Emotional labor as teaching expertise: reflective practices for teacher professional development workshops

A key aspect of teaching expertise involves navigating the emotional labor required to build positive relationships with students, administrators, parents, and other educational stakeholders. Yet, reflective practices in teacher education often focus on curricular design and delivery with less focus on how teachers manage emotional demands while practicing their pedagogy. In this study, we asked how a teacher education professional development workshop might prepare future teachers to navigate emotional labor during teaching and what reflective practices might aid teachers in managing this emotional labor, especially during seasons of personal strain. We designed and delivered a research-based professional development workshop for pre-service teachers focused on the role of emotions in teaching. We offered this workshop seven times at two universities, one in the northeastern U.S. and one in the Southern U.S. Drawing on analytic memos and participant survey responses, we found that teacher education opportunities centered on emotions allow preservice teachers to name and reflect on the emotional demands they experience in their daily work, particularly during times of personal strain, as well as the ways that their personal identities interplay with their teaching.