Teaching through Pain: Finding Peace, of Sorts, after Unimaginable Loss

Abstract

This evocative autoethnography is an exploration of learning and perseverance during a particularly dark time in my personal and professional life. In a period of just over 3 years, my spouse and I dealt with the need for several surgeries, the Covid-19-Delta pandemic and subsequent isolation, social unrest, an insurrection in the U.S., and the tragic death of our son. Then, the D.Ed. program in which I teach was closed. Through this writing, I attempt to make meaning from these events and to share what I have learned.