PERSONAL NARRATIVE EXPLORATION: : CREATING CRITICAL AND SELF-REFLECTIVE LEARNERS AND PRACTITIONERS

International audienceThe researchers are teachers in an undergraduate educational program responding to the Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) mandate that creates linguistically and culturally diverse classrooms. Their research identifies one clear gap in teacher preparation: guided narrative inquiry to uncover assumptions and/or biases that, without examination, can lead to inequity and discrimination in the classroom. A personal narrative exploration unit was embedded in a pre-service undergraduate education class. The narrative intervention unit was composed of several elements: demonstration of narrative by sharing of teacher autobiographical narratives, perspective-taking exercises, such as “Situated Selfies”, “Selfie Swap”, “Back to Back Chairs” and student autobiographical narrative writing. Through this narrative process, the pre-service teachers were motivated to engage diverse learners through the use of imagination, narrative, and reflection. The researchers contend that combining motivation, ability, and imagination through biographical narrative facilitates the necessary social perspective-taking process that creates a multi-dimensional approach to diversity