What Kind of Teacher Will/Be? Creating Spaces for Beginning Teachers’ Imagined Roles
Abstract
The study draws on theories on memory and cognition to examine the developing roles and epistemological stances of eight beginning teachers. My goal was to provide productive ways for them to talk about who they wanted to be as teachers and to use their perspectives as a beginning point for learning about teaching literature. Data analysis focused on intersections and disjunctions between these beginning teachers’ imagined roles and their developing conceptions of their roles as English teachers. Their imagined roles appeared in ideas they shared about the way literature should be interpreted or taught, personal stories they remembered and drew upon for guides for future practice, and assertions. The research explored three aspects of the phenomenon of their imagined roles: (1) What kinds of imagined teacher roles did these preservice and novice teachers bring into this literature class? (2) How did their imaginedroles intersect with what they read about and discussed during the course? and (3) How did their conceptions of their roles and their stances on teaching English change during the courses about the purposes for teaching literature. Through their participation, they came to understand that their reliance on memories of their own experiences was insufficient. More importantly, they discovered that at least some of the ideas they encountered in this course could enhance their unique roles as teachers, both imagined and real.
Reference
Agee, J. (2006). What Kind of Teacher Will/Be? Creating Spaces for Beginning Teachers' Imagined Roles. English Education, 38(3), 194-219.
Journal
English Education
Analysis
Is this article part of a larger project or series of studies?
no
Does this study draw on a large, preexisting data set?
no
Research Approach
Geographic Setting
Institutional Context
Certification Level
Programatic Focus
Research Location Context
Preservice Participants
Preservice Sample Size
8
Duration of Data Collection
Data Sources
- Online response
- Reading Responses
- student reflections
- student work
Data Analysis Tools
- coding (emergent categories)
- Memory Theory
- Thematic analysis
- Transactional Theory (Rosenblatt)
Researcher Positionality
- Inside (studying their own programs)
Research Questions
What kinds of imagined teacher roles did these preservice and novice teachers bring into this literature class?
Is this research question explicit from the manuscript? Yes
How did their imagined roles intersect with what they read about and discussed during the course?
Is this research question explicit from the manuscript? Yes
How did their conceptions of their roles and their stances on teaching English change during the course?
Is this research question explicit from the manuscript? Yes