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Utah's Foremost Platform for Undergraduate Research Presentation
2021 Abstracts

Sustaining Belonging in the In Between through Physical Storytelling

Presenter: L. Kate Blair, College of Arts and Sciences, Dance and Education
Authors: Laurel Kate Blair
Faculty Advisors: Anneliese Cannon, School of Education, Education; TESOL; Richard Badenhausen, Honors College, Honors
Institution: Westminster College

This study pays explicit attention to the knowledge embedded in Diverse Language Learners (DLLs) holistic experiences and invites an exploration of the body’s role in storytelling. In this study, embodied storytelling functions to address DLLs' multiplicity of experience to build a relevant sense of belonging in the classroom. DLLs in underserved rural communities often partake in education from a singular narrative–that is, standardized, English-only instruction, that fails to recognize the complexity of their lives. Using embodied storytelling bolsters students’ lived experiences while limiting the possibility of embedding a singular narrative in classroom communities. This study stems from two essential questions 1) How do we develop a culturally sustaining movement based pedagogical sequence that can be adapted to other communities? and 2) What are the affordances of using embodied pedagogy as a tool to create a sense of belonging with this specific group of students?