Drawn Toward Transformation

Book excerpt: This book examines the transformative potential of collaborative teacher research. Specifically, Kalin shares the perspectives of educators as they investigate the teaching and learning of drawing within their own elementary classrooms and within the context of an action research group. The innovative a/r/tographic design of the project provides a rich balance between the arts and educational research, as it allows for the complex unfolding of relational transformation, alongside the artistic renditions of each person exploring their understandings of drawing. The products and processes of this book provide alternative approaches for the design of future pre-service and in-service programs that aim to serve teachers as learners rather than teachers as teachers. In this vein, the book offers worthy insights into how the arts and collaborative action research groups assist participants in finding other ways of seeing, imaging, and knowing the world. The book will appeal to practitioners, teacher educators, educational researchers, as well as those interested in professional development, complexity thinking, curriculum studies, collaborative action research, and arts-based educational research methodologies.