Leveraging Pedagogical Discontentment for Professional Growth: A Self-Study of Teacher Education Practice

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 3:20 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: Self-Studies of Teacher Educator Professional Expertise, Knowledge, and Growth (Table 10)

Abstract

This self-study explores the utility of pedagogical discontentment (Southerland et al., 2011) as a framework for teacher educators’ professional growth while teaching instructional methods courses. By leaning in to cognitive discomfort between instructional goals and student performance and feedback, the author diversified assessment options for a major assignment designed to support pedagogical content knowledge and self-efficacy for teaching elementary social studies with primary sources. Findings revealed the author’s gradual turn toward Universal Design for Learning principles and increased awareness of students’ reasons for choosing among the assessment options. These findings suggest teacher educators can benefit from attending to internal discomfort even when students’ performance and feedback on assignments are favorable.

Author

• Michelle Bauml, Texas Christian University