Meghan A Kessler
Biographic Data
| ID | 9499883 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Meghan A Kessler |
| GIVEN NAMES | Meghan A |
| FAMILY NAME | Kessler |
| SIGNATURE | KESSLER M A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Illinois Springfield |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-3015-920X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 7 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 0 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 7 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2020 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 0 |
Caring coaching
Classroom teaching is increasingly complex and stressful, often resulting in burnout. While many solutions emphasize individual self-care, Meghan A. Kessler, Alexis L. Jones, and Evthokia Stephanie Saclarides advocate for institutional support through instructional coaches. Positioned uniquely within schools, coaches can promote teacher well-being by centering care in their practice. Based on a study of seven coaches, they introduce “caring coach…
“It Is Not a Question of if Anymore, It Is a Question of When”
This paper presents the findings from a qualitative analysis of teacher writing samples collected during a graduate-level, online course exploring issues of equity and identity in education. These writing samples discussed teachers’ perceptions and emotions relating to teaching experiences and imaginations. The concepts of critical emotional praxis and teacher visioning are engaged in analysis to explore teachers’ emotions. Findings elucidate the…
Visioning teacher educators in the development of culturally responsive teacher education standards
Research on teacher education policy has examined the interplay of practice, research, and state mandates. However, less has been explored about how teacher educators—as enactors of these policies—are imagined by policy developers. The qualitative study discussed in this article was designed to examine how teacher educators were visioned by the individuals who developed a new set of culturally responsive professional teaching standards in one mid…
Performative enactments of teacher evaluation
Teacher preparation and preservice evaluation practices in the US have seen increasing influence from social efficiency and productivity logics. While analyses of the impacts of such neoliberal ascendancies are diverse and numerous, this article focuses closely on the impact of neoliberalism in preservice teacher evaluation and its impact on new teacher development. In particular, the teacher candidates who participated in this study shared their…
Teacher Candidate Tensions with the edTPA
The edTPA, a recent example of a teacher candidate assessment, has influenced how teacher education classes are taught and how teacher candidates are learning. We describe three tensions present in candidate narratives during two separate years of edTPA implementation: attention to the edTPA rubrics vs. the student teachers’ real teaching, a focus on Pearson vs. the teacher education program, and candidates’ feelings of being monitored during the…
Teachers' Emotion and Identity Work During a Pandemic
Teachers' Emotion and Identity Work During a Pandemic This piece is a conceptual analysis of the care involved on the part of teachers during the COVID-19 era and the relationship it has to teachers’ identities. Using the author’s stories, we address how fatiguing care is on a normal day, not to mention what is involved during the COVID era. This care, and the emotions involved, is closely tied to teachers’ identities, calling into question how t…
Who is Watching? What Do They Want? A Foucauldian Analysis of Teacher Candidates’ Experiences with the edTPA
Background/Context This article is a policy discussion of the edTPA preservice portfolio assessment; it uses Foucault's work and our data to suggest a more critical and activist approach to the assessment. Currently 764 teacher education programs in 40 states have included the edTPA as part of their requirements. In Illinois, it is a newly required high-stakes portfolio assessment required for teacher licensure. Purpose/Objective We studied our t…
No prominent works on this page.
Teachers' Emotion and Identity Work During a Pandemic
Teachers' Emotion and Identity Work During a Pandemic This piece is a conceptual analysis of the care involved on the part of teachers during the COVID-19 era and the relationship it has to teachers’ identities. Using the author’s stories, we address how fatiguing care is on a normal day, not to mention what is involved during the COVID era. This care, and the emotions involved, is closely tied to teachers’ identities, calling into question how t…
Who is Watching? What Do They Want? A Foucauldian Analysis of Teacher Candidates’ Experiences with the edTPA
Background/Context This article is a policy discussion of the edTPA preservice portfolio assessment; it uses Foucault's work and our data to suggest a more critical and activist approach to the assessment. Currently 764 teacher education programs in 40 states have included the edTPA as part of their requirements. In Illinois, it is a newly required high-stakes portfolio assessment required for teacher licensure. Purpose/Objective We studied our t…
Performative enactments of teacher evaluation
Teacher preparation and preservice evaluation practices in the US have seen increasing influence from social efficiency and productivity logics. While analyses of the impacts of such neoliberal ascendancies are diverse and numerous, this article focuses closely on the impact of neoliberalism in preservice teacher evaluation and its impact on new teacher development. In particular, the teacher candidates who participated in this study shared their…
Teacher Candidate Tensions with the edTPA
The edTPA, a recent example of a teacher candidate assessment, has influenced how teacher education classes are taught and how teacher candidates are learning. We describe three tensions present in candidate narratives during two separate years of edTPA implementation: attention to the edTPA rubrics vs. the student teachers’ real teaching, a focus on Pearson vs. the teacher education program, and candidates’ feelings of being monitored during the…
“It Is Not a Question of if Anymore, It Is a Question of When”
This paper presents the findings from a qualitative analysis of teacher writing samples collected during a graduate-level, online course exploring issues of equity and identity in education. These writing samples discussed teachers’ perceptions and emotions relating to teaching experiences and imaginations. The concepts of critical emotional praxis and teacher visioning are engaged in analysis to explore teachers’ emotions. Findings elucidate the…
Visioning teacher educators in the development of culturally responsive teacher education standards
Research on teacher education policy has examined the interplay of practice, research, and state mandates. However, less has been explored about how teacher educators—as enactors of these policies—are imagined by policy developers. The qualitative study discussed in this article was designed to examine how teacher educators were visioned by the individuals who developed a new set of culturally responsive professional teaching standards in one mid…
Caring coaching
Classroom teaching is increasingly complex and stressful, often resulting in burnout. While many solutions emphasize individual self-care, Meghan A. Kessler, Alexis L. Jones, and Evthokia Stephanie Saclarides advocate for institutional support through instructional coaches. Positioned uniquely within schools, coaches can promote teacher well-being by centering care in their practice. Based on a study of seven coaches, they introduce “caring coach…
Psychology (5 works) · Mathematics education (4 works) · Pedagogy (4 works) · Sociology (4 works) · Teacher education (3 works) · Teacher Education and Assessments (3 works) · Teacher Education and Leadership Studies (3 works) · Aesthetics (2 works) · Educator Training and Historical Pedagogy (2 works) · Global Education and Multiculturalism (2 works)