Education Autobiography

GUIDELINES FOR THE EDUCATIONAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY STATEMENT

*This assignment is being adapted from a similar assignment given students studying to become secondary school teachers and so the language here addresses that audience. We are using it to suit our own purposes and course goals. Ignore where you are being addressed as an educator or teacher and focus instead on how the questions and prompts get you to think about your life story as a student and a learner.

Definitions

A premise of being a reflective educator is the ability to articulate foundational experiences that have shaped how one understands meaningful education. Writing an “Educational Autobiography” is an attempt by us as learners, teachers and professionals to reflect critically on:

a) What has occurred in our lives that has affected our learning and teaching experiences

b) Key life-educational events that have shaped our views of how people learn, how teachers teach and the educational acts and experiences as a whole

c) What social, cultural, political and economic events have shaped and shape our learning, teaching and overall experiences

d) What ideological and philosophical constructs have shaped and shape the way we experience learning, teaching and professional educational practice.

For example, what were you like as an adolescent? What things or characteristics were important to you then? What significant memories of educational experiences do you have from middle school? How would you describe yourself to yourself now? Have your views on meaningful education changed since you were in the middle school and how? Were there specific individuals who affected and influenced your development? How have your early life experiences (cultural, social, educational) contributed to your development as a person and your decision to become a teacher? And so on.

Writing an “educational autobiography” is an act of reflective writing.

(Re)Collecting the experiences

The following are some prompts to help you recall your experiences. They refer to experiences that most of us had during school age. You can use such experiences to (re)collect content for your statement. But you can also choose different kinds of experiences from your life to construct the content. Be as specific as you can about the times and other details relevant to the events, relationships, etc. Say, for example, “… on a day X, I remember I did this and teacher Y did that and so and so happened.” For example,

From elementary school years,

· Recall a time when you pretended to like a teacher you really didn’t like.

· Recall a time when you pretended to be someone you weren’t so you could fit into a group of school peers.

· Recall a time when you got into a fight with a classmate.

· Recall a time when a teacher did not listen to you.

· Tell about having a best teacher.

From middle/high school years,

· Recall a time when you did not know what to do.

· Recall a time when you had to make a decision.

· Recall a time when you did not say what you were feeling.

· Recall a time when you did something to make yourself happy.

· Recall a time when someone was disappointed in you.

From high school and after years

· Recall a time when you wished you were someone else.

· Recall a time when you were mean to someone else.

· Recall a time when someone was mean to you.

· Tell about an important relationship.

· Recall a time when you did something you wished you hadn't.

Next, try to connect these experiences to your decision to the student you are today, capping your undergraduate education with this course. This is the most difficult part of the assignment because the connection is not obvious. You have to investigate each experience and its relationship to who you are today. For example, it is not enough to say that you had an experience with a good teacher and this improved your ability to complete educational tasks. You need to think specifically about how you have developed as a college student and an intellectually curious adult and how these aspects to your life have been informed by your educational experiences to this time. The answer can and should be complicated.

Combining the experiences into a reflective statement about your decision to become a teacher

1) Begin with a statement introducing your “educational autobiography.”

2) Using chronological writing is recommended but not necessary.

3) Place your reflections within the contexts of social, political and cultural events of the time you are writing. For example, starting school in the 1990s means being in school at a time when the educational discussions/debates were focused on the economy and the challenges of the 21st century etc. Starting or being in school in 2001 and the years after means being in school during an era deeply affected by the tragedy of the 9/11 events. What was the impact of such broader social/cultural events on your educational experiences?

4) Be a critical reflector on your past experiences.

a. Develop alternatives and reflect on positive and negative learning / teaching experiences.

b. Reflect on how the events you have written about shaped and will shape your experiences as you complete your undergaduate degree and prepare for embarking on a career.

c. Critically reflect on how others (adults, peers etc.) shaped and / or influenced you as a learner.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Murrow, S. 2008. Charting “Unexplored Territory” in the Social Foundations: Pedagogical Practice in Urban Teacher Education. Educational Studies, 43: 229-245.

Rousmaniere, K. 2000. From Memory to Curriculum. Teaching Education, 11(1): 87-98.