Table Of ContentTELLING AND LIVING THE TRUTH: SUBJECTIVE UNIVERSALS DECLARED
AND EMBODIED IN EARLY CHILDHOOD CURRICULUM NARRATIVES
A dissertation submitted to the
Kent State University College and Graduate School
of Education, Health, and Human Services
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
By
Daniel J. Castner
May 2015
© Copyright, 2015 by Daniel J. Castner
All Rights Reserved
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A dissertation written by
Daniel J. Castner
B.S., Kent State University, 2000
M.Ed., Kent State University, 2007
Ph.D., Kent State University, 2015
Approved by
_____________________________, Co-director, Doctoral Dissertation Committee
James G. Henderson
_____________________________, Co-director, Doctoral Dissertation Committee
Martha J. Lash
_____________________________, Member, Doctoral Dissertation Committee
Frank X. Ryan
Accepted by
_____________________________, Director, School of Teaching, Learning, and
Alexa L. Sandmann Curriculum Studies
Sandman
_____________________________, Dean, College and Graduate School of
Daniel F. Mahony Education, Health, and Human Services
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CASTNER, DANIEL, Ph.D., May 2015 CURRICULUM & INSTRUCTION
AND EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
TELLING AND LIVING THE TRUTH: SUBJECTIVE UNIVERSALS DECLARED
AND EMBODIED IN EARLY CHILDHOOD CURRICULUM NARRATIVES (327
pp.)
Co-Directors of Dissertation: James G. Henderson Ed.D.
Martha J. Lash, Ph.D.
Numerous challenges face early childhood educators striving to think, speak and
act democratically in American public schools. Not least of which are the dogmatic
thought traditions, mastery oriented discourses, and authoritarian structures of
management that are engrained into our cultures of curriculum. Therefore, for a teacher
of young children to engage in practices that are consistent with the democratic rhetoric
of their institutional mission statements they must think, voice and act upon non-
dogmatic and thus counter-cultural ideas.
This research sheds light upon ethical commitments expressed through the truth
telling stories of six public school early childhood teachers’, including myself, who work
with and against the grains of their cultures of curriculum. Utilizing a critical bricolage
methodology, a collective narrative, structured by Pinar’s (2012) notion of currere, was
created. Simultaneously deconstructing mastery oriented discourses and reconstructing
discourses of event, this research embraces an immediate empiricism that is germane to
the everyday life happenings of public school early childhood teachers in the United
States. Accordingly, a Deweyan transactional process of knowing was put in dialogue
with Alain Badiou’s democratic ontological assumptions and notion of ethical fidelity as
analytical tools.
Expressed as “subjective universals”, early childhood teachers’ reflections and
articulations of events exhibited democratic qualities. The teachers testified of their
fidelity to carry out the democratic virtues enunciated in their stories in daily classroom
practices. Through open-ended problem solving artistries these curriculum workers
demonstrate their own sense of historical agency by thinking, speaking and acting
assertively, yet with humility.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Since writing a dissertation has been such a significant portion of the last several
years of my life, these acknowledgements are not easy to write. Like most of the pages
to follow, these words are being typed as I sit in a corner at the Nervous Dog Coffee Bar
sipping on a cup of “Jazzy Java,” distracted by text message bantering with my wife, and
my own fleeting imagination. It is no small miracle that I actually finished. Certainly,
there are several people deserving of thanks.
First, I want to thank my esteemed committee. Each of you is a brilliant scholar
as well as a gifted teacher. In three very different ways, you challenged, supported and
guided me throughout the journey. Dr. James Henderson has been an extraordinary
mentor who without question has shown me how to walk the talk as a scholar. Dr. Marty
Lash always seemed to foresee how to keep my work moving forward with critical
feedback that is as encouraging as it is rigorous. Thanks, Marty, for your unending
supply of practical advice and your magnificent sense of humor. Dr. Frank Ryan has
generously shared his discipline and has inspired within me an appreciation of John
Dewey’s important ideas, which will undoubtedly continue to evolve throughout my
career. Additionally, I’d like to thank other scholars whose influence I’ve enjoyed during
doctoral study: Dr. Richard Ambrose, Dr. Kent den Heyer, Dr. Walter Gershon, Dr.
Thomas Kelly, Dr. Janice Kroeger, and Dr. Sheri Leafgren.
Then, of course, there are my teacher friends who agreed to participate in the
study and those who have been wonderful colleagues throughout the years. Of course my
teacher friends whose stories I’ve told here must remain anonymous, but you know who
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you are and thanks. Thank you to the staff at Indian Trail Elementary. You are truly an
outstanding group of people and I feel very fortunate to have been part of the IT family
for the past three years.
Next, I’d like to say thank you to my friends both scholarly and otherwise.
Starting with my scholarly friends: thank you to Chris Fishman, Casey Myers, Jen
Schneider, Jono Shaw for your friendship and collegiality. And, thanks to the meatheads
who have been my friends long before I ever thought to engage in any sort of scholarly
endeavor: Amir T., Chris B., Moe L., Parker B., Ryan K., Tony W., and Yesh K. Where
ever we go, whatever we do, we’re friends for life.
In conclusion, I like to express appreciation to members of my family for the
support they have provided throughout the course of my life. Thanks to my mom for
being my biggest fan. Thanks to my dad for being the best person I’ve ever known.
Thank you to Kimberly Castner for putting up with me, making me laugh, and being my
best friend and partner in the unpredictable journey of our lives together. You are truly
“something.” And, thanks to our favorite two people in the whole world, Anderson and
Isabella. I am so blessed to be your dad and I love you more than words can say.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. iv
LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. ix
CHAPTER
I. INTRODUCING THE STUDY ....................................................................................1
Dogmatism and Authoritarianism in Early Childhood Curriculum .........................6
From Interaction, Self-action and Inaction to Transaction ....................................14
Ontology, Epistemology and Ethics ......................................................................17
The Transactional Truth Telling Process ...............................................................25
Stating the Research Problem ................................................................................27
Research Focus and Questions ...............................................................................32
Conclusion .............................................................................................................36
II. LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................38
Curriculum Practice ...............................................................................................38
The Moral Dimension ............................................................................................43
Alain Badiou ..........................................................................................................44
Perspectives on Reflective Practice .......................................................................46
Ethics of Events in Education ................................................................................60
Conclusion .............................................................................................................65
III. METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................................67
Critical Bricolage ...................................................................................................68
Transactional Knowing, Democratic Ontology, and Ethical Fidelity ....................69
The Critical Bricoleur ............................................................................................71
Truth Processes in the (Post)Modern World .....................................................73
Ethical Fidelity ..................................................................................................77
Research Questions ................................................................................................79
The Foundations of Truth: Singular Subjectivity and Material Grace ..............80
Truth’s Consequences: Virtues of Justice .........................................................81
Participant Selection ..............................................................................................83
Data Collection ......................................................................................................88
Interviews ..........................................................................................................88
Autobiographical Component: Currere Composition .......................................92
Data Analysis .........................................................................................................93
Credibility and Limitations ....................................................................................95
Trustworthiness of the Data ..............................................................................99
Reflexivity .......................................................................................................100
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Limitations ......................................................................................................101
Ethics....................................................................................................................101
Conclusion ...........................................................................................................104
IV. REFLECTIONS AND EVENTS ...............................................................................105
Where We Are Coming From: Our Coming of Age Stories ...............................110
Becoming Teachers of Young Children: Our Pre-service Stories .......................123
Being Experienced Early Childhood Educators: In Service of the Public ...........146
Conclusion ...........................................................................................................168
V. INVENTING A FUTURE IN CHALLENGING CIRCUMSTANCES ....................169
The Analytical and Synthetical Moments ............................................................170
Our Truth Telling Narratives ...............................................................................173
The Organizing Moment of Disruption: A Study Event .................................176
Moments of Disruption Within the Present Challenges and
Opportunities ...................................................................................................177
Story of Fidelity ..............................................................................................185
Our Collective Moments of Disrupting Early Childhood Curriculum ................186
Disrupting Evaluation by Critical Appraising our Culture of
Curriculum ......................................................................................................188
Critically Appraising Within the Challenges and Opportunities of
Evaluation .......................................................................................................191
Joey’s Fidelity to Critically Appraising ..........................................................198
Connecting Critical Appraising to Transactional Knowing ............................205
Disrupting Educational Experience With Pedagogical Transacting ....................206
Pedagogically Transacting Within the Challenges and Opportunities of
Experience .......................................................................................................208
Our Stories of Fidelity to Transacting .............................................................226
Stacy’s Fidelity to Transacting........................................................................232
My Fidelity to the Liberty Event .....................................................................237
Connecting Pedagogical Transacting to Creative Designing Through
Relationships ...................................................................................................240
Stacy’s Fidelity to the Discipline of Forming Relationships ..........................242
Disrupting Organization With Creative Designing..............................................246
Creative Designing Within the Challenges and Opportunities of
Organization ....................................................................................................249
Fidelity to Creative Designing: Inclusiveness and Educational
Imagination .....................................................................................................253
Connecting Creative Designing to Aims Talking ...........................................262
Disrupting Purpose With Aims Talking ..............................................................265
Aims Talking Within the Challenges and Opportunities of Clearly
Defined Purposes ............................................................................................266
Fidelity to Aims Talking .................................................................................269
Concluding Discussion ........................................................................................277
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VI. OUR DANCE IN THE RAIN ...................................................................................282
Early Childhood Curriculum Workers Dance with Democracy ..........................282
Calling the Dancers to the Stormy Stage .............................................................288
Why We Dance: Inspirations, Reflections and Declarations ...............................292
How to Keep on Dancing: Stories of Fidelity ......................................................295
Future Dancing.....................................................................................................297
APPENDICES .................................................................................................................304
APPENDIX A. BEHAVIOR PLAN FOR MARK ..............................................305
APPENDIX B. IRB APPROVED CONSENT ....................................................309
REFERENCES ................................................................................................................313
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