Narrative inquiry is an approach to understanding experiences through stories. It views experiences as lived and told, and examines them through three common lenses: temporality, sociality, and place. Temporality provides context by considering the past, present, and future of events. Sociality explores the influence of relationships and norms. Place examines the impact of physical location. Together, these lenses offer a rich framework for analyzing experiences narratively.

1. Creating Insight through
Narrative Inquiry
EDBE 8P15
Week 2

2. READING REVIEW
• Similar to journal writing but, with other practitioners, writing
becomes “a space of change and growth for teachers where
diversity can find expression.” (Elbaz, 2002, p.3)
• Narratives of Experience (our stories) help to “reconcile and
bridge the theory-practice divide.” (DCP, 2010, p.1250)
• A sense of ‘belonging’ is important for students and Teacher

3. • Your group discussIons are going to be ‘critical
dialogues’ that “allows for thought to ‘play freely’,
for deeper meaning and communication, with no
hierarchy at play, no elusive right answer.” (DCP,
2010, p. 1250)
• These critical dialogues are explored through peer

4. • Gratitude - for the literacy narratives - not just a reflective journal
◦ form relationships, without which life is meaningless and empty
◦ therapeutic - an outlet; true friends; healing
◦ teacher candidates can explain their experiences and views without
interruption - listening, reflecting critically, then responding
◦ Relationships were brought to a deeper level and teacher candidates were
connected through the power of language and critical thought

5. Towards a Worldview of Teaching
• What do we mean by our schemata or worldview?
• https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/schema - a representation of a
concept or theory - an understanding
• Our view of the world, shaped by our experiences, colours our perceptions
and influences what we deem as being important in terms of our knowledge
and understanding about who learners are, and the student/teacher
relationship
• Read Aloud Activity: The Important Book, by Margaret Wise Brown
• How do we determine our personal schemata?
• Two women looked out from behind prison bars; one saw desert, the other,
stars
• What’s ‘The Important Thing’ about teachers, in the eyes of students?
• How could your worldview, as an educator, influence your students’ educational
experiences?

6. Think and Share on the padlet link
• How would the following statements influence a teacher’s
relationship with students if she/he thinks this way about
life and teaching?
• “It’s either my way or the highway.”
• “Those kinds of kids will never learn how to read and write
anyway, what’s the use?”
• “You gotta take chances in life.”
• “Every experience I live is a gift of life.”
• Think of your favourite teacher; how could you describe
their worldview, as you saw it?
• https://padlet.com/ecarey29/2bjl8biipejpfl5q

7. Activity
• What kinds of quotes or
phrases reflect your schema
or worldview of life?
• Whole class sharing.
• go to this link to add your
quote or phrase or image.
• https://padlet.com/ecarey29/ig
d37dfxbkxw5jfv

8. Dewey - Traditional vs. Progressive Education
• Dewey believed that school should be a microcosm of the community or
the society – of the real world.
• Reflective thinking and experiential methods in school and society mark
him as one of the greatest educational philosophers in the world.
• By age 19, he expressed his worldview as: “If you lose faith in yourself,
you lose faith in humankind.” He believed that the purpose of philosophy
was that of addressing and solving the problems and conflicts of human
life.
• Dewey emphasized a student-centered, activity-oriented curriculum with
the focal point being the promotion of reflective thinking. He also
believed that the teacher should provide problems or situations that
would not only be interesting and challenging, but also would be
worthwhile in promoting social growth.

9. Dewey’s Criteria of Experience
• A Theory of Experience was needed if education was to be intelligently conducted on
its basis
• Category of Continuity or The Experiential Continuum
• Shaping environmental experiences that lead to growth
• Used to determine whether or not experiences are worthwhile, educationally
• Since we discriminate between values of experiences, we need to establish criterion
for discrimination for experiences to ensure the principle of continuity
• The principle of Continuity of Experience means “that every experience both takes up
something from those [experiences] which have gone before and modifies in some way
the quality of those [experiences] which come after.” (p.13)
• Can you think of any examples?
• Growth means growing or developing intellectually, physically and/or morally.
• Growth as education and education as growth.

10. The Educator’s Responsibility
• Continuity becomes a criterion to
determine whether experiences are
educative or miseducative. Every
experience is a moving force…the mature
educator has the responsibility to
evaluate each experience of the young in
a way in which the one having the less
mature experience cannot do…the
educator’s business is to see in what
direction the experience is
heading…failure to take the moving force
of an experience into account so as to
judge and direct it …means the educator
is being disloyal to the principle of
experience itself.
• A primary responsibility of educators is that
they not only be aware of the general
principle of the shaping of the actual
experience by envisioning conditions, but
that they also recognize surroundings that
are conducive to having experiences that
lead to growth. Above all, they should know
how to utilize the surroundings, physical
and social, that exist so as to extract from
them.
• Adult influence is more than just exercising
external control over experiences, it
requires a sympathetic understanding, or
empathy, over what individual students may
be experiencing.

11. Interactions
• The principle of Continuity of Experience
is used as a criterion for determining the
value of an experience.
• The second chief principle for
determining the educational function and
force of an experience is Interaction
• Interaction assigns equal rights to both
factors in experience: objective and
internal conditions.
• Objective and internal conditions,
combined, form a Situation, which
becomes the basis for the experience.
• Life is a series of situations through which
we are all interacting with others in our
environment.
• The Environment is whatever conditions
interact with us to create the experiences
we have.

12. The Principles of Continuity and Interaction
are not mutually exclusive
Continuity
Interaction
+
= Experience

14. Educators must adapt to their students
• If educators are going to be selecting and constructing objective
conditions, they must do so for the specific students they are teaching;
teachers must know and understand their students’ needs and capacities.
• Failing to adapt materials to students’ needs and capacities may cause an
experience to be non-educative.
• Continuity, with respect to education, means that the future has to be
considered at every stage of the process.
• For learning and knowledge to be relevant and useful, the subject matter
can’t be learned in isolation; students must be able to generalize what
they’ve learned.

15. What’s Most Important, according to Dewey
• Fostering a positive attitude toward learning is critical
• The most important attitude that can be formed is that of a
desire to go on learning
• The present affects the future, so maximize your moments
and try to be present in all of them
• Maturity brings understanding and perspective; those
who have reached maturity are responsible for creating
favourable conditions for present experiences that will
positively affect future experiences

16. Constructivism
• An approach to learning and teaching that encourages learners to take
an active role in their learning
• The learner constructs new knowledge on prior knowledge, building
understanding and making sense of new information
• Students experience successful learning when they are actively
engaged in:
• constructing knowledge for themselves;
• reflecting on their views and the views of others;
• Arriving at new understandings that expand their worldview
• This course endeavours to embody Constructivist principles of
learning through our small group work sessions and letter writing

17. Narrative Inquiry in Teacher Education
Readings so far:
• How can narrative inquiry be
useful in teaching? (Ciuffetelli
Parker, 2010, 2011)
• Why is story important?
(Connelly & Clandinin, 2006)
• Why is experience important?
(Dewey, 1938)

18. Connelly & Clandinin (2006)
Narrative Inquiry is a way of
understanding experiences
as lived,
and as told through stories.

19. Dewey
Connelly & Clandinin

20. 3 Commonplaces of Narrative Inquiry
- Connelly & Clandinin
•Temporality – context of past, present, future
•Sociality – the influence of relationships and
norms on a situation
•Place – the influence of physical location on a
situation

21. Temporality gives context…
• Events under study are in temporal transition, so we describe them in terms of
past, present and future
• We paint a temporal picture of how we see things transitioning
• “To give a narrative explanation, one needs to know the temporal history.” (p.5)
• Temporality is the main dimension that distinguishes a telling inquiry from a living
inquiry
• When you’re living your story, you’re in the moment; when you’re telling your
story, you can set the stage.
1) Think of a classroom happening
2) Are you able to describe what happened
3) Thinking narratively, ask yourself what else you need to know to give a
temporal feeling to that story

22. Sociality – Conditions that influence
experiences
• Social conditions and personal conditions that form the individual’s
context
• Social conditions = existential conditions; environment, factors and
forces that influence experiences
• Personal conditions = feelings, hopes, desires…
Imagine the same classroom happening, but this time:
1) Only focus on the teacher (feelings, morality,
responses to happening, etc).
1) Now only focus on the teacher’s social conditions (i.e.
the context including administration, policy,
community, etc) that shape the happening and the
teacher’s part in it.

23. Place
• Physical place, or sequence of places, where experiences occur
• For Narrative Inquiry, the specificity of place is crucial; every
place has an impact/influence.
Think back to the classroom happening
1) Describe what happened in abstract form, in general terms
2) Now describe the classroom (the place) in its context and full
detail, thinking through the impact of this particular place on
the happening

24. 3 Commonplaces* of Narrative Inquiry
(Connelly & Clandinin)
Temporality
Sociality
Place
* The study of one, or a combination, of these might
find its place in other forms of qualitative research,
but what makes a narrative inquiry, is the
simultaneous exploration of all 3.

25. Oral Chronicle Presentations
• Oral Chronicle presentations
• This assignment is personal and the feedback should follow the
THINK guidelines. Only share comments that are:
True, Helpful, Inspiring, Necessary and Kind.

26. Keeping a Timeline
The timeline you're asked to keep, in its
easiest form, is just a horizontal line that
represents your life from childhood to
now. Along the line, note the important
experiences or influences, both formal (in
school) and informal (outside of school)
that have been instrumental in shaping
you into the person, and the educator,
you're becoming. You're encouraged to
start it now and add to it as we go along,
reflecting on how what we're learning in
class connects with what you've learned
throughout your life.

27. Related Literacy Narratives – work session
Discuss this week’s readings with your group members to
uncover deeper meanings and make connections to what you’ve
read. Review the rubric on the syllabus together.

28. Letter Writing
Take a moment to reflect on your discussion and draft
a letter to your group-mates that demonstrates:
• Growth in understanding of the reading
• Connections/new insights that have evolved from the
discussion
• References to the previous week’s reading

29. Looking Ahead to Next Class…
• Ciuffetelli-Parker (2011) and Forum post on Recovery of
Meaning