Embracing the Complex Tapestry of Professional Learning: A Narrative Inquiry Through a Doctoral Foundational Course

Abstract

We continue to live in a world that is cultivated by the influence of teachers. As such, the field of teacher education is a foundation for fostering change, but we, as teacher educators, must also be willing to examine the complexity and importance of our work by seeking opportunities to affect equitable change. In this chapter, the authors illustrate their journey in a foundational doctoral course, Learning and Instruction throughout the Lifespan, to illustrate how they embrace professional learning as teacher educators. Through narrative inquiry, the authors delve into the dynamic, multifaceted nature of their roles within the course from various perspectives: one as the instructor of record and three as doctoral students. While sharing their reflective processes, grounded in the principles of sustaining inquiry as stance, this chapter is based on the following question: How do our roles and inherent responsibilities throughout a foundational doctoral course serves as a means of professional learning and influence our growth as teacher educators? Throughout the chapter, the authors address how their development as teacher educators was informed by course elements that expanded their breadth and depth of knowledge and skills.