Diary of a Critical Friendship: Anthropoetic Implications of Self-Study in the Teacher Education of a Physical Education Teacher-Researcher

ABSTRACT

This article uses an existing poem, Árvore (Tree in Portuguese), coupled with our diary entries, as a methodological innovation in poetic self-study. The self-study aimed to understand the aesthetic link in the development of being a teacher-researcher. This was a departure from positivist rationality and affirmation of an anthropoforming paradigm that connects research, action, and formation via a transdisciplinary systemic epistemology. The context of this self-study is a relationship between teacher-researchers from one high school and two higher education institutions in the Brazilian northeast. Using a reflective anthropoetic (an opening for ethical and aesthetic creation, critical possibilities and pedagogical reinvention) diary, two physical education teacher-researchers developed a critical friendship in a collaborative self-study process on the complexities of beginning teaching for one of them. We share our learning in a diary with excerpts organized in three lines of thought, or what we call reflective flyovers, regarding: life history, teacher education, and pedagogical practice of being initiated into the teacher-researcher profession. Thematic categories were represented by excerpts from the Árvore poem. The three reflective flyovers explored included the teaching knowledge of the teacher-researchers, which in turn converge and diverge, impacting the other, the methodology, and the context of practice. Our critical friendship contributed to the self-study process of initiating into the teacher-researcher profession through interactive and creative communication. This poetic self-study points to different paths of learning and professional growth, increasing the value and impact of using poetry to make sense of research findings.

KEYWORDS:

• Collaborative self-study
• complexity
• criticality
• poetry
• metaphor
• physical education teacher education
• PETE
• critical friendship

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Brazilian poet of the 20^th century, born in Cuiabá in the Center-West region of Brazil, known for his regional verses that combined existential reiterations. The poem Árvore (Tree in Portuguese), chosen by us as a metaphor, was published in Ensaios fotográficos [Photographic essays]. Rio de Janeiro: Record, 2000.

2. https://sstepaerasig.wixsite.com/sstep/blank-page. Accessed 5 April 2020.

3. The image of the little bird is open source, not copyright protected under its Unicode 1F426, being described as a generic bird. Source: OpenMoji. Author: Selina Bauder. https://openmoji.org/library/#emoji=1F426. Accessed 14 April 2022.

4. The image of the strong tree is open source, not copyright protected under its Unicode 1F333, being described as a deciduous tree. Source: OpenMoji. Author: Hilda Kalyoncu. https://openmoji.org/library/#emoji=1F333. Accessed 14 April 2022.