Writing and professional learning: the uses of autobiography in graduate studies in education

Abstract

Based on the writing and oral reports of a group of 15 students in a graduate course focused on autobiographic writing and professional development, I address the question of how graduate study in education might sustain teachers in their work. For the course in question, the students studied recent research on teacher learning and devoted time to personal writing related to the course topics, viewing writing as an embodied process. The participants saw professional learning as entailing the expansion of their repertoire of professional knowledge and skills, the strengthening of reflective processes, paying attention to cognitive dissonance, inquiry into and clarification of their personal story and the development of ‘narrative authority’, the building of a ‘knowledge community’, and the integration of theory and practice. My interpretation of the course materials highlights the contribution of writing to professional learning: writing facilitated paying attention to the concrete details of experience, making place for expression of feelings and imagination, giving voice to a range of social concerns, and viewing social, cultural, and religious difference as a resource for teacher learning.

Keywords:

• autobiographical writing
• teacher professional learning
• teacher community
• teacher development

Notes

1. The ways in which Arab citizens of Israel are referred to, and refer to themselves, are not unproblematic matters. Here, unless I refer to a specific person in the way that he or she prefers, I use the term ‘Arab/Palestinian’ as an approximation, knowing that many, but not all of the students, use the term ‘Palestinian’, whereas some, in particular those belonging to the Druse community, refer to themselves as Druse and/or Arab.

2. These exercises are based on my experience as a student of process‐oriented psychology over the past 12 years with many different teachers, out of whom I particularly want to acknowledge Michal Wertheimer‐Shimoni and Gary Reiss. I was introduced to the ‘scribble’ exercise by Salome Schwartz and the ‘circle’ exercise is adapted from Arlene and Jean‐Claude Audergon at their ‘Butterfly Intensive’ course in Switzerland, September 2006.

3. Public strikes and demonstrations were held in many of the towns in the Arab/Palestinian sector at this time.