Being an art-teacher: Interpreting meaning from experience

Research questions. (1) What does it mean to be an art-teacher? (2) What is the significance of your experiences for teaching art? (3) Thinking about your personal history, recall events, anecdotes, or stories which exemplify the significance of teaching art for you.; Research design. (1) Identifying and recruiting participants. (2) Interviews: each participant related lived experiences and their significance for their life as an art teacher. (3) A textural text was created by researcher for each participant. (4) The text was reviewed by each participant for accuracy and authenticity. Themes were identified for groups of stories. (5) A composite text, with themes and lived experiences by all participants, was created by the researcher. (6) The text was reviewed by each participant for accuracy and possible thematic structuring. (7) An intersubjective group meeting focused on finding meaningful patterns among the themes. (8) The researcher elaborated on the meanings of each theme, and on their inter-relatedness into patterns of meanings.; Findings. (1) Eight themes emerged from the stories of the participants and from their significance. (2) Three questions, added a meaningful order, structuring the themes into three groups. The three questions interrogated the phenomenon at a gradually more personal way. (a) Question 3, "what is our motivation for teaching art?", was the most personal. The motivation to lead meaningful and caring life inspired growth and action. (b) Question 2, "which factors support the accomplishment of our goals?", reflected a need to balance being in the world and in the self---to apply and learn in supportive environments and to reflect on these experiences. (c) Question 1, "what do we teach and for what goals?" was the outgrowth of personal understanding and application. The fruit was clarity of goals and activities.; Meanings. The eight themes, as they addressed the questions, offered meaningful answers, flowing gradually deeper in relation to the self and in relation to others. The teachers became in touch with ways to stay motivated and to keep balance in their own personal growth and in the act of teaching. Learning about themselves simultaneously transformed their relations with students. As teachers were more authentically caring and balanced, their pedagogic activities and interactions became more meaningful.