Title of Dissertation: STREAMS THAT RUN INTO THE RIVER OF LIVED EXPERIENCE: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY OF INTERN TEACHERS USING CURRERE TO UNDERSTAND CURRICULUM Leslie LuAnn Palmer Doctor of Philosophy, 2018 Dissertation Directed by: Professor Francine Hultgren Department of Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership This dissertation is the culmination of a phenomenological study of intern teachers using the Currere process to gain a broader and deeper understanding of curriculum. The Currere

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... rocess is a written method developed by William Pinar through which participants recall past memories, imagine future occurrences, analyze the themes that arise in both, and synthesize the meaning to more purposefully shape the present lived experience. The connections that arise from using Currere as part of a phenomenological study of lived experience suggest pedagogical implications for intern teachers' developing practice in the context of an acknowledged lived classroom curriculum. Grounded in the philosophical contributions of Martin Heidegger, Hans-Georg Gadamer, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, along with van Manen's phenomenological structure and method, this work explores the development of teachers' pedagogical orientation within the context of the lived experience of curriculum. I first turn to my personal experience using Currere and also to the experiences of beginning intern teachers using Currere to develop individualized foundations prior to their coursework and internship experiences. I use the metaphor of the river to open up the phenomenon of using Currere to understand curriculum through various sources that reveal relationships with language, dwelling, identity, and hermeneutic phenomenology. The initial themes that arise include moments, in-between spaces, abundance, resilience, and the flow of lived experience. This study focuses on the lived experiences of five Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) interns as they make meaning of curriculum using Currere. Through two individual conversations with eac [...]