ABSTRACT
This chapter explored the emotional challenges experienced by the teacher candidates in relation to school closures and other associated changes spurred by the global pandemic upended. Focusing on two undergraduate students pursuing elementary education with an ESL/bilingual education endorsement at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, we examine how the teacher candidates negotiate emotional conflicts, and the strategies they adopt to resolve such emotional challenges. Following a narrative perspective on teacher emotions, we draw on in-depth interviews and multiple journal entries to understand the emotional challenges experienced by these teacher candidates. Qualitative analysis of the narrative data uncovers a range of complex emotions on full display in response to changes in various aspects of student teaching. Drawing on their care and empathy for students as well as their teacher training experience, the teachers in training adopted pedagogical strategies while negotiating emotional conflicts related to instructional and curricular changes brought on by the pandemic. The implications of these findings for future research and teacher development are discussed.
