Centering Teacher Identity Exploration in Professional Development for Facilitating Discussions in Social Studies

• In Event: Innovative Models in Teacher Education for Social Studies Discussions

Abstract

Objectives
This paper compares the design of two summer professional developments (PDs) that used the Dynamic Systems Model of Role Identity (DSMRI; Kaplan & Garner, 2017) as their theory of change. Accordingly, their shared mechanism for professional learning was identity exploration (Kaplan et. al., 2014). However, each PD was distinct in terms of task and teacher educator support for identity exploration. We ask: What are the relative affordances and constraints of two different professional development designs that center teacher identity exploration and agency in relation to social studies discussion?

Theoretical Framework
The DSMRI views an individual’s socially situated role-identity (e.g., teacher) as a complex dynamic system comprising four components: (a) ontological and epistemological beliefs; (b) purposes and goals; (c) self-perceptions, and (d) perceived action possibilities. These continuously emerge within four parameters: culture; social context; individual dispositions; and the domain of activity. The DSMRI literature posits that PDs focused on fostering role identity exploration should adhere to 4 design principles: facilitating teachers’ perceptions that program content (e.g., discussion) is relevant; triggering tensions within the teacher's current identity that elicit a sense of ambiguity and motivate identity exploration; promoting mutual respect among participants and safety to confront uncertainty; and scaffolding identity exploration strategies including structured time for reflection (Kaplan et. al., 2014).

Method
Data are from two, week-long PDs (PD-A and PD-B) with early career social studies teachers and high school students focused on core challenges related to discussion facilitation. In PD-A, the central activity involved teachers, in subject matter groups, designing and rehearsing a discussion-based lesson for fall, revising it based on student feedback, and then presenting the revision to students. Teachers could tap teacher educators for support as needed, but otherwise teacher educators remained peripheral. In PD-B, the central activity involved identifying an authentic pedagogical dilemma (Lampert, 1985) related to social studies discussion facilitation (e.g., Author, 2018) and employing a series of meta-cognitive instructional activities to explore the dilemma with students over three afternoons. Teacher educators participated as co-investigators of the dilemma.
Data sources and analysis. We selected two teacher groups from each institute and coded all video recordings of their planning and work with students, and all individual and group reflections, with Kaplan et. al.’s (2014) design principles for successful identity exploration in PD.

Findings
Preliminary analyses indicate that although PD-A afforded teachers opportunities for identity exploration related to highly-relevant activities of teaching and planning, these activities overshadowed the salience and centrality of discussion facilitation. Moreover, we observed many more expressions of safety in PD-B likely because: (a) by triggering participants’ teacher role-identities in PD-A, we inadvertently reified preexisting beliefs about the solitary, stressful, and performative nature of teaching, and (b) the nature of dilemma-exploration in PD-B invited experimentation and embrace of uncertainty. Finally, the teacher educators in PD-B played an important role in triggering and scaffolding identity exploration.

Significance
PDs focused on investigating pedagogical dilemmas, rather than simulating teaching, may hold promise for stimulating role identity exploration around discussion facilitation.

Authors

• Andrew del Calvo, Rutgers University - New Brunswick

• Timothy Patterson, Temple University

• Andrew J. Schiera, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Avi Kaplan, Temple University