Taken at the Flood: Journeys of Identity and Integrity

• In Event: Journeys of Self: Critical Reflections by Teacher Educators on Their Professional Identity Trajectories

Abstract

1. Introduction
To what extent are we becoming the educators – and the human beings – we envision ourselves to be? Wherein lies the ‘dignity of our calling’ as educators? What values inform the choices we make? This study demonstrates the value of discourse, literature, and reflection to explore philosophical questions relevant to education (Eisner, 2002; Greene, 1995; Podsiadlik, 2014). The journeys of Author 3 (Seattle Pacific University) and Author 4 (University of Illinois at Chicago) are examined in an interactive discourse intended to meander through the often complex challenges, conflicts, and tensions inherent in their experiences transitioning from professional positions in elementary education to careers in higher education. The unique contribution of our discourse is its capacity to explore, describe, and grapple with the inner tensions that shaped our personal and professional identities during our years as new university faculty members. Through interactive reflection and deliberation, the potential for insights, epiphanies, and revelations - collective and personal - is vast.

2: Research Questions and Methods
The overarching research questions are: How can we better understand the challenges that impact our emerging and evolving teacher identities? What insights and epiphanies are revealed through a dialectic exchange of ideas? In what ways can these insights strengthen our capacity to become the educators to which we’ve inspired to become?

The theoretical framing of this research draws from the work of Maxine Greene (1995) that encourages us to be “questioners, as meaning makers, as persons engaged in constructing realities with those around us” (p. 130). It relies upon reflection and discourse as modes of inquiry (Eisner, 2002; Willis & Schubert, 1991) and uses excerpts from literature (i.e. Pat Conroy, Dickens, Shakespeare) to illuminate a ‘portraiture’ (Lawrence-Lightfoot & Hoffman Davis, 1997) of emerging and evolving identities that is at once personal and professional; individual and public. This context for research is endorsed by an eclectic group of educators, authors, and literary theorists (Ayers, 2004; Bamberg, 2011; Bettleheim, 1976; Campbell, 1991; Eco, 2002; Tolstoy, 1898; Woolf, 1929).

3: Relevance: This presentation is intended to facilitate journeys of reflection and self-understanding that transcend the finite and measureable external landscape of teaching and learning. It explores the intrinsic and ethical realites that inspire, nourish, sustain, and sometimes threaten and challenge the intangible heart of our lives as educators. Qualitative evidence, personal anecdotes, and shared experiences will serve as bridges for building a sense of community that is perhaps now more needed than ever before to sustain new professionals during their journeys.

4: Implication for Action: We hope that this presentation will serve to further inform and challenge participants’ understanding of their personal and professional identities as well as the values and beliefs that inform their work as educators. The insights, questions, and conflicts expressed by symposium members are aimed to be a source of educational insight and imagination for participants as they reflect on their own teaching.

Authors

• Edward Podsiadlik III, University of Illinois at Chicago

• John B. Bond, Seattle Pacific University