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Exploring teacher biographies: The lives of four English teachers studied through narrative and metaphor
Abstract
What are the sources of a teacher's commitment to lifelong learning and to reflection-in-action? In order to improve the quality of teacher training and development programs, we need to reach a better understanding about what motivates a teacher to develop and sustain a commitment to her own learning as well as a capacity to apply new learning, upon reflection, into action in the classroom. Applying case study methodology, the researcher will trace the "intellectual biographies" (Shulman, 1986) of four secondary teachers of English. The case study approach provides for hypothesis-generating, qualitative investigation. This particular investigation will take many forms: (1) a series of interviews with each subject; (2) a written narrative (a guided autobiography) of each subject; (3) field site (school and classroom observations; and (4) background questionnaires and inventories. The final data gathering mode will be a group meeting to discuss the researcher's findings. Her subsequent analysis of the data must also be confirmed by the subjects themselves if it is to have any validity. The goal of the project is to understand what experiences, influences, and responses in the lives of four teachers have contributed to their on-going productive involvement in professional development. Case study findings are instructive in their descriptions. The researcher's concrete and direct efforts will be to suggest the possibilities of transferring any lessons to be learned through the study of the lives of these four teachers to the design and implementation of teacher training and professional development programs.
Subject Area
Educational administration|Secondary education|Educational sociology
Recommended Citation
Kohler, Wendy Marie, "Exploring teacher biographies: The lives of four English teachers studied through narrative and metaphor" (1994). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9420642.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9420642