Analyzing Flying Chameleons: Using Autoethnography to Explore Change in the Female Educator

Authors

Leslie Pourreau, Kennesaw State UniversityFollow

Abstract

What is a chameleon in the world of education? What defines her professionally, personally, and why? In this autoethnography, I explore the chameleon metaphor for meanings and implications in my personal and professional identity as a female educator by seeking answers to questions stemming from Mitchell and Weber (2005): Just who do I think I am? Just who do I think I am? Just who do I think I am? Just who do I think I am? I analyzed my own autobiographical journals using the four-part Listening Guide (Gilligan, Spencer, Weinberg, & Bertsch, 2003) coupled with theme-based family coding to examine changes by choice and changes by force particular to my personal and professional experiences. Notions of home, belonging, and change as a journey emerged as themes that served to frame my identity and highlighted the importance of self-inquiry for educators as an applied practice within the greater context of the profession.

Keywords

Autoethnography, Metaphor, Educator, Change, Female

Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge Dr. Patricia M. Alvarez McHatton for her guidance and support on this project.

Publication Date

12-22-2014

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2014.1414

Recommended APA Citation

Pourreau, L. (2014). Analyzing Flying Chameleons: Using Autoethnography to Explore Change in the Female Educator. The Qualitative Report, 19(51), 1-22. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2014.1414