The Emergence of Teacher Educator Identity and Practice in the Pandemic/Post-Pandemic: A Rhizomatic Exploration

• In Event: (Un)Learning Processes and Practices of Teacher Education: Lessons From the Global Pandemic

Abstract

The purpose of this inquiry was to explore the long-term influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on a teacher educator's professional identity and pedagogical practice. This work is methodologically grounded in the self-study of teacher education practices and conceptually aligned with rhizomatics. The research attends to the impact of the sudden shift to online instruction during the pandemic and the ways in which this influenced and affected the enactment of teacher educator identity and pedagogy through the online medium. Findings suggest that online teacher education provoked emergent constructions of professional practice and self that centered discourse and displaced the body, diminished pedagogical certainty in favor of pedagogical negotiation, and elicited a requisite for self-care through a period of emotional fatigue.

Author

• Adrian D. Martin, New Jersey City University