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Teaching outside of the box : studying a creative teacher

The following is a qualitative portrait of a creative teacher and her teaching process. It has been written as chronological narrative using an evolving systems approach as a methodology for an instrumental case-study design. The creative teacher is a 47-year-old female with over 20 years experience with elementary, secondary, college, and university students. Five interviews were conducted with the teacher before, during, and following the course. Data sets include classroom observations revealed in field notes, documents such as course materials and audiotaped interviews. Two interviews were conducted with six students at the beginning and end of the course. One interview was conducted with the teacher's husband at the end of the course. The research context was an undergraduate university classroom of 146 preservice teachers studying how to plan curriculum and instruction for diverse learners. All interviews were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. The overarching themes represented constructs involving intense and thorough course preparation, teacher-student connections, and reflective teaching. Overlapping subthemes guiding the process of creative teaching emerged including constraints placed on preparation and reflective teaching, an awareness of self and students within the process of preparation and connection, feedback from colleagues and students guiding the connection and reflective teaching, and the values and goals formed from personal history and philosophy of life shaping all three major themes. The teacher's personality acted as a conduit for expressing her creativity in the classroom. Her creative process was directed by her personality to choose the materials and methods of developing curriculum and instruction, and to guide her in her reflective teaching. This revelatory case example of creative teaching possesses characteristics resembling studies of creative giants, however presents a model of the process of creative teaching that can be ins

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.38221
Date January 2001
CreatorsLilly, Frank R.
ContributorsRejskind, Gillian (advisor)
PublisherMcGill University
Source SetsLibrary and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
Formatapplication/pdf
CoverageDoctor of Philosophy (Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology.)
RightsAll items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated.
Relationalephsysno: 001871517, proquestno: NQ78717, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest.

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