Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Welcome to C-B-D)












Acknowledgments Six committee members influenced this study, each in different ways. I acknowledge their efforts by sharing how each employed "story" in her support of my learning. Dr. Carol Gilles, you validated my teaching as you listened to my classroom stories. Many times as we talked, you added, "Tell me a story about your Kiddos that shows what you mean." The stories I shared with you were often related to the books we read in the classroom. From you I learned the value of sharing great picture books with fifth and sixth graders, and because of you literature discussion groups became central to the learning of my fifth grade students as well as to my learning as a teacher. Literature discussions provided the foundation for our classroom learning communities. When you invited me to write the stories about my fifth and sixth graders, you added, "You will write, you have great things to say about Kiddos, and I will help you." Your comment serves as a constant reminder and model for what I believe about teaching. When I indicated my intent to use a narrative inquiry approach to my study, thereby taking a somewhat divergent path in my research, you told me I might find myself out on an island, all alone. Despite your words of caution, I was certain you would never leave me stranded on that island. Over the years you gently nudged, "When are you going to get your PhD?" At last, you and I are almost there. Dr. Nancy Knipping, you challenged me to a deeper understanding of the work of John Dewey when you asked me to describe "what Dewey looks like" in a Kindergarten and second grade classroom. In essence, you were asking me to "tell a story" as a way of understanding Dewey's work. Little did I know the extent to which John Dewey and his iii ideas on "educative experiences" were to guide my thinking throughout this study. Dr. Knipping, what I learned in your classes made a huge impact on the void in my knowledge of early childhood education. I knew Jonathon well by the end of the semester, and by telling your "Jonathon Stories," you made difficult concepts and theory about early childhood learning easy to understand. Dr. Candace Kuby, you agreed to join my committee shortly after arriving at the university and along the way provided guidelines for my narrative inquiry. You helped me tell the preservice teachers' stories by providing invaluable feedback to the drafts you reviewed. Your detailed notes helped me write (and rewrite) and organize the narratives of the teachers' stories so that readers will understand the lives of preservice teachers. You challenged me to articulate an understanding of a narrative inquiry paradigm, and then added, "You did it, [narrative inquiry], it's yours, now own it!" Thank you for suggesting the references that were critical to my study at just the right times in my research process. Dr. Amy Lannin, you shared a story with me that became the starting point for my study. Instead of suggesting what I might write about in an assigned paper, you told a story. In your story, you shared your experience in interviewing students in a course you taught as a way of learning more about your own teaching. Your story planted the seed in my thinking for a study of preservice teachers in a course I was teaching. As a result of that study, I realized the depth of insights and wealth of information that preservice teachers share when simply given the opportunity to do so. Dr. Lannin, you did not tell me what to write. Instead, you told me a story
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