Fung, Lovisa Chi Mun

Reinventing the Teacher: A Look at Inspirational Teaching

Keywords: reflective practitioner, holistic pedagogy, human agency

Abstract

The researcher chose to explore the human dimension of teaching, specifically inspirational teaching because knowledge of the curriculum and its practical applications are often the focal point in pre-service teaching programs, but seldom is the teacher’s selfhood and its influences on one’s teaching discussed and explored. This study attempts to gain insight into a teacher’s selfhood and how that contributes to the conditions and criteria that constitute inspirational teaching from which students are inspired to transform their attitude and approach to learning in a positive, and life-altering manner that extends beyond the classroom. Participants for this study were selected based on the snowball sampling method, where they must be teacher educators who are deemed inspirational by a group of current and/or former students. Results from this study suggests that inspirational teaching is achieved through one’s selfhood as it is the determining factor in how one forms connections with students, as well as how and what one chooses to utilize and incorporate from one’s knowledge into one’s teaching practices in the classroom.

Acknowledgements

I would like to extend my warm appreciation and gratitude to my supervisor Kim MacKinnon for her time and support, my participants (you are indeed all very inspirational), and also to my friend Brough Perkins, my mentor Lisa Auger and Maria Campodonico for believing in me and this project. I dedicate this project to Stella Petrone: a teacher who inspired me to conduct this research project and to become a teacher myself.