Learning to Teach as a Transitional Teacher Educator: Tensions, Struggles, and Negotiations

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session Eleven
  In Roundtable Session: Equity, Culture, and Identity in Self-Study (Table 7)

Abstract

Using self-study, I examined my two-year experience of teaching an educational foundations course on immigrant language and culture with predominantly white monolingual prospective teachers. I identified three tensions from my learning-to-teach journey as an international graduate student: empowering students as class leaders versus maintaining course ownership as the instructor; receiving mentorship from senior faculty versus being perceived as finding voices in the instructor team; and challenging the notion of “safe space” when teaching diversity and justice. Learning from my experience, I advocate for providing structured orientation programs and ongoing professional learning opportunities to support beginning transnational teacher educators. I also caution against the common practice of providing mentorship, which may perpetuate and reinforce the marginalization and alienation of transnational educators.

Author

• Yue Bian, University of Washington - Bothell
  Presenting Author