ABSTRACT
Miller uses the image of the prism when she teaches and thinks about curriculum. It
seems to me that this metaphor works wonderfully when applied to teacher research,
particularly to collaborative efforts made by teacher researchers. As with a prism, they
look from various angles at the phenomenon they are studying and try to think of their
own active roles in creating those vantage points. The colors of the prism are refracted,
just as a teacher’s research is a reflection of a particular situation, itself in continuing
motion, yet caught momentarily as a temporary rendering of reality. The moving dots of
color in Miller’s description remind us that no one construction necessarily signals
completion of the inquiry or represents a definitive view. Teacher research is very much a
prismatic study, particularly when you add in all of the additional vantage points and
ways of seeing that are brought by the members of the teacher research group.
