Finding Identity: Using the Literary and Visual Arts as Reflexive Tools

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Thibault Zimmer

Abstract

This paper addresses reflections from my research when using letter-writing as an arts-based method for exploring curriculum implications within an alternative educational program in a Montreal inner-city high school. The participants, comprised of the program’s students as well as its administrators and teachers, informed the research by shedding light on their experiences of the teaching and learning that occurs in such setting. By combining the literary and visual arts, the study participants explored the theme of identity through the creation of letters, and visual arts responses. As a result of this work, I employ letter-writing in this paper to address the critical and pedagogic discourses experienced and support for a call to shift educational paradigms.


Keywords: Pedagogy; Letters; Narratives; Education; Discourse.

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Articles
Author Biography

Thibault Zimmer, Concordia University

Doctoral student

References

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