The relationships between and among teachers' narrative knowledge, communities of knowing, and school reform: A case of "The monkey's paw"

Centering on the monkey's paw metaphor, this narrative inquiry links teache rs' pedagogical practices with their professional-development experiences a ssociated with a national reform movement that, in this situation, acted in a top-down manner. The longitudinal study illuminates the short- and long- term influence that the state-directed national reform initiative had on th e story of a diverse, U.S. middle school and on the stories its teachers su bsequently lived and told. The work particularly focuses on the relationshi ps between and among teachers' knowledge developments, their knowledge comm unities, and their attitudes toward school reform.