Provisional Knowledge of a Teaching Philosophy

This collaborative self-study was initiated by two teacher educators interested in dialogue about what propels us in the work that we do. At the onset, we intended to unlock our philosophies of teaching by interrogating our own origin stories that propelled us into the teaching profession. What we did not expect was how our study would explore unexpected and new terrain; our research was revised and transformed over time. This paper maps out the journey of our collaborative self-study, as well as the steps taken independently after the collaboration concluded. The mapping of this self-study traces our critical conversations, emerging questions, and data analysis processes. Events that occurred “off the map” led us to reflect on the shifting terrain of self-studies and be open to new possibilities for our research. This included embracing uncharted dialogic conversation and making sense of “rewiring moments.” The provisional knowledge resulted in the development of student course surveys based on a teaching philosophy as well as unexpected findings that occurred through art-making to represent the teaching philosophy. This paper is of interest to teacher educators interested in exploring collaborative approaches to soliciting their own teaching philosophies with a critical friend, while being open to exploring unexpected spaces in self-studies that are not yet included on the map.