The Significance of “Telling” in a “Teacher's Life Story”:

“Teachers' Life Stories” at a “Teachers' School” in Hokkaido

Abstract

  Life story narratives can not only give many insights to “the listeners” through “listening” but also provide various aspects of “awareness and discoveries” to “the narrators” themselves through reflection on their own lives. On the basis of this concept, a “Teachers' School” in Hokkaido has been creating “plays” to be performed on stage which are based on “teachers' life stories”. The life story is told by the experienced teacher him or herself in the role of “narrator” to “listeners” who are also teachers. Through these activities, the author has recognized that the process itself in which people “tell” and “listen to” the story in the form of a “play” can be an opportunity for “joint learning” among teachers.

  Moreover, these activities, in which teachers “tell”, “listen”, and “dramatize” their life stories, seem to provoke much “awareness” and provide many “discoveries” for the narrator upon “reflecting and reexamining” his or her own life. The activities can also greatly “change and transform” the teacher's ideas, acting as a career “turning point” and prompting growth as a teacher.

  In this paper, the author examines the “change and transformation” experienced by a veteran teacher who told his “life story” at the “Teachers' School” in Hokkaido and the wealth it created for his further growth as a teacher.