Writing Autobiographies: A Meaningful Way to Sensitize Trainee Teachers

Abstract

This article discusses the final results from a research work which aimed to identify the pedagogical processes that emerge from the autobiographies that modern languages trainee teachers at the University of Caldas write. These autobiographies become a starting point to develop their teaching practicum, and are considered to be of great importance for a better understanding of trainee teacher’s daily lives inside the classrooms. The autobiography permits trainee teachers to narrate classroom events, examine patterns and tendencies, and establish intervention points as well as plans of action to avoid replicating unwanted experiences they lived during their academic years. Trainee teachers feel stimulated to relate their previous learning experiences to the process they are just beginning as teachers. It was found that the recurrent points that appeared in the autobiographies referred to childhood memories, teacher`s influence, and affective factors. The authors conclude that auto biographies become a meaningful instrument to raise trainees awareness about their own performance as future teachers.