Pedagogy through the pearl metaphor: teaching as a process of ongoing refinement

Using the analytical tools of broadening, burrowing and storying and restorying, this narrative inquiry examines a middle school teachers' knowledge of her pedagogical practices through the strand of pearls' metaphor that she employs to explain her teaching to herself, a beginning teacher whom she mentors and ourselves as researchers. Throughout the discussion, careful attention is paid to the pearl metaphor's emergent, novel qualities and how the metaphor is held and expressed in the teacher's unfurling practice. In the final analysis, four significant themes are unpacked: (1) the image of teacher as curriculum maker; (2) the idea of pearls, non-pearls and yellowed pearls; and (3) the concept of metaphors and the nature of metaphorical truth. Finally, a discussion of the veracity of the strand of pearls as way to understand teaching practice concludes the article.