Using Collaborative Self-Study to Examine Writing Teacher Educators’ Career Continuums

As writing teacher educators in the United States, we used collaborative self-study methodology to investigate our career continuums, examining this research question: What are the critical events along writing teacher educators’ journeys that support the development of scholarly expertise and enactment of writing teacher educator identities? As co-researchers, we also served as critical friends during the year-long study, which allowed us to discover our own professional growth trajectories and explore ways to continue to improve teacher preparation and inservice education. The data revealed three themes related to developing writer identities across the lifespan, exploring problems of practice within writer teacher educator learning communities, and expanding possibilities of writing teacher educator practice to broader spaces. Based on these findings, we suggest further research on writing teacher educators’ career continuums and recommend strategies for professional development and support.