Autobiography and poetry

Abstract

The central purpose of this discussion is to portray experiences that shape a teacher educator, inform curriculum development, and offer alternative modes of inquiry into teaching. The scholarship is derived from several complementary research traditions: autobiographical inquiry; story-telling and narrative inquiry; arts-based inquiry; teacher lore; and mythopoetic inquiry. The author recalls specific moments of teaching and learning, fictionalizes characters to protect their identity, and sketches, interprets, and analyzes these events to illustrate the complicated nature of curriculum inquiry. These experiences include middle school, high school, and college settings, and they include uses of poetry in teaching. © 2008 Springer Science + Business Media B.V.