Mapping the Sandbox of Learning

This self-study examines my transition from early childhood (EC) educator to university-level Japanese language teacher in Iceland. Grounded in iterative cycles of planning, acting, and reflecting, the study explores how pedagogical principles developed in EC—particularly learning through play, trust, autonomy, and scaffolding—were reinterpreted in a higher education context. Three student-centered projects, titled My Projects, served as sites for examining my evolving practice and professional identity.Drawing on Vygotsky’s concept of the zone of proximal development and Mezirow’s theory of transformative learning, I investigated how engaging in self-study supported the reframing of my pedagogical assumptions and the expansion of my identity as a hybrid educator. Data sources included lesson materials, students’ artifacts, Ticket Out of Class (TOC) reflections, a reflective journal, and senryu poetry composed as an arts-based analytic tool. Senryu enabled me to capture critical moments and render them artistically, making visible shifts in my confidence, pedagogical reasoning, and evolving frame of reference.Findings indicate that learning through play, reinterpreted as serious fun, fostered autonomy and creative agency for both students and me as a novice language educator. It expanded our shared zone of proximal development. Critical friendships played a pivotal role in sustaining reflexive dialogue and strengthening professional growth. This study highlights how self-study functions as a continuous mapping, enabling educators to sustain, interrogate, and evolve hybrid professional identities across educational contexts.