Embodied knowing: Toward a teacher education pedagogy of relational witnessing

This paper introduces a model for teacher education that gives shape and meaning to witnessing one's own reactions to and development of equity-based teaching. Data from a school-based teacher inquiry group provide two illustrations of how the model, based on a conceptual framework from feminist ethics, can be used to guide relational witnessing for teachers who are striving toward equity-based practice. We conclude with recommendations for understanding and mobilizing embodied encounters in teacher education toward a pedagogy of relational witnessing for teacher education with a focus on bringing dysconscious assumptions to the surface through the use of dispositional language. • Relational witnessing pedagogical model based in feminist theory. • Embodied knowledge represented as emotional, positional, normative, and structural. • Suggests a pedagogy for teacher education striving for equity-based teaching. • Dispositions for teaching featured as necessary language for relational witnessing. • Relational witnessing includes bringing dysconscious assumptions to the surface.