Reclaiming a Writing Voice as a New Teacher Educator: SoTL as Portal

• Main Author: Susan Elliott-Johns
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Georgia Southern University 2011-07-01
• Series: International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
• Subjects: Reflective practice; Scholarly writing; Voice; Faculty development
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/ij-sotl/vol5/iss2/22

This essay explores the author’s self-directed experience of re-claiming a writing voice as a new teacher educator in a faculty of education after many years as a practitioner in public school systems. The benefits of an increased understanding of SoTL became critical to the individual’s own development as a member of faculty, specifically in overcoming obstacles encountered in writing for academic audiences. Presenting reflections on experience, notes, and journal entries over time, the piece offers insight into one individual’s struggles in transitioning to sustained ‘scholarly’ writing for publication, but also suggests this is not an unfamiliar tale. The author concludes there is much more that could be done to mentor and support the ongoing development of academic writing and the work of new scholars.