Exploration 4- Layered Analysis

Layer 1: Coding to Disassemble and Reassemble

Coding the excerpt of Mary Elizabeth Meier’s Narrative Views of Experience (2012), “Story Constellations”, meant combing the dialogue and discourse of the document for specific data points, and organizing this information in search of patterns and themes. My analysis was guided by the research questions posed within the text;

"In what ways do participants generate and use documentation (as processes and as material artifacts such as photos, videos, and written reflections) to facilitate professional learning? As participants share their documentation with the inquiry group and engage in dialogue, what indicates shifts in thinking about teaching and learning?” (4). 

What struck me most upon reviewing the work of this initial layer was the ample space and time given to shared experiences and commiseration, as well as the relationship between pedagogical refinement (constantly modifying, find-tuning, and changing perspectives on methodology) and the quality of student experience. 

Layer 2: Inquiry Prose

As I began to sift through my notes in order to begin inquiry through my writing process, organizing the overarching themes, patterns, and metaphors present over the course of the narrative prose and subsequent blog posts and comments, I realized that mirroring between student and teacher experience was a major structural element of the entire project. In the first scene, for example, “uncertainty” became a trope linking the teacher’s sentiments following a new setting or shift in thinking, and those of the students, many of which are approaching self-expression and definition through art during a critical time in their lives. Mary Elizabeth points out this reflected reality when she asks one of her respondents, “So you think that your learning and the way you are feeling a sense of shifting is alike to the process that your students are going through?” (9). The participant, Rachel, whole-heartedly agrees.

Another example of this phenomenon comes in a later scene when an art teacher is speaking to their hesitations in defining the parameters for a rubric. The art project in mind deals with non-traditional media, and their hesitations in how to best measure learning and effort through the outlining of the rubric mirrors the position in which the students typically finds themselves. (13). That is, they are attempting to fulfill a set of objectives through the creation of something completely unique. Reading through the teacher’s thought-process on how best to formulate a guiding structure for their students, without being too limiting or suggestive, was an interesting reversal of the creative process that students go through in the art classroom.

In the end, many of the discussions centered around how best to scaffold and facilitate self-directed learning in the classroom, and how their collaborative inquiry was helping them to promote greater creative autonomy and confidence in their students. 

Layer 3: Reflexivity and Encompassing Metaphors

Overall, the data collected and analyzed by the participants in Mary Elizabeth’s group points back to the role of collaborative inquiry as a tool for making effective change in one’s approach to teaching. The language and directionality of the initial research question can be summarized as taking documentation, bringing it to a space of dialogue, leading to shifts in thinking and learning. Documentation allowed the teachers to keep track of student experience and engagement, and to revisit and interpret it with their colleagues. Collaborative inquiry then led to the conceptualization, and at times actualization, of the shifts mentioned in this original research question. It is interesting to see this emphasis on “the question”, as it is pointedly referred to in Abigail’s blog post, come back full circle (19). This reflexivity back to the question, or reflection back onto your own teaching and how/ how well it landed, should be constant, so that the evolution of your instruction is constant as well. 

Layer 4: Seeing Patterns as Major Themes

Finally, the key themes of Meier’s project, and indeed the conclusions, fall in line with the three key elements pulled from the primary research question in layer 3. The proper and consistent practice of documentation gave these teachers a wealth of information to draw upon in order to refine their methodology, as well as to effectively communicate and even visually represent their classroom experiences in the first place with the group. This leads to the second major theme, which is that of collaborative inquiry as a yardstick for progress. Continuous individual and group critique served as a reminder that these shifts are ongoing, and should never be treated as complete. The mirroring in the dialogues between teacher and student “uncertainty” and “self-questioning” only emphasized this point further. Lastly, the shifts themselves that come as a generative result of faithful collaborative inquiry was a final theme. In this domain, cultivation of artistic freedom and student autonomy in the classroom meant more self-directed learning, a positive point for students. The quality of student experience was improved by the efforts of the group. 

Meier, M.E. (2012). Narrative views of experience: Arts teachers documenting teaching practice in collaborative inquiry-based professional learning. The Pennsylvania State University. University Park, PA.