Self-Study of Curriculum-Mapping: Informing Practice Through Language and Object Analysis

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 18
  In Roundtable Session: Objects and Arts-Based Inquiry in Self-Study

Abstract

This self-study examines the process of mapping curriculum within a rural Kindergarten classroom. The self-study included two sources of data: a reflection journal written during the collaborative mapping process, and an object as data paper. Analysis of the journal language resulted in 55 original codes, which collapsed into 20 codes for meaning. The object paper examined the metaphor of a tire reflecting the mapping process, to “theorize abstract concepts,” (Mitchell 2017, p. 14), and to inform collaboration within the curriculum map creation. Based on meanings of the final codes and the object paper, language use did not connect to grounded theoretical arguments within emergent literacy, but rather reflected a teacher-driven stance informed by both state- and district-required mandates.

Authors

• Brittini Ludovissy, University of Northern Iowa

• Deborah L. Tidwell, University of Northern Iowa