2008 Multi-National Forum of Teacher Scholars—National Narratives Project

The theme of this year’s Assembly is “From Silence to Stories”, and our goal will be to discuss the place storytelling and narrative could have in our profession and in the academy, and to move towards our next major project. Below is a DRAFT of our proposal to give you a sense of our thinking. We will examine it together, and perhaps take a different direction, on June 18:

"We are proposing a National Narratives Project which will bring together small groups of 3M National Teaching Fellows to participate in regional workshops designed to help them share stories from their rich and diverse experience as innovative and successful university teachers. The regional workshops will be led by specialists in the art of the narrative chosen, where possible, from our community of Fellows. We anticipate that many of the stories will feature challenges and critical incidents that are both inspiring and informative for teachers and for anyone interested in the role of the teacher in society. Once developed at the regional level, the narratives will be shared across the country and beyond in a series of publications and, we hope, through pubic readings and online videos.

Ron Smith, our President-elect, is coordinating the Assembly / Forum, and the3M Council Executive Team has planned an event that will allow participants to consider the place storytelling and narrative could have in various areas—teaching and learning, campus change, building community, building a learning organization, and hearing the student voice.

For many of us, one of the powerful parts of the Montebello experience is the opportunity to share our stories with other teachers. Our two most recent projects have collected stories from teachers and learners for wider circulation: Making a Difference and Silences in Teaching and Learning. The Assembly/Forum will be an opportunity for us to work together in creating the "National Narratives Project" through which we hope to develop ways to draw on the rich narrative skills of faculty to create collections for wider circulation.

We have invited several 3M Fellows to write short pieces to help the "Narratives" project take shape.

Positon Papers

	Narrative and Community—Alex Fancy
	Tale-Telling Organizations—Arshad Ahmad and John Thompson
	The New Politics of Education—Anton Allahar
	Perfect Circles—Lee Gass
	Wasteland—Ron Marken
	Sheila B Promotion and Tenure—Maureen Connolly
	The Case for Narrative—Mark Weisberg
	Narrative in Mathematics—Peter Taylor
	Setting Seed: The New Zealand Experinece in Harvesting Excellence—Donna Buckingham
	Nourishing the Teacher—Peer Tutor—Student Learning Chain—Donna Buckingham
	The Confidence Trick—Bob Rotheram
	Invisible Student—Leo Jonker
	Teaching Philosophy