Darlene Ciuffetelli Parker

Narrative inquiry, curriculum making, and teacher education

This is a book for teacher educators. It is also a book for teacher candidates and educational stakeholders who are interested in using storied practice in teacher education. It is about teacher educators and teacher candidates as curriculum makers (Clandinin & Connelly, 1992) who engage in narrative inquiry practice. As editors of this volume, we came to this important writing project as a result of our respective work using narrative inquiry that originated from our studies with Dr. Michael Connelly and Dr. Jean Clandinin. In a large sense, this book represents our interpretations, as second-generation narrative inquirers, of three main ideas: narrative inquiry, curriculum making, and teacher education. Narrative inquiry, curriculum making, and teacher education are vitally interconnected concepts that offer an alternative way of understanding the current landscape of education. Narrative inquiry in teacher education would not have been possible without the groundbreaking work of Connelly and Clandinin.

Relationship Matters: Negotiating and Maintaining Partnerships in a Unique Teacher Education Program.

Abstract Teacher education has evolved into a cooperative responsibility shared by universities and schools. Given the recent emphasis on educational reform, the impetus has been to dismantle conventional and insular approaches to teacher preparation and so establish school-university partnerships. This article explores the relationship development, maintenance, and relational intricacies of a Canadian school-university partnership—specifically, how the Faculty of Education at Brock University has built a conceptual bridge between the university, the partner districts, and the individual schools. The article also examines the concepts of leadership in teacher education, learning groups, ethics of care within community, and the nature of individual contributions to the learning group. Collectively, the partnership and the resulting preparation program within this collaborative venture provide an alternative model with important considerations for other universities and school systems that are interested in fostering effective partnerships.

Responding to the Challenges Posed by Summative Teacher Candidate Evaluation: A collaborative self-study of practicum supervision by faculty

In our pre-service department, university practicum supervisors are faculty members who offer academic, social, and personal support to teacher candidates during their year-long program. Their role is described as one designed primarily to provide formative assessment and feedback to improve classroom practice and reflection on practice. This collaborative self-study describes how two new faculty members responded to the challenges posed by the teacher candidate evaluation process. Methods used included formal tape-recorded discussions during meetings of the self-study group of newly hired faculty, email correspondence, field notes, feedback from public forums about our work, and teacher candidate insights concerning the practicum evaluation process conducted by faculty. New strategies were developed to address the tensions associated with using summative evaluations in a formative framework and to improve practice during faculty practicum supervision.

An International Inquiry: Stories of Poverty--Poverty Stories.

This article features an international inquiry of two high-poverty urban schools, one Canadian and one American. The article examines poverty in terms of “small stories” that educators and students live and tell, often on the edges, unheard and unaccounted for in grand narratives. It also expands the story constellations approach to narrative inquiry by adding a new set of paired stories: stories of poverty–poverty stories. The overall intent is to illuminate in more nuanced ways the complex factors that shape people’s lives outside the boundaries of policy prescriptions.

The impact of professional development on poverty, schooling, and literacy practices: Teacher narratives and reformation of mindset

AbstractThe study examines the impact of professional development on the topic of poverty in one high poverty school community located in a small city in southern Ontario, Canada. It considers narrative-based experiences of teachers’ collaborative inquiry on literacy practices after a significant amount of professional development was provided to reinterpret teachers’ stereotypical conceptualizations of students and families living in poverty. Findings illuminate how professional development on poverty and education resulted in the enactment of literacy teaching practices from the vantage point of teachers’ reformed narratives of student poverty, with literacy themes including: global citizenship, inferencing, and social justice literacy.

Making Practice of Curriculum:Curriculum Making in Teaching and Teacher Education

This issue spotlights research and practice on curriculum making, teaching, and teacher education. Based on lived and practical experiences in education, the authors in thisinstalment show how engaged inquiry is a form of curriculum in practice. In this manner, the authors observe intently their role as educators by inquiring and practising through a self-reflective lens and/or alongside students and colleagues. Thus, whether it be a close-up of a Kindergarten classroom where the curriculum re-shaped and re-figured through the self reflective engagement of the Kindergarten teacher or a broader focus on how college instructors effectively develop their curriculum via practical and meaningful ways for professional development, we witness in this issue how educators experience and make curriculum from their own insightful personal, and professional knowledge, rather than from top-driven policy agendas.