In-class Film-viewing for Empathy Development in Higher Education

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Published: Dec 12, 2017
DOI: https://doi.org/10.26443/crae.v44i1.9

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Amélie Lemieux
Amélie Lemieux, Postdoctoral fellow, Brock University/The University of Alberta

Abstract

In the 2016 winter term, I taught a course on French communication for English as a Second Language pre-service teachers (PST) in the Department of Education of a Canadian university. In this narrative autoethnography, I present the perspectives emerging from a university teaching experience of “teaching through film”, with undergraduate students enrolled in my French communication course. In-class discussions gravitated towards values and morals—notably empathy and caring—in relation to the significance of being or embodying a “good teacher”, following the viewing of Monsieur Lazhar (2011). Drawing on William Ayers’ philosophy of good teaching, among others, I present the implications of these discussions for teacher education and their significance for teacher training programs.


Keywords: Film; Empathy; Artwork; Higher Education; Narrative Autoethnography

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Vol. 44 No. 1 (2017)
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Articles
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Author Biography

Amélie Lemieux, Amélie Lemieux, Postdoctoral fellow, Brock University/The University of Alberta

Amélie Lemieux is a postdoctoral fellow working with Linda Laidlaw at the University of Alberta, and with Jennifer Rowsell at Brock University. Amélie pursued her doctoral studies in literacy education at McGill University. Her research interests and work revolve around digital literacies through the study, impact, and production of multimodal transmodal narratives in high school settings, aesthetic understanding and

reception of transmodal narratives, comic book/film analysis and reception. Her combined work in multimodality and literacy has allowed her to raise three national scholarships, a Quebec Lieutenant-Governor Medal for academic excellence and community engagement, the 2016 EGSS Doctoral Award for
Research and Contributions to the Field of Education, as well as the Tim Casgrain Award for excellence and innovation in literacy research.

Let’s chat on Twitter: @ame_lemieux

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