Flourishing Across Discourses: A Comparative Case Study of Four Teachers’ Implementation of Character Education in Secondary Literacy Classrooms

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 1:45 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 4
  In Roundtable Session: Teachers' Attention to Inquiry, Healing, and Possible Selves in English and Social Studies Classroom Contexts (Table 9)

Abstract

This comparative case study (Yin, 2014) examines how four secondary literacy teachers enact their multiple roles in the classroom and attend to students’ wellbeing. We view these roles as Discourses, which Gee (2011) refers to as ways of thinking, being, doing, and feeling that are tied to specific identities of people and social contexts. We draw on Gee’s methods of discourse analysis to understand how teachers enact the Discourse of character-focused literacy teacher with culturally and linguistically diverse students. Our findings illustrate that the four teachers enacted the discourse of character-focused literacy teacher by privileging specific teaching practices, ascribing significance to students’ lived experiences, and assuming identities of teacher, mentor, advisor, and role model.

Authors

• Jared McKee, University of Florida

• Mark B. Pacheco, University of Florida