This author discusses her decision to move to secondary school to teach mathematics, after having taught and been a mathematics manager in primary schools for six years. She states that this was a valuable experience and sparked her interest in the transition experiences of students, particularly in mathematics. Research (Evangelou et al, 2008,…

The experiences of immigrant and refugee students in schools have been explored by two primary frameworks. The first is informed by sociology and attends to the macro-level adaptation of students in schools and in the host country. The second framework is informed by linguistics and attends to one micro-aspect of the students' adaptation in…

Students with learning disabilities (LD) are particularly vulnerable in making the school-to-college transition where they negotiate a complex constellation of challenges that include academic demands, social expectations, and emotional/personal growth. Although a substantial body of knowledge exists about college students with LD, it is largely…

Heidi Safia Mirza, Penny Jane Burke, Jennifer Lavia, Gloria Gordon, Helen Gunter and Barbara Ann Cole each tells her story of completing doctoral studies at a particular personal and professional stage in her life. Their narratives reveal their experience of the resultant life changes and will speak to people who are at different stages in their…

For some time there has been a focus in higher education research towards understanding the student experience of learning. This article presents a narrative analysis of the experience of a teacher who re-entered the learning world of undergraduate students by enrolling in a challenging chemical engineering course. The analysis identifies multiple…

The purpose of this study was to examine how five African American middle school students, who were displaced by Hurricane Katrina represent their literacy experiences before, during, and after their displacement. Specifically, the two research questions were: (a) What are the stories that these middle school students tell about their lives,…

This narrative is an attempt to examine the conflicting expectations and mission confusion of one children's choir director. It details the challenges music educators may encounter at the nexus between educational and institutional goals or between ethical and professional challenges. The author has chosen to use narrative not only to tell her own…

Narrative analysis offers a powerful and accessible means of understanding the ways in which individuals experience learning across a range of educational sites. Drawing on a recent study that explored "dyspraxic" pupils' experiences of drawing from observation, this paper offers an insight into the potential that narrative analysis has…

An important consequence of a deeply rooted, mono-cultural rubric for acceptable school participation in the United States has been that African-American students in traditional K-12 math classrooms tend to be labeled as academically "at risk." This qualitative investigation responds to said categorization by examining African-American…

This qualitative study explores how Latina/os recount their experiences and successes (or lack thereof) at a flagship public university. It examines how Latina/os form their identities in relation to their notions of academic success in the college environment, where social dynamics of race/ethnicity, class, and gender operate and intersect.…

Despite a large increase in the number of students enrolled in online courses, published research on student experiences in these environments is minimal. This article reports the narrative analysis of a series of interviews conducted with a female student at a brick-and-mortar school enrolled in a single virtual school course. Her narratives…

I believe that in-depth exploration of one's gendered sense of self can contribute to both the personal and professional lives of educators and facilitate pedagogical and curricular change within schools and classrooms as students are offered similar opportunities for reflexive thought and learning. In this study, I both illustrate and examine the…

The current study investigated the motivation of college students with disabilities to disclose their disability(s) to the university and to utilize disability support services. Eleven college students with a diversity of invisible disabilities from a large university were interviewed using a narrative approach. Analysis involved a combination of…

Using a life history method to illustrate the college admission process for undocumented students, this article demonstrates how students' social contexts (e.g., schooling, family, migration, and labor) influence their college choice processes and participation in the broader project of college-going. The central argument claims that if admission…

The use of a narrative in educational contexts has been found to increase learners' experience of flow or absorption in a task. This increased experience of flow can in turn result in increased retention and learning outcomes. However, narrative can also be polarizing particularly in the male-dominated realm of video game play due to gender…