Amy Vetter

A Discourse Analytic Approach to Video Analysis of Teaching Aligning Desired Identities With Practice

The authors present findings from a qualitative study of an experience that supports teacher candidates to use discourse analysis and positioning theory to analyze videos of their practice during student teaching. The research relies on the theoretical concept that learning to teach is an identity process. In particular, teachers construct and enact their identities during moment-to-moment interactions with students, colleagues, and parents. Using case study methods for data generation and analysis, the authors demonstrate how one participant used the analytic tools to trace whether and how she enacted her preferred teacher identities (facilitator and advocate) during student teaching. Implications suggest that using discourse analytic frameworks to analyze videos of instruction is a generative strategy for developing candidates’ interactional awareness that impacts student learning and the nature of classroom talk. Overall, these tools support novice teachers with the difficult task of becoming the teacher they desire to be.

“You Need Some Laugh Bones!” Leveraging AAL in a High School English Classroom

The purpose of this study was to examine how a White teacher (Gina) responded to African American Language (AAL) in ways that situated students as valuable members of a high school English classroom. This 5-month qualitative study in a 10th grade classroom drew from positioning theory and discourse analysis to make sense of classroom interactions with AAL. Findings show that although Gina was not fluent in AAL, she leveraged it in ways that positioned students as members of the literacy community by doing the following: (a) opening opportunities for students to use AAL in ways that contributed to the community, (b) not dismissing or ridiculing the use of AAL, and (c) maintaining a classroom of respect when AAL was used in ways that disrespected that community. Implications from the study suggest that teaching high school English is not only about knowledge of content or best practices but also about leveraging multiple languages in ways that position students as participants of a literacy community.

“'Cause I'm a G”: Identity Work of a Lesbian Teen in Language Arts

Framed around the perspective that identities matter in relation to literacy learning, this case study examined the identity work of June (pseudonym), a lesbian youth in an 11th-grade high school language arts classroom. Informal interviews with June about her work on a multigenre research project in relation to LGBTQ issues were analyzed using the constant-comparative method and discourse analysis. Findings indicate that she positioned herself as a reader and writer in new ways because of an assignment that provided her the opportunity to explore her sexuality. I propose that teachers consider making youths experiences, including LGBTQ experiences, the centerpiece of literacy instruction. More work, however, needs to be done to explore how educators can create curricula and school communities that recognize and celebrate sexual identities as a part of literacy learning.

‘Crazyghettosmart’: a case study in Latina identities

Drawing from recent scholarship that examines schooling and the shifting terrain of youth identities, this study examines the identity constructions of Jessica, a Latina high school student. Our portrait of Jessica is part of a larger longitudinal study in which the middle and high school experiences of three Latinas, including Jessica, were examined. For this paper, we used data gathered from Jessica’s four years in high school, which included interviews from Jessica and her mother, and field observations from shadowing Jessica’s school days during her junior and senior years. Data analysis illustrated two broad themes: Jessica’s relationships with her academics and her social life, including the recent positioning of herself as a mother during her pregnancy in her senior year. Findings suggest that Jessica improvised her positions within various realms of school to both resist and reconfigure discourses that shaped her identities as a student and adolescent. This study argues for more research that examines and explores what youth have to say about their school experiences in order to illustrate the complex ways in which adolescents author themselves in school.

‘Taking a cross‐country journey with a world map’: examining the construction of practitioner researcher identities through one case study

Research about how teachers construct practitioner researcher identities is central to teacher education and professional development because it provides insight into how teachers continue to learn about and implement practices that meet the needs of their students. The paper explores how one fourth‐grade teacher (Holly) constructed her practitioner researcher identities over two years. It draws upon data gathered from a year‐long Teacher as Researcher course and a monthly practitioner researcher group (Triad Teacher Researchers) associated with a Southeastern university in the United States. In particular, this paper examines moments of tension when Holly was challenged to negotiate multiple identities in order to situate herself as a practitioner researcher within multiple contexts. Findings suggest that learning to ‘become’ a practitioner researcher is an identity process that involves moments of tension that are best supported through a collaborative community. The paper concludes with implications about how to facilitate spaces of identity work through various types of reflective practices in courses and groups.

Confronting unsuccessful practices: repositioning teacher identities in English education

Teacher education programs attempt to prepare preservice teachers for the various challenges faced in the classroom. One particular challenge new teachers face is how to handle unsuccessful practices. This paper argues that confronting ineffective practices require that teachers respond to complex and dynamic challenges, making change difficult when solutions are not readily available. Presenting data from case-study research, the paper uses an identity framework and positioning theory to explore how two novice teachers navigate moments of unsuccessful practice. Findings suggest that when teachers confronted ineffective practices they repositioned their teacher identities in ways that depended on the ideologies of their school. The paper concludes with implications about the importance of extending typical reflective practices of teacher education with video analysis that challenges students to examine how they enact teacher identities over time within the figured world of their school.

Negotiating Ideologies About Teaching Writing in a High School English Classroom

More research needs to examine how novice teachers successfully negotiate multiple ideologies with others in ways that allow them to construct preferred teaching identities. This qualitative study addressed that need by investigating how one high school English teacher negotiated contradictory ideologies related to writing instruction at her school. In particular, the study examined how the teacher negotiated ideologies with allies, students, and practitioner researchers. Implications suggested that practitioner research groups could provide support for ideological negotiations and teacher identity construction. Educators would benefit from teacher education that explicitly discusses and supports methods of negotiation through case study and video analysis.

Leveling the Field: Negotiating Positions of Power as a Preservice Teacher

Set in an undergraduate Secondary English Education Program, this qualitative study draws on theories of power, positioning, and identity to explore how positions of power affect teacher identity construction. Drawn from a larger study, the authors examine how one preservice teacher negotiated positions of power with students in ways that enabled and prohibited him from enacting his preferred teacher identities. In addition, the authors investigated how Jay engaged in reflection about those positions of power through a video analysis project that used discourse analysis and positioning theory. Ultimately, this study contributes to research in teacher education focused on how video analysis can be used to engage students in critical reflection about how positions of power affect teacher identities.

A Writing Assignment Extended: An Occasion for Young People to Construct Writer Identities

Becoming a successful writer is an important skill for the young because it predicts academic success, supports and extends learning, provides opportunities to participate in civic and community life and fulfils expectations of the workforce to create clear and concise documents. Many secondary students in the US, however, struggle to gain basic academic literacy skills that meet the demands of higher education and the workforce. This qualitative study explored how a specific writing genre, occasional papers, opened opportunities for students to situate themselves and each other as authors in an 11th-grade English classroom. The paper argues that high school students need more opportunities to construct their identities as lifelong authors, who write to make sense of themselves and the world around them and write to promote dialogue with an audience if they are to succeed at high-stakes exams and writing as a member of the workforce. Suggestions for how to integrate such writing within a standardized curriculum are discussed.

Political tensions: English teaching, standards, and postsecondary readiness

Purpose The purpose of this paper was to highlight ways two novice secondary English teachers negotiated the politics of college and career readiness along with the literacy needs of students, in the age of accountability. Design/methodology/approach This three-year longitudinal qualitative case study focused on two participants in English teacher preparation and their first two years in the classroom. Findings The findings focus on participants’ definitions of college and career readiness as it pertains to their English Language Arts classrooms. Next, the focus is on two themes: tensions these novice teachers experienced as they attempted to build classrooms focused on postsecondary readiness, and the ways in which they worked to bridge the gap between their definitions of college and career readiness and the realities of their classrooms. Research limitations/implications Connections among high stakes testing environments, postsecondary readiness and literacy teacher education are important to the field. Studying the experiences of novice teachers can fill a present gap at the intersection of these concepts. Practical implications Curriculum in teacher education should introduce standards, as well as provide a platform for negotiating and critiquing them. Three focus areas to help pre-service teachers mitigate tensions between minimum skills assessments, college readiness and literacy are personal experience, collaboration and reflective partnerships. Originality/value There has been little to no research done on the tensions between preparing all students to be college and career ready and the minimum skills based priorities that govern many school systems and its impact on novice teachers. This classroom reality is important to literacy teacher education.