Beginning Teachers (PDF)

In this collection of narratives, beginning teachers describe and reflect on critical incidents - classes that didn't quite go to plan. These experiences are recalled in a general way and all names and locations are fictionalized. Each narrative, while situated in a classroom, focuses on the experience of the teacher/author and sheds light on their thinking as they work through the complex event they are remembering. Beginning teachers then imagine how they might approach a similar situation in the future. While developing reflective practice techniques can support and enhance individual practice when these accounts are shared with others there is some scope for enhancing educative experiences generally. There is a long tradition of reflective practice writing in education, and this small workbook aims to make a contribution to this genre. Each reflective practitioner narrative is followed with an invitation to discussion section and periodically through the workbook sideline methodologies are introduced that readers can use to support further analysis. The beginning teacher narratives are authentic, complex and alive and as a consequence they will generate lively discussion in tutorial spaces with beginning teachers. The materials are informed by various strands of poststructural and critical theory and therefore they are intended to reflect a dialogic stance - rather than signpost specific directions.