Constructing (Un)Successful Teacher Identities: Learning From the Experiences of Preservice Early Childhood Teachers of Color

• In Event: Roundtable Session 7
  In Roundtable Session: Who in the World Are We? Deconstructing Identities in Early Childhood Education

Abstract

How do preservice early childhood teachers of color reconcile their racial and linguistic identities and/in the construction of their (un)successful teacher identities during their teacher education program? Via interview methodology, this study asks: (1)What language practices do they report employing?; In what ways are their identities constructed by these language practices?;(2)What impact does being a student of color with a marginalized racial and/or linguistic background have on one´s construction of a teacher identity?;(3)How does early childhood teacher education--a discursive space dominated by White, English-monolingual, middle class perspectives--shape the experiences of preservice teachers of color? Findings suggest that preservice teachers of color battle socially-imposed and self-internalized conceptions of being marginalized learners as they construct their emerging teacher identities.

Authors

• Mariana Souto-Manning, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Ranita Cheruvu, William Paterson University

• Tara Lencl, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Marisa Salome Chin-Calubaquib, Teachers College, Columbia University