Living by the proverb: Developing as a creative teacher in higher education

Abstract

There seems to be a strong link between developing our identities and storytelling. As humans, we strive for coherence, and this coherence is found in stories (Hermans, 2001). This is an experimental paper telling a story about developing a brave, and authentic self as an educator (teacher) in Higher Education by incorporating creative pedagogies into Higher Education. This paper reflects on the challenges faced by new educators and those suffering with imposter syndrome (Wilkinson, 2018) with an aim to celebrate the imperfect self, as opposed to enacting unrealistic expectations. The purpose of this paper is not to favour creative teaching pedagogies but rather to persuade educators to bring their world vision and lived experiences to the classroom acknowledging that they are important factors that shape teacher identity. It seeks to provoke reflection and hopefully some laughter, and supports you not feeling lost in the demands of the performative frameworks within which we act, and try to create niches of freedom and agency for our Selves and our students.