about how children’ s observations of snails led to an extended exploration of shadows. As their preschool teacher, Isauro M. Escamilla offered an engaged account of his and the children’ s inquiry, including stories of what they said, did, and learned from this exploration. Isauro’ s work highlighted the children as theory makers and documented how his flexibility as a teacher allowed children to co-create the curriculum. Together, they built connections, took ownership of the outdoor and indoor resources that their setting offered, and explored ideas about snails, shadows, and their own self-portraits.
Many stories of teacher inquiry, reflection, and transformation have been shared in Voices; collectively, they span different types of early learning settings, different parts of the country, and teachers and children from diverse social and cultural contexts. Each story highlights the teacher’ s insider perspective, particularly when the educator has noticed something surprising, unsettling, or previously unknown. They invite a broader audience to engage with the author to make sense of teaching and learning and to advance holistic, inclusive teaching practices. Educators connect their everyday work to broader professional conversations by weaving stories with intentionality and artistry, allowing them to become a mechanism for advancing equity and social justice in early childhood education.
Pedagogical narratives hold great promise as the bridge between reflective storytelling and the goals of teacher research, which are to document practice, imagine alternatives, and drive change. In this article, I describe pedagogical narratives as a distinct contribution to early childhood education and teacher research methods. I begin by defining pedagogical narratives and explaining their connection to teacher research. Then, I outline the transformative potential of pedagogical narratives in practice and research. Threaded throughout are examples from past Voices of Practitioners articles that illustrate how pedagogical narratives position educators as advocates and innovators contributing to more equitable, inclusive learning environments. For any early childhood professional interested in finding a new way to reflect on practice and support others’ practices, pedagogical narratives offer a powerful tool for inquiry and transformation.
Defining Teacher Research and the Pedagogical Narrative
Teacher research is a form of educational research that centers the voices, knowledge, and experiences of educators who are looking critically at their everyday practices in learning spaces( Cochran-Smith & Lytle 1993, 2009). Teacher research in early childhood education aims to examine what is, envision alternatives, undertake cycles of change, and share these results with others to build our collective knowledge about teaching, learning, and children’ s development( Meier & Henderson 2007).
Teacher research is often collaborative within a site, which works well because the group can provide mutual support to maintain the practice. However, educators can gain new knowledge and make changes working independently or through a group spread across school or program sites. Educators also learn about and engage in teacher research during higher education courses. Therefore, early childhood leaders and higher education faculty play an important role in supporting teacher research of all forms.( See“ Situating Pedagogical Narrative Within the Literature and Professional Learning” on page 69 for more about this.)
To conduct teacher research, teachers begin by posing questions about their practice. Then, they plan, collect and analyze information, and share their findings( Meier & Henderson 2007; Perry et al. 2012; Stremmel 2012). When teacher researchers share their findings, their voices contribute to the profession and broaden our knowledge base about children, teaching, and learning.
Indeed, many prominent thinkers have described how educators are uniquely positioned to uncover new wisdom through their daily work with children and families. John Dewey([ 1933 ] 1985; [ 1938 ] 1997), a progressive educational philosopher working in the United States from the late 1800s through the middle of the twentieth century, wrote that developing a science of education
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