Small Stories and Collaborative Complaints: Teacher-Mentor Post-Observation Meetings as Sites of Identity Development

• In Event: Friday Roundtable Session 3:05 pm
  In Roundtable Session: (Re)constructing Identities: Explorations of Identity Construction Across Varied Pedagogical Contexts (Table 12)

Abstract

Post-observation meetings are important contexts for language teacher identity development. Studies have observed teachers negotiating identities as both novices and experts through narrating difficulties, articulating rationale, contesting others’ decisions, and imagining future selves. This study responds to calls to further investigate language teacher identity development in post-observation meetings. Narrative discourse analysis explored how two graduate TESOL student teachers constructed identity positions through collaborative reflection about co-teaching and mentoring relationships. Findings highlight the ecological complexity of language teacher identities as constructed within the content of narrated small stories and through the interactional practice of storytelling. Findings are discussed in light of research on language teacher identity development and post-observation discourse, with implications for supporting novice language teachers through collaborative reflection.

Author

• Carlo Cinaglia, Michigan State University