When the Student Is the Problem and the Teacher Is Not the Solution

• In Event: 64.055 - Teacher Discourse, Reflection, and Noticing as Windows Into Teacher Learning

Abstract

With both the rise of the personalization movement in education and the cultivation of teacher professional communities rooted in theory and practice about on-the-job learning, teachers are increasingly encouraged to reflectively discuss problems of practice with their colleagues, and these problems of practice increasingly entail the individual child. This mixed-methods study features coding of 17 teacher team consultations about specific students, as well as micro-analysis of two focal cases. This research aims to understand the problem frames and discursive moves that characterize teacher discourse about the challenging student and the affordances and constraints of this discourse genre. Findings include normalization and appeals to systemic causes and solutions, protecting teachers’ face by limiting their responsibility and agency.

Author

• Aliza Segal, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev