The Emotional Effects of Governmentality: Mapping the Emotions of a First-Year Teacher Under Surveillance

• In Event: Teacher Trauma and the Struggle for Self-Care and Well-Being

Abstract

Teachers have important jobs that can cultivate joy and fulfillment, but numerous factors can reduce teacher autonomy, discourage joy, and lead to negativity and disillusionment with the profession. This presentation focuses on one middle school language arts teacher, Whitney, and investigates their emotional journey as a new teacher. Through narrative analysis and with affective governmentality as a springboard of inquiry, we present the participant’s journey, whose enthusiasm for teaching was stymied by administrative surveillance, the pandemic, a scripted curriculum, and the disconnect between their teacher preparation and the K-12 classroom. This presentation has implications for current teacher educators, mentor teachers, and new teachers regarding the connections between power and control, teacher emotions, and barriers to equity in education.

Authors

• Caroline B. Rabalais, Georgia State University

• Nadia Behizadeh, Georgia State University