An Autoethnography on the Survival Strategies of a Beginning Elementary School Teacher

The aim of this paper is to describe a beginning teacher’s teaching socialization process with a focus on survival strategies, based on the theoretical premise of dramaturgy and the methodological premise of autoethnography, which explores the social self. The research results are briefly presented as follows. Firstly, as a novice elementary school teacher, I did impression management by putting on the mask of a weak ‘chick’ to appear compliant to the teaching staff. Secondly, as a novice teacher, I managed to give the impression of wearing a cozy ‘puppy’ mask in order to become a teacher recognized by elementary school students. Thirdly, I managed to give the impression of wearing the mask of a patient ‘bear’ to gain trust and respect from parents. These three types of impression management were survival strategies to instill a professional image of a competent teacher among school members. The results of this paper will deepen understanding of the professional life of beginning elementary school teacher by representing professional survival strategies for teaching socialization from an insider’s perspective, and provide a policy perspective that can support the teaching socialization process of beginning elementary school teacher.