August 26 (session 2)
Reflective Writing with Teaching Vignettes: Capturing the complexity of the Moment
A vignette is a brief, literary sketch. A teaching vignette is a brief story, well-told, about something that happens in your classroom; it includes the writer's perception and reaction to the episode.
Authentic teaching vignettes are usually characterized by the writer's ability to notice and describe (thick description). The beauty, technique and artistry of vignettes are in the details. Powerful vignettes help us to re-think teaching and learning, including our roles as teachers and learners. Additional, compelling vignettes elicit strong, personal connections and questions which often point beyond the classroom and school. How did things come to be this way? How things might be different? Metaphors from your own life.Trust your instincts when thinking and writing. If you find that you keep thinking about something that happened, there may be some resonance of a chord. Try to discover, through writing, what that connection is all about. Vignettes raise questions and leave us wondering, pondering. Anecdotes often have the same structure as jokes: they are neatly pulled together by the punch line-the crystal clear ending that resolves all doubt and leaves us satisfied. A vignette captures the writer's uncertainty and wonder; it leaves things open-ended, not neatly packaged. When you set out to write you will be surprised with the surprises you uncover. Trust yourself and the process.
Writing Prompt: Make connections with any of the articles you read (Henderson, Streib or Sanford) and entries in your teacher journal. From now on you will be seeing and making connections with what you read, what you think, and what you write.
