Preparing Teachers to Become Lifelong Learners: Exploring the Use of Fiction to Develop Multiliteracies and Critical Thinking

Patricia Gouthro,Susan Holloway

doi:10.20360/g2588t

Patricia Gouthro, Susan Holloway

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.20360/g2588t

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Abstract

Drawing upon research from a SSHRC grant entitled Creating a Canadian “Voice”: Lifelong Learning, the Craft of Fiction Writing, and Citizenship, we examine how multiliteracies and critical thinking can be fostered using a framework of lifelong learning for teachers. We provide examples from authors and key informants who discuss learning and fiction writing to argue that there are benefits for diverse learners in using wider, more inclusive definitions of literacy associated with multiliteracies. We also provide examples of how multimodal technologies can foster learning connected to critical thinking and multiliteracies.

Highlights

Critical educators believe that the purpose of schooling is not just to prepare students for the workplace, but to prepare them for life
How do we encourage teachers in our K-12 school system to think critically about their work as educators in preparing youth and adults to meet the challenges of a world shaped by the changing forces of globalization and emerging technologies? This paper explores how Faculties of Education can foster a lifelong learning framework to support the development of critical thinking and multiple literacies among preservice students in Teacher Education programs and graduate education students in Faculties of Education
We envision teachers who are critical lifelong learners, who are engaged in multiliteracies, and who are able to prepare their own students to deal with challenges they will need to address both in the workplace and as Canadian citizens

Summary

Introduction

Critical educators believe that the purpose of schooling is not just to prepare students for the workplace, but to prepare them for life. How do we encourage teachers in our K-12 school system to think critically about their work as educators in preparing youth and adults to meet the challenges of a world shaped by the changing forces of globalization and emerging technologies? This paper explores how Faculties of Education (or as is the case in some universities, Schools or Departments of Education) can foster a lifelong learning framework to support the development of critical thinking and multiple literacies among preservice students in Teacher Education programs and graduate education students in Faculties of Education (who might currently be working in the school system as teachers). The goal of this paper is to challenge the compartmentalization of academic teaching and research practices in Education that frequently isolate preservice teaching from graduate studies, and detach adult education/lifelong learning from teacher education. We provide a short discussion of the Language and Literacy

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