Using Poetic Representation to Support the Development of Teachers' Knowledge

Abstract

This article reports the influence of school-integrated teacher education (SITE) courses on student teachers' initial experiences of learning how to teach. We analyse data from five student teachers who reflect back on their experiences of learning to teach through the integrated teaching and learning experiences of SITE courses. The article presents their collective voices in poetic form to capture how they articulated their growth as teachers and their subsequent confidence in the role of teacher. We report insights into how the poem influenced 28 beginning student teachers upon entering SITE courses in their teacher education program. We analyze how this poetic representation of research findings enabled a self-study process to develop for the participants and how the poem passed on a theory of teacher development that reassures and prepares the student teachers who follow.

Keywords:

• teacher knowledge
• self-study
• student teacher
• poetic representation

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge contributions from Michele Yeo, our research assistant, and Luanne Krawetz, an instructor in SITE courses.