Down the Rabbit Hole: Using The Matrix to Reflect on Teacher Education

In this article we use The Matrix movie as a heuristic device that offers two possibilities for conceptualizing teacher education: as a mirror (looking at ourselves) and as a window (looking at teacher education). We begin by sharing our interests and reason for using self-study while examining the components of The Matrix, noting parallels between key elements in our educational world and Neo’s world. Here we unpack scenes from the movie while making connections between the Matrix world and the world of education in order to problematize many of the longstanding, traditional notions that hinder or prevent all of us from awakening fully. We then discuss how our journeys have been influenced and altered by both self-study and curriculum study, noting the many similarities of our plight of existence with Neo’s false reality by using our experiences as a lens to re-surface the messages in The Matrix for a new generation. These messages can serve as entry points in order to initiate conversations that expand current notions of the role of a teacher and the purpose of school toward more socially-just, democratic ends. We close with personal revelations and implications and consider how our stories can be used as a point-of-entry that can inform teacher preparation. Overall, we hope that our experiences will help others begin to question the seemingly common-sense notions and often unquestioned traditions deeply entrenched in our current world of education that are related to teaching, learning, and learning to teach.