Melissa Newberry

Teacher Educator Identity Development of the Nontraditional Teacher Educator

The development of a professional teacher educator identity has implications for how one negotiates the duties of a teacher, scholar, and learner. The research on teacher educator identity in the USA has been largely conducted on traditional teacher educators, or those who have started their careers as public school teachers and then went on to the collegiate level as teacher educators. This auto-ethnography considers the professional identity formation of a nontraditional teacher educator, one whose professional career did not include a career as a public school teacher. Although there are common influences on professional development between the traditional and nontraditional teacher educator, such as biography, institutional contexts, and personal pedagogy, there are significant differences in the process as those influences are experienced. This research proposes an extended process for nontraditional teacher educators, including the search for legitimacy and belonging in the community of educators.

Teacher Attrition in the USA: The Relational Elements in a Utah Case Study.

Abstract Previous work on teacher attrition in the US has indicated that those who stay in the profession and those who leave are not separate homogenous groups. In this study, the lived experience of former teachers is examined to determine the issues that distinguish leavers from stayers. The sample is from the state of Utah, a state with one of the highest attrition rates in the nation. By loosely applying self-thematization theory to collect and analyze data from former teachers, a variety of elements were identified that combined in timing and intensity to influence the decision to leave the profession. These elements are also experienced by teachers who stay. However, in this study, collegial relationships was identified as the mitigating factor regardless of any combination of other factors influencing the decision to leave or stay. Although small-scale convenience sampling was employed, this study allows for an intimate accounting of the relational elements of teaching that exist among educators, which are often overlooked. Implications for teaching and schools are discussed with suggestions for direction of future research on teacher attrition.

THE DEMAND OF MULTIPLICITY IN THE CLASSROOM: EMOTION REGULATION AND COGNITIVE LOAD

Emotions are complex concepts involving multiple systems within the body and mind. How, when and for what purpose emotions are expressed is based on context and relationships. In this chapter I take a relational view of emotion and emotion regulation as applied in classroom settings. I first discuss the concepts of emotion and emotion regulation before exploring the physical, social and psychological processes involved in both producing and regulating emotions. Although teachers use, respond to and regulate emotions as part of their everyday work, I suggest that teachers are underprepared for the extent of the emotion work they encounter, or the cost it may have on their emotional reserves. The requirements to successfully navigate emotions in todays educational environment are underappreciated. Only when we acknowledge the relational and cognitive tasks required of teachers under the demand of multiple relationships and the constraints of the responsibilities placed upon them can we fully appreciate the magnitude of the endeavour.

Exploring Metaphoric Language Use to Assess Collaboration between Educational Institutions.

ABSTRACT In this single case study of a school and university collaborative project, positioning theory was used to deconstruct the metaphors expressed in descriptions of roles of 23 participants. Present in the metaphors were discrepancies in understandings of collaboration that revealed ways that collaboration was inhibited as participants positioned themselves and others. Differences in expectations that emerged in metaphor suggested passive compliance, division in power, and reinforcement of limiting roles. These findings suggest that the examination of metaphors in interview data might be used as a formative assessment in collaborative endeavours, leading to productive dialogue for clarification and resolving potential conflict.

Reconsidering differential behaviors: reflection and teacher judgment when forming classroom relationships

Positive teacher–student relationships promote growth in students both academically and socially, but in today’s ever-changing classrooms creating such positive relationships can be a challenge. This study attempts to look at the influences on teacher thinking and judgment when creating and maintaining relationships. This is done by examining the relationships that developed across a year between a second-grade teacher and two of her students. The teacher participated in a systematic reflection activity that focused her attention on how emotionally close she felt to her students. Across the year the insight gained by the teacher as she participated in the reflective exercise influenced her perceptions of students and led to changes in her concerted actions towards them. The findings indicate that variation in relationships between the teacher and individual students in the classroom can be attributed to differentiated behavior based on the teacher’s perception of student need, teacher ability to meet that need, and future benefit of doing so, and that those perceptions can change through reflective practice, resulting in purposeful interaction leading to more positive relationships.

Afterword: The Teaching Fantasia

As outlined in these chapters, pre-service teachers, beginning teachers, experienced teachers, teacher leaders and aspirant leaders all face the growing demands of emotional labour and are engaged in the emotional work that underpins learning environments. The ‘false apprenticeship’ (Bullock, 2013) highlights how teacher education remains historically problematic, with its focus on observation for replication, rather than the development of an individuals capability. Educators need to be enabled to refocus their attention on developing professional capital (Hargreaves & Fullan, 2012). According to Hargreaves and Fullan (2012) there are three elements that produce professional capital, these are human capital, social capital and decisional capital. The presence of all three is vital for a healthy productive education system. The education system is made up of people and education is for the people. Society and future societies rely on professional capital being promoted within education.