An interesting time in my childhood: Thinking about storied experience to understand complexities of curriculum making and diversity

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Published: Mar 30, 2015
DOI: https://doi.org/10.53956/jfde.2015.49
Keywords:
Diversity, cultural divrsity, family engagement, teacher preparation

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Elaine Chan
University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Abstract

This paper highlights ways in which examining the storied experience of students may enhance our understanding of the complexities of curriculum making and diversity. Teachers, administrators, and other members of a diverse urban school implemented curriculum, practices, and policies that suggested a commitment to acknowledging the home cultures, languages, and religions that students brought to school. Examination of one Chinese student’s “stories of experience” (Connelly & Clandinin, 1990), however, revealed nuances and unexpected complexities of balancing integration into mainstream peer groups in school while growing up in an immigrant home. The nuances highlight ways in which schooling may contribute to shaping the ethnic identity of immigrant and minority students in ways that are much more complex than realized by teachers, administrators, and policy makers.

Article Details

Issue
Vol. 1 No. 3 (2015): Journal of Family Diversity in Education
Section
Articles

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Author Biography

Elaine Chan, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Elaine Chan is an associate professor of Diversity and Curriculum Studies in the Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education, College of Education and Human Sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her research and teaching interests are in the areas of: narrative inquiry; culture and curriculum; teacher education; multicultural education; ethnic identity of first-generation North Americans; student experiences of schooling; and educational equity policies. She has taught and conducted long-term classroom-based research in Canadian, Japanese, and American schools. She co-authored, Teaching the arts to engage English language learners and co-edited Narrative inquirers in the midst of meaning-making: Interpretive acts of teacher educators. Her work has been recognized with an Early Career Award from the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Narrative Research Special Interest Group (SIG), and publication awards from AERA Division K (Teaching and Teacher Education) and the Narrative Research SIG.