University of Regina Open Journals
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Dilemmas in Using Phenomenology to Investigate Elementary School Children Learning English as a Second Language
No full textThis paper is intended for doctoral students and other researchers considering using phenomenology as a methodology to investigate the experiences of children learning English as a second language in an elementary classroom setting. I identify six dilemmas or puzzling challenges likely to arise if researchers adopt a phenomenological approach to conducting research. The six dilemmas fall under two categories: fundamental and situational. Fundamental dilemmas include descriptive versus interpretive; objective versus subjective; and participant voice versus researcher voice. The former focus is on a fundamental understanding of phenomenology as a research method while the latter include language and cultural challenges and limitations of the researchers. Situational dilemmas arise from the challenges an investigator may encounter in using an in-depth interview as a research tool with children from different cultural and language backgrounds. I present these dilemmas so that researchers can understand more readily the challenges they may face in exploring the lived experience of these children.Keywords: phenomenology; English Language Learners; lived experienc
Carrying Stories From the Outside In: A Collaborative Narrative Into a Teacher Education Community
No full textAs three professors working collaboratively in teacher education, we reflect on our participation as former graduate students in narrative research circles facilitated by Dr. Jean Clandinin (University of Alberta) and Dr. Michael Connelly (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto). By drawing upon the stories that we carry from institutions outside Brock University, we inquire into how our narrative experiences inform our current positioning within a teacher education community. Situating our work within social constructionism and narrative inquiry honours our relational, co-constructed work. Reflecting on three central questions regarding our individual research circle experiences assists in understanding how our narratives overlap with our current community. We draw attention to unspoken tensions that are embedded while working in relation. We invite other scholars to consider how collaborative research circle experiences can be a powerful form of living in community and a means of enhancing scholarly writing and practice.Keywords: research circle; research writing; teacher education; narrative inquiry; social constructionism; self-stud
The Relationship of Narrative, Virtue Education, and an Ethic of Care in Teaching Practice
No full textThis paper is a philosophical examination of the role of narrative in moral education. We argue that narrative, conceived of as a moral educational practice and not as a method, is an indispensable element of both caring moral education and virtue education. We begin by explaining the distinction we make between moral educational method and moral educational practice. Then, we outline the concept of narrative, drawn from Ricoeur and Bruner, that we seek to draw upon. After briefly outlining both care theory and virtue education we demonstrate the value of narrative to these two divergent paradigms.Keywords: Narrative; virtue education; care theor
What’s Your Story? A Book Review of Leah Fowler’s A Curriculum of Difficulty: Narrative Research in Education and the Practice of Teaching (2006)
No full textThis is a book review of Leah Fowler’s (2006) book entitled, A Curriculum of Difficulty: Narrative Research and the Practice of Teaching. This review was written as a complementary piece for Lisa A. Mitchell’s (2010) paper entitled, A Continuum of Learning: Enhancing Connections Between Teacher-Candidates and Education Graduate Students Through a Narrative Framework, which can also be found in this issue of in education
Theatre as Representation (TAR) and the Teaching of a Graduate Administration of Inclusive Schools Course
No full textBased on continuing research in Theatre as Representation (TAR), this paper examines and explores an application of a TAR based dramatic scenario that expands each participant’s creative awareness of both content and participation in an administration of inclusive schools graduate Master of Education (M.Ed.) course. It also extends the research dimension of TAR by discussing its theory within dramatic/theatrical and constructivist constructs.Keywords: theatre as representation; inclusive education; administratio
Becoming Pedagogical: Sustaining Hearts With Living Credos
No full textFrom September to December 2009, a class of teacher candidates completed a Bachelor of Education course titled English Language Arts: Secondary Curriculum and Instruction. The instructor introduced himself at the beginning of the course as an a/r/tographer who is an artist, a researcher, and a teacher. He invited students to think about the possibilities of their being a/r/tographers, and to think about how they live in the world, as well as in their new emerging identities in the Bachelor of Education program, as artists and researchers and teachers. The teacher candidates were invited to think about how they werebecoming pedagogical, and how they could sustain their hearts in the dynamic and complex process of becoming pedagogical.They were reminded that teacher candidates are not learning a toolbox of skills and strategies for teaching; they are learning how to navigate the tangled and complex world of human beings in communities called schools.Keywords: teacher education; lifewriting; a/r/tography; credo; creativit
"you were born ugly and youl die ugly too": Cyber-Bullying as Relational Aggression
No full textCyber-bullying increasingly is becoming a problem for students, educators and policy makers. In this paper, we consider cyber-bullying as a form of relational aggression; that is, behaviour designed to damage, harm or disrupt friendship or interpersonal relationships through covert means. We draw on the findings from a study of students in Grades 6 through 9, conducted in five schools, in a large ethnically diverse metropolitan region of British Columbia, Canada, to demonstrate the interconnection between cyber-bullying and relational aggression. Consistent with the relational aggression framework, girls were found more likely than boys to participate in these behaviours. We conclude that intervention strategies should consider gender differences and also aim at changing the trajectory of relational aggression to providing relational support and care.Keywords: cyber-bullying; relational aggression; intervention strategies; gender difference
From Classroom to Community: An Inquiry of Community-Based Action Research (Through Indigenous Storywork Principles)
No full textTwo action research projects of the Community-Based Master of Education program at the University of Regina are featured with particular attention given to a developmental progression that takes place through a series of action research cycles, involving a significant shift from a classroom-based to a community-based teaching practice. In taking an Indigenous perspective on community-based education, this study draws upon Jo-Ann Archibald’s (Q’um Q’um Xiiem) (2008) Indigenous Storywork: Educating the Heart, Mind, Body, and Spirit. As an Indigenous approach to life and learning, Archibald’s work offers an insightful perspective on community-based education that is of value to educators with an interest in community development and its potential for schools. In closing, the prospect of educational action research as part of a community-based teaching practice is considered.Keywords: community-based education program; Indigenous storywork; action researc
Ensuring Success in School is About More Than Getting A\u27s: Layered Stories
No full textI begin this paper with a reader’s theatre text that represents the multiple perspectives of a student, teacher, student teacher, and administrator about a high school class schedule change. In presenting a text that portrays multiple points of view upon what would seem to be an everyday experience in an urban high school, I aim to show the complexity of how different people in different roles respond and manage their context in response to a single policy decision. After the reader’s theater and before I continue with the rest of the paper, I invite you the reader to consider your interpretations of and associations with the text. I conclude by arguing that we need to be attuned to the complex ways that policy decisions inform and constrain the actions of people within educational contexts.Keywords: policy decisions; effects; urban schools; English language learners; layered stories; reader’s theate
Culturally Relational Education In and With an Indigenous Community
No full textThe unfolding of our work with Eagle Flight First Nation prompts us to reflect deeply on what it means to do research in and with an Indigenous community. This paper presents three stances that we considered when invited to “do research” in an Indigenous community around mathematics education: a mathematically deficit response, a culturally deficit response, and a culturally relational response. By considering the meaning of culturally relational education as co-researchers alongside the community councillors, school staff, and children, we are seeking to honour meaningful engagements with Indigenous philosophies and knowledge systems as they are understood and lived by all in relation.Keywords: research; mathematics education; culturally relational education; Indigenous philosophy; Indigenous knowledg