Negotiation of Professional Identity in Mathematics Professional Development

• In Event: 72.048 - Roundtable Session 33
  In Roundtable Session: 72.048-2 - Exploring Teacher Identity in Response to In-Service Professional Development

Abstract

This paper describes ways discourse communicates the negotiation of professional identities in a context of pedagogical reform. Reform may challenge understandings and beliefs about mathematics instruction and, therefore, a teacher’s professional identity. Data were collected during a full-day professional development meeting for mathematics teachers of grades 6-8. Transcripts were analyzed using Gee’s (2005, 2014) method of discourse analysis. The analysis revealed that discourse communicated a range of positions that were based on different epistemological beliefs and moral purposes. From these positions teachers negotiated issues of “responsibility to” and “responsibility for” in relation to their roles as educators.

Author

• Angela Rae Crawford, Boise State University