January I997

145 Pages·1998·8.45 MB·English

THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS: IN SEARCH OF TRANSFORMATZVE TEACKERS
Patricia G Paterson
Faculty of Education
Submined in partial fulfilment
of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Education
Faculty of Graduate Studies
The University of Western Ontario
London, Ontario
January I997
@ Patricia A Paterson 1997
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ABSTRACT
This thesis identifies and examines the personal myths and archetypes that guide the lives
and direct the teaching practice of transformative teachers. Myths, archetypes and symbols of
personal transformation are explored using both classical and Iungian references.
Three transformative teachers are intern-ewed using a wide-range of questions which
focus on ten areas to facilitate analysis. namely, teaching as a vocation and life's work, career
turning points, professional and personal growth, beliefs and values about life and teaching,
personal myths and archetypes, the teaching and learning process, the use of power, the
importance of passion in teaching, what cuniculum should accomplish, and the impact of these
teachers in teaching. The responses oftransformative teachers are compared and examined from
an existential viewpoint in order to identify underlying myths and archetypes, to identify repeated
themes or profound statements, to idenm commonalities, and to determine the qualities of
t ransformative teachers.
The findings indicate that the teaching practice of trdormative teachers is directed and
guided by these teachers' personal myths and archetypes. No incongruency was found between
these teachers' beliefs and values about life and the beliefs and values that direct their teaching
practice. These teachers lives are dedicated to making positive changes in the lives of others, to
creating positive learning communities, and to interacting with others in a relational capacity.
Keywords: transformative teachers, myths, archetypes, symbols, Jungian psychology, power,
teaching as a vocation, teaching as pedagogy, and "great stories" curriculum.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I wish to acknowledge the support and guidance that I received from Dr. Margaret
EvIcNay, Thesis Supervisor, and fiom Dr. Cornelia HoogIand, Thesis Advisory Committee
member, in the development and completion of this thesis. In addition, I would like to
acknowledge the three participants whose stories comprise the research portion of the thesis.
These transformative teachers selflessly shared their personal journeys toward self-knowledge and
transformation.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Certificate of examination
Abstract
.4c knowledgements
Table of contents
1 Introduction
1.1 Introduction and Background
1.2 Statement of the Research Question
-3 Methodology
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Participants
2.3 Inte~ews
2.3.1 Identification and Justification of Interview Questions.
2.3.2 Inte~ewP rocess.
2.4 Data Analysis: Interpretation and Discussion
Literamre Review
3.1 Ove~ew
3.2 Myths that shape our lives
3.3 Literature which justifies the choice of questions for
interviews
3 -3- 1 Introduction.
3 -3- 2 Archetypes in Teaching.
3 -3.3 Archetypes of Power.
3 -3.4 Curricdum.
3 -3- 5 Teaching as Pedagogy.
3 -3- 6 Teaching as a Vocation.
Personal Myth
4.1 Definition of personal myth
4.2 My own personal myths and archetypes
(Conlt)
5 Inte~ewws ith Transformative Teachers
5.1.1 Interview with Douglas
5.1 -2 Interview with Ann
5.1 -3 Inte~eww ith Bob
Interpretation and Discussion
6.1 Personal Myths of Transformative Teachers
6.1.1 Persona! Myths of Douglas.
6.1- 2 Personal Myths of Am.
6-13 PersonalMythsofBob.
6.2 Reflectioo on Commonalities
Imp tications of Personal Myth
7.1 What myths make and shape a teacher?
7.1.1 Beliefs and values about teaching.
2 Teaching as a vocation and life's work.
7.1.3 Professional growth.
7.1.4 The teaching and learning process.
7.1.5 Cumculum.
7.2 What are the implications of the personal myths of
trasfonnative teachers?
Reflections
8.1 Reflections on the research
8 -2 Further research
Bibliography
Vita
Chapter 1: Introduction
I. 1 Intr~&~o&n B&jq-gi
I have been fortunate to have encountered many good teachers in my Me-A mong this
group, a few stand out as particularly memorable. The first was a childhood mentor, a great uncle,
who aood in loco ~arentifso r an absent father. He was a navigator by trade and a historian,
ornithologist, and musician I;? ~.a~sioHne. was the first to welcome me to the wondrous world of
learning, and the lessons he taught many decades ago are as clear today as though they happened
yesterday. He taught me the essential tools of the navigator's trade long before I reached the age
of ten. In the timeless tradition of my sea-farng Celtic forebears? I learned to identify the shapes
and locations of the constellations. First I drew each star cluster on a brown paper bag and held
the perforated design up to a light, and later I listened to my great uncle narrate the ancient stories
associated with each constellation. Thus I learned the movement of the constellations in order to
find Orion, the Hunter, or the Pleiades, the Seven Sisters, in the night sky. I learned the location
of Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, the Great She Bear and the Little She Bear, that seem to rotate
around Polaris, the Pole Star, &om which all navigators take their readings. I had ample
opportunity to apply this knowledge during childhood sea voyages on a coastal freighter, the
Lady Anstruther, that carried supplies to the coal mines of Wales, and later, on a tanker, the B.A.
Canada, that plied southern waters to the oilfields of Venezuela and the Mediterranean ports of
Sicily and North Africa.
I now understand that my great uncle gave me more than information; he imparted
knowledge that was usefil and meaningfur to my life's journey. He reinforced his teachings by
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engaging me in discussions about his sea voyages to Antarctica, his journeys to the near and fa
east, and his flights with Scottish Aviation that traced the great circle route Corn Iceland to
Labrador. These discussions ranged across the disciplines from geography to history, natural
science to literature, and astronomy to philosophy. Together, we pondered life's great questions.
Once while walking through an ancient Celtic burial ground, he posed timeless questions of death
and the continuation of life. The Celts, of course, have their myths surrounding this issue. We
explored, extended and refined the myth of Tir na nQe the Celtic otherworld, through a study of
the world's great religions. Our discussions were endless. One led into another, uncovering
deeper levels of understanding. One quesrion answered only left other areas to be revealed. At an
early age, I discovered that learning occurred in a great spiral of interrelated topics which
intersected, co~ectedan d formed new meaning. I learned to make these connections and look
beyond the obvious to seek a deep understanding. I learned to observe and to wonder at the
formation of snowflakes, the flight of an osprey, the sounding ofa whale, and the daily miracles of
life that surrounded me. I believe that the first decade of my life was spent in the presence of a
great mind and an enlightened spirit. This gentle, thoughtfid learning contrasted sharply with the
way children were instructed in Scottish schools of those times.
The Scotish cumculum of my 1950 's childhood was rigorous and de~adingw, ith an
emphasis on memorization. Discipline was mict and enforced by corporal punishment. Students
wore school uniforms and sat at attention with arms folded over chests in precise, military rows.
Our placement in amphitheatre-styled classrooms was according to our academic standing: the
brightest child in the class sat in the top left-hand comer of the room; the child unfortunate
enough to have obtained the lowest academic standing sat in the lower right-hand comer nearest
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the teacher's lectern and the strap. I remember two boys who vied for this undesirable position.
Both were the 'bairns' of impoverished homes and the objects of teachers' unbridled wrath. Van
Manen (1984) identifies the etymoiogical source of 'bairn' as a Scots term meaning "bearing and
born" (p. 53). In the Scottish dialect, this term refers to children, particularly young children. I
often wonder what became of those 'bairns' who must stiU carry internal scars from the shame
inflicted during those daily humiliations. Certainly, as children, the external welts on their hands
and arms from countless strappings were vivid reminders of their academic and social
unworthiness. I know that one left for Canada where I hope a kinder fate awaited.
I generally escaped the strap as I exceiled in language, history, geography, and science;
however, I suffered immeasurably in mathematics which usually resulted in my losing first and
second class placement to more mathematically ,@fled peers. Class placement had significance in
Troon Primary and Junior School. Twice a year, prior to the issue of report cards, we cleared our
desks and gathered on the main wooden platform of the classroom. There, we waited b ro ur
names to be called in order of academic achievement to ascend or descend to our new placements
for the upcoming term The teacher's most withering glower was reserved for the children who
were among the last to be seated. This humiliating procedure left no question as to one's position
in the rank and file of classmates, and resulted in fierce competition to secure and maintain a good
standing. The nccasioaal visitor to the classroom was also able to ascertain, by virtue of our
placement, the general achievement of the student. 1r emember Mr. BIackwood, M.A.,
Headmaster, responding with measured thoughtfidness as I stood to answer a question in
literature from the top left-hand comer seat.
My early schooling occurred in a system of academic reward and strictiy enforced
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punishment which, I believe, reinforced a more pervasive ill, namely, the use of educational
institutions to replicate and legitimize the social status quo ofpost-war Britain. The children of
families with sufficient money or social standing avoided the humiliation and competition rampant
in the state schools by attending 'public' schools. This alternative private school system had a
financial stake in and moral obligation to assuring that the seKesteem of even the dullest pupil
emerged somewhat intact.
I also believe that the inflexible social and academic hierarchy which existed in the school
system of the time was purposefbl; it was there in order to reinforce the British class system
through controlling entrance into the professions. I observed students and teachers carefblly
attending to their location within various social ranks, each with its own levels of privilege. For
instance, promising students were given speech lessons to soften the broad, glotral vowel sounds
of their working-class Scottish dialect, thereby making their &re upward social mobility
possible. These students invariably became dining room monitors, and they attended vigilantly to
the table manners of their lower-grade charges. Our teachers taught in their university gowns, a
symbol of their status and authority which garnered them immediate respect. 1 believe that all
were masters within their various disciplines; however, only a few could be considered
outstanding educators. Something in the exchange between teacher and student was missing in the
determined, linear transmission of knowledge in those teachers' classrooms.
In 1956, I sat the I I PLUS examination which identified those students who would go
into a secondary academic stream and who were destined to university and fbture professional
occupations, and those students who would be streamed into technical and vocational schoois and
who were destined to work in the factories, industries, and trades of Britain. As I reed, these