Reflects on the author's childhood reading experiences and explorations of his father's library. Examines one book in particular, Oscar Wilde's collection of stories entitled, "A House of Pomegranates." (TB)

Explores the links between personal story-telling, autobiographical writing, and the processes of identity construction. It is suggested that autobiographical writing produces particular versions of identity, framed by social context and dominant gender relations. A more critical approach to personal story-telling is outlined to explain…

Details the author's struggle to come to terms with the separation between her public/academic writings and the lifelong history of private, personal writings. Explains that in attempting to validate herself as a writer, she seeks to connect, to tie, to know, and to "sew" her experiences with those of other female writers. (TB)

Discusses a women's literature course designed to explore the connections between the narratives that students read and discuss and the narratives that they live and write. Examines a variety of sources, including fiction, biography, autobiography, literary criticism, history, psychology, sociology, and popular culture. (RS)

Explores aspects of autobiographical accounts of childhood. Considers Freudian explanations of how recollections of childhood are bound by memory; then describes the distinctive form of definitions of oneself-as-child and relates them to post-modern theories about the self. Discusses ways in which recollections of childhood are framed by the…

Describes how Frederick Douglass's "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave" can be used to explore differences between biography and autobiography, and how a personal account can be used to change attitudes of others. Presents poems written by 10th- and 11th-grade students composed after reading Douglass's…

Learning autobiographies enable adult learners to gain a deeper insight into theories of adult learning. Writing their learning autobiographies helps adults chart how they have grown and developed. (Contains 11 references.) (Author/JOW)

Mother-child dyads who experienced a devastating tornado talked about the storm and about two affectively more positive or neutral events at each of two time points: 4 months and 10 months after the storm. The conversations were analyzed to determine whether mothers and/or children's contributions differed as a function of event type and whether…

This article describes one southern partnership's effort to create an urban learning community in which the university, schools, and local NAACP work together to improve teaching and learning. The authors describe how the partners coteach courses, engage in creating and sharing cultural autobiographies, question each other, and confront their own…

An autobiography class at Elizabethtown College (Pennsylvania) used one of its four technique paper assignments to focus on the exploratory essay, since the concept of exploration, simply for the sake of questioning, probing, and testing, has both validity and purpose in a class or assignment focusing on autobiography. First the class brainstormed…

An autobiography by Francis Pendleton Gaines, who served as a college president or university dean for 35 years, is presented. Dr. Gaines came from an academic family: his father was president of Washington and Lee University and his uncle was a Hampden-Sydney College president. The account covers his family background, his boyhood and personal…

This paper outlines a narrative method for the study of teaching which has as its principle feature the reconstruction of classroom meaning in terms of narrative unities in the lives of classroom participants. This purpose is achieved by comparatively outlining similarities and differences with closely associated lines of work. This study of…

Based on the idea that a personal history is a gift to share and can restore the connection between generations, this book is animated by the belief that life has value and knowledge for others. The book traces the writing process of producing a personal history with supportive coaching, stimulating questions, shared memories, and evocative…

Explored young adults' autobiographical memories of their first consumption of cigarettes using a form of life history. Analysis of 276 college students' first-person essays indicated that the first-use experience was a symbolically significant and enduring life event. Participants provided rich, detailed recollections about the contextual nature…

Notes that educators must think about the possibilities for using autobiographical narrative ethically and effectively in academic writing and research, and they need to ask how the personal affects writing that is less personal. Considers how regardless of the stance toward the personal, no one can be an informed writer or reader without…