This autobiographical inquiry into my Canadian Maritime roots begins with an investigation and analysis of family literacy in the forms of the oral tradition and archival primary source materials. My research examines the influence of family literacy on my education as a woman and a teacher. The study is framed by a collaborative autobiographical narrative inquiry into living and teaching that includes four women participants who represent the twenty-first century. The structures, which represent "personal practical knowledge" in Michael Connelly and Jean Clandinin's terms, located in family stories, homes, photographs, art, song and the narratives of my Toronto participants, are referred to as "knowledge structures." In the spirit of Alasdair MacIntyre I explore the idea that the unity of a human life is the unity of a narrative quest.My thesis in the form of "Social Portraiture" considers the dialectic between living our lives as human beings and as teachers in the classroom by understanding the association between living and teaching. Participants' stories of the present and the past are reconstructed through Michael Connelly and Jean Clandinin's method of narrative retelling. Their concepts of professional and personal practical knowledge strengthened my pedagogical practice in pluralistic environments. The lives of the women of my past, the women participants in my present and my life as a woman and a teacher, intersect routes that support a deeper knowledge of how the stories of our textured lives were shaped and shifted for future narratives.This dissertation is a compound document (contains both a paper copy and a CD as part of the dissertation). The CD requires the following system requirements: Windows MediaPlayer or RealPlayer.Through the reflection, analysis and synthesis of my participants' stories, I discovered that an appreciation of the relationship between life, learning, researching and teaching is essential in the field of Curriculum Studies and Teacher Development.