This study examined the experiences of four teachers who participated as mentors in a teacher-designed and -implemented creative community at a middle school in southern California. Using the arts-based research methodologies of poetic inquiry, narrative inquiry, and painting, the researcher explored how teachers experience teaching and learning when they deconstruct structures that perpetuate standardization and choose to approach education as a place of yes, freed from the parameters of mandated curriculum, the idea of education as product, and high- stakes accountability measures. The study revealed that the qualities of the creative community had a humanizing effect on its participants, allowing these teachers to transcend toxic school culture, oppressive educational structures, and ideological and spatial faculty divisions, and allowed the participating teachers to connect with one another on professional and personal levels.
","abstract_html":"<p>This study examined the experiences of four teachers who participated as mentors in a teacher-designed and -implemented creative community at a middle school in southern California. Using the arts-based research methodologies of poetic inquiry, narrative inquiry, and painting, the researcher explored how teachers experience teaching and learning when they deconstruct structures that perpetuate standardization and choose to approach education as a place of yes, freed from the parameters of mandated curriculum, the idea of education as product, and high- stakes accountability measures. The study revealed that the qualities of the creative community had a humanizing effect on its participants, allowing these teachers to transcend toxic school culture, oppressive educational structures, and ideological and spatial faculty divisions, and allowed the participating teachers to connect with one another on professional and personal levels.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Hind, Elizabeth"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Education","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Scot Danforth, Ph.D.","Lilia D. Monzó, Ph.D.","Penny S. Bryan, Ph.D."],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2020,"date_issued":"2020-05-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2020-05-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:38:09Z","subjects":["arts-based research","lives of teachers","teacher-led reform","middle school","communities of practice","Art Education","Curriculum and Instruction","Junior High, Intermediate, Middle School Education and Teaching","Other Education","Other Teacher Education and Professional Development","Secondary Education","Secondary Education and Teaching"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/education_dissertations/15","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Scot Danforth, Ph.D.","Lilia D. Monzó, Ph.D.","Penny S. Bryan, Ph.D."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Hind, Elizabeth"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Education"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["arts-based research","lives of teachers","teacher-led reform","middle school","communities of practice","Art Education","Curriculum and Instruction","Junior High, Intermediate, Middle School Education and Teaching","Other Education","Other Teacher Education and Professional Development","Secondary Education","Secondary Education and Teaching"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/education_dissertations/15"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This study examined the experiences of four teachers who participated as mentors in a teacher-designed and -implemented creative community at a middle school in southern California. Using the arts-based research methodologies of poetic inquiry, narrative inquiry, and painting, the researcher explored how teachers experience teaching and learning when they deconstruct structures that perpetuate standardization and choose to approach education as a place of yes, freed from the parameters of mandated curriculum, the idea of education as product, and high- stakes accountability measures. The study revealed that the qualities of the creative community had a humanizing effect on its participants, allowing these teachers to transcend toxic school culture, oppressive educational structures, and ideological and spatial faculty divisions, and allowed the participating teachers to connect with one another on professional and personal levels.
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"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/education_dissertations/15"],"dc:source":["Hind, E. P. (2020). A place of yes? Experiences of educators participating in site-based teacher-led reform [Doctoral dissertation, Chapman University]. Chapman University Digital Commons. https://doi.org/10.36837/chapman.000157"],"dc:subject":["arts-based research","lives of teachers","teacher-led reform","middle school","communities of practice","Art Education","Curriculum and Instruction","Junior High, Intermediate, Middle School Education and Teaching","Other Education","Other Teacher Education and Professional Development","Secondary Education","Secondary Education and Teaching"],"dc:title":["A Place of Yes? Experiences of Educators Participating in Site-based Teacher-led Reform"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Education"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:38:09Z"}