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

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

This symposium illuminates the professional identity trajectories of teacher educators, typically former classroom teachers, as they engage in self-study and critically reflect on their first year in higher education from the perspective of their current, more experienced vantage points. The symposium seeks to identify the vulnerabilities, influences, incongruities, challenges and opportunities that characterized the lives of these teachers as they negotiated new professional identities. Through a deconstruction of their formation and reformation as teachers and teacher educators, the symposium presents insights on the negotiation of meaning in new communities of practice. In so doing, the symposium serves to guide current and future new professionals in higher education, as well as enabling experienced professionals to reflect constructively on their learning experiences.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Lives of Teachers

Chair

• Andrew T. Kemp, Augusta University

Papers

• Taken at the Flood: Journeys of Identity and Integrity - Edward Podsiadlik III, University of Illinois at Chicago; John B. Bond, Seattle Pacific University

• A Personal and Professional Journey: Reflections on Becoming University Colleagues in Teaching English Language Arts - Elsie Lindy Olan, University of Central Florida; Jeffrey Stuart Kaplan, University of Central Florida

• Critical Reflection on a Professional Identity Trajectory: Shedding Certitude - Regina M. Murphy, St Patrick's College