Becoming Who I Thought I'd Be? Revisiting a Beginning Teacher Five Years After Student Teaching

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session One
  In Roundtable Session: Research on Science Teacher Learning (Table 11)

Abstract

Elementary teacher educators endeavor to prepare prospective elementary teachers to teach science in ways which best support student learning. However, once these prospective teachers finish their teacher preparation programs there are many other influences that may shape their identities as teachers of science. In this single-case study, I investigated how one beginning elementary teacher’s identity as a teacher of science developed during her first five years of teaching and how this compared to the vision of her future self she expressed as a student teacher. The findings of this study showed that some aspects of her identity were maintained, but that the realities of the school setting also shaped the kind of teacher she felt she could be.

Author

• Marti Canipe, Northern Arizona University
  Presenting Author