This study invited participation from individuals who met a select set of criteria specific to generative emerging adult educators:

• Age 18 - 29

• Completed at least 1 year of teaching in the K–12 system and currently employed as a full-time teacher within a public, charter, or private school at the time of interview.

• Scored as “highly generative” on Morselli and Passini’s (2015) Social Generativity Scale (SGS).

• Primary Research Question: What is the lived experience of generativity among generative emerging educators?

  • Sub-question One: What contributes to generativity formation among generative emerging educators?

  • Sub-question Two: How do generative emerging educators experience generativity?

  • Sub-question Three: How do generative emerging educators make meaning of their generative experience?

• Phenomenological inquiry was used to explore the essence of the lived experience of generativity.

• Seidman’s (2019) three interview series was used to gather data. Within this structure, the generative emerging educators had the opportunity to remember their generativity formation in interview one, reconstruct their active generative experiences in interview two, and reflect on what their generativity means to them in interview three.

• Colaizzi’s (1978) method for data analysis was used to arrive at a comprehensive fundamental structure of the phenomenon.

• Formation: This study found that generative emerging educators form generativity through the presence of intergenerational inspiration, the opportunity for early initiative, and the experience of a creative awakening. These encounters foster an early awareness of their original design and an early affinity for a life of meaning.

• Function: From this foundation, generative emerging educators contribute to their educational spaces through the acts of relational equipping and empathetic engagement.

• Meaning-making: Generative emerging educators make meaning of their ordinary but profound generative experiences through the practices of contribution mapping and impact forecasting. Contribution mapping involves the generative emerging educator anchoring their present-day contributions back to their origin story using a reflective or restorative lens. Alternatively, impact forecasting involves the generative emerging educator using their imagination to conceptualize potential positive implications that may result from their present-day contributions. The functional acts of generativity and the meaning-making process practiced by generative emerging educators occur in a dynamic ongoing exchange.