EduDisruptors: Teachers on Instagram Amidst the Great Resignation

• In Event: Division K Section 2 Paper Session

Abstract

Across digital platforms, eduinfluencers have a critical role in the construction of teacher identity by imagining new ways of engaging in professional development, community building, and teacher leadership that redefines typical understandings of professional/ethical teacher conduct. We shared findings from a collaborative critical netnography of two Instagram accounts created by educators who #quitteaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. We propose the term “EduDisruptor” to highlight how educators are using social media to denounce and interrupt pervasive narratives that position teachers as saviors/martyrs and to encourage other educators to push back against toxic work environments that injure them.

Authors

• Ana Solano-Campos, Georgia State University

• Jennifer R. Esposito, Georgia State University

• Alyssa Hadley Dunn, University of Connecticut