Writing as Teachers

Abstract

This chapter examines explicitly a thread which runs through the book as a whole: that teaching and learning in the humanities are themselves forms of cultural production. They are not simply epiphenomena of pre-existing bodies of knowledge, but between them constitute a stage on which a hypothetical stance towards human life can be taken up. This thesis is examined in relation both to the generation of re- or de-formed texts within literary study, and the uses of exploratory writing in professional development. The social practice of making literary and pedagogic knowledge is explored through a case study (a loose form of autoethnography) of a sample professional development workshop. This study plays a parallel role to the textual parables of earlier chapters. By making explicit and performing the social processes of dialogue and translation, such a developmental framework, it is argued, enables the mutual illumination of creative teaching.