.41=111. ED 265 644 AUTHOR TITLE DOCUMENT RESUME EA 018 13; Aufenanger, Stefan Patterns of Interpretation and the Autobiographical Method--Some Remarks for Educators. PUB DATE Feb 85 NOTE 12p.; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (Chicago, IL, March 31-April 4, 1985'. PUB TYPE Speeches/Conference Papers (150) -- Reports - Descriptive (141) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Autobiographies; Behavior Patterns; Elementary Secondary Education; Personal Autonomy; *Personality Assessment; *Self Evaluation (Individuals); Student Development; *Teacher Behavior; Teacher Responsibility; Teachers; Teacher Student Relationship ABSTRACT Teachers have the paradoxical dual responsibility of fostering children's personal autonomy while ensuring that the children follow necessary rules affecting their health, safety, and educational development. Unfortunately, it is not always easy to determine when children should be allowed freedom and when they need regulation, and on occasion teachers may overstep reasonable bounds in either direction. The teachers' behaviors in these cases may be seen as the results of interpreting the situations in question using patterns of response developed earlier in life, To understand why these situations are inappropriately interpreted, teachers must review their own pasts and identify the incidents that gave rise to those patterns of response, then analyze the reasons behind the relationships between the incidents and the response patterns. A promising tool for this self-study is the autobiography. Ideally the autobiographical text will consist of responses made during an interview, since the respondent is less likely under interview conditions to find ways to present the past in a self-serving light. The autobiographical material can then be analyzed by the teacher for clues to his or her present behavior. (PGD) *********************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * ***********************************************************************