Lisa A. MitchellEDUC 911

March 9/10Presentation

A curriculum of difficulty: Narrative research in education and the practice of teaching

Leah C. Fowler, 2006

• Who is Leah Fowler? • What’s up with this book?• Useful information• For your consideration...• 7 orbital spheres of

narrative analysis• Narrative activity• Discussion and questions

L. Mitchell - Mar. 09/10 - EDUC 911

Who is Leah Fowler?• Canadian educator, researcher, author• associate professor at the University of

Lethbridge in department of education• Ph.D. in curriculum studies from Uvic• curriculum studies, interpretive inquiry,

narrative analysis, teaching difficulty• research and teaching interests in

teacher education, teacher identity, professional development, at-risk teachers, secondary language and science education

What’s up with this book?“This book charts fifteen years of narrative research on difficulty at the site of the teaching self” (p. vii).

“Although I value many kinds of authenticresearch, this work particularly has contributed

qualitatively to my understanding and knowledge about difficulty in education, narrative research, the practice of

teaching, and the curriculum of being” (p. vii).

“I do not presume to write a narrative ‘methods’textbook prescribing how others might conduct inquiries

around their own compelling questions” (p. vii).

“I offer an honest, phenomenological description, a hermeneutic inquiry into difficulties arising at the

site of the teaching self, as a way of learning to be present in the generative space of educational work” (p. vii).

Useful information• temenos

• hermeneutic

• educaritas

• story ≠ narrative

• counternarrative

For your consideration...(an encouraging and cautionary note)

“Narrative research can be an authentic,

autobiographical project which requires ethical

stewardship, literary skill, intelligent attention, erudite

writing craft, and a persistent, sentient, honest hermeneutic vision on the part of such a

researcher” (p. 7).

“Narrative research can also be too narcissistic, a banal project that involves mostly

self-interest, lack of scholarly discipline, misappropriation of

the experiences of one’s ‘research subjects,’ and

simplistic, weak, reflective interpretation and facile

judgment” (p. 7).

7 orbital spheres of narrative analysis

“Narrative research is not for the faint of heart, certainly not for those seeking escape from

quantitative research. Horizons unfamiliar will emerge, some daunting, some redemptive. A choice to engage

in narrative research should arise out of authentic research questions. It is the very difficulty itself

revealed in emerging narrative that draws deeper study, luring the teacherly and writerly mind to more

benthic zones of the self and profession” (p. 29).

“When teachers become harried, lose their confidence, begin to question life in teaching, lose patience with students, colleagues, administrators, parents, and

politicians, they often construct stories of their increasing difficulty” (p. 27).

“There is a kind of post-secondary institutional harassment that still abides, this time because

(education grad students) may be drawn to qualitative, interpretive inquiry. Because teachers and school administrators themselves are so well institutionalized, most conform and follow widely

accepted forms of research, usually in the quantitative, scientific traditions” (p. 27).

Orbital sphere INaïve storying

• breaking silence, finding language and voice• (re)telling of an experience, image, event,

conflict or puzzlement about a difficulty• common world or private world• basic, descriptive: who, what, where, why,

when?• “Something happened; what is being told at

the elemental story level?” (p. 30).

Orbital sphere IIPsychological de/re-construction

• includes affect and cognition• feeling is inextricably linked with the cognitive

process of making sense• what emotions are present in the subject, the

researcher, and the reader?• “How can one think about the story, what

emotions are evinced, what cognitive work of understanding more fully is called for?” (p. 30).

Orbital sphere IIIPsychotherapeutic ethics

• asks researcher/author/reader to engage in issues surrounding professional ethics and morality

• acknowledge and confront our own potential for harm in teaching and research

• “Researchers attend to how to recall our shadows, own our capacity for projection and transference, and do honest work on our own psyche (spirit, soul, self)” (p. 30).

Orbital sphere IVNarrative craft

• what constitutes the ‘container’ or temenos of the story? (can we identify the elements of convention, structure, and craft that hold the story together?)

• “This fourth orbital focuses on how the narrative construction safely holds everything in one place - people, events, relationships, setting, and difficulty or conflict - long enough to study it” (p. 30).

Orbital sphere VHermeneutic enterprise

• careful interpretive exploration• what messages lie beneath the surface text as

we move toward deeper meaning? • makes use of multiple lenses • seeks to uncover what is contextual or

embedded, and to reveal multiple layers of interpretation

• “What other interpretations can be made about the story in question?” (pp. 30-31).

Orbital sphere VICurriculum & pedagogy

• asks questions about what the story text offers in terms of insightful, pragmatic implications for teachers

• what window into the teaching profession might we (re)discover?

• “This sixth orbital of analysis focuses on pedagogy and what can be learned and known about teaching from the narrative data” (p. 31).

Orbital sphere VIIAesthetics & mindfulness in research & teaching

• artistic gestures that release the narrative into the public domain (purposeful presentation)

• conscious reconstitution of ourselves• clarity of insight, essence, gravity, truth,

authenticity, truth & beauty in education • “... a quiet place where we really know we are

mortal and we freely set down all our narrative bundles and simply breathe in the miracle of existence as human beings” (p. 31).

Narrative activity6 photographs

• Orbital sphere I (naïve storying)- who, what, where, why, when?

• Orbital sphere II (psychological de/re-construction)

- the affective (identify emotions: subject, researcher, reader)

• Orbital sphere III (psychotherapeutic ethics)- what is the potential for... bias? causing harm? projection or transference? misinterpretation? roadblocks for honesty with self/psyche?

Questions, comments, thoughts, concerns?

• Can you envision yourself conducting narrative research? Why or why not?

• What are some of the challenges you might face as a narrative researcher?

• In what ways could engaging in narrative analysis enhance your experience as a graduate student?

• In what ways could engaging in narrative analysis enhance your experience as an education professional?

• Do you think that teacher-education programming could benefit from placing a greater emphasis on engagement with narrative learning practices?

ReferencesFowler, L. C. (2006). A curriculum of difficulty: Narrative research and the

practice of teaching. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.Sumara, D. & Luce-Kapler, R. (1998). (Un)becoming a teacher: Negotiating

identities while learning to teach. Canadian Journal of Education, 21(1), 65-83.

Sumara, D., Luce-Kapler, R., & Iftody, T. (2008). Educating consciousness through literary experiences. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 40(1), 227-241.

Van Manen, M. (1994). Pedagogy, virtue, and narrative identity in teaching. Curriculum Inquiry, 24(2), 135-170.

Fowler’s forthcoming book: The T’Ching: Mindfulness in teaching amid difficulty and change

THANK-YOU