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Editor's Notes

1. "mandala" Sanskrit. "circle," wholeness, reminds us of our relation to the infinite, the world that extends both beyond and within our bodies and minds. Deb Britzman story - who are you thinking with? Visible and invisible companions in this journey - invisible are the many conversations with academic mentors who shaped this work, and many conversations with friends and family over the years. Visible are the people referenced….the strongest threads in my mind are those from King (story), Barone (Strong Poets), Davies (self) and Foucault ( power) see noodle box notes
2. This painting is called True Story - click to bring in text. It is the self that is either valued or devaluated as we e-value-ate or are e-value-ated. This is what I felt to be true. This is the hypothesis I set out to - not necessarily prove or disprove, but to add texture to. The truth about stories is that that’s all we are. King. Narrative truth - I’m addicted to stories, to narratives. They help me to enter worlds and lives I would have no idea about…it’s no wonder now that I became a narrative researcher I’m like Matilda in Mr Pip - 47 -I enter the story 59- I enter the soul of another This idea is woven all through the work….my stories helped me to see who I am. Their stories helped me to see the ‘other’
3. Nick - images My own stories were the core, the center of my exploration the telling of stories, written and spoken, produces a web of experiences that are at once individual, interconnected, collective-and political (Davies et al., 2001, p. 169)
4. The apple story became the center of my developing understanding of myself as a student and the experiences of those like me and not like me. It allowed me to see myself as a character in the story of the self that I am living - to distance myself and really look. Read Really looking, and hearing responses from others made me realize that there was more than just me in those spaces. I had no idea what it might feel like to be the kid with 1/10 and red x’s instead of stickers. I have always been amazed by interviews with authors. They often talk about getting so involved with their characters that the characters take on their own voice. This is what began to happen for me as I immersed myself in the audio files, the transcripts and the stories. Yes, in some ways Amber’s story is about an abusive teacher - and although these aspects of the story had a powerful impact, what I was really interested in, and struck by, is her experience of watching the others and wondering how they were doing what they were doing. I understood a little more about my students who fiddled in their desks. I also entered her character. When I got into ‘Seeking Power’ her voice began to speak through my writing.
5. It’s about Oogys and Trevors and Lawrences and Alices….we measure and rank them based on a narrow range of skills. We devalue those we measure.
6. A journey with many dimensions - some smooth, some chaotic..intensely educational. My biggest hope for ‘what’s next?’ is the work I do with student teachers. This visual project…. They are beginning to see the complexity of assessment teaching and learning and I hope that they will honour it.
7. Images like these help me to see that my students know that assessment is much more than tests and grades.
8. Images like these help me to see that change is possible
9. Images like these, in response to their learning about assessment leave me with hope - students like Tamara see assessment as complex, evolving, driven by a quest to understand, to learn our students, to seek to create conditions for growth.
10. I know that my wanderings have benefited me - I have changed and grown in my ability to view the world of the classroom. My hope is that this change will also benefit my students and in turn their students.