Autobiography and Transformative Learning

The author gives an autobiographical account of her experiences with and investigation of autobiography as a vital part of the teaching/learning process in undergraduate English composition and literature classes and in graduate level adult education courses. She comments on the results of a survey of community college teachers who do and do not use autobiography, and offers a model of effectively integrating autobiography with any subject matter. She includes observations about how her own practice as a college teacher has changed because of using autobiography as a focus in its own right and as a spring board to lowering the “affective filter” no matter what the course content.