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Situating and Leveling Up Identity Convergence
Shapeshifting Through Academia and Pedagogical Evolution
The Psychological Negotiations Between Authority Figure and Student
How Professional Expertise Shapes and Influences Graduate Studies
The Heavy Hand of Impostor Syndrome
Recommendations and Applications
Shapeshifting Through Academia and Pedagogical Evolution
My goal has always been to keep track of how many times I move from one role to another throughout any given day. This happens frequently. I find myself looking for humor in the workload and stressors of my identity convergence because humor is my primary coping mechanism. I envision myself holding one of those metal clickers that bouncers outside bars use to track admissions, counting how many times I shift roles. Or, because I am a cinephile, I imagine the shapeshifting scenes when a full moon rises in countless werewolf movies, because shapeshifting can be painful and disturbing, or for Marvel’s X-Men fans, the villain Mystique, whose mutant power allows her to transform into different people at will. That is why I chose the word “shapeshifting” to describe the constant movement between my roles as administrator, teacher, student, mother, and wife—and back again. This metaphor captures not only the frequency of these transitions but also the fundamental transformation required to navigate each role effectively.
Shapeshifting
The daily navigation of multiple roles in academia requires constant adaptation and being able to fluidly move between positions as leadership, department member, teacher, mentor, collaborator, leader, and follower. Each role demands its own form of authority and collaboration, shaped by complex social dynamics and interpersonal engagement with superiors, colleagues, and students. These interactions create behavioral patterns and adaptive strategies that evolve over time (Marques et al., 2024). As we shift between our converging identities, a feedback loop emerges where experiences in one role inevitably influence our responses in others. Shapeshifting positively influences our responses in various roles, but having multiple roles can also have other benefits. Feng et al. (2021) suggest that accumulating roles facilitates learning adaptability, providing robust experience and knowledge that can yield a bankable skill set while also expanding our connection to professional and social networks. The interplay between professional personas becomes a delicate dance of adaptation and growth.
Pedagogical Evolution
As continuous learners, academics naturally progress through transformative moments in classrooms, research, scholarship, and personal development. These experiences fundamentally shape our academic identities in both subtle and profound ways. This evolution becomes particularly nuanced when considering the convergence of our various roles, including personal ones like parenthood. The constant shifting between professional and personal spheres creates opportunities for growth while also presenting challenges. The question becomes: how do we leverage the constant shifting to yield positive pedagogical evolution that could be applied effectively in all roles?
For example, consider a typical Monday morning during the school year. My first role is that of mother—wake the children, negotiate prickly moods, provide breakfast, and encourage them before sending them off to start their day. I might need to shift into strategist or ethnographer (skills that are products of my identity convergence) if I must engage with school personnel about a child's IEP or 504 plan, requiring me to ask probing questions, study body language, and present data effectively.
As I begin my workday, I shift to my leadership role, reviewing emails and addressing faculty concerns before attending a standing meeting with the department chair. Next, I transition into my teacher role to respond to student emails, craft individualized feedback, or engage with discussion board responses. From there, I shift back to leadership to assist faculty and work on department curriculum, training materials, etc., projects. Finally, I must transform into my student role to work on assignments or deliverables due that day or week. And this represents a relatively calm Monday morning.
This brief sequence demonstrates how shapeshifting happens in practice and how each shift offers the opportunity to evolve. As I navigate these shifts throughout the day, each transition becomes more fluid, with experiences in one role either enhancing or sometimes complicating my effectiveness in the next role I must embody. The key takeaway is that, upon self-reflection, I am not fully leaving each role behind. There are residuals or tendrils that remain as I shapeshift throughout the day, and I use these to my benefit or work to understand their negative effects and adapt and evolve accordingly. Understanding shapeshifting as a deliberate practice allows educators and graduate students to recognize that role transitions are not just inevitable interruptions but opportunities for professional growth. By consciously acknowledging these shifts, we can better leverage the skills and perspectives gained in one role to enhance our effectiveness in others. This awareness also helps us identify when role conflicts arise and develop strategies to manage them more effectively.