Full Description
The Joy Principle is a fictionalised novel about teachers and teaching in neoliberal times. It addresses the themes of teacher agency within a context of critical and creative praxis. The story centres on Alex, a graduate teacher who decides to disrupt the mandated pedagogical practices of literacy education. As an agent of transformative change, Alex provides an examination of how children learn best and how teachers can re-author themselves in their work within the constraints of contemporary practice. The novel is accompanied by a commentary on arts-based, narrative fiction as research.
Contents
Prologue
1 Running
2 Fanfare and Disquiet
3 Rules of Engagement
4 Grounded in Reality
5 Dreams and Imaginings
6 Why Teach?
7 Different Worlds
8 A Time Old Recipe
9 What Is Precious
10 Joy at the Centre
11 Giving Joy Oxygen
12 Jumping through Hoops, Ticking Boxes
13 The Calling
14 Secret Teachers' Business
15 A Genuine Contribution
16 Searching
17 Daring to Imagine a Different Landscape
18 The Ordinariness of Creativity
19 How to Be a Good Teacher
20 Walk This Way
21 So Many Choices, So Little Space
22 Where the Playing Field Is Level
23 Freedom and Control
24 Star Dust
25 A Different Life
26 The Perils of Teaching
27 When the Universe Shifts
28 Death
29 Pay It Forward
30 Banishment
31 Turning the Tide
32 Step by Step
33 New Horizons
Addendum: Writing a Novel: How Is It Research?
Appendix: How to 'Do' Creativity in the Classroom
References
