Rediscovering Ourselves as Educators: An Exploration of Our Own Teaching Practices during a Global Pandemic

Tia Frahm; Amy Spiker

doi:10.29333/ajqr/11233

Rediscovering Ourselves as Educators: An Exploration of Our Own Teaching Practices during a Global Pandemic

Tia Frahm ¹ ^* , Amy Spiker ² ^*

More Detail

AM J QUALITATIVE RES, Volume 5, Issue 2, pp. 156-170

https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/11233

OPEN ACCESS 1445 Views 810 Downloads

Download Full Text (PDF)

Abstract

The purpose of this manuscript is to tell the story of two literacy methods professors’ teaching experiences in Fall of 2020. We found ourselves in a unique situation in that one of us was teaching fully online and the other using a hybrid model of both in person and online instruction. Together, we knew that there was something to discover in regard to higher education, specifically preservice service teacher methods courses, that needed to be explored. Therefore, we asked ourselves five reflective questions at the end of each month in the fall semester. Collectively, we decided on these questions as they related most to what we had experienced in Spring of 2020 and what we wanted to further learn from in the Fall. We answered these questions individually and then came together in a zoom meeting to discuss our reflection and anything else that we wanted/needed to share. While we found this process of reflecting and sharing to be cathartic to our own experiences, it was also uncomfortable to bump against our own beliefs about teaching and education in general. As a result, we share our collective conversation based on our reflections. This framework allowed us to move from “teacher lounge” talk and into action because our conversations were more structured and purposeful. We were able to understand ourselves as educators better and provide a framework for reflection for the field of education

Keywords: Duoethnography, Education, Methods Courses, Qualitative Research

References

Ando, S (2021) University teaching and learning in a time of social distancing: A sociocultural perspective, Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 31: 1-4, 435-448, DOI: 10.1080/10911359.2020.1814928
Creswell, J. (2013). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. Sage Publications.
Denzin NK. Critical Qualitative Inquiry. Qualitative Inquiry. 2017;23(1):8-16. doi:10.1177/1077800416681864
Ferdig, R.E. & Pytash, K.E. (Eds). (2021). What Teacher Educators Should Have Learned from 2020. Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Retrieved March 17, 2021 from https://www.learntechlib.org/p/219088/
Hong, J & Francis, D.C. (2020) Unpacking complex phenomena through qualitative inquiry: The case of teacher identity research, Educational Psychologist, 55:4, 208-219, DOI: 10.1080/00461520.2020.1783265
Kidd, W & Murray, J (2020) The Covid-19 pandemic and its effects on teacher education in England: how teacher educators moved practicum learning online, European Journal of Teacher Education, 43:4, 542-558, DOI: 10.1080/02619768.2020.1820480
Norris, J. & Sawyer, R. (2012). Toward a dialogic method. In J. Norris, R. Sawyer, & D. Lund (Eds.), Duoethnography: Dialogic methods for social, health, and educational research (pp. 9-40). Left Coast Press.
Richter, E.,Brunner, M., Richter, D. Teacher educators’ task perception and its relationship to professional identity and teaching practice,Teaching and Teacher Education,Volume 101,2021,103303,ISSN 0742-051X,https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2021.103303.
Seidel, J., & Hill, L. (2015). Thinking together: A duoethnographic inquiry into the implementation of a field experience curriculum. In Education, 21(2). NP.
Tlale, L. D. N., & Romm, N. R. A. (2019). Duoethnographic storying around involvements in, and extension of the meaning of, engaged qualitative research. FQS Forum: Qualitative Research, 20 (1), Article 7.
Torrance H. Experimenting with Qualitative Inquiry. Qualitative Inquiry. 2017;23(1):69-76. doi:10.1177/1077800416649201

Citation

Frahm, T., & Spiker, A. (2021). Rediscovering Ourselves as Educators: An Exploration of Our Own Teaching Practices during a Global Pandemic. American Journal of Qualitative Research, 5(2), 156-170. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/11233

Frahm, T., and Spiker, A. (2021). Rediscovering Ourselves as Educators: An Exploration of Our Own Teaching Practices during a Global Pandemic. American Journal of Qualitative Research, 5(2), pp. 156-170. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/11233

Frahm T, Spiker A. Rediscovering Ourselves as Educators: An Exploration of Our Own Teaching Practices during a Global Pandemic. AM J QUALITATIVE RES. 2021;5(2), 156-170. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/11233

Frahm, Tia, and Amy Spiker. "Rediscovering Ourselves as Educators: An Exploration of Our Own Teaching Practices during a Global Pandemic". American Journal of Qualitative Research 2021 5 no. 2 (2021): 156-170. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/11233

Frahm, Tia et al. "Rediscovering Ourselves as Educators: An Exploration of Our Own Teaching Practices during a Global Pandemic". American Journal of Qualitative Research, vol. 5, no. 2, 2021, pp. 156-170. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/11233

Frahm T, Spiker A. Rediscovering Ourselves as Educators: An Exploration of Our Own Teaching Practices during a Global Pandemic. AM J QUALITATIVE RES. 2021;5(2):156-70. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/11233