I have spent the better part of the last few years examining the transformation of our teaching credential students as they move from “student” to “teacher” during their one-year licensure program at CI in the Teacher Education Department. Specifically, my studies aim to map the known cycle of transformation onto their experiences and create activities and discussion points to support them through the ups and downs typical of this process.

Transformation occurs when someone moves from one state of being to another; in this case, from being a student or learner to being a teacher or professional. Regardless of how you define the transformation that takes place during the students’ time in our licensure program, they enter the program in August without a teaching credential and, more often than not, leave at the end of the spring term with a job and contract for the following academic year, ready to apply the knowledge gained during their time at CI.

The Transformative Push and Pull

In my role as a faculty member in our teacher preparation program, I have noticed that certain markers during the year correlate with specific outcomes. One such marker is the Thanksgiving break. I would assume that the longer break from classes and student teaching would be welcome, but the feedback after the break is often the opposite. This was initially confusing to me because I assumed that students would return to CI rejuvenated and ready to finish the term. In reality, they often return frustrated and more stressed than before. Once I learned about the known cycle of transformation, I realized that Thanksgiving break aligns with the “disorientation” phase of the cycle, where one faces a crisis of identity and feels torn between their past self and their current or emerging self. During this phase, students might find that their old relationships with family and friends conflict with the support needs and demands they experience while in the credential program, which differ significantly from the support they sought earlier in their lives. Students might feel as though they are living in two realities: the old one represented at the Thanksgiving table (family and old friends) and the new one (CI classmates, student teaching mentors, etc.) that has consumed their time since starting the program.

Try to imagine this push and pull for a moment: looking forward to the holiday with family and friends and celebrating as one always has in the past. The difference this time is that our students come to the table with a drastically different daily reality, shaped by coursework, licensure exam demands, and student teaching—none of which aligns with the person others remember from the year before. Upon returning to school after the break, students often report feelings of frustration, sadness, and grief, which I now understand to be part of their transformation process. They can feel the shift from their old self to their new or emerging self but may lack the perspective to articulate the strange feelings that arise from being at a holiday table, highlighting the dissonance associated with the change. It’s indeed confusing for everyone involved!

Strategies and Initial Outcomes

The beauty of this work is that the phases of transformation are well-documented, much like the five stages of grief. As an instructor, I can prepare students for the ups and downs of the transformation cycle, provide them with descriptive language to discuss what they are experiencing and feeling, and, perhaps most importantly, offer a safe space for them to share their experiences constructively with colleagues undergoing the same process. After two years of collecting data on this work, the most frequently mentioned feedback from students about the transformation curriculum is, “I didn’t have to go through it alone.” Before we made transformation explicit, students often felt isolated, believing they were experiencing something unique when, in fact, all students were undergoing the stages of the cycle to some degree.

The last two years of exploring this work have hopefully equipped students with the ability to navigate transformative experiences with a fresh perspective. Being an early career teacher is transformative, as are marriage, divorce, the death of someone close, the birth of a child, and travel. We all experience transformative events in life, often more than one at a time. By viewing events through this lens, we can better understand the associated feelings and work constructively through the cycle.

Invitation for Dialogue

I welcome conversation about this work and invite my students and colleagues to map the phases of transformation onto other transformative events. Being in the business of higher education places us at the forefront of our students’ transformative experiences; let’s name it and support our students in this unique way. Once we are more versed in the language of transformation, we can support each other through various changes. In a world that can be confusing and, at times, isolating, this is an opportunity to come together and share the experience of transformation in a caring and supportive manner.