Teaching Lives: An Arts-Informed Exploration of Teacher Experience

Authors

  • Tiina Kukkonen Queen's University
  • Benjamin Bolden Queen's University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18432/ari29329

Keywords:

Arts-informed research, narrative inquiry, arts-based research, teacher experience, emergent curriculum

Abstract

With this article we connect the knowledge and experiences of two retired schoolteachers to present-day paradigms of learning and teaching in schools through narrative and arts-informed research processes. By extracting meaning from narratives of teacher experience and representing those meanings using musical and visual art media and methods, we hope to engage percipients in a form of “empathetic participation” that may lead to new and/or revitalized conceptions of teaching and learning, inform current pedagogical practices, and enhance teachers’ sense of belonging to an intergenerational community of educators. 

Author Biographies

Tiina Kukkonen, Queen's University

Tiina Kukkonen is a visual artist, arts educator and PhD student in the Faculty of Education at Queen’s University. Her research focuses on partnerships and knowledge exchange in support of arts education. She is currently involved in advocating for arts education and arts partnerships in Canadian contexts through her different research associate roles.

Benjamin Bolden, Queen's University

Benjamin Bolden, music educator and composer, is an associate professor in the Faculty of Education at Queen’s University, Canada. His research interests include the learning and teaching of composing, creativity, arts-based research, teacher knowledge, and teachers’ professional learning. As a teacher, Ben has worked with pre-school, elementary, secondary, and university students in Canada, England, and Taiwan.

References

Barone, T. E., & Eisner, E. W. (2012). Arts-based research. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

Blaikie, F. (2013). Navigating conversion: An arts-based inquiry into the clothed body and identity. Visual Culture and Gender, 8, 57-69.

Bolden, B. (2017). Music as method: Musically enhanced narrative inquiry. International journal of Education & the Arts, 18(9). Retrieved from http://www.ijea.org/v18n9/

Britten, B. (1944). Four sea interludes [Recorded by BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Andrew Davis]. On

Britten: The young person’s guide to the orchestra; Variations on a theme by Frank Bridge; Four sea interludes; Passacaglia [CD]. London, England: Apex. (2001).

Central Advisory Council for Education [CACE]. (1967). Children and their primary schools (Vol. 1). Retrieved from http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/ plowden/ plowden1967-1.html

Chambers, C. M., Hasebe-Ludt, E., Leggo, C., & Sinner, A. (Eds.). (2012). A heart of wisdom: Life writing as empathetic inquiry. New York, NY: Peter Lang.

Clandinin, D. J., Long, J., Downey, C. A., Steeves, P., Pinnegar, E., Robblee, S. M., & Wnuk, S. (2015). Early career teacher attrition: Intentions of teachers beginning. Teacher Education, 26(1), 1-16. doi: 10.1080/10476210.2014.996746

Clandinin, D. J., Murphy, M. S., Huber, J., & Orr, A. M. (2010). Negotiating narrative inquiries: Living in a tension-filled midst. The Journal of Educational Research, 103(2), 81-90. doi: 10.1080/002206709003323404

Cole, A. L., & Knowles, J. G. (2001). Lives in context: The art of life history research. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.

Conle, C. (2003). An anatomy of narrative curricula. Educational Researcher, 32(3), 3-15. doi: 10.3102/0013189X032003003

Connelly, F. M., & Clandinin, D. J. (1988). Teachers as curriculum planners: Narratives of experience. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

De Fina, A. (2009). Narratives in interview – the case of accounts: For an interactional approach to narrative genres. Narrative Inquiry, 19(2), 233-258. doi: 10.1075/ni.19.2.03def

Dewey, J. (1990). The school and society. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press. (Original work published 1900.)

Ellingson, L. L. (2009). Constructing crystallization. Retrieved from http://methods.sagepub.com.proxy.queensu.ca/book/engaging-crystallization-in-qualitative-research/d3.xml

Erickson, L. B., & Pinnegar, S. (2016). Consequences of personal teaching metaphors for teacher identity and practice. Teachers and Teaching, 23(1), 106-122. doi: 10.1080/13540602.2016.1203774

Fowler, L. (2006). A curriculum of difficulty: Narrative research and the practice of teaching. New York, NY: Peter Lang.

Gandini, L. (1993). History, ideas, and basic philosophy: An interview with Lella Gandini and Loris Malaguzzi. In C. Edwards, L. Gandini, & G. Forman (Eds.), The hundred languages of children: The Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education (pp. 41-89). Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing.

Garvis, S., & Pendergast, D. (2012). Storying music and the arts education: The generalist teacher voice. British Journal of Music Education, 29(1), 107-123. doi: 10.1017/S0265051711000386

Giroux, H. A. (1985). Teachers as transformative intellectuals. Social Education, 49(5), 376-379.

Halls, D., & Wien, C. A. (2013). “The wind goes inside of me”: Kindergarten children’s theories about running fast. Canadian Children, 36(1), 4-10.

Hill, B. G. (2014). Reasserting the curriculum-as-lived under constraint of the interest in control. In W. Hurren & E. Hasebe-Ludt (Eds.), Contemplating curriculum: Geneologies/times/places (pp. 86-95). New York, NY: Routledge.

Jackson, P. W. (1998). John Dewey and the lessons of art. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Katz, L. (1993). What can we learn from Reggio Emilia? In C. Edwards, L. Gandini, & G. Forman (Eds.), The hundred languages of children: The Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education (pp. 19-37). Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing.

Knowles, G., & Cole, A. L. (2008). Arts-informed research. In L. M. Given (Ed.), The SAGE encyclopedia of qualitative research methods (pp. 33-37). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Leavy, P. (2015). Method meets art: Arts-based research practice. New York, NY: Guilford.

McCaffrey, T., & Edwards, J. (2015). Meeting art with art: Arts-based methods enhance researcher reflexivity in research with mental health service users. Journal of Music Therapy, 52(4), 515-532. doi: 10.1093/jmt/thv016

Polkinghorne, D. (1995). Narrative configuration in qualitative analysis. Qualitative Studies in Education, 8(1), 5-23.

Preskill, S. (1998). Narratives of teaching and the quest for the second self. Journal of Teacher Education, 49(5), 344-357. doi: 10.1177/0022487198049005004

Pulvermacher, Y., & Lefstein, A. (2016). Narrative representations of practice: What and how can student teachers learn from them? Teaching and Teacher Education, 55, 255-266. doi: 10.1016/j.tate.2016.01.013

Simpson, D. J., Jackson, M. J. B., & Aycock, J. C. (2005). John Dewey and the art of teaching: Toward reflective and imaginative practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

Spector-Mersel, G. (2010). Narrative research: Time for a paradigm. Narrative Inquiry, 20(1), 204-224. doi: 10.1075/ni.20.1.10spe

Tanner, T., & Tanner, L. (2007). Curriculum development: Theory into practice (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education Inc.

Walsh, S. (2006). An Irigarayan framework and resymbolization in an arts informed research process. Qualitative Inquiry, 12(5), 976-993. doi: 10.1177/1077800406288626

Wien, C. A. (2008). Emergent curriculum in the primary classroom: Interpreting the Reggio Emilia approach in schools. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Xing, D. (2017). Exploring academic acculturation experiences of Chinese international students with low oral English proficiency: A musically enhanced narrative inquiry (Unpublished master’s thesis). Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada.

Yusuf, F. (2010, March 30). Learning how to teach: Facilitating the arts in an emergent curriculum. Art and Design Education Lab Journal. Retrieved from https://adeljournal.wordpress.com/2010/03/30/learning-how-to-teach-facilitating-the-arts-in-an-emergent-curriculum/

Downloads

Published

2018-09-15

How to Cite

Kukkonen, T., & Bolden, B. (2018). Teaching Lives: An Arts-Informed Exploration of Teacher Experience. Art/Research/International:/A/Transdisciplinary/Journal, 3(2), 150–171. https://doi.org/10.18432/ari29329