Beginning Teachers' Reflections on Self-Image and Identity Development

• In Event: Roundtable Session 52
  In Roundtable Session: Lives of Teachers: Teacher Image, Knowledge, and Quality

Abstract

This study illustrates and analyzes 36 beginning teachers’ reflections about self-image and identity development. These semi-structured narratives, written in a culminating graduate seminar on reflection and reflective practice, depict a variety of multifaceted self-images both pedagogical and affective in nature. The participants often reflected on the importance of authenticity — rejecting personal/teacher identity dichotomies. A majority also wrote about the importance of attaining teacher presence. Additionally, most of the teachers discussed their awareness of identity development. Approximately two-thirds viewed their identities as evolving, influenced by their classroom experiences and perceptions of students’ needs, and one-third as stable, unchanged from their original expectations before student teaching. Few portrayed their identities as unformed and ambiguous or identity development as a struggle.

Author

• Pamela Bolotin Joseph, University of Washington- Bothell