One from Eleven Equals Ten, or Does It? A Mathematics Teacher’s Reading Journey

Abstract This autobiographical narrative inquiry uses an ascribed, novel mathematical metaphor to make sense of my journey to understand how high school English teachers guide their students to analyze literature. Over eighty percent of public-school teachers enter teaching through conventional, university-based certification programs, where teacher educators emphasize direct, explicit, and systematic instruction. In this narrative inquiry, I explore my journey to understand how English teachers guide their students through learning to analyze literature in high school English courses, thus simultaneously improving my practice in teaching mathematics. I collected data (audio recordings) via eleven face-to-face interviews in a neutral location, using the constant comparative method to identify threads common within the discussions. At the end of this journey, I realized literature teachers use a direct, explicit, and systematic approach—similar to how elementary educators teach early reading skills—when teaching high school students about the various literature types.