Examining Emerging Teacher-Researcher Identity Through Narrative Inquiry

• In Event: The Role of Narrative and Dialogue in Teacher Research

Abstract

In the haze of the Presidential election, we, first year doctoral students, felt a calling back to the classroom. With the desire to connect our studies to the classroom, we embarked on an eight-week project in an upper elementary classroom, working autonomously to manage day-to-day tasks while facilitating Youth Participatory Action Research.

In what follows, we share our experience as emerging teacher-researchers grappling with the complexity of this identity. Guided by tools of narrative inquiry, we offer three stories told from three perspectives; separate teacher and researcher narratives presented in split page structure and a third teacher-researcher perspective collaboratively reconstructed. We hope these narratives shed light on the possibilities for bridging the gap between the academic and the everyday.

Authors

• Meghan Phadke, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

• Justine Kim, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities