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My project is to develop a phenomenological, constructionist, symbolic interactionist theory of the narrative productions of meaning in the public realm. Situated within our globalized, technologically mediated world characterized by extraordinary social, political, economic, and moral fragmentation, my basic question is quite practical: How can public communication be understandable and persuasive to audiences whose experiences, world views, and moral sensibilities are so different? Here I explore how the more-or-less widely shared systems of meaning in symbolic codes and emotion codes are incorporated into narratives that circulate in the public sphere. I conclude with arguing that more attention by symbolic interactionists to these productions of meaning would be good for the study of culture and good for symbolic interactionism.

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This chapter aims to present a methodology to address the construct validity of the NBPTS standards, exercises, and decisions to identify accomplished teachers, by asking whether National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs) teach differently in their classrooms such that they have a greater positive and worthwhile impact on their students. The critical attributes of expert teachers are identified via a synthesis of meta-analyses and a more traditional review of the literature on expert teachers. These attributes of expert teachers then form the basis of the study to identify the characteristics that discriminate between NBCTs and non-NBCTs.