Identity in the Making: Oral History and Teacher Learning in the Teaching of Difficult Histories

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 7:45 am - Gold 1
  In Roundtable Session: Speaking, Teaching, and Listening to the Truth

Abstract

This study examines how teachers’ identities—shaped by their backgrounds, beliefs, and experiences—influence their use of oral history to teach difficult topics like school desegregation and the civil rights movement. Guided by the Complex Historical Source Framework (Zachrich et al., 2020) and the Dynamic Systems Model of Role Identity (Kaplan & Garner, 2017), it explores how role identities shape engagement with oral history and how that engagement, in turn, influences identity. Data from three secondary social studies teachers in a weeklong NEH-funded virtual PD included interviews, unit plans, and essays. Findings show that teacher learning is situated, emotional, and relational. Through embodied, affective, and cognitive engagement, teachers deepen content knowledge and rethink their identities and purposes as educators.

Authors

• Yonghee Suh, Old Dominion University

• Brian J. Daugherity, Virginia Commonwealth University

• Joanna K. Garner, Old Dominion University