Autobiographical memory and future imaginings as a resource for pedagogical understanding in initial teacher education

The focus of this article is twofold: (a) It explores how autobiographical memory and future imaginings can be used as a resource for pedagogical understanding in Initial Teacher Education, and (b) The paper engages a methodological experiment where there is a layered reading of texts across time, 2008-2018.The paper presents, through a narrative analysis of autobiographical texts, the stories of two student teachers, Ciara and John (Text 1, 2008). These student teachers were in the early years of their undergraduate four-year programme in my university and I was their English Pedagogics lecturer. Later, I revisit these student teachers’ narratives and read them under new interpretative conditions based on their salient and punctum effects, significant and emotional effects, on me as a teacher educator (Text 2, 2018). Then, theorizing with relevant literature, I consider how to foster conditions and methodologies of growth as student teachers engage their autobiographical memories and imaginings. Ultimately, my findings underline that self knowledge is central in the pedagogical encounter of self, other and subject matter (Latta & Buck, 2008) and that working with evocative, creative and emotionally attuned pedagogy can support this process of autobiographical / pedagogical understanding. Keywords: Autobiographical Memory, Future Imaginings, Pedagogical Understanding, Creative and Evocative Pedagogies, Emotional Attunemen

Reading other worlds, reading my world

In this article, Carmel Hinchion and Jennifer Hennessy reflect on a project undertaken by the Ubuntu Network in partnership with pre-service English teachers and their lecturers at the University of Limerick. The project was set in the context of an English pedagogy course as part of the undergraduate initial teacher education (ITE) programme where student English teachers prepare for teaching in post-primary classrooms. Their article focuses on a literature unit where ‘culturally salient’ texts were chosen to promote, not only a reading of the word but of the world (Freire, 1970). A culturally salient text, as understood by Kress (1995), is one that allows us to ask questions about its significance in its own cultural domain and for other cultures. Drawing on the metaphor of a ‘reconstitutive mirroring experience’ (O’Loughlin, 2009), literature acts as a reflexive and reflective medium in shaping a world view

Poetry and pedagogy: Exploring the opportunity for epistemological and affective development within the classroom

Abstract This paper provides a review of the priority afforded to the development of pupils &apos

Learning through Film: Lessons from Workshops for Teachers and Pre-service Teachers of English

This article looks back on the professional development offered to teachers of English to support them in their teaching of film since the introduction of film into the English syllabus in Ireland in 1998. It focuses on three inter-related elements: the interpretation or reading of film; the pedagogy that supports this interpretation; the potential of exploring issues of social justice and the self-other relation through narrative films. The article outlines four distinct phases in the professional development offered to teachers and shares the emerging findings. The first phase involved the introduction of film and its use in opening up discussion and creating interpretative communities in teacher education workshops for teachers of Leaving Certificate English. The second involved an exploration of film genre in workshops designed for teachers of Transition Year. The third involved the development of a dialogic form of pedagogy in interpreting film in a series of workshops directed at teachers of Junior Cycle English. The fourth involved the use of film in exploring education for justice in a series of workshops for pre-service teachers on Bachelor of Education and Master of Education programmes. The article explores the link among narrative film texts, generative questions, thoughtful interpretation, and the value given to dialog and the movement of question and answer in professional development workshops where narrative films are viewed and interpreted. The article is autoethnographic in character (Holman Jones 2005; Ellis et al. 2010). It involves self-reporting, descriptions of practice and reflection on that practice

Learning through Film: Lessons from Workshops for Teachers and Pre-service Teachers of English

This article looks back on the professional development offered to teachers of English to support them in their teaching of film since the introduction of film into the English syllabus in Ireland in 1998. It focuses on three inter-related elements: the interpretation or reading of film; the pedagogy that supports this interpretation; the potential of exploring issues of social justice and the self-other relation through narrative films. The article outlines four distinct phases in the professional development offered to teachers and shares the emerging findings. The first phase involved the introduction of film and its use in opening up discussion and creating interpretative communities in teacher education workshops for teachers of Leaving Certificate English. The second involved an exploration of film genre in workshops designed for teachers of Transition Year. The third involved the development of a dialogic form of pedagogy in interpreting film in a series of workshops directed at teachers of Junior Cycle English. The fourth involved the use of film in exploring education for justice in a series of workshops for pre-service teachers on Bachelor of Education and Master of Education programmes. The article explores the link among narrative film texts, generative questions, thoughtful interpretation, and the value given to dialog and the movement of question and answer in professional development workshops where narrative films are viewed and interpreted. The article is autoethnographic in character (Holman Jones 2005; Ellis et al. 2010). It involves self-reporting, descriptions of practice and reflection on that practice

“The points, the points, the points”: exploring the impact of performance oriented education on the espoused values of senior cycle poetry teachers in Ireland

Teachers of English experience significant pressure in attempting to meet the requirements of the national examination system, while also seeking to uphold their own ideological and philosophical perspectives on the value of poetry. Drawing on a mixed method study into the teaching of poetry at post-primary level in Ireland conducted between 2007 and 2010, this paper examines current methodological trends in poetry pedagogy. The research identifies a marked imbalance in the prioritisation of pupil development, with many teachers privileging the cognitive development of pupils’ poetic understanding over the affective. The paper also suggests limited attention to the interwoven dimensions of the affective and cognitive domains in the teaching of poetry at senior cycle level in Irish schools. This paper advocates the need to support teachers to develop an integrated pedagogy for teaching poetry in second-level schools, which engages both the critical and the creative in a meaningful manner