| The performance of a practical skill such as teaching depends more on a tacit “knowing how” than on a conscious “knowing that” (Polanyi, 1966); in fact, a practice of any kind does not rely primarily on “rational” conscious decision-making (Bordieu, 1977). If the practical knowledge teachers demonstrate in their classrooms is a kind of “knowing-in-action” that “we are characteristically unable to make verbally explicit” (Schön, 1987, p. 25), what form of educational theory may best serve those who are struggling to learn how to teach? How does a teacher educator help to make such tacit knowledge conscious and available for pre-service teachers? Does the feedback that teacher educators give adequately sensitize pre-service teachers to the consequences and implications—the “backtalk” (Schön, 1987)—of their actions in a classroom setting?; To answer these questions, I conducted my doctoral study in a drama teacher education class, using videotape and hand-written notes to record what happened and what was said. In addition, I used journal writing as a kind of ‘thinking on paper’ to deepen my understanding of what was happening during the study. I interviewed the instructor and his students at different points throughout the course. Later on I accompanied the instructor on his supervisory visits to the schools during practice teaching and received permission from him and the pre-service teachers to audiotape their conferences—the meetings during which he would give them feedback on their teaching and assess their progress.; Because the reading of classroom action and the construction of knowledge about teaching are embodied, personal forms of knowing (Connelly & Clandinin, 1985), an arts-based methodology is used to explore the research questions. In writing the report, I embody the actions and responses of all participants (including those of the researcher) in narrative, readers' theatre and poetry. The text contains the required content such as literature reviews, discussions of methodology and conceptual frameworks, but they are woven organically into the story of the research. By experimenting with form in this manner, I hope to contribute to discussion concerning the interdependence of content and form in both teaching and qualitative research. |
