Journeying into the Complexities and Possibilities of Performative Pedagogical Practice, Research and Analysis

Abstract

In the United States, there is an obsession with high stakes testing, and performative pedagogues are challenged to prove that their work is valuable to increased scores. Educators who work through performative pedagogies are also expected to articulate the ways the work encourages and supports socio-cultural growth. In this article, the author calls into question trying to validate performative pedagogies based upon what they produce and or do and rather explores the complexities and possibilities of our work made manifest within observable discourses. Data was collected over the course of a year from a process drama with 20 pre-school students. Three students’ stories provided the researcher the opportunity to articulate multiple ways in which student identities began to emerge. An articulation was made possible based upon how individual discourses were observable as students interpreted and acted upon the various social needs within both an institutionalized world of their school and the fictional world of a pioneer journey.