Francis Gilbert

'But sir, I lied – The value of autobiographical discourse in the classroom'

Abstract This article aims to examine the benefits of teachers using their own autobiographical writing in the classroom. It explores the blurring of truth and fiction in autobiographical writing and argues that teachers can help students if they provide students with the cloak of fiction when writing about their own lives. Furthermore, it puts forward the case that when teachers share pertinent autobiographical episodes then pupils are more willing to respond in an engaged and passionate fashion. In developing my argument, I suggest that autobiographical writing can be therapeutic in certain classroom contexts. The data sources for this article are the authors own life and two case studies: an 11‐year‐old boy, George, and a 15‐year‐old girl, Eloise, both of whom were pupils of the author and wrote autobiographically for him. The methodological approach is that of bricolage: chiefly, the article combines ethnographical observation with interviews and discourse analysis. I also examine quantitative studies which look at the therapeutic dimensions of autobiographical writing. Theoretically I draw on Frieres concept of ‘conscientization’ (Friere 1985: 49) in order to critique the ‘banking’ concept of education, which would close down opportunities for pupils to write freely about their own lives.

Riding the Reciprocal Teaching Bus. A Teacher’s Reflections on Nurturing Collaborative Learning in a School Culture Obsessed by Results

Abstract This article examines the author’s interactions with the teaching strategy known as Reciprocal Teaching, sometimes also called Reciprocal Reading, which involves students learning to read collaboratively in small groups. Reciprocal Teaching typically involves students teaching each other by following a rubric of activities that are aimed at primarily improving their comprehension skills. In brief, students read a text in a group and collectively try to understand it, using prescribed procedures. This article scrutinises the original research by Palincsar and Brown which created the strategy and questions some of its claims. While many other investigations into Reciprocal Teaching have aimed to prove or disprove its efficacy, this enquiry studies the discourses which inform the strategy, arguing that there are problems with its presentation in the original article which have affected subsequent representations of Reciprocal Teaching. The article shows how the author, an English teacher in a large secondary school, taught Reciprocal Teaching to teenagers for a year and argues that the presentation of Reciprocal Teaching he read in a well-regarded teaching handbook caused him to deploy Reciprocal Teaching problematically. It was only when he taught Reciprocal Teaching in a more imaginative fashion that he found greater success.

Aesthetic Learning, Creative Writing and English Teaching

Abstract My article argues that the concept of ‘aesthetic learning’ can be helpful for English teachers on two levels. First, it can be a useful identity for English teachers and students to adopt, based upon my own experiences as a secondary English teacher, creative writer and PhD student. Second, I argue that ‘aesthetic learning’ is an effective and productive way of analysing some of the learning processes that happen in the English teacher’s classroom. In order to arrive at these conclusions, I examine my own creative writing, teaching and learning processes from which I extrapolate the notion that we are all ‘aesthetic learners’ in the sense that we learn to appreciate the qualities of the worlds we inhabit, whether these are actual or virtual. Throughout, my own writing, learning and teaching are used to illustrate my argument. In particular, the article seeks to re-position my own teaching in secondary schools within the context of ‘aesthetic learning’.

Who Do You Love? The Novel of my Life (Creative Writing thesis) and Building Beauty: the Role of Aesthetic Education in my Teaching and Writing Lives (commentary on the Creative Writing thesis)

The first part of the thesis is the autobiographical novel, Who Do You Love? It is narrated in the first person by Francis, a fictionalised representation of the author. The novel tells the story of how Francis is sacked as a journalist and then a little later learns that his former-lover, Ellida, has died. These traumatic events prompt Francis to remember his past life with Ellida and induce, in the present day, a crisis in his marriage to Hadley, a school teacher. His failure to get a new job and his grief at Ellida’s death result in a crisis of confidence which is exacerbated when Hadley becomes interested in another man. As he discovers more about Ellida’s family, his situation grows even more complex and conflicted. Throughout the novel, all the main characters have to address the question posed in its title. n nThe novel is accompanied by an educational commentary which reflects deeply upon the author’s writing processes and the possible application of the lessons learnt in the author’s teaching and writing careers. The commentary shows how the author has found it helpful to think of himself primarily as an “aesthetic learner” rather than a writer or teacher. The commentary discusses various issues connected with aesthetic education and then shows what happened when the author put the principles of aesthetic education into practice in his own classroom teaching. Four case studies – the author’s own pupils -- are analysed in detail: two eleven-year-olds and two fifteen-year-olds. They were asked to write their own “aesthetic autobiographies” – autobiographical accounts which deploy the devices of fiction – and then were interviewed regarding their thoughts and feelings about this project. The commentary suggests that the case studies reveal some important things about their lives and situations, and shows that there are possible educational and therapeutic benefits in projects such as these.