Ecologies, bodies, and OWI teacher preparation: reflecting on a practicum for graduate instructors teaching writing online

Abstract

Despite increased calls for preparation for online writing instruction (OWI), practica for graduate instructors often assume face-to-face modalities for FYW and practicum courses. This article shares a student’s and teacher's experiences in a 2022 practicum for graduate students teaching writing online for the first time. We argue that an ecological framework for OWI and OWI preparation helps writing programs and teachers attend to how OWI is distributed, emergent, enacted, and embodied. We conclude with suggestions for OWI teacher preparation that emphasizes drawing on teacher preparation scholarship in rhetoric and composition more broadly, attending to novice OWI teachers’ conceptions of literacy, and disabling OWI programs and preparation.