Definitions
A premise of being a reflective educator is the ability to articulate foundational experiences that have shaped how one understands meaningful education. Writing an "Educational Autobiography" is an attempt by us as learners, teachers and professionals to reflect critically on:
a) What has occurred in our lives that has affected our learning and teaching experiences
b) Key life-educational events that have shaped our views of how people learn, how teachers teach and the educational acts and experiences as a whole
c) What social, cultural, political and economic events have shaped and shape our learning, teaching and overall experiences
d) What ideological and philosophical constructs have shaped and shape the way we experience learning, teaching and professional educational practice.
For example, what were you like as an adolescent? What things or characteristics were important to you then? What significant memories of educational experiences do you have from middle school? How would you describe yourself to yourself now? Have your views on meaningful education changed since you were in the middle school and how? Were there specific individuals who affected and influenced your development? How have your early life experiences (cultural, social, educational) contributed to your development as a person and your decision to become a teacher? And so on.
Writing an "educational autobiography" is an act of reflective writing.