The storied self: deconstructing the constructivist teacher

Abstract

[Abstract]: Writing as research supports a teacher-researcher’s inquiry into and articulation of her experiences, philosophies and practices of pedagogy. She uses auto-ethnographic and narrative inquiry as a lens through which she explores place, time, space, and inter-personal and intra-personal relationships in the contexts of her role as a university educator of pre-service teachers, and during her practitioner research in an alternative community school with an entirely play-based curriculum. Reflexive inquiry has the potential to transform her personal philosophy and practice of pedagogy. While there is a growing body of research into the use of reflexive practice as a pedagogical tool, few researchers have documented the impact upon pedagogy of narrative inquiry into the third space created by an educator's transition between traditional and non-traditional educational places. This paper documents the process of research and a preliminary analysis of a bricolage co-constructed by the researcher and the school community. The multiple voices of that narrative are situated in space and place, providing a crystallized lens through which the teacher-researcher's personal pedagogies are interrogated during the research process, with the potential to transform her philosophy and practice of teaching.