Fusing Person and Role in Teaching: A Philosophical and Field-Based Inquiry

• In Event: Teacher and Teacher Educators: Roles and Turning Points

Abstract

This presentation examines what it means to fuse person and role in teaching. The analysis derives from a two-year-long philosophical and field-based study that included the author, two research assistants, and sixteen teachers from several public schools in the same culturally diverse metropolis. The study encompassed systematic classroom observation, in-depth discussion meetings with the teachers, and recorded individual interviews. A core question guiding the endeavor was: What does it mean to be a person in the role of teacher? The author will analyze several vignettes from the extended data in order to show what the fusion of person and role actually looks like in practice, and why it has important educational ramifications for students.

Author

• David T. Hansen, Teachers College, Columbia University