| In this narrative inquiry I studied my and other two English teachers' learning and teaching experiences in China. I revisited our experiences of schooling, teaching, and other threads in our lives to inquire into the following puzzles: our teacher identity, our relationship with curriculum, and our position in China's educational reform landscape (Connelly & Clandinin, 1985; Clandinin & Huber, 2005). We three teachers all came from "underdeveloped" small places in China. As shown in the study, we have many similar and consonant overlappings in our learning and teaching experiences. In this study I found when we taught according to our beliefs of what teaching is, our stories often ran against the major story lines of the educational landscape we were living in. As a result of this conflict between our "secret stories" and the "sacred story" (Clandinin & Connelly, 1996), many of our "secret stories" took place under our "cover stories" (Clandinin & Connelly, 1996). As also shown in the study, we teachers felt we were being treated as "un-knowers" (Vinz, 1996) and non-curriculum makers in our teaching landscape. We felt we were being asked to play the role of knowledge transmitters, or part of the "conduits" of the "banking" education system (Freire, 2000). We also felt that our personal practical knowledge was not being valued as legitimate professional knowledge (Connelly & Clandinin, 1988). As a result of this study I came to believe that for English teaching reforms to succeed in China, teachers' voices should be heard; that teachers should be involved in curriculum making; that teachers' personal practical knowledge should be legitimated as basis of their professional knowledge growth; and that teachers should have more room for living out their "secret stories" in and out-of classrooms (Clandinin & Connelly, 1996). |
