Less Test-Taking and More Care-Taking - Teacher Educators Explore Identity in a Changing World

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by McQueen

Collaborative course redesign self-study examined how teacher educators reshaped their teaching within a sociocultural context, rethinking dominant frameworks and reconfiguring teacher educator identities. Experiences during the COVID-19 crisis amid racial, political, and economic pressures highlighted the need for trauma-informed pedagogy. Ongoing stress from remote instruction intensified personally and for teacher candidates juggling families and work, prompting shifts toward mindfulness, socioemotional learning, and supportive dialogue.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages27

Reading Time1 h 8 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Conceptual Framework

Sociocultural lenses for educational research

Curricularizing and teacher educator identity

Less Test-Taking and More Care-Taking: Teacher Educators Explore Identity in a Changing World Nancy T . Walker, Christian Bracho, and Marga Madhuri LaFetra College of Education, University of La Verne Abstract Through a collaborative self-study of course redesign, we examined the process of restructuring our courses within a sociocultural context of teaching. Specifically, we explored the shifts we made in course transformation as we reconsidered dominant frameworks while reflecting on our practices, an exploration that allowed to us to reconfigure our teacher educator identities. Our experiences as teacher educators during this unprecedented COVID 19 crisis, in conjunction with racial, political and economic challenges, spotlighted the necessity for trauma-informed pedagogy work. This work is significant, as it documents how the ongoing stress with remote teaching has dramatically intensified, for both ourselves personally and as teacher educators, and naturally, for our teacher candidates (TCs), many of whom had families to care for at home and jobs to juggle alongside coursework. Through our self-reflections and dialogues, we observed how the traumas and conflicts that our communities experienced urged us to shift and create space for mindfulness, socioemotional learning, and trauma-informed pedagogy. This self-study empowered us to begin necessary change and provide mutual support for each other as teacher educators. Keywords: Teacher identity, caring, trauma, course transformation 26 AILACTE Special Issue 2021 Less Test-Taking and More Care-Taking In the Spring of 2020, just prior to the COVID-19 crisis, we, the authors, had begun an examination of our courses with an eye to transforming them to meet the needs of our teacher candidates (TCs) who will be entering 21st century classrooms. We were already critical of our courses that had been recently rewritten to address new Teacher Performance Expectations (TPEs) as required by the State Credentialing Commission, because we felt there was too much emphasis on standards that were not responsive to meeting the learning needs and differences of either our TCs, or of the children in their future classrooms. The call for this work was intensified when schools closed in March 2020, people were quarantined, and remote teaching became a requirement. Social and emotional learning (SEL) needs moved to the forefront as children and their families, teachers and teacher educators, all struggled to grapple with new learning and teaching challenges amidst uncertainties such as business closures, shortages, and difficulties meeting basic needs. Learning opportunities and gaps were spotlighted as children from low income families dealt with the lack of technology to support remote learning, and schools scrambled to provide even the basics like meals, learning materials (sometimes in the form of packets delivered to families’ homes) or Internet connectivity and tools (such as hotspots, Chromebooks or laptops) for their communities. As teacher educators, we struggled to provide relevant learning opportunities for our TCs−many of whom also lacked sufficient tools to learn in a fully-remote environment−while grappling with our own personal challenges. This paper explores the changing priorities and identities of three teacher educators as they transformed their courses in a time of multiple societal challenges. Conceptual Framework Calling on Wertsch et al. (1993) to elaborate on why sociocultural lenses are valuable for educational research, Lasky (2005) notes that,“what individuals believe, and how individuals think and act is always shaped by cultural, historical, and social structures”(p. 900). Similarly, Shepard et al. (2018) draw on the work of Vygotsky to argue that sociocultural theory “goes further in acknowledging how it is that one’s cognitive development and AILACTE Journal 27 Walker, Bracho, and Madhuri social identity are jointly constituted through part

FAQs

What approach did the authors use to examine course changes?

They conducted a collaborative self-study focused on redesigning courses and restructuring them within a sociocultural context of teaching.

Why did the COVID-19 period intensify the need for trauma-informed pedagogy?

Remote teaching stress increased personally for the authors and for teacher candidates, many of whom faced family and work burdens while communities experienced broader racial, political, and economic challenges.

What changes did the authors make in response to these pressures?

They shifted and created space for mindfulness, socioemotional learning, and trauma-informed pedagogy, using self-reflections and dialogues to support necessary changes.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by McQueen