Drama in the dream factory: a teacher’s experience and understanding of promoting social and affective learning in physical education

ABSTRACT

Background and purpose

The purpose of this accidental autoethnography was to create a performative script to help better present and understand the array of class-by-class experiences and associated emotions I, the first author, encountered as a teacher–researcher in my efforts to evolve my pedagogy to promote social and affective learning in Physical Education (PE).

Research design

An accidental ethnographic case study design was implemented focusing on four lessons I taught with 16 ninth-grade students which served as critical turning points in my experience and understandings of promoting social and affective learning. Three data sources were utilized: a teacher–researcher journal, post-teaching reflective analyses and field notes conducted by the second author, who served as a critical friend. Data analysed were drafted into a performative script produced in the form of a traditional drama; my experience of teaching the four lessons brought to life in four acts entitled Drama in the Dream Factory. External audits were conducted by the additional authors.

Findings/Discussion

My concerted efforts to promote social and affective learning led me to experience an array of intended and unintended consequences across these four lessons, both professionally and personally. I found myself repeatedly conflicted as I strayed out of my comfort zone and away from my professional, pedagogical and content preferences to teach for social and affective learning. I was slowly learning to embrace vulnerability when faced with charged scenes directly and indirectly emerging.

Conclusion

In utilizing this approach for research and self-reflection, I came to performatively unpack and understand the rich array of emotional experiences I encountered while pivoting in the moment to try and meet the learning situation at hand. This creative approach offered one such way to meet Armour et al. calls for more effective professional development involving a ‘mix of embodiment, individual experience, culture and power that are at the heart of everyday practices’ in PE (Armour et al. 2017, 804). A creative approach such as this can subjectively challenge teachers to stray out of their comfort zones and better wrap their heads around the experience of doing so.

KEYWORDS:

• Autoethnography
• physical education
• pedagogy
• social learning
• affective learning

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).