Final Version May 5 07

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modeled what I knew: Teachers were strict; teachers were in charge and teachers
punished. Being a teacher was a position of status and power. From a place at the front of
the classroom, the teacher commanded attention. It was a position that I envied as it
allowed for voice. If I did not have playmates, I positioned dolls and stuffed animals to
act as my students.
Constructing, reconstructing and deconstructing the labyrinth’s path have led me
to a focus on power relations and how they contribute to a sense of self or self-image.
This struggle for recognition characterizes the narrative of my story as it appears
throughout my development from early childhood onwards.
As a young child, I thought I knew what it meant to teach and learn. In retrospect,
although I wanted to teach, I had not yet considered the learner’s perspective. When my
family moved, I attended a school that embraced progressive views of education which
dramatically altered my perspective. Living and Learning, later known as the Hall-Dennis
Report (1968) had provided the impetus for change within this new school I was
attending. The report recommended an atmosphere within the classroom that would be
positive, encouraging, and more open. The fixed positions of pupil and teacher, the
insistence on silence, and a punitive approach were to give way to a more relaxed
teacher-pupil relationship that encouraged discussion, inquiry and experimentation, and
enhanced the dignity of the individual.
I was in grade five in this new school when the walls I had accepted and
internalized literally tumbled down, opening a brand new path and laying a keystone for
my journey ahead. We started the September term in a portable classroom and then
moved to the renovated school in January. In that freshly carpeted, immaculate space