Figured Worms: Teacher Identity in Lesson Planning Discourse

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 13
  In Roundtable Session: Exploring In-Service Science Teachers' Professional Learning and Instruction

Abstract

How do 5th grade teachers position themselves and their students discursively in relation to science? Analysis focused on enactments of teachers' identity while collaboratively planning science lessons on recycling within ecosystems. Two themes emerged: (1) students were positioned as both distant and proximal to the teachers, and (2) worms (imagined and actual) provided a rich context for discursive construction of identity. Specifically, in the early stages of planning, teachers focused on students’ lack of knowledge. Later, as the teachers engaged in a worm investigation themselves, they recognized their own curiosity and excitement mirrored what their students would experience as they learned. Examining these discussions through a lens of identity and figured worlds has implications for teacher learning and classroom practice.

Authors

• Emily G. Helton, West Virginia University

• Melissa J. Luna, West Virginia University