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This paper outlines a narrative method for the study of teaching which has as its principle feature the reconstruction of classroom meaning in terms of narrative unities in the lives of classroom participants. This purpose is achieved by comparatively outlining similarities and differences with closely associated lines of work. This study of narrative is primarily epistemological in character but deviates from epistemology as commonly understood in curriculum studies by focussing on personal experience rather than upon reconstructed formal logic. The governing question of the work is "How do teachers and students know their classrooms?" The working question is "What is the meaning of specific classroom actions for teachers and students?" Characteristics of the narrative method of inquiry are set forth by comparison and contrast with biography. Comparisons are restricted to five sets of recent educational writings : works by Pinar, Grumet, Darroch and Slivers, Berk, and Butt. The study begins with matters of similarity between biography and narrative and moves to matters of difference. Analysis indicates that reflection-in-action, biography, and narrative each contribute something to the understanding of classrooms. The case is made for narrative inquiry by sorting out its methods and purposes from those of biography. It is suggested that the narrative method offers a way to understand teaching and learning in classrooms as a temporal process reflecting the biographic histories of its participants. (JD)

1Boy Crusoe

By Allan Eric

Also published as" A Yankee Crusoe" . A 15 year old hard working and studious farm boy finds the lure of adventure on the seas as a merchant seaman more than he can resist. This is his story. " I was born in a little town in the State of Maine, near the close of the Civil War. My boyhood life did not differ materially from that of the average farmer's son in the remote country districts of New England--except, perhaps, that I read more and thought more. Hard work on the rugged soil, two terms each year in the little yellow country schoolhouse, a day's fishing now and then filled the early years of my life full to over-flowing. " What he gets is enough excitement and adventure to overflow his wildest dreams. How he experiences disaster and uses his wits and knowledge to overcome every problem makes for a great read. - Summary by Phil Chenevert