Opening Pandora’s Box: An Autoethnographic Study of Teaching

Teachers use narrative structures, both biographical and fictitious, to examine their teaching philosophies and practices simultaneously. Applying autoethnographic research methods to teaching data can result in cultural criticism, personal reflexivity, and empowerment. Autoethnographic research can have aesthetic and emotional or empathetic value. However, this approach to research becomes increasingly difficult as teachers gain experience simply because of the volume of evidence to consider. This article is an example of how a myth, Pandora’s Box, can become a narrative metaphor and a research tool for reducing large amounts of biographical teaching evidence in order to critically examine philosophies of practice and ideals in a particular cultural context.