The Problem of “Just Tell Us”: Insights from Playing with Poetic Inquiry and Dialogical Self Theory

Abstract

Contemporary approaches to pre-service teacher education and in-service teachers’ professional development increasingly reflect the general paradigm swing in education, advocating for dialogic co-construction of understandings of teaching and learning rather than monologic telling of how to be a teacher or how to improve teaching practice. However, teacher–learners sometimes have difficulty adapting to the different stance required of them to participate effectively in this change of approach. Successfully facilitating the development of learners to take an active, inquiry stance requires engaging in the process of development of oneself: being open to new approaches, being prepared to be uncomfortable and being willing to extend one’s comfort zone as a teacher educator. In this self-study project, I use iterations of poetry writing and reflection to document my introduction to Dialogical Self Theory (DST) and the development that these explorations provoke. By exploring different perspectives of why learners sometimes ask teachers to “Just tell us,” I have become more thoughtful about the nature of dialogue and how this might be supported in engaging with learners. I argue that using DST as an analytical tool has not only provided meaningful personal insights that have affected my own professional practice as a new teacher educator, but also shown potential for facilitating the development of teachers at all stages of their professional becoming.