Chapter 6: Coping During Multiple Crises: Performative Spaces in Teacher Education

In this performance autoethnography, a teacher educator at a Midwest U.S. public university uses their virtual classroom as a performative space to cope with continually changing stressors preservice teachers face during plural crises of the 2020–2021 academic year: health and survival during the COVID-19 pandemic; economic devastation created by a worldwide health emergency; fears and isolation of social distancing; emotions of a nationwide Black Lives Matter movement; and a controversial and contested U.S. presidential election. With multiple stressors impacting these preservice teachers and their perceptions of their past, present, and possible selves, this chapter analyzes one educator’s self-reflexive examination of performance in a virtual classroom as means to alleviate impacts of unpredictable pressures. Through the act of performance, a teacher educator and preservice teachers both find moments of relief from external stressors through humor, allowing them to cope, thrive, learn, and grow during crises.