Box, I Explode It!”: Exploring Literacies…
    Research in the Teaching of English
  3. Jocson et al. (2022)
    Pedagogical Openings and the Gift(s) of Teaching: Announcing the 2020–2021 Alan…
    Research in the Teaching of English

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