Lenters, KimberlyGrant, Kimberley2017-06-132017-06-1320172017http://hdl.handle.net/11023/3882Despite significant amounts of rhetoric and research on the importance of good teachers, little attention has been paid to how practicing teachers conceptualize what it means to be a good teacher. Using a research process informed by philosophical hermeneutics, this study explores the experiences of practicing teachers in order to better understand the phenomenological aspects of being a good teacher. Although the phrase good teacher continues to defy simple definition and was even actively avoided by the participants, their stories of classroom experiences begin to reveal how the concepts of flow and Bildung might provide helpful language and concepts to frame the intuitive, often wordless experiences of teachers. By focusing on the images and narratives teachers used to describe their understandings, the reflexive notions of seeing and being seen, reading and being read came to the fore. These ideas contribute in new ways to the ongoing conversations about teacher assessment and teacher self-assessment.engUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.Education--Curriculum and InstructionEducation--Teacher Traininggood teachersteacher self-assessmentteacher assessmenthermeneutic phenomenologyflowBildungteacher imagesteacher narrativesdoctoral thesis10.11575/PRISM/27982