If a Teacher Changes His Practice, Does He Change His Identity?

• In Event: Venturing the Terrains of Mathematical Identities: Theoretical Perspectives on Participation and Inclusion in Mathematics Education

Abstract

Objectives
Current perspectives on reforming teaching practices often focus on teachers' identity as it changes (Gresalfi & Cobb, 2011). In the present study, changes in teacher identity are explored using Lave and Wenger's (1991) and Sfard and Prusak's (2005) theories of learning. My goal is to examine how changes in the practice of an experienced teacher's are related to his identity.

Theoretical framework
Within the socio-cultural framework, a newcomer to a community develops a certain identity in and through a process of becoming a participant in this community (Wenger, 1998). In this context, employing a socio-cultural lens implies that the leaders (or experts) in the community have an important role in shaping and reshaping the discourse to which newcomers are initiated. In the Common Core era, there are explicit attempts to help teachers change their teaching practices to reflect more robust manifestations of student-oriented, problem-based, and discourse-rich instruction (Schoenfeld, 2014). These changes mean that not only do the roles teachers take on in the classroom change, but also their teacher identities. Yet, previous studies have shown that such processes may be very slow (Gresalfi & Cobb, 2011).

Methods
I define mathematics teachers' identity as a set of narratives (Sfard & Prusak, 2005) that are drawn from two main discourses—the mathematical and the pedagogical. In the present study, I explore the association between a teacher's self-narrative of change and his consequent teaching practices through four video recordings and eight pre and post interviews in the context of a professional development program (PD) aimed at helping teachers to orchestrate productive mathematical discussions (Smith & Stein, 2011).

Data sources
The study followed an experienced Grade 8 teacher in an urban district in the state of New York over a period of one full school year following the aforementioned PD program. Throughout the year, four classes were video recorded and eight before-and-after-class interviews were audio conducted.

Results
Several measures showed consistent change in the teaching of the teacher over these four lessons. First, Instructional Quality Assessment rubrics (Boston, 2012) showed a steady rise from strictly procedural implementation of tasks, to a more cognitively demanding instruction. Second, Accountable Talk measures (Resnick, Michaels, & O’Connor, 2010) revealed an increase in talk moves that encouraged the teacher’s students to listen to each other and to justify their reasoning, contributing to a richer discourse in the classroom. Finally, qualitative analyses of the teacher’s talk and reflexive account about his lesson planning revealed that he was gradually becoming more aware of his students' thinking processes. Yet surprisingly, at the end of the year, the teacher claimed he felt he did not considerably change his practice and was hesitant to point to any impact the PD has had on him.

Scholarly significant
Teachers’ self-narrations as indicative of change in their teaching practices are often used as a window to processes of professional learning (Chapman, 2017). However, the recorded discrepancy between the evident change in the teacher’s instruction and his self-narration raise important questions in regard to the reliance on teachers' reports as indicative of change in practice.

Author

• Einat Heyd-Metzuyanim, Technion Israel Institute of Technology