I work in literacy education, encouraging teacher candidates to experiment with the arts to make a novel come alive for adolescent readers. Part of my research agenda, which is intertwined with my teaching, seeks to make sense of the question: What are the effects of arts-based learning on the teacher candidates' theoretical and classroom practices? To first consider the above research question from my own pedagogical perspective, I draw on my earlier recollections (Adler, 1958) of arts and classroom living using the methodology of narrative inquiry-the study of the ways humans experience the world via the construction and reconstruction of their own stories (Connelly & Clandinin, 1990 the effects of arts-based learning on the teacher candidates' theoretical and classroom practices. A more informed construction of our recurring narratives, rekindled by the illumination of early recollections, will play an integral role.
Water colors awash in crayoned responses: Teaching narrative in arts-based praxisI work in literacy education, preparing teacher candidates to teach language arts to students in grades 7-10. Making generous use of content areas and the multiple sign systems that they offer, I strive, as Noddings (1984) advocates, to lay out education "along the entire range of human experience so that students may make multiple and potentially meaningful contact with it" (p. 191). The words of math counter our poetic expressions. (Jersild, 1955;Laird, 1988;Leggo, 1995) that emphasizes the critical role that teachers' storied pasts play in the reconstruction of their pedagogical presents. In particular, Dinkelman (2003) states that "self study by teacher educators...promotes reflective teaching by the very example it sets" (p. 11).Therefore, before asking teacher candidates to weave the threads of their own recurring narratives into the discourse of arts-based praxis, I heed Connelly and Clandinin (
The memory of narrative inquiryThe valuable interdisciplinary contributions of Alfred Adler's precursory postmodern theory can be seen in the work of such individuals as Glasser, Rogers, Ellis, Frankl, Maslow and Hawes (Mosak, 1995;Watts, 1998; Watts & Pietrzak, 2000). Education, however, was always a primary focus of his work (Grey, 1954). One of his first and most important works, which focused on child guidance and education, is entitled Physician as Educator (Cosner, 2007). In particular, Adlerian theory, which underscores the integral role of holism or unity in understanding life stories (Adler, 1927(Adler, ,1930 tells us that memory is a creative enterprise, a metaphorical composition of personal meaning patterned from the interpretive selections of living perceptions-"an encoded narrative of the present" (Hestor, 2004, p. 340 (Ansbacher, 1947;Verger & Camp, 1970). Presently, I turn an Adlerian lens on my narrative to better prepare me to work collaboratively with teacher candidates on their narratives in our multi-layered journeys of arts-based praxis.
Recollecting narrative presentIn Adlerian practic...
