Exploring teachers’ stories of writing: a narrative perspective

Abstract

This study takes a narrative perspective to examine teachers as writers and autobiographical creative writing as a way for promoting teachers' professional development. In a creative writing group for Finnish primary and secondary school teachers, the teachers expressed themselves and explored their lives and identities through autobiographical creative writing. The aim of this study was to examine the stories the teachers tell about their relationship to writing and the goals they set for their professional and personal development in the writing group. Through thematic analysis, seven descriptive themes were found in teachers' narratives of writing. Furthermore, based on the narrative analysis, a poem-like word image was composed. This study illustrates how literary methods diversify teachers' narratives. The findings shed light on teachers as creative writers and emphasise the connection between writing and well-being. Creative writing groups can be beneficial for teachers' professional development, identity work and well-being.

Narratives of professional development in a teachers’ creative writing group

“…As the writing group was a part of the instructor's research process, she took copies of most of the writing assignments, but emphasised that sharing their writings with her was optional. During the year, the instructor kept the teachers informed of how she was planning to utilise the data she had gathered, and shared with them, for example, a narrative poem she had composed from the teachers' creative writing assignments (Martin, Tarnanen, and Tynjälä 2018).…”

“…Although teachers' relationship to writing and the pedagogy of writing has been studied in recent years (i.e. Cremin and Oliver 2017;Martin, Tarnanen, and Tynjälä 2018;Yoo 2018), there remains a gap in the research on teachers as writers and as writing teachers, and the dynamic interplay between these two roles (e.g. Cremin et al 2020).…”

“…However, more research is needed on concrete practices that can support teachers' professional development as a whole through creative writing as a creative arts-based method (e.g. Martin, Tarnanen, and Tynjälä 2018;Selland 2017).…”

Percepción docente de la naturaleza de la escucha pedagógica e implementación de las relaciones comunicativas en la educación secundaria

“…La persistencia de hábitos y rutinas en el ámbito profesional educativo que naturalizan e impregnan las prácticas cotidianas bajo el formato de comportamientos automatizados e inerciales, suelen limitar y ensombrecer experiencias de aprendizaje emancipadoras. La necesidad de problematizar y tomar consciencia de estas creencias latentes que colonizan nuestra acción profesional para poder crear nuevo sentido al quehacer profesional resulta insoslayable (Cabrera, 2003;Korthagen, 2016;Martin, Tarnanen y Tynjälä, 2018).…”

Ocean Swimmer, Woodchopper, Road Tripper: Using Metaphor to Develop Students’ Identities as Writers

“…Research in narrative psychology has explored the powerful role of narrative in the construction of self‐identity (McAdams, Josselson, & Lieblich, 2006). Reflective writing plays a similar role in academic and professional identity formation (e.g., D’Antonio, 2020; Martin, Tarnanen, & Tynjälä, 2018; Morgan, Moore, & Duff, 2019). Identity, particularly writing identity, can be understood as a discoursal construction (Ivanič, 1998), and the act of writing as a form of self‐presentation (Newkirk, 1997).…”