As I was writing this article I came across a fascinating autobiographical blog post which began with the words, 'The more I debate education the more convinced I am that people’s own educational biographies impact their idea(s) [1] I agree with this wisdom but I think we can go much further.As a teacher our own educational and learning experiences and biographical histories hugely impact on our beliefs, values, pedagogical thinking and practices. Who we are and how we have become who we are is the result of the history of experiences we have had and how we have responded to the ever unfolding present, reflected on and tried to make sense of our past and imagined and planned for our uncertain future
In the past few weeks I have been thinking about the idea of 'personal pedagogies' the pedagogical knowledge, theory and beliefs we develop over time, from many different sources and experiences that we make our own and draw upon in order to practice as a teacher, facilitator, activist or whatever role requires us to draw upon this resource.
One of the things I did was to facilitate a #lthechat on Twitter to explore the idea with people who were interested. The format of Twitter is quite limiting for explanation of complex ideas so I created a picture to stimulate discussion (Figure 1). Pictures are the way I visualise something they enable me to make what I imagine visible and they enable me to engage people and gain their perspectives (feedback) on my ideas. I know from many experiences that this works especially if the picture is incomplete and people can add their own ideas or alternative perspectives.
Figure 1 The first version of my personal pedagogies visualisation used in the #lthechat 08/13/17
In the past few weeks I have been thinking about the idea of 'personal pedagogies' the pedagogical knowledge, theory and beliefs we develop over time, from many different sources and experiences that we make our own and draw upon in order to practice as a teacher, facilitator, activist or whatever role requires us to draw upon this resource.
One of the things I did was to facilitate a #lthechat on Twitter to explore the idea with people who were interested. The format of Twitter is quite limiting for explanation of complex ideas so I created a picture to stimulate discussion (Figure 1). Pictures are the way I visualise something they enable me to make what I imagine visible and they enable me to engage people and gain their perspectives (feedback) on my ideas. I know from many experiences that this works especially if the picture is incomplete and people can add their own ideas or alternative perspectives.
Figure 1 The first version of my personal pedagogies visualisation used in the #lthechat 08/13/17
Intuitively, I know when confronted with a new teaching situation that I must draw upon this way of thinking and doing but its only when I take the trouble to think about my own history that I can see the origins of my visual thinking and representation lie in my childhood interest in drawing and painting. Its only through reflecting on the things I have done in my life that I can see how this interest has transferred and been used in lots of different roles and how, as new technologies have become available I have used these to improve my ability to communicate. The way I involve myself, and others (I often work with Kiboko Hachiyon an illustrator) in the creation of pictures to help me visualise and explain is a fundamental feature of my pedagogical practice when I try to engage learners and peers in learning processes and so in this way it has become an integral part of my pedagogical practice.
I use this illustration to show how, with a bit of effort, we can construct a biography that seeks to make sense of our pedagogical journey and identify the origin of the knowledge, beliefs and values that influence our thinking and practice as a higher education teacher.
OPEN INVITATION
If you would like to join our Personal Pedagogies project please join our open conversation between March 27-31 on the #creativeHE Google+ Forum
https://plus.google.com/communities/110898703741307769041
During this conversation you will be encouraged to create and share your own pedagogical narrative.
Alternatively, if you would like to create and share your own pedagogical narrative I would be very interested to see it.
References
Mcinerney L (2012) Schooling Biography blog post
https://lauramcinerney.com/2012/11/25/schooling-biography/
I use this illustration to show how, with a bit of effort, we can construct a biography that seeks to make sense of our pedagogical journey and identify the origin of the knowledge, beliefs and values that influence our thinking and practice as a higher education teacher.
OPEN INVITATION
If you would like to join our Personal Pedagogies project please join our open conversation between March 27-31 on the #creativeHE Google+ Forum
https://plus.google.com/communities/110898703741307769041
During this conversation you will be encouraged to create and share your own pedagogical narrative.
Alternatively, if you would like to create and share your own pedagogical narrative I would be very interested to see it.
References
Mcinerney L (2012) Schooling Biography blog post
https://lauramcinerney.com/2012/11/25/schooling-biography/
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