Walking side by side, we seek to learn together…I have no answers, no expertise. I don’t know what script will be written, who will appear. What I have to offer is interruption to expectations: a space to play, to explore, to create, to wonder, to question. Through performative inquiry—creating and performing a tableau, a scene, a one act play, through our interactions together, in play, in exploration and in conversation, moments tug on our sleeves, call us to attention. Teaching is not a solitary act: teaching is a gift of reciprocity, of listening, of being present.

I cannot create stop moments. These are unexpected gifts. I seek to create a communal performative space within which through our fumbling, stumbling, inviting, offering, receiving, reflecting, we come to new possible learning. I invite you to write postcards about the moments that matter, postcards that offer an image, a quote, a narrative of the moment that tugged on your sleeve, and ask you to reflect on why the moment mattered, what learning, what recognition, what gaps are revealed. I respond to your postcards, one by one, each a gift that teaches me, that awakens me to your presence, to what matters to you. Teaching is a offering that invites reciprocity; teaching asks us to be wide awake to what is offered in return. In the moment of turning, something happens, and my learning is your gift.

Resources

Fels, L. & Belliveau, G. (2008). Exploring curriculum: Performative inquiry, role drama and learning. Vancouver, B.C.: Pacific Educational Press.

Fels, L. (2015). E-Postcards: Reflection as a Scholarly Pedagogical Act. In Warren Linds & Elinor Vettraino (Eds.). Playing in a house of mirrors: Applied theatre as reflective pedagogical practice. Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense.