Chapter 7: Navigating Changing Identities Through Critical Professional Friendship
Chhayankdhar Singh Rathore and Eucharia Donnery
Abstract
This chapter explores the mutual benefits of a critical friendship between two educators, one on the cusp and the other mid-teaching careers. This chapter is broken into three distinct areas: professional interactions, professional collaboration, as well as the realm of personal friendship. Through both academic and praxis-based shared interest in Process Drama (PD) in the English classroom in the Japanese university context, the relationship has developed professionally to include collaborative presentations and writing projects. These have, in turn, forced both to examine teaching beliefs within the context of the respective institutes’ administrative and student needs. This interrogation of deep-seated beliefs as personal language learners and professional educators seeking to best serve students through empowerment has been achieved through openness and honesty. This is an acknowledgement of ourselves as teacher-learners; fallible, yet willing to learn. Furthermore, this critical friendship has had profound effects on both educators in terms of job-seeking.
Keywords: drama in language education, collaboration, career development
About the Contributors
Chhayankdhar Singh Rathore is originally from India and graduated with an MA TESOL from Soka University. He has been associated with the EFL field in Japan since 2014 and uses performance-assisted pedagogy with EFL learners. He is a Lecturer at Konan Women’s University.
Eucharia Donnery graduated with a PhD (Drama & Theatre) from the National University of Ireland, Cork in 2013, and works as a drama practitioner and computer-assisted language learning lecturer. She is an Associate Professor at Soka University.
Citation
Rathore, C. S., & Donnery, E. (2023). Navigating changing identities through critical professional friendship. In A. Verla Uchida & J. Roloff Rothman (Eds.), Cultivating professional development through critical friendship and reflective practice: Cases from Japan (pp. 186-218). Candlin & Mynard. https://doi.org/10.47908/27/7
This chapter explores the mutual benefits of a critical friendship between two educators, one on the cusp and the other mid-teaching careers. This chapter is broken into three distinct areas: professional interactions, professional collaboration, as well as the realm of personal friendship. Through both academic and praxis-based shared interest in Process Drama (PD) in the English classroom in the Japanese university context, the relationship has developed professionally to include collaborative presentations and writing projects. These have, in turn, forced both to examine teaching beliefs within the context of the respective institutes’ administrative and student needs. This interrogation of deep-seated beliefs as personal language learners and professional educators seeking to best serve students through empowerment has been achieved through openness and honesty. This is an acknowledgement of ourselves as teacher-learners; fallible, yet willing to learn. Furthermore, this critical friendship has had profound effects on both educators in terms of job-seeking.
Keywords: drama in language education, collaboration, career development
About the Contributors
Chhayankdhar Singh Rathore is originally from India and graduated with an MA TESOL from Soka University. He has been associated with the EFL field in Japan since 2014 and uses performance-assisted pedagogy with EFL learners. He is a Lecturer at Konan Women’s University.
Eucharia Donnery graduated with a PhD (Drama & Theatre) from the National University of Ireland, Cork in 2013, and works as a drama practitioner and computer-assisted language learning lecturer. She is an Associate Professor at Soka University.
Citation
Rathore, C. S., & Donnery, E. (2023). Navigating changing identities through critical professional friendship. In A. Verla Uchida & J. Roloff Rothman (Eds.), Cultivating professional development through critical friendship and reflective practice: Cases from Japan (pp. 186-218). Candlin & Mynard. https://doi.org/10.47908/27/7
Information About the Book
Title: Cultivating Professional Development Through Critical Friendship and Reflective Practice: Cases From Japan.
Editors: Adrianne Verla Uchida and Jennie Roloff Rothman
Publication date: 2023
Read more...
Title: Cultivating Professional Development Through Critical Friendship and Reflective Practice: Cases From Japan.
Editors: Adrianne Verla Uchida and Jennie Roloff Rothman
Publication date: 2023
Read more...