EXPLORING TEACHER IDENTITY a Dissertation Submitted to the Kent

A PORTRAIT OF A PRACTICING TEACHER: EXPLORING TEACHER IDENTITY

A dissertation submitted to the Kent State University College of Education, Health, and Human Services in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Rachael L. Seifert

December 2019

A dissertation written by

Rachael L. Seifert

B.A., John Carroll University, 1992

M. Ed., John Carroll University, 1996

Ph.D., Kent State University, 2019

Approved by

______, Director, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Janice Kroeger

______, Member, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Lori G. Wilfong

______, Member, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Natasha Levinson

Accepted by

______, Director, School of Teaching, Learning and Alexa L. Sandmann Curriculum Studies

______, Dean, College of Education, Health and James C. Hannon Human Services

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SEIFERT, RACHAEL L., Ph.D., December 2019 Curriculum and Instruction

A PORTRAIT OF A PRACTICING TEACHER: EXPLORING TEACHER IDENTITY (211 pp.)

Director of Dissertation: Janice Kroeger, Ph.D.

The purpose of this study was to explore the construction of the identity of an in-service teacher. The issue is complex because teacher identity changes over a teacher’s lifetime: Relationships, interactions, and opportunities impact a teacher’s identity formation and contribute to the fluid nature of the teacher self. Not all teachers are gifted, but as in-service teachers they have opportunities to acquire and develop any skills they may lack. Exploring the components of what makes teachers skilled at their craft helps to create a blueprint for the construction of a teacher’s identity. One particularly important component of teacher identity is a keen sense of self, essential to function at a high level of competence.

The theoretical framework of this study derived from melding research about identity, which led to a focus on self and society and the interaction of the two. Designed to contribute to understanding teacher identity, this qualitative work involved the collection of data from observations, interviews, and artifacts necessary to study one in-service teacher‒participant. The result was a dynamic portrait of an in-service teacher with a focus on four developed themes: cultivating relationships, respecting spirituality, voice of action, and intentional reflection.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am fortunate to say that many individuals have supported me throughout the process of completing my course work and writing this dissertation. My husband Mike has been constant in his support and encouragement; I knew that I would reach my goal because of his unwavering confidence in me. My four children—Gabrielle, Molly,

Ethan, and Olivia—watched me work through the process of completing my doctorate, and I hope they have learned that they can make any dream a reality as long as they persevere. I wanted each of them to see firsthand that setting challenging goals is worth the effort, that goals are achieved not because one dreams but because one endures until they come true. My family has been my strength and a source of unending love.

Next, my parents have been steadfast in their love, support, and guidance. I am strong because they taught me to be strong. I am ambitious because ambition was modeled for me daily. My foundation is firm because they have always been dedicated to making it so. My blessings are countless because they have given me everything that I have ever needed. Most importantly, my parents embody love and its power.

My sisters—Rebecca, Lara, and Beth—have always been key influencers in my daily life. Adult life can become complicated, pointing us to paths that may lead in different directions; but if I ever need help, I know my sisters will be at my side. Sisters are a blessing: I am indeed blessed to have them as a part of my support system. I admire them and the choices they have made to become the strong women they are. They are a gift in my life for which I am forever grateful.

My former building staff and critical friends formed a unique family, offering a daily source of support and kindness. As the educational leader of the building, I marveled at how much I learned from each of them. Their encouragement and confidence in me were more helpful than they could ever know. My critical friends, you are amazing.

Finally, I am grateful for my committee members: Dr. Kroeger, Dr. Wilfong, Dr.

Levinson, and Dr. Hoeptner-Poling, who guided my learning process and ensured that I completed my degree. Every conversation, email, and editing session provided another opportunity for me to grow in my learning. Each member had a very different approach and perspective. Although challenging, their differences motivated my continuous growth. I am grateful for them and their dedication to my learning process. They are incredible individuals.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...... iv

LIST OF TABLES ...... ix

CHAPTER I. THE PROBLEM...... 1 Situating Teacher Identity in the Research ...... 1 Purpose of the Study ...... 4 Research Questions ...... 6 Argument of the Study ...... 6 Guiding Theoretical Framework ...... 7 Conclusion ...... 12 Definition of Key Terms ...... 13

II. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ...... 15 Position of Identity the Literature ...... 15 The Framework of Teacher Identity ...... 17 Historical Overview of Identity ...... 18 Characteristics of Teacher Identity ...... 22 Transition to the Workforce ...... 22 Professional Identity of the Teacher ...... 25 Professional Identity of the Novice Teacher ...... 27 Shifting Teacher Identity ...... 30 The Identity of an Expert Teacher ...... 32 Characteristics ...... 32 Forms of Knowledge...... 34 Conclusion ...... 36

III. DESIGN OF THE STUDY ...... 38 Qualitative Approach ...... 39 Case Study: Research Design Method 1 ...... 42 Portraiture: Research Design Method 2 ...... 45 Framing the Study ...... 48 Case Study Through a Portraitist’s Lens ...... 51 Context, Setting, and Duration of the Study ...... 52 Key to a Portraiture Case Study: The Participant ...... 54 Data Collection ...... 60 Rationale for the Data ...... 61 Semistructured Face-to-Face Interviews ...... 62 vi

Stimulated Recall ...... 65 Conversations and Analytic Memos ...... 65 Observations ...... 68 Documents and Instructional Artifacts ...... 69 Data Analysis ...... 71 Choosing a Methodology ...... 72 Transcriptions ...... 73 Reading All Data...... 74 Coding ...... 75 Audit Trail ...... 75 Personal Journal ...... 76 Methodological Challenges and Strategies to Support Reliability ...... 77 Validity, Subjectivity, Reflexivity, and Consciousness ...... 77 Full Disclosure: Teacher Observation ...... 78 Challenges and Bias ...... 84 Triangulation ...... 84 Member Checking ...... 85 Rich and Thick Descriptive Findings ...... 88 Limited Generalizability ...... 90 Ethical Boundaries ...... 91 Ethics in a Power Relationship ...... 92 Writing Style ...... 95 Limitations ...... 96 Summary of Methods ...... 96

IV. PORTRAIT OF MRS. B...... 98 A Tapestry ...... 98 Contextual Background: Setting the Stage for Mrs. B...... 98 Facets of Teacher Identity: Dimensions of Mrs. B...... 108 Theme 1: Cultivating Relationships...... 108 Example 1: Creating a Family ...... 110 Example 2: A Student’s Story...... 112 Example 3: Student Teaching ...... 118 Example 4: Serving as a Mentor for Student Teachers...... 120 Summary: Relationships Matter ...... 121 Theme 2: Respecting Spirituality...... 122 Example 1: Childhood’s Foundational Values ...... 123 Example 2: College Years and Decision-Making Time ...... 126 Example 3: Creating a Family ...... 127 Example 4: Professional Conduct ...... 129

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Theme 3: Voice of Action...... 133 Example 1: Connections With a Personal Voice ...... 134 Example 2: Leadership ...... 138 Summary ...... 139 Theme 4: Intentional Reflection ...... 139 Example 1: Goal Setting ...... 141 Example 2: Practicing Metacognition ...... 142 Example 3: Personal Reflection ...... 143 Conclusion ...... 143

V. DISCUSSION OF TEACHER IDENTITY ...... 145 Overview of the Study ...... 145 Discovery: The Challenge of Hidden Biases ...... 146 Discovery: My Identity Growth ...... 150 Discovery: What Can a Teacher Do With This Knowledge? ...... 150 Discovery: The Importance of Spirituality and Sense of Self ...... 151 Discussion of the Findings ...... 153 Cultivating Relationships ...... 153 Respecting Spirituality ...... 154 Voice of Action ...... 154 Intentional Reflection and Metacognition ...... 155 Connections to Theoretical Framework ...... 156 Limitations ...... 159 Looking Ahead...... 161 Future Research ...... 163 In Conclusion ...... 164

APPENDIXES ...... 165 APPENDIX A. RECRUITMENT EMAIL ...... 166 APPENDIX B. APPROVAL REQUEST EMAIL ...... 168 APPENDIX C. DOCUMENT REQUEST ...... 170 APPENDIX D. INTERVIEW QUESTIONS: ROUND 1‒FAMILY ...... 172 APPENDIX E. INTERVIEW QUESTIONS: ROUND 2‒ETHICS...... 174 APPENDIX F. INTERVIEW QUESTIONS: ROUND 3‒CLASSROOM ...... 176 APPENDIX G. INTERVIEW QUESTIONS: ROUND 4‒COLLEGE EXPERIENCES ...... 178 APPENDIX H. INTERVIEW QUESTIONS: ROUND 5‒TEACHER IDENTITY ...... 180 APPENDIX I. INTERVIEW QUESTIONS: ROUND 6‒CHARACTERISTICS ....182 APPENDIX J. INTERVIEW QUESTIONS: MEMBER CHECKING ...... 184

REFERENCES ...... 186

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LIST OF TABLES

Table Page

1. Research Questions ...... 38

2. Timeline for the Study: 20 April‒25 May, 2018 ...... 55

3. Data Sources ...... 61

4. Examples of Observational Field Notes ...... 67

5. Reliability Strategies ...... 93

6. Summary of Study Phases ...... 97

CHAPTER I

THE PROBLEM

Identity is typically defined as an individual’s understanding of who she or he is

(Ahn, 2011). In the case of teachers, “the teacher within is not the voice of conscience but of identity and integrity” (Palmer, 2007, p. 32). Identity changes over the course of a teacher lifetime by virtue of experiences, specifically the relationships, interactions, and opportunities for intentional growth and reflection.

Situating Teacher Identity in the Research

The teacher will always be an important subject in investigative research

(Bullough, 1997; Connelly & Clandinin, 1999; Knowles, 1992; Kompf, Bond, Dworet, &

Boak, 1996) because the teacher drives and guides instruction, fosters social skills, and promotes creative and critical thinking (Barone, Berliner, Blanchard, Casanova, &

McGowan, 1996; Berliner, 2004; Bullough & Baughman, 1997; Shulman, 1987). The purpose of this study was to explore and to improve understanding of the construction of the identity of an in-service teacher. A proven means to do so has been “a permanent dialogue between [teachers, researchers, and others] in the professional landscape [that] may lead to a better insight into what counts as professional in teachers’ professional identity” (Beijaard, Meijer, & Verloop, 2004, p. 128).

In-service teachers hold the key to contextualizing a teacher’s identity, and any study of them must of necessity be multilayered. Studying and learning about the successes and perceptions of in-service teachers can broaden the knowledge base for educators and the field of education, especially important in light of the following 1

statistics: Fourteen percent of first-year teachers will leave the profession; and over 50% of teachers will leave the profession within their first five years (Alliance for Excellent

Education, 2004).

Teachers are most effective when they become experts in their field (Hattie, 2012;

Wong & Wong, 2015). Most try to become skilled teachers as they pass through their years of teaching. Although no precise definition of a skilled or expert teacher exists, many descriptors and attributes are generally accepted. “What differentiates expert teachers from others is that expert teachers understand their subject and they also understand the students that they are teaching” (Findell, 2009, p. 23). The expectation of society is that in-service, or practicing teachers, embody the qualities of an expert teacher; however, this expectation does not always reflect reality.

Not all teachers are skilled teachers; however, the longer a teacher remains in the field, the more opportunities he or she has to develop the five traits noted below.

Understanding what makes a skilled teacher can help to create a blueprint for the development of an expert teacher; and creating a landscape for the development of an expert teacher provides context and depth for the study of teacher identity.

For the purpose of this study, I propose that understanding teacher identity necessitates a standard for designation as a skilled teacher. Five traits of skilled teachers include knowledge of subject, ability to create a climate for learning, adeptness at giving proper feedback, belief in students’ ability to learn, and depth of rigor (Hattie, 2012). The impact that teachers have will always be the leading factor in what matters most in

student learning. (See also Barone et al., 1996; Berliner, 2004; Bullough & Baughman,

1997; Hattie, 2012; Kennedy, 2010; Shulman, 1987; Wong & Wong, 2015).

“Teacher identity—what beginning teachers believe about teaching and learning as self-as-teacher—is of vital concern to teacher education; it is the basis for meaning making and decision making. Teacher education must begin, then, by exploring the teaching self” (Bullough, 1997, p. 21). Teacher education programs must include an exploration of the concept of identity because in these programs “teacher self” joins the

“personal self.” Teacher identity evolves, grows, and changes; in fact, a fluid teacher identity “respond[s] to the space available by accepting, rejecting, or negotiating . . . to shape the space to reflect [his or her] identity” (Pinnegar, 2005, p. 206).

Each skilled teacher requires knowledge about pedagogy, content, and methods.

The way in which these aspects have been defined and explained has changed over time and will continue to change. Experience helps to meld a teacher’s affective, social, and personal knowledge, forming the teacher’s identity (Clift, 2011; Hattie, 2012; Holland,

Lachicotte, Skinner, & Cain, 1998; Huddy, 2001; McNeil, 2011; Murphy & Pinnegar,

2011; Pinnegar, 2005; Wong & Wong, 2015; Young & Erickson, 2011). When teachers are self-aware, they are more likely to understand how they think and why they make the decisions they do. As a teacher’s identity becomes defined and understood, the teacher can help guide the learning of students (Beauchamp & Thomas, 2009; Beijaard, Verloop,

Vermunt, 2000; Graham & Phelps, 2003; Hattie, 2012; Huddy, 2001; Wong & Wong,

2015). In essence, teachers must care about the development of the teacher self in order to grow with their students.

While exploring teacher identity, its complicated nature became apparent. How does a teacher come to identify as such? What are the challenges an individual encounters on a daily basis that precipitate reflection about self, actions, and decisions?

How important is a teacher’s skill level? How is the teacher’s identity formed? The continual evolution of teacher identity confirms the need to study a professional in-service teacher. “Most . . . researchers [have seen] professional identity as an ongoing process of integration of the ‘person’ and the ‘professional’ sides of becoming and being a leader” (Beijaard et al., 2002, p. 113). The in-service teacher is complicated, layered, and ever-changing (Berlinger, 2004; Clift, 2011; Hattie, 2012; MacLellan & Soden,

2003; McNeil, 2011; Murphy & Pinnegar, 2011; Pinnegar, 2005; Tsui, 2005; J. Williams,

Ritter, & Bullock, 2012; Wong & Wong, 2015; Young & Erickson, 2011); but threads that are present during the lifetime of a skilled teacher can be discovered and studied

(Beijaard et al., 2004).

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study was to contribute to understanding teacher identity formation by creating a portrait of an in-service elementary teacher. “In . . . research on teachers’ professional identity, more attention needs to be paid to the relationship between relevant concepts like ‘self’ and ‘identity’” (Beijaard et al., 2004, p. 107) because a teacher uses knowledge about content, pedagogy, and self to guide daily decisions (Danielewicz, 2001; Shulman, 1987). The importance of teacher identity or teacher self is an extension of the knowledge that creates a skilled teacher (Barone et al.,

1996; Berliner, 2004; Hattie, 2012; Palmer et al., 2005; Shulman, 1987). The findings of

this study thus contribute to further discussion about the importance of teachers reflecting on the formation of their identity.

The first layer of becoming a skilled teacher entails recognizing and using the knowledge and experience that comes with being open-minded and willing to learn over time. Share the idea of teachers remaining open to learning over time to improve their craft. Time and devotion drive the journey of becoming a skilled teacher (Barone et al.,

1996; Berliner, 2004; Palmer et al., 2005; Shulman, 1987).

The second layer of a skilled in-service teacher is the pool of knowledge that guides instruction. The three main types of knowledge for teaching include content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge (Shulman,

1987); however, expert teachers take this knowledge further. Derived from teacher self, a skilled teacher incorporates experience into decision-making and relies on personal knowledge and experience to help solve problems and make decisions that are best for the empowerment of students as they learn (Berlinger, 2004; MacLellan & Soden, 2003;

Tsui, 2005).

The deepest layer of a skilled teacher houses the teacher self or identity.

“Teachers’ perceptions of their own professional identity affect their efficacy and professional development as well as their ability and willingness to cope with educational change and to implement innovations in their own teaching practice” (Beijaard, Verloop,

& Vermunt, 2000, p. 2). One goal of this study was to explore how teacher identity is constructed and viewed through the eyes of an educator. “In the last decade, teachers’

professional identity has emerged as a separate research area” (Beijaard et al., 2004, p.

107), which deserves exploration, particularly with in-service teachers.

Research Questions

The following research questions guided the investigation of a skilled teacher who explored her teacher identity and factors contributing to it:

1. What are the dimensions that reveal themselves during a portraiture study of a

practicing teacher?

2. How is a teacher’s identity constructed?

Argument of the Study

Investigating teacher identity is essential in the field of education, but this topic has been absent from undergraduate education programs; thus, practicing teachers do not typically focus on nurturing their identities during their teaching careers. One reason that teacher identity is undervalued may be that teacher training has historically focused on the curriculum instead of the source of the curriculum. Research has shown that

“teachers are among the most powerful influences in learning” (Hattie, 2012, p. 22), and few studies of teacher identity among in-service teachers have shown that “a teacher’s identity not only comprises personal knowledge and action, but it is also influenced by the ideological, political, and cultural interest and circumstances surrounding teachers’ lives and work” (Castañeda, 2011, p. 1). Teachers need a strong awareness of self in order to be “directive, influential, caring, and actively and passionately engaging [in] the process of teaching and learning” (Hattie, 2012, p. 22); and “critically reflecting on

self-as-teacher and the personal and professional meanings impacting teaching practice”

(Lavina, Fleet, & Niland, 2017, p. 143) is a necessity to help grow the understanding of

“public theories and personal images of teaching” (Black & Halliwell, 2000, p. 114).

Guiding Theoretical Framework

The theoretical framework for this study was initially based on a compilation of research by House (1977) and Côté and Levine (2002) and then supplemented with influences of Gee (1996, 1999, 2000), Alsup (2006), Davey (2013), and Holland et al.

(1997). House developed a model called the personality and social structure perspective

(PSSP), one that Côté and Levine used to investigate and understand teacher identity.

The PSSP has two main components—personality and social structure—and the interaction between them is dynamic. Fluid and ongoing in the development of identity, the three levels in the model are personality, interaction, and social structure, which serve as the three interacting components of human identity formation.

The first level of this framework includes personality, where the self, ego, or psyche resides and the psychologist enters to conduct analysis (Côté & Levine, 2002). At this first level lies the moral decision-making capacity of a teacher.

Ethical awareness involves the recognition that everyone is ultimately responsible

in some sense for his or her actions, and that everyone has a responsibility to

some degree for the entire species and not just to one’s group, however narrowly

or widely that group is defined. (Côté & Levine, 2002, p. 99)

An ideological component of self is realized at this level.

Within ethical awareness lies a developmental component. Growth and readiness are developmental and affect the way one’s identity forms over time. “As psychologists long ago established, the behavior of a human adult is not created instantaneously but emerges gradually and develops from the behavior of the child” (Vygotsky, 1930, p. 2).

Similarly, people’s “identities as social beings emerge as [they] construct [their] own individual experiences as a way to position [them]selves in relation to social and cultural expectations” (Schiffrin, 1996, p. 170). “Even everyday behavior has an ideology, a cultural world” (Bakhtin as cited in Holland et al., 1998, p. 141), and “one’s history-in-person is the sediment from past experiences upon which one improvises, using the cultural resources available, in response to the subject positions afforded one in the present” (Holland et al., 1998, p. 18). The “sediments” of past and present are layered to form the next level in House’s model.

The middle level of the model is interaction. Daily interaction takes place among a teacher, students, parents, coworkers, or other people to create dynamics resulting in the many aspects of a teacher’s day. This level involves communication of self in connection with others. A teacher interacts in different ways with each person, choosing a communication style appropriate for the situation. For example, a teacher speaks to a first grader in a manner different from the way she or he speaks to a tenth grader. A teacher speaks to a student who has cheated on a test in a manner different from the way she or he speaks to a parent who has come to school for a conference. Interactions, which are verbal, nonverbal, selective, intentional, and sometimes, unintentional, differ based on the people involved and individual context.

The final level of this model is the social structure. As with any structure involving people, a particular dynamic emerges among individuals. The outside world has systems that function together because of similar characteristics. Cultural and societal ways of functioning are impactful. People are grouped together because they have traits, interests, cultures, and traditions in common. The education world has subsystems that intersect and whose members interact; these include grade-level teachers, specialists, and subject-area teachers, who collectively represent the subsystem within the social structure of a school. In order for teachers to be able to reach and remain at the top of their field, they need to “strike a balance between classroom teaching and collaboration with other professionals in school (Sahlberg, 2015, p. 98; see also Schempp

& Woorons Johnson, 2006; Wenger, 1998). The three levels serve as landing points for identity, yet they continually change; nevertheless, teachers in these subsystems would likely share common traits.

Côté and Levine (2002) stated that the three levels—personality, interaction, and social structure—interact fluidly and continually. A metaphoric pendulum perpetually swings back and forth between personality and interaction, each reliant on the other and each helping to define the other. An individual is defined by the interaction that he or she has with other people. Opinions, dialogue, and verbal interactions continuously affect an individual’s identity or personality; likewise, the interactions among individuals are influenced by varying personalities. The pendulum cannot be stopped, and the interdependence among these levels is indisputable.

A second pendulum swings between interaction and social structure. A group of individuals who interact are always part of a subsystem or a subculture. The values and commonalities of each group will create a change in the social structures that are present, and as these changes take place, the subcultures will morph. Recursive shifting continually occurs (Côté & Levine, 2002). Côté and Levine’s (2002) model of their theory is flat and one-dimensional, but if I were to modernize this model, I would make it a three-dimensional spiral because conversations, dialogue, and interactions among people are never flat. They are a force, colorful, full of life, and vibrant. My vision of the model is vertical or multilayered but never flat. It is a spiral of recursive exchange that ebbs and flows. Nevertheless, Côté and Levine have provided the framework that guided my research process as well as my discovery process in the literature review.

Côté and Levine (2002) focused on two important lessons about identity. The first lesson “is that we all need to be mindful when telling each other what we think

‘identity’ is and how it should be understood. We must also listen to what the other has to say” (p. 12). Erickson, Young, and Pinnegar (2011) conceived of identity as a psychological concept, raising the need to always bear in mind “that ‘identity’ is not simply one thing that can be fully understood from only one vantage point” (pp. 12‒13).

The second lesson regards analyzing identity through a psychological or sociological lens. Applying the psychological lens to identity brings thinking and mental processing into focus, and viewing identity through the sociological lens gives focus to the behavioral aspects of identity (Erickson, Young, & Pinnegar, 2011). Neither lens is more

important than the other; however, a thoughtful analysis and consideration of each one proves fruitful.

Finally, agency ties together the internal and external conflicts of a teacher’s enduring struggle to play many roles. Côté and Levine (2002) called this the

“structural‒agency debate, [which represents the] extent to which behavior is the result of external, social, political, and economic forces, on the one hand, or internal, individual, willful potentials, on the other” (p. 9). The tensions these cause must result in an action, but the question that consistently arises involves balancing the challenges that accompany that action.

Reflection and metacognition are prominent tools in teacher training (Calderhead,

1988; Clandinin & Connelly, 1986; 1988; Connelly & Clandinin, 1986, 1988; Schön,

1983, 1987, 1988; Shulman, 1987, 1988; Sternberg & Wagner, 1986; Toulmin, 1953;

Zeichner & Liston, 1987). Interpersonal and intrapersonal discourse can help define a teacher’s identity early in the formative teacher-education years (Alsup, 2006). An understanding of how to help novice teachers develop and practice personal reflective skills is essential.

Those . . . in teacher education need to engage in dialogue with student teachers

about [the] ideological processes of becoming. [When doing so, teachers can

develop] the critical awareness of the constructedness of knowledge and how

these images set the terms and boundaries of identity. (Hooks, 1994, p. 72)

Agency creates the newness that a teacher experiences as “constructed knowledge” specific to self, and discourse is created through the reflective process

(Davies, 2000; Gee, 2000; Rankin, 1994). Alsup (2006) called this “borderland discourse” (p. 188), which develops “a sense of oneself as one who can go beyond the given meaning in any one discourse and forge something new through a combination of previously unrelated discourses” (Davies, 2000, p. 67). Metacognition and reflection, whether deliberate or not, support a “shift in consciousness that is beginning to occur, or through imagining not what is, but what might be” (Davies, 2000, p. 67).

In this section I elucidated the theoretical framework that guided this research.

The development of teacher identity follows the levels of House’s framework and the influence of Côté and Levine, Alsup, Davey, Gee, and Holland. The levels served as the scaffolding upon which the portraiture study to follow was constructed for my exploration of the way in which a teacher describes and learns about the teacher self.

Conclusion

Teachers are responsible for holding truths, actions, and the promise of their students in their hands every day, charged with ushering them through a passage toward greater understanding of content, themselves, and the world before them (Loughran &

Hamilton (2016). They do not, however, act alone: They have conversations with countless students, parents, and staff members. Each of these interactions influences who the teacher is at every moment in time during her or his career. Developing an awareness of diversity of thought and how information is understood (Hendry, 2011) poses a tremendous challenge that rests upon the shoulders of each teacher. Understanding the scope of knowledge about the teacher as an individual has value because this person interacts with students, educators, and everything that is education.

Meaning-making can be individualized by each teacher. “Th[e] separation between human/divine, male/female, soul/psyche, paradox/control, language/image becomes the first curriculum struggle over what counts as knowledge, who can be a knower, and how knowledge is legitimated” (Hendry, 2011, p. 38). I propose that the teacher is this “knower.” Meaning-making comes in the form of teacher identity or teacher self, a teacher’s habits of mind, and the fountain of teacher knowledge. Each day this information grows and changes, and therefore, each day a teacher’s identity grows and changes.

Definition of Key Terms

The following definitions and descriptions, used as guiding constructs for this study, are helpful in understanding the research and discussion to follow.

Content knowledge or subject matter knowledge: conceptual, skill-based, theoretical information related to a domain, more specifically, the domain of education

(Darling-Hammond, 2006; Feldon, 2007; Hattie, 2012; Shulman, 1986, 1987)

Expert: “a person who has special skills or knowledge in some particular field; specialist, authority” (“Expert,” 2019)

Identity: “a concept that figuratively combines the intimate or personal world with the collective space of cultural forms and social relations” (Holland et al., 1998, p. 5; see also Danielewicz, 2001)

Knowledge: conceptual information related to a domain or schema

(Darling-Hammond, 2006; Feldon, 2007; Hattie, 2012; Shulman, 1987)

Pedagogical content knowledge: a type of knowledge unique to teachers, based on the manner in which they relate their pedagogical knowledge (what they know about teaching) to their subject matter knowledge (what they know about what they teach)

(Cochran, 1997; Shulman, 1987)

Pedagogical knowledge: knowledge specific to teaching (e.g., teaching strategies), used to promote students’ learning (Cochran, 1997; Danielewicz, 2001; Shulman, 1987)

Teacher identity or teacher self: who the teacher thinks he or she is or what other people think the teacher is (Cochran, 1997; Danielewicz, 2001; Hattie, 2012; Shulman,

1986, 1987)

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

The literature review in this chapter focuses on how teachers understand, explain, and construct their professional identity. The first section includes a discussion of the position of identity in the literature and a framework for teacher identity, followed by a historical overview of identity found in sociology. The concept and characteristics of teacher identity as well as the influences upon identity are then explored. A thorough discussion of professional teacher identity sets the stage for understanding a teacher’s shifting identity. The final section covers the identity of a skilled teacher. Although this is a rich area of research, the literature indicated the need for pursuing further study.

Position of Identity in the Literature

A review of scholarly literature showed that a description of identity appears more than any agreed-upon definition (Beauchamp & Thomas, 2009; Beijaard et al., 2004;

Britzman, 2003; Cochran-Smith, 2004; Giroux, 2005; Rodgers & Scott, 2008; Zembylas,

2003a, 2003b). “In the education literature, ‘identity’ and ‘professional identity’ are terms often used interchangeably, but seldom defined or explained” (Davey, 2013, p. 24).

When referring to teacher identity, the concept is carried through many fields of study including sociology, culture, anthropology, philosophy, and psychology (Ball, 1972;

Coldron & Smith, 1999; Goffman, 1959; Wenger, 1998). An accepted perspective from which to study it derives from a social context, “a state of being” (Danielewicz, 2001, p.

3) and involves how one is described by other people. The framework for studying

identity entails formation, agency, and culture with a focus on interactions between personality and social structures (Côté & Levine 2002).

The research of Erikson (1950), which focused on the entire lifetime of humans, gained favor during the mid-1900s; and he is still perceived as a pioneer in the field of human development. His stages of psychological development were helpful in understanding the “foundation for emotional and social development and mental health” of individuals (Mooney, 2013, p. 54); this is a psychological foundation for understanding identity. Sound research has shown that identity develops and can strengthen over one’s lifetime. Each stage of identity development will optimally yield strength, hope, will power, purpose, competence, fidelity, love, care, and wisdom

(Mooney, 2013), traits that impact the life of a teacher.

Defining identity begins with a question: Who am I? (Gee, 2000; Graham &

Phelps, 2003; Oyserman, Elmore, & Smith, 2012; Rodgers & Scott, 2008; Rogoff, 2003).

“Identities are the traits and characteristics, social relations, roles, and social group memberships that define who one is” (Oyserman et al., 2014, p. 69). People define themselves by their traits, who they know, how they act, what they want to be, what they are, and who surrounds them. Others define people by what they say, who they want them to be, how they describe them, the words they use about them. Identity is basically reliant on a social context. Socrates said that “Know thyself” is a foundation for building a strong sense of self, but ironically knowing oneself also entails knowing one’s unknown self (Davey, 2013).

Another approach to understanding identity is through sociology, which is dependent on society. Societal and outside influences play a role in the development of self as well as the inner workings of a person (Côté & Levine, 2002). Perspectives from the inner self and perspectives from societal influences impact the development of identity.

“Identity is wrapped around what we think of ourselves, in social context, and what other people think of us” (Danielewicz, 2001, p. 10). Although people try to dissect identity, the whole comprises a mélange of traits that cannot be separated because they are forever intertwined. This framework illustrates the recursive motion and interaction between social structure and personality (Côté & Levine, 2002).

The Framework of Teacher Identity

Teacher identity continues to be complicated and is conceptualized differently across the scope of current research; spoken, unspoken, professional, personal, and situational issues emanate from the teacher (Beijaard et al., 2004). A teacher’s decisions and actions morph continually based on surroundings, dialogue, setting, and the changing situation. Identity also fluctuates based on a teacher’s career stage (Coldron & Smith,

1999; Richardson & Placier, 2001). The teacher is both the constant and the variable.

Teacher identity is situated with a social context, but the individual and social context are intertwined.

Teacher identity can be parsed into identity of self as well as identity of self within a community. This mirrors Erikson’s (1968) recognition of the “social and personal dimensions of identity, thereby planting the seeds for a comprehensive,

multidimensional theory of identity formation” (p. 14). In both of these dynamics, conscious, and subconscious decisions, actions, and discourse occur (Richardson &

Placier, 2001).

The concept of self is broad and deep (Gil, 2000, p. 54). Four layers constitute teacher identity. Focus 1 is teacher self or teacher identity; notably, only a small gap typically exists between the personal and professional self (Beijaard et al., 2004). Focus

2 is the teacher’s place in society as an individual teacher and as part of a community

(Tajfel & Turner, 1986). Community and societal opinions about teachers often create challenges for teachers (Beijaard et al., 2004). These factors all affect teacher identity.

Focus 3 is the ever-changing dimension of teacher identity: A teacher changes on a personal level as well as on a professional level. Focus 4 is the agency of a teacher to take action in situations through problem-solving. Overall, teacher identity continuously evolves and changes (Agee, 2004; Beijaard et al., 2004; Britzman, 2003; Carter & Doyle,

1996; Clandinin & Huber, 2005; Coldron & Smith, 1999; Fitzgerald, 1993; Gee, 2000;

MacLure, 1993; Smagorinsky, Cook, Moore, Jackson, & Fry, 2004). Most importantly,

“identity formation is a process of practical knowledge-building characterized by an ongoing integration of what is individually and collectively seen as relevant for teaching”

(Beijaard et al., 2004, p. 123).

Historical Overview of Identity

Identity has been an important concept in educational research (Beijaard et al.,

2004). Although its meaning has not always been adequately defined, understanding the prevalence of the concept of teacher identity as a theme in research is important. The

brief recounting in this chapter will by no means illuminate all the research on this topic, but it will show the importance and relevance of conducting further research.

John Dewey proposed that the teacher is at the core of the educational process, and the curriculum is enhanced and made accessible through the teacher. He focused on the pragmatic self in his research on moral theory and ethics: “The self reveals its nature in what it chooses. In consequence, a moral judgment upon an act is also a judgment upon the character or selfhood of the one doing the act” (Boydston, 1985/2008, p. 287).

Dewey believed that the self was expressed through one action, which helps to determine future thoughts and actions; furthermore, that one single action influences and continually shapes the identity (Boydston, 1985/2008).

During the late 1800s and early 1900s, William James, G. H. Mead, and Charles

Horton Cooley researched the notion of I and self. James (1890) perceived many selves within a person. Although not a completely new concept, James delved into the idea of the self in an original way, referring to a group-based self. The idea was that people have numerous identities associated (a) with various relationships and (b) with the many roles they play. Mead, Cooley, and James believed that “self” was divided into multiple parts: the knower as well as the known (Côté & Levine, 2002, p. 21). Understanding that the self is complex with components like feelings, self-concepts, and connections to society became important and also increased interest in this field of study. Cooley (1902) applied the phrase “through the looking glass” to illuminate “investigation about self- esteem and reflected appraisal and their associations with various strategies of self- presentation” (Côté & Levine, 2002, p. 21).

Mead (1934) focused squarely on the connection of self to society, developing the principles of personality, interaction, and social structure, which he explained as follows:

(a) how the mind processes information, (b) how one internally processes connections to the self and outside the self, and then (c) how the self and everyone around an individual can be impacted. Côté and Levine (2002) used the ideas of Mead and built upon them.

Interactions between personality and social structures are the key to the foundational framework for their theories as connected to Erikson’s (1968) work. Côté and Levine claimed a constant spiraling of these facets of self as personality are the connecting threads. Goffman (1959, 1963) was the next researcher to focus on the many “selves” within the self, arguing that each self would behave based on various situations and supporting Mead’s theory with the three dimensions: ego, personality, and social identity.

Goffman reinforced the ideas prominent in the field of sociology.

Erikson (1968) emerged in the 60s with three dimensions of identity: “the subjective/psychological dimension, or ego identity qua a sense of temporal-spatial continuity and its concomitants; the personal dimension, or a behavioral and character repertoire that differentiates individuals; and the social dimension, or recognized roles within a community” (Côté & Levine, 2002, p. 15). With these dimensions he built upon the research and ideas of earlier studies. Erikson’s (1968) work brought new concepts of identity and self to the forefront of research in sociology and education.

Researchers studied identity to understand individual development and personal identities; through the lenses of sociology, psychology, anthropology, and philosophy, they viewed identity as a fixed and knowable entity (Ball, 1972; Gergen, 2000; Goffman,

1959; Kondo, 1990; Lilienfield et al., 1999; Lortie, 1975; Mayer, 2003; Taylor, 1989; D.

Walker, 1976). The “self” could maintain a personal identity through development, but the notion that identity evolves over a person’s lifetime has been in place only since the

1980s. A person’s identity is constructed over the course of a lifetime through experiences and beliefs (Coffey, 1999), an idea that changed the approach to thinking about self and identity.

Alsup (2006) promoted discourse as a method to develop identity. Côté and

Levine (2002) agreed that social interaction plays an important role in identity formation.

Gee (1999) stated that the “weaving together of various subjectivities or understandings of self as expressed through genres of discourse and influences by multiple life experiences” helps to construct identity. Doing so can bridge multiple selves created through discourse. Benwell and Stokoe (2006) stated that the conversation that takes place facilitates identity construction because it is “accomplished, disputed, ascribed, resisted, managed, and negotiated in discourse” (p. 4). The analysis of such discourse can help to add and change identity.

This overview of identity discovery was intended to show how identity is shaped, formed, and changed through thought, interaction, discourse, and time. Adding the layer of “teacher” to this shapes identity even further. Identity can take on additional layers as it adapts to various settings, for example, the educational setting and all that is encompassed in the life of a teacher.

Characteristics of Teacher Identity

Teacher identity is based on a wide range of colorful characteristics, described as a combination of qualities. A substantial body of literature is available on this topic, which is a focus in teacher education programs (Beauchamp & Thomas, 2009; Campbell,

2013; Connelly & Clandinin, 1999; Danielewicz, 2001; Darling-Hammond, 2006; Liu &

Xu, 2011; Marsh, 2002a, 2000b; Moore, Edwards, Halpin, & George, 2002; Weber &

Mitchell, 1995; Zembylas, 2005). Teacher identity has been studied for many years, but during the latter half of the 20th century, a spotlight has focused on the importance of understanding teacher identity as continually under reconstruction throughout a teacher’s career, a concept commonly held in contemporary studies (Liu & Xu, 2011; Watson,

2006).

Teacher identity is influenced by many aspects of a teacher’s life. Resources, setting, administration, geographical location, personal life, and support systems can be driving factors in the formation of a teacher’s identity, which is developed over time.

Self-identity and self-evaluation are key components that will affect how a teacher understands self (Beijaard, 1995). The teacher education program coursework, field experience, student teaching, and possible substitute teaching experiences all leave an imprint in the formation of one’s teacher identity’ the formative teaching years leave lasting imprints on teachers as well (Pearce & Morrison, 2011).

Transition to the Workforce

Many incoming teachers find the transition to the workforce frustrating when they are unsure about navigating their new environment. “Through time spent in schools and

classroom, teachers-in-training acquire essential first-hand experience using the knowledge and skills they have learned in their coursework” (Danielson, 2007, p. 27).

They have practiced in classrooms but are now expected to handle routines and procedures that are new to them. New teachers

probably will have received no training in such non-instructional activities as how

to maintain discipline, conduct a parent conference, keep a grade book, act and

dress for success, teacher procedures and routines, or deal with negative,

unsupportive, and energy draining students and colleagues. (Wong & Wong,

2015, p. 14)

These are the types of things that differ from building to building and district to district.

Novice teachers must also learn to apply the theory and philosophy they have learned and translate them to everyday teaching practice (Lortie, 1975). Doing so is often a challenge as these teachers gradually relinquish their idealized vision of what they thought teaching would be, compared to the tremendous responsibility that it actually is

(Sachs, 2001, 2005). Practicing teachers may not have been taught this as part of their schooling, but new teachers deserve to realize and understand, at least in a conceptualized way, to imagine their idealized vision of teaching might not be realized.

Exposure to broader thinking for novice teachers was added to teacher education programs at the turn of the 21st century.

Difficult experiences based on lack of preparation as well as positive ones help teachers form their identities. Events and situations in society are also influential. The students, the experiences the teacher has with them, and the activities in which the

teacher participates also help to shape the teacher’s identity, which constitutes and is constituted by them.

In and through these discourses [people] ascribe to [their] bodily feelings,

emotions, intentions, and all the other psychological attributes that have for so

long been attributed to a unified self. In this sense, subjects do their emotions;

emotions do not just happen to them. (Samier & Schmidt, 2009, p. 103; cf

Foucault; 1977)

The complexity of teacher identity is shown through the discourse and interaction of all of complex situations experienced and emotions felt over time. The construction, creation, and evolution of teacher identity is unending.

In addition, teacher identity is discoverable through the hermeneutic journey of currere (Henderson & Gornik, 2007), which emphasizes the journey of self-discovery through reflection.

A major hurdle to gaining an understanding of identity is resolving a definition of

it, as a variety of issues surface in any attempt to reach a definition. That said,

one must struggle to comprehend the close connection between identity and the

self. (Beauchamp & Thomas, 2009, p. 176)

This journey must take place for a teacher to be able to define his or her own true identity, but few current in-service teachers have typically engaged in the process of reflection because doing so came into practice only in the late 1990s; therefore, some in-service teachers struggle to use reflection as a source of discovery for themselves as well as for their students. Reflection is, however, beneficial for teachers and students—a

life skill that can benefit anyone that uses it to help process thinking and actions

(Henderson & Gornik, 2007).

Professional Identity of the Teacher

Teacher identity is a description of who the teacher is as well as how and why she or he acts in particular ways. Concepts that encompass a teacher’s professional identity include the following: self-perception, role, self-identity (Beijaard et al., 2004; Goodson

& Cole, 1994); reflections, personal narratives, personal and social histories (Antonek,

McCormick, & Donato, 1997; Gardner, 1995); image, biography, and image of teaching

(Sugrue, 1997); roles, self, self-image, and professional self (Volkmann & Anderson,

1998); social space, traditions, biography, social structure, agency, and active location

(Coldron & Smith, 1999); and self, cultural context, and professional environment

(Samuel & Stephens, 2000). Research and studies overlap with similar ideas, concepts, and discoveries but ultimately lead to the following questions: What kind of teacher do you want to become? How do you know? How do you get there?

As noted above, currere is a way of reflecting on one’s professional teaching journey, which influences a teacher’s personal identity. Reflecting on one’s life story always involves historical fiction in which threads of truth, history, and emotional stories are woven together. Wherein lies the truth? No one really knows. It is not a quantitative account—it is perception. Currere, which is a reflective analysis of one’s perspective of what took place in a given situation, can have a profound effect on a teacher’s actions.

Teachers need and deserve to discover their professional identity through this

hermeneutic currere process. The gathering of personal stories, accounts, actions, the real curriculum, and instruction give rise to the professional teacher identity.

Henderson and Gornik (2007) might have argued that understanding professional teacher identity can be accomplished by using “reflecting-in-action” as a tool to understand self and teacher identity. The hermeneutic journey may help with the discovery process, theories, research, and experience providing the strongest basis for curriculum decisions (Henderson & Gornik, 2007; D. F. Walker, 2003).

Teachers continually make decisions that become a part of their identity and self, and continuous reflection or lack thereof creates new folds in the identity of the teacher.

The reflective process can be a positive route for self-actualization; in fact, the struggle to let go of the technical aspects of all that teachers do and to truly sink into the “swamp sphere [where the teacher] can engage the most important and challenging problems”

(Schӧn, 1983, p. 42) lies at the core of teacher identity.

The bottom line is determining how to discover a teacher’s professional identity.

“Professional identity development is the process of integrating personal knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, norms, and values on the one hand, and the professional demands from teacher education institutes and schools, including broadly accepted values and standards about teaching” (Beijaard et al., 2004, p. 143). The teacher educator must, therefore, guide the novice teacher toward a journey of understanding and of creating a professional identity. The teacher educator is most equipped for this task because “many teacher educators come from K‒12 teaching backgrounds, conventional wisdom suggests their

existing professional knowledge can be seamlessly transferred to teacher education” (J.

Williams et al., 2012, p. 245).

Professional Identity of the Novice Teacher

A natural struggle for novice teachers as well as seasoned in-service teachers occurs when daily happenings come into opposition with the belief systems they hold. In fact, the expectations of novice teachers are put to the test as soon as their students walk into the classroom.) The romantic, dream version of the fantasy stage, or Stage 1 of the four stages of teaching (Wong & Wong, 2015), dissipates quickly once the novice teacher engages in daily activities. “Student teaching rarely includes any training on what to do on the first day of school” (Wong & Wong, 2015, p. 3). As all educators know, the early years are challenging, exciting, frustrating, and empowering; they present a dichotomy and smorgasbord (Alsup, 2006; Meijer, 2011; Olsen, 2010; Pillen, Beijaard, & den Brok,

2013; Smagorinsky et al., 2004).

“The early years of teaching are often characterized by a ‘survival’ mentality because [teacher education programs] have often failed to provide for careful support and thoughtful development of teaching expertise over time” (Bartell, 2004, p. 3). Stage 2, survival, sets in early; and the need to hang on for dear life that accompanies it is familiar to anyone who has been a first-year teacher. Learning to manage and balance all the necessary responsibilities challenges every novice teacher. Teachers reach Stage 3, mastery, when they are able to use effective teaching practices, impact learning, and set high expectations for students (Bartell, 2004); to make a true positive difference with learning. Stage 4 entails impact. A teacher in this stage has the “it” factor necessary to

change the lives of students. “These are the teachers whom students come back years later to thank for affecting their lives” (Wong & Wong, 2015, p. 6).

New teachers bring varying backgrounds, motivations, experiences, and

preparation levels to their initial teaching experience. Their view of the

profession and their role in it is shaped by these motivations, as well as by the

context in which they begin their work. (Bartell, 2004, p. 1)

Novice teachers are typically overwhelmed at the beginning of their career lives. Wong and Wong (2015) have told new teachers, “You will be expected to perform your full complement of duties immediately while learning them at the same time” (p. 17). People talk, think, and plan for entering the workforce from the time they are children, but once this time has come, they can quickly become very overwhelmed.

Teachers take various routes to enter the classroom. “While the more traditional approach to preparing teachers predominates, an increasing number of teachers come to teach through what has been broadly termed ‘alternate routes’” (Bartell, 2004, p. 7).

Teachers enter the workforce without having finished course work or having spent significant time in a classroom, so the educational environment includes people of various ages and skills. Regardless of teacher preparation path, students are suddenly entrusted to a new teacher who is expected to know exactly what to do at all times. “The beginning teacher is expected to assume the same tasks and responsibilities as the most seasoned teacher on the staff” (Wong & Wong, 2015, p. 16). This can seem like a daunting task.

“Nearly every study of retention in the teaching profession identifies the first three years as the riskiest on the job, the years in which teachers are most likely to leave”

(Bartell, 2004, p. 3). The list of “tensions” for a new teacher is extensive (Pillen et al.,

2013).

[The] social-psychological perspective on beginning teachers’ professional

identity tensions [is one] in which professional identity development is seen as the

process of integrating one’s personal knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, norms and

values, on the one hand, and professional demands from teacher education

institutes and schools, including broadly accepted values and standards about

teaching [on the other]. (Beijaard et al., 2004, p. 104)

Teachers who embark on a career with this outlook bear a defeating burden.

Novice teachers bring new knowledge and past experiences with them to their first teaching jobs. This schema contains the first seeds of their teaching identities

(Alsup, 2006; Beattie, 2000; Black, 1999; Britzman, 2003; Glass, 2012; Lortie, 1975;

Minor, Onwuegbuzie, Witcher, & James, 2002; Scott, 2005; Sleeter, 2008). “The conflict between teacher as a person and the teacher as a professional” (Pillen et al.,

2013, p. 674) might be ever-present. This tension can arise throughout a practicing teacher’s career, but these challenges should not limit a novice teacher. Those tensions should instead ignite the novice teacher’s excitement to know that their journey to becoming an educator will be tantamount to riding a roller coaster.

The realization of a teacher’s professional identity can be challenging, ongoing, and transformative. This is the first time in a professional’s life that personal identity

melds with a new, undeveloped professional identity; and the challenge of taking on a new job, which could also be a first job for some individuals, is intimidating and alien.

Thus, clarification of the manner in which teachers reinvent their identity at all stages of their careers, is essential.

Shifting Teacher Identity

The challenge in learning about teacher identity is its fluid nature. “Both product

(a result of influences on the teacher) and process (a form of ongoing interaction within teacher development)” (Beauchamp & Thomas, 2009, p. 177), teacher identity comprises four major components of influence:

1. Professional identity is an ongoing process of interpretation and

re-interpretation;

2. Professional identity implies both person and context;

3. A teachers’ professional identity consists of sub-identities that more or less

harmonize; and

4. Agency is an important element of professional identity meaning that teachers

have to be active in the process of professional identity. (Beijaard et al., 2004,

p. 122)

Teacher identity is a fluid process that continues to change over a teacher’s lifetime.

People have many identities that continue to undergo shaping throughout life (Gee,

2000). Identity is formed through personal experiences and perceptions as well as through continual interactions with other people.

Identity, which will always be dependent on situations, contexts, happenings, and the people involved, is typically described in terms of layers of categories and is replete with complexities. Finally, ongoing professional development and professional experiences continue to influence the evolution process. Teacher identity is extremely complex, changing, and unique from teacher to teacher.

The hermeneutic story, or interpretive text, of a teacher changes during a teacher’s career and over a teacher’s lifetime. The whole person or teacher is a growing individual. “Each teacher expresses in his or her active relations with children the qualities that make up the ethical sphere of teaching as a professional practice” (Van

Manen, 1994, p. 161). A teacher’s narrative, just like a teacher’s identity, is constantly in flux and development. Teacher identity is connected with the whole teacher: “Any authentic call ultimately comes from the voice of the teacher within, the voice that invites me to honor the nature of my true self” (Palmer, 2007, p. 30). Referring to “inner life” synonymously as self or identity, Palmer stated:

Teaching, like any truly human activity, emerges from one’s inwardness, for

better or worse. As I teach, I project the condition of my soul onto my students,

my subject, and our way of being together. The entanglements I experience in the

classroom are often no more or less than the convolutions of my inner life.

(Palmer & Scribner, 2007, p. 102)

The fluctuation of identity is a constant in the literature. J. Williams and Hayler

(2016) contended that “The construction of a professional identity as a career-long process influenced by a range of personal and social experiences is particularly evident

from self-studies of teacher education practice” (p. 148). Wenger (1998) argued that “we define who we are by where we have been and where we are going” (p. 149), adding that

“our identities form trajectories, both within and across communities of practice” (p.

154). Dewey (Boydston, 1985/2008) referred to the “self in action”; likewise, Wenger

(1998) described fluctuation as “constant becoming.” Henderson and Gornik (2007) called it “transformational or reflective learning.” Schön (1983) called it

“reflecting-in-action.” Côté and Levine (2002) used the personality and social structure model. Each of these researchers supported the notion that identity grows and changes through time based on professional and personal experiences. Glass (2012) stated, “As well as experiences of and about education, dispositions and attitudes towards particular experiences (in this case, becoming a teacher) are embedded in life histories” (p. 30; cf.

Billet, 1997, 2009; Glass, 2012).

The Identity of an Expert Teacher

The identity of an expert teacher can be understood in terms of a set of characteristics and forms of knowledge she or he possesses.

Characteristics

An expert teacher is qualified as such through examples and documentation found in the literature. A teacher becomes an expert through the connection to knowledge taught as well as the acquisition of a high level of self-knowledge. Five dimensions characterize expert teachers. They

● have high levels of knowledge and understanding of the subjects they teach;

● can guide learning to desirable surface and deep outcomes;

● can successfully monitor learning and provide feedback that assists students to

progress;

● can attend to the more attitudinal attributes of learning (especially developing

self-efficacy and mastery motivation);

● can provide defensible evidence of positive impacts of the teaching on

students’ learning. (Hattie, 2012, pp. 27‒28)

The enthusiasm that a teacher brings to instruction is “visible” and palpable, energy that can be identified as passion, interest, excitement, and caring. Most of all, it results in a chain reaction of positive student learning outcomes (Hattie, 2012; Steele, 2009).

“The effective teacher must be proficient in three characteristics: (a) has positive expectations for student success; (b) is an extremely good classroom manager; and (c) knows how to design lessons for student mastery” (Wong & Wong, 2015, p. 2).

Research overlaps, but the results of effective teaching are typically measured through student outcomes; for example, standardized assessments are commonly used in public schools to determine the efficacy of a teacher’s abilities.

According to the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education

(NCATE) (2006), teachers must be skilled in pedagogical knowledge, subject-specific knowledge, and developmental knowledge; possess an understanding of how learning takes place; and finally, through practice, must learn how to combine these teaching traits to successfully motivate and promote student learning. “Most teacher education courses incorporate three major elements—general education involving liberal-arts type courses, methods and foundations courses, and field-based experiences” (Graham &Phelps, 2003,

p. 2), yet inconsistent research has failed to validate the balance of these courses as effective (Fullan, 1991; Graham & Phelps, 2003; Zeichner & Gore, 1990). The complexity of knowledge that teachers need to have mastered, however, has been similarly described across teacher preparation literature.

Forms of Knowledge

Knowledge of pedagogy and subject matter is essential to be a skilled teacher, and it comes in two forms. The first is pedagogy, which refers to the knowledge of practical teaching applications (“Pedagogy,” 2012). Pedagogical content knowledge can also be seen as “subject matter knowledge for teaching” (Shulman, 1986, p. 9), the specialized knowledge required to teach subjects. The second form of knowledge is a well-rounded understanding of the content to be taught. Expert teachers understand the art of blending and weaving pedagogy together with content knowledge (Griffith, Bauml, & Barksdale,

2015). In these two domains subject-matter knowledge, instructional strategies, knowledge of students, knowledge of curriculum, and the blending of these skills come into play (Lee & Luft, 2008).

Deep learning takes place when expert teachers are able to use both content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge in a manner that reaches beyond surface level interpretations of content matter. This is intentional instruction that meets the higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy (Bloom, Mesia, & Krathwohl, 1964; Harrow, 1972;

Simpson, 1972). That said, teachers use various techniques to ensure that students can master the key ideas taught. Expert teachers choose effective, research-based strategies, but deep learning also requires goal setting. “The more accomplished teachers set tasks

that had a greater degree of challenge; they were more sensitive to context, and they had a deeper understanding of the content being taught” (Hattie, 2012, pp. 32‒33).

Expert teachers have an understanding of the end goal to be attained (Wiggins &

McTighe, 2005), designing instruction so that the learning spirals until a deep understanding of the content occurs. Students benefit from goal setting in several ways:

Goal setting (a) helps students to work harder to be successful and (b) helps students and teachers to stay on track in order to achieve deep learning (Goodwin & Hubbell, 2013;

Locke & Lathan, 2006; Marzano, 2000). Goal setting can seem like an easy task, or one that we take for granted; however, students need to be taught how to do this (Latham &

Locke, 2006; Locke & Latham, 1984, 1990).

Students need to understand the big picture of what they are learning as well as the steps required to achieve this goal. This is the path to deep learning. A student should set learning goals and not performance goals; teachers should explain the skill to be achieved, which is the learning goal. A performance goal, for example, could be the grade earned. The act of learning is the most important factor that will produce a long- lasting emotional outcome for the student (Dweck, 2010). In fact, deep learning takes place when students are empowered (Latham & Locke, 2006; Locke & Latham, 1984,

1990).

Novice teachers face many challenges. “Even the most well-prepared teachers need assistance in applying what they have learned and in moving from a student-teaching situation to their own classroom where they are now fully in charge”

(Bartell, 2004, p. 3). The goal is that when a teacher candidate finishes a teacher

education program, he or she becomes a novice teacher with a strong grasp of content in the fields being taught. Rarely are teachers thought to need to learn the content they teach after they have entered their own classrooms, but teacher candidates require practice with pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). The linking of PCK and pedagogical skills, however, can pose a challenge (Bartell, 2004; Graham & Phelps,

2003; Wong & Wong, 2015).

Conclusion

Education is always changing; knowledge has grown exponentially in the age of technology, and teachers with a keen understanding of self and how they fit into the larger picture of their field will always be needed. “Taking up teaching as part of one’s personal identity involves gaining experience while negotiating a multiplicity of authoritative discourses of teaching” (Graham & Phelps, 2003, p. 11). Furthermore, “the changing role of teachers, together with the increased demands and expectations placed upon them, will significantly influence the types of knowledge(s) teachers require in their undergraduate education and ongoing professional development” (Graham & Phelps,

2003, p. 2).

The goal of educators is to remain current and to grow as lifelong learners, even within a mutable and challenging environment. “There is little doubt that the role of the teacher has changed significantly in recent years along with the status of teaching as a profession and the demands and expectations the community places on teachers and schools” (Graham & Phelps, 2003, p. 11; cf. Groundwater-Smith, Cusworth & Dobbins,

1998; Vick, 1998). This statement could have applied 100 years ago, or it could be

applied 100 years in the future. The demands of teachers may have differed throughout the years, but the expectations are significant regardless of the era or century.

Throughout a career a teacher must continuously answer one quintessential question—“Who am I?” Finally, “in establishing an identity as a teaching professional, it is critical that teacher education students come to understand their identity as a lifelong learner and consequently, their own values, attitudes, and beliefs as learners” (Graham &

Phelps, 2003, p. 1). All teachers deserve the opportunity to understand and claim their professional teacher identity.

CHAPTER III

DESIGN OF THE STUDY

The purpose of this chapter was to discuss the methods used to support this research study. The chapter opens with a discussion of the rationale for using a qualitative approach, followed by an explanation of the use of a case study in the form of portraiture to support the exploration of teacher identity. Next, I present the research questions that guide the study and discuss its context and duration. I then introduce the participant of the study and provide a foundational explanation of the three main forms of data collection that I used: interviews, observations, artifact analysis. The chapter closes with an approach used in the content analysis. The methodological basis of the research design is paramount to understanding the exploration of teacher identity.

The guiding questions for the research study appear in Table 1:

Table 1

Research Questions

Research Question Data Sources to Answer the Question 1. What are the dimensions that Semistructured face-to-face interviews; reveal themselves during a observations; conversations with analytic portraiture study of a practicing memos; instructional artifacts teacher?

2. How is a teacher’s identity Semistructured face-to-face interviews; constructed? observations; conversations with analytic memos; instructional artifacts

Qualitative Approach

The purpose of this study was to uncover and reveal how teacher identity is constructed, and I chose a qualitative approach, which requires continuous exploration and reflection (Stake, 1995), to do so for many sound reasons. Experiencing the intentional discovery process of making meaning and exploring personal accounts are hallmarks of qualitative research (Bogdan & Biklen, 2003; Denzin & Lincoln, 2005).

“We define who we are by where we have been and where we are going” (Wenger, 1998, p. 149). Like any person a teacher continually experiences and interacts, and her or his identity continuously reshapes itself and is realized over time. A teacher is charged with the act of metacognition to process these experiences and use them to help impact the instructional process. “Critically reflective teaching happens when we identity and scrutinize the assumptions that undergird how we work” (Brookfield, 1995, p. xii).

A hallmark of a qualitative study is to begin with research questions, which are typically designed to investigate open-ended theories. The goal of this study was to create a depth of understanding through rich accounts, observations, and investigations with the participant (Patton, 2002; Seidman, 1998). For this study, I explored teacher identity through discussion and exploration with a participant specifically chosen for this study. This process was one of discovery.

Because teacher identity changes and constantly reconstructs itself, the logical course of action was to conduct a qualitative study for this process. The study evolved over time, and knowledge was generated through this process while studying the context, setting, situations, and descriptions. Another hallmark of qualitative research, the process

of constructing knowledge is an attempt “to understand and make sense of phenomena from the participant’s perspective” (Merriam & Associates, 2002, p. 6).

Qualitative research takes place in a natural setting for participants; thus,

“understanding the particular context within which the participants act and the influence that this context has on their actions” (Maxwell, 2005, p. 22) is particularly important. In the case of the teacher participant, the natural setting is a school or classroom. “This framework was developed out of a recognition of the importance of understanding the impact of cultural context on the three levels of identity” (Côté &Levine, 2002, p.

124)—social, personal, and ego—that are present in the natural environments of a teacher

(Côté & Levine, 2002). For the teacher in this study, the natural setting was one of comfort to her and functioned as her stage; therefore, she chose to use her classroom for many of the interviews. Some of the research was completed in the natural context of a teacher’s day; for example, observations were conducted while she conducted class

(Denzin & Lincoln, 2005).

An additional key factor in qualitative research is that the participants are able to explore and share phenomena, for example, the cultural and social phenomena that are ubiquitous across the teaching profession. The qualitative “framework is meant to provide a basis for discussion” (Côté, 2002, p. 125), which characterizes the nature of the data collection process of interviewing. Such a framework is absent from quantitative studies. Exploration and sharing of phenomena must be done through a story, narrative, or through investigative description. This is unlike research that is positivist.

Quantitative research is rich, in-depth, and colorful (Strauss & Corbin, 1990).

Yet another hallmark of qualitative research is a researcher who is an active participant in the study (Creswell, 2005). In the case of this project, I collected the data, conducted interviews, gathered artifacts, and synthesized information. Most important in the research process is intimacy (Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997, p. 147), which the researcher, the propeller who guides and drives a study, can achieve only through the qualitative research process.

Qualitative research is the best form of inquiry when “the researcher is the primary instrument for data collection and data analysis” (Merriam & Associates, 2002, p. 5). I was that primary instrument. Observations and interviews were used for data collection. To strengthen the data collection process, field notes, collected artifacts, and analytic memos rounded out the necessary tools to gather descriptive details of experiences. “Voice” is another crucial element in the qualitative research process

(Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997). I used my voice in an interpretive manner to ensure that the goals of creating knowledge were sensitive and accurate as I gathered and analyzed data. In an inductive approach, researchers gather data to build concepts, hypotheses, or theories (Merriam & Associates, 2002). My role was to gather extensive, rich, and deep data from the participant so that I could create meaning that was both detailed and descriptive.

Qualitative data collected in the form of words that describe actions, feelings, observations, and context is “richly descriptive” (Merriam & Associates, 2002, p. 5), contributing to the “descriptive” nature of the research. “A central characteristic of qualitative research is that individuals construct reality in interactions with their social

worlds” (Merriam & Associates, 2002, p. 37). I was particularly interested in learning how teachers described and made meaning of “who they are as a teacher” and “how ethics might shape them.” The complexity of identity allowed for a true portrait to be created in this study. I sought to uncover, discover, and synthesize information to make meaning of the data collected. “The meaning of an experience is constructed by an individual interacting with other people; meaning is formed as the person intersects with society” (Merriam & Associates, 2002, p. 37). As the researcher, I had a duty to and investment in this study. With this in mind, my presence and dedication to the study aligned with qualitative research (Merriam & Associates, 2002).

Case Study: Research Design Method 1

During the initial stages of thinking about this research project, I did not intend to conduct a case study; the decision to do so as a methodological choice arose later in the research process. I had commenced my study in order to keep its scope broad; I had not wanted to be forced into a particular lane of thinking. That said, the more I researched teacher identity and learned about the evolution, underpinnings, and nature of change that a teacher experiences, the more frequently I thought about my participant. Ultimately, I came to appreciate case study as a methodology the most frequently used qualitative research method (Borg, 2003; Gall, Gall, & Borg, 2007).

This project was created as a result of “a choice of what needed to be studied”

(Stake, 2000, p. 435). This “what” (the participant) continually surfaced in my consciousness as a potential participant for this research. I determined my approach based on the identity of an expert teacher, which is empirically a bounded system. The

participant needed to have the characteristics of a practicing, in-service, skilled elementary school teacher. Identity is naturally bound because it is central and focused to one authentic self. The idea of the participant for a case study was the determinant that impacted my decision. “The selection [of a participant in a case study] is done purposefully, not randomly; that is, a particular person, site, program, process, community, or other bounded system is selected because it exhibits characteristics of interest to the researcher” (Merriam & Associates, 2002, p. 179). This explanation of how a case study is born closely parallels my own experience.

Studying one expert teacher can help create an ideal vision of an expert teacher.

Once such an image is created, this “vivid portrait of excellent teaching . . . can become a prototype that can be used in the education of teachers or for the appraisal of teaching”

(Eisner, 1991, p. 199); it can serve as a constant comparative. Such a study should be “a rich resource for examining and interpreting behavior, thought, and feeling”

(Lawrence-Lightfoot, 2000 p. 41). Although a poststructural understanding may allow readers to create their own takeaways, the portrait of an undeniably expert professional teacher will indeed be unveiled in the following pages. Ultimately, readers will be able to make meaning from and connection to their own teaching situations.

This case study was bounded, a feature important because the goal of this investigative process was to gather rich descriptive data unique to the participant. This particular case proved to be one of a “specific, complex, functioning thing” (Merriam &

Associates, 2002, p. 176), focused on teacher identity and teacher self; therefore, the case study was continuously refined in order to align with the research questions. The goal

continued to focus on teacher identity with the purpose of expanding the experience through dialogue.

This case study was “integrated” into a typical elementary school setting, a holistic, natural setting where the data collection took place and one that became part of the data (Stake, 1995). In a case study of a teacher, the environment is a working part of the process of teaching and an extension of the teacher, a pairing that cannot be separated—the case from the environment. If this premise is accepted, the behavior patterns can be recognized, acknowledged, and accepted (Goode & Hatt, 1952; Stake,

2000). “The negotiation of balance in works of art and research portraits relies on the artist’s or researcher’s judgment—the manipulating of elements to find what is right, what works, and the equally important experience of designing what doesn’t fit and what needs to be reconsidered or excluded” (Lawrence-Lightfoot, 2000, p. 33).

A case study is typically used to investigate a phenomenon in the situation that is natural to the participant. A school setting is as natural to a teacher as her or his home

Yin (2013). The investigation is solely reliant on the case in the natural setting of existence. “Throughout our consideration of aesthetic production and perception and the realm of inteetation as cognition, we cannot overestimate the importance of context”

(Lawrence-Lightfoot, 2000, p. 31). This case study was bountiful with information and descriptors.

Confident that the data collected was rich, I next collected data in a variety of ways so that they could be compared and analyzed in order to achieve triangulation.

Finally, I quickly verified that the research had a sound foundation, fulfilled the purpose

of my study, and could contribute to research that is lacking in the field (Yin, 2003,

2013). When investigating and making decisions about the study, my ultimate goal was to ensure that the results of the study would benefit the existing body of research and at the same time extend the research in the field that includes a few case studies focused on practicing, in-service teachers.

“What is important here is that identity: (a) is always ‘in the making,’ rather than stable, (b) shifts according to context and relationships, and (c) is therefore varied and multiple” (Rodgers & Scott, 2008, p. 736); in fact, studying the identity of an educator could actually continue for 30 years or more. A teacher stops being a novice somewhere during the first few years of experience, but practicing, in-service teachers must continue reinventing themselves in order to continue growing. A case study on an expert in-service teacher serves as a model for investigation, discussion, deliberation, and contemplation; therefore, the deconstruction of teacher identity and teacher self is a necessary research study.

Portraiture: Research Design Method 2

Selected as the form of inquiry for this study, the unique methodology of portraiture was developed by Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot as a way to accommodate a study that fell in the gap between science and art. “Portraiture is a method of qualitative research that blurs the boundaries of aesthetics and empiricism in an effort to capture the complexity, dynamics, and subtlety of human experience and organizational life”

(Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997, p. xv).

The voice of the teacher was prominent as a data tool. The teacher voice served as the tool that delivered images, visions, thoughts, emotions, and realities. This voice described and drew the stories about her perspectives of the past, the present, and the future. Thus, a portrait was constructed through my eyes as the researcher. This structure of creative delivery mapped out and depicted the social construct within which this teacher lives.

The first characteristic of a portrait derives from an initial image or narrative, which will ultimately convey the results of the study. Lawrence-Lightfoot and Davis used the word essence to describe the beauty of this experience: “We are reminded of the dual motivations guiding portraiture: to inform and inspire” (Lawrence-Lightfoot &

Davis, 1997, p. 243). The essence isn’t a photo or a drawing. It isn’t a list of characteristics or a simple story. “None of us are to be found in sets of tasks or lists of attributes; we can be known only in the unfolding of our unique stories within the context of everyday events” (Gussin-Paley, 2005, p. xii). The portrait is born through the perspectives of the researcher while bringing to light the layers of story, ideas, characteristics, and, mostly, the “essence” of the subject (Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis,

1997, p. 4).

“Clearly teachers are people who bring themselves into the classroom and the formation of their identities involves interplay between external and internal forces”

(Rodgers & Scott, 2008, p. 732). This statement is a key component showing the parallel between Lightfoot and Davis’ descriptions of how portraiture methodology was conceived and the role of the researcher in the methodology. The researcher is the key

tool in this methodology (Merriam & Associates, 2002). Portraiture recognizes, acknowledges, and promotes the idea that the researcher is responsible for both the collection of data and crafting the portrait.

Portraiture is a blend of art and science. The science is used to explain the data that was collected and analyzed as in any other qualitative study. The art of portraiture is more subjective. The researcher’s authentic self is intertwined with the data through emotions, culture, and setting. This relationship influences the way in which the researcher creates the vignette and story of the research. The connections represented in the narrative writing must travel beyond what is seen and heard and move toward aesthetics.

The portrait is created through the researcher’s experiences of gathering data, analyzing data, and finally synthesizing data (Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997, p. 28).

The researcher is a part of the process and a part of the data. The portraitist is charged with capturing this data, but also, more importantly, trapping the essence of the story and details that were felt intentionally, unintentionally, and with great depth. The portraitist is responsible for capturing the meaning making that people attach to their behaviors

(Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997).

The researcher acts as an agent for “deepening the conversation and broadening the audience, not only acts of analysis and solidarity” (Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis,

1997, p. 11). Identity is shaped “through engagement with others in cultural practice”

(Smagorinsky et al., 2004, p. 21) and through “relationship with others and involves emotions” (Smagorinsky et al., 2004, p. 733). By bringing the audience into the research

process, the audience lends its voice to the data collection process. The researcher becomes one with the data and research process.

In the process of creating portraits, we enter people’s lives, build relationships,

engage in discourse, and make an imprint . . . and leave. We engage in acts

(implicit and explicit) of social transformation, we create opportunities for

dialogue, we pursue the silences, and in the process, we face ethical dilemmas and

a great moral responsibility. (Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997, p. 11)

The intentional process of making the thoughts, feelings, and knowledge of the researcher a part of the data collection process and reporting process is important to portraiture.

They are to be recognized and acknowledged; they remain instrumental during the process and finally, they impact the results.

Framing the Study

To find my methodology, I had to determine what was important to my study.

Some researchers believe in the importance of isolating as many “key features” of the research factors as possible (Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997, p. 42). The setting or the number of participants may not impact the data that is to be collected; however, when

I tried to isolate the features and textures that make this particular study valuable, I could see the importance of retaining as many features of the context of the study as possible.

Thus, I was able to choose the method of portraiture.

Through a deductive process and using a variety of considerations, I was able to choose a blending of case study and portraiture as the methodology of choice. I eliminated phenomenology as a choice because it would have limited the texture and

color of the study. The essence of the setting and participant would have been lost if they had not been included as part of the data collection and then later part of the descriptive narrative. Ethnography was eliminated because I wanted this study to be intimate and singular. The methodology I chose allowed for an in-depth portrait of a single subject.

Immersion into this participant’s world was essential to allow for a broader painting of the character. A case study could not be eliminated because of the descriptive nature of the study. Yes, a single case study could be argued, but the portraitist believes the following:

Human experience has meaning in a particular social, cultural, and historical

context—a context where relationships are real, where the actors are familiar with

the setting, where activity has a purpose, where nothing is contrived, except for

the somewhat intrusive presence of the researcher. (Lawrence-Lightfoot &

David, 1997, p. 43)

A single event did not define this study, but the single focused topic of teacher identity defined the research. In fact, many events were blended together to draw the portrait, just as an artist would have a model sit multiple times to be painted.

Finally, discarding a narrative study was challenging. Actually, I did not completely discard this method: I believe that a portraitist uses pieces of this method to guide the research and findings. Dewey (Boydston, 1985/2008) and Clandinin and

Connelly (2000) praised this form of inquiry as “out of the box” or beyond what is observable. Attention is paid to what is taking place, why it is taking place, and what it

means. Guiding the research is a three-dimensional inquiry space that includes personal, social, and spatial dimensions (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000).

The focus is on where events take place and their sequence, described as “inward and outward, backward and forward” (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000, p. 50). I used such a recursive approach throughout this portraiture study because it was fitting, just as a dancer focuses on every move, how it feels and looks, and how the message is received from watching and the feelings that are evoked in the experience. The researcher should want the audience to be informed, feel the story, and to be curious about the research.

Aesthetics won as they rose to the surface.

Finally, two distinctive features set this research apart from a narrative study and opened the door for a portraiture study. The first feature of a portraiture study that differs from a narrative study is that essence and emotion are captured and essential to the

“drawing” of the data. Academic writing is typically void of emotion and aims at members of a particular audience who have studied the topic at hand, but the audience of a portraiture study should be any reader, not only academics: The audience for a portraiture study is everyone. The second feature important to a portraiture study is the need to draw the audience into the research and to evoke a reaction. Unlike some forms of research, portraiture is written for many audiences and includes a technique called backwards design (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005) in which (in the case of research) the researcher establishes goals for the audience before conducting the research. The goal of the portraitist is to motivate the reader to “take action” or to “use” the results in some way.

Furthermore, this research was written in a way to solicit complicated conversations (Eisner, 1979). Its purpose was to evoke thought and conversations but not solely in the academic world; therefore, the writing style must be inviting and appropriate to persuade nonacademics to want to read the findings. This form of writing can bridge the gap between academics and nonacademics with the intent to engender conversations and deliberations.

Case Study Through a Portraitist’s Lens

My approach to this case study involved viewing the participant through a portraitist’s lens. The purpose of this frame device was to highlight the complexity of the personal journey of this participant in her classroom. I took this “intensely personal” approach to ensure that the reflection process, dialogue, and exploration were presented with the intent to “instigate positive and productive change” (Lawrence-Lightfoot, 2005, p. 12). The qualitative research approach was my guide in this study, and I was certain that an artful approach and experience were needed to allow the reader to hear the complex, vibrant voice I intended to capture in the professional life I chose to study

(Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997).

I believe that research is an ethical calling (Chapman, 2005); thus, the purpose of this portraiture study was to “search for goodness” [and bring to light the] “complexities of the teaching worlds” (Lawrence-Lightfoot, 2005, p. 13).

The research product resembled a bricolage, which is a type of collage made from all materials at hand. Identity is like a bricolage because identity is a blending of many components, the self continuously created in “schools, teacher education programs, study

groups, family, religious groups, political parties, and so forth” (Rodgers & Scott, 2008, p. 734; see also Agee, 2004; Beijaard et al., 2000, 2004; Britzman, 2003; Carter & Doyle,

1996; Clandinin & Huber, 2005; Coldron & Smith, 1999; Fitzgerald, 1993; Gee, 2000

MacLure, 1993; Smagorinsky et al., 2004). My goal was to produce an aesthetic study made up of the experiences of this teacher using her voice, gestures, actions, emotions, and lived world. The theme of this bricolage was the participant’s approach to teaching:

Her actions showed that “being a teacher” was not just a day job but a life choice. Her ethical approach, actions, and daily lifestyle framed the true definition of teacher identity as revealed during the data collection process. A bricolage, after all, results from immersion into the complexities “of the lived world” (Kincheloe & Berry, 2004, p. 2).

In Respect Lawrence-Lightfoot (2000) discussed the importance of respect, detailing its numerous aspects, including empowerment, advocacy, boundaries, dialogue, curiosity, and self-respect. I used a similar technique in the methodology of this case study. Using portraiture, I gathered, analyzed, and synthesized data as a multiplicity of aspects constituting the participant’s identity. Most importantly, the technique provided me with the opportunity to experience this individual’s teacher self and teacher identity, which ultimately manifested as a complex, valuable, and robust portrait of teacher identity.

Context, Setting, and Duration of the Study

The study took place at Washington Elementary (pseudonym), a school in the

President City School District (pseudonym), a semiurban district considered average across the state in academic standing and in socioeconomic status with 31.2% of students

receiving free or low-cost lunches. For example, on the most recent state report card, this district ranked 14th of 17 in the county, typical and predictable based on its socioeconomic status. African American, Asian and Pacific Islander, Latinos, and middle- to southern-European students constituted 8.3% of the student population; the remaining 91.7% comprised White students. A growing population of Nepalese immigrants was a new presence in the district because an immigrant support center was located nearby.

Fourteen percent of the students at Washington Elementary were enrolled in special education; approximately 30% were economically disadvantaged, and about 7% of the students had been identified as gifted learners. No other significant subgroup presented as remarkable. Approximately 260 students attended this school with a balanced number of boys and girls. At one time the school population had a reputation for greater affluence than others in the district; however, about six years before this study took place, redistricting occurred. When the boundaries determining school assignments shifted, the diversity of Washington Elementary increased in terms of socioeconomic status of families and subgroup populations. Finally, approximately 30% were open enrolled from either within the President City School District or from neighboring districts.

I chose Washington Elementary because Mrs. B. (pseudonym), the teacher who inspired this study taught there. I wanted to complete this research study with this particular participant; however, an important fact must be brought to light. I was the principal of Washington Elementary when the research process began, so I knew the

teachers on a professional level. Paradoxically, my role at Washington Elementary created not only a conflict but also a benefit that resulted in the creation of this research project.

I have discovered stories that deserve to be heard. Teachers have stories that fold together and become integral to the educational setting. Painting a portrait with words and descriptions became a necessity for me. The story of this teacher needed to be uncovered and discovered. Truthfully, the stories of many teachers deserve to be heard; however, for the purpose of this research project, one teacher was the participant. Each teacher is unique in her or his own way. The participant had qualities that made her unique, but at the same time she was representative of other in-service teachers.

The study took place over the course of seven weeks, its goal to gather the data needed to draw a picture. With a flexible built-in timeframe, I began the research process, gathering data through interviews, observations, and document collection.

Through the continuous process of data gathering, the opportunity for immersion into this study arose. Table 2 below outlines the timeline of the study.

Key to a Portraiture Case Study: The Participant

One participant was the catalyst for this qualitative research study, the primary goal of which was to understand how a practicing teacher continually shaped her teacher identity in a semiurban elementary school setting. Conducting this case study offered an opportunity to study human behavior” (Stake, 1995). This participant was chosen not only because she was an exemplar of the qualities I wanted to investigate but also because she seemed to exhibit the qualities of a skilled, expert teacher. She was an

Table 2

Timeline for the Study: 20 April–25 May, 2018 ______Date Data Duration Main Points of Interest: Key Words Collection Min:Sec ______23 April Interview 14:22 Setting the stage for the research process; family, (Family) strong connections with mom; home life structured, typical, structured; mom stayed home, loose connections with older siblings; faith in family, belief in doing good; relationship driven, connections with family, mom

25 April Interview 42:09 Character development, “firecracker,” louder than my (Early Years) mom; reflecting with mom, moral dialogue; I wanted to be a pleaser; mom was my role model; I use her as my benchmark; deep conversations, meaningful; mindful ways of acting, reflective

26 April Observation 1 46:00 Teaching with humor; family feel, students sitting around a rocking chair; smiley, interacted with each student by 30:00; reinforcement, whispers, laughing by Mrs. B., students

30 April Interview 6:09 Need clear expectations, directions for all; (School Setting) directions and boundaries need to be established; students need guidelines; reflective practice etiquette and manners need to be practiced

Interview 10:10 Socioeconomics have changed, impact schools, (Early teaching students, parents, values, ways of acting; wanted compared to be strong and independent; hopeful that the to current) profession will remain strong; set goals for myself, competitive, reflective to be able to grow; proud of my choices, being; can make a difference, “glass half full”; share with students to make connections, share with parents; proud to teach generations of families; relationships continue to grow; feel respected most of the time; faith in people, teaching

2 May Interview 10:12 Disappointed when I hear colleagues say students (Personality) can’t learn; goal setting, making connections with people; stressful to hear negative colleague talk; collaboration, teamwork, hard work, strong optimism, value-based; home-life struggles for kids challenges me; teach students to set goals; high expectations for me and for students; model

Date Data Duration Main Points of Interest: Key Words Collection Min:Sec ______successful actions; model successful talking; relationships matter

Interview 13:17 Teachers compare themselves instead of rising up; (Veterans vs. novice teachers often entitled, lack big picture; Novice) aware of impact of being a mom; wonder if novice teachers see this as their “path” in life or a job; I [Mrs. B.] was born to be a teacher; novice T need more support, academic, mentoring; like sharing my knowledge, thoughts; teach novice teachers like my students; share values, commitments, ways of caring, acting; need to model passion, being respectful; novice Ts need time, mentoring, sharing, someone to trust

4 May Observation 2 45:00 Topic of slavery discussed; quiet conversations between students, sharing with shoulder partners; “Let’s check ourselves”; “Go deeper”; “Give more”; “Share what you mean by that”; relaxed interactions

5 May Interview 41:13 Started college a year early; first felt like teaching (College wasn’t going to be enough, predictable; started with Experience) social work, “save the world”; reflection became a part of my learning; loved the thinking process; watched how kids were thinking and acting; knew I could impact; epiphany: I had a calling to be a teacher; my calling is from God, spiritual, whole being driven to be a teacher, ethical, value-centered, whole being; not everyone listens to what they need to be doing to be impactful; deep conversations, meaningful, heart-full, deep caring, motivating; life lessons matter, moral intent

7 May Observation 3 48:00 Expectations, behaviors, modeling behaviors that are acceptable; shares a personal story from her morning; reflection about last substitute; brainstorming how to make good choices; reviewing rules; expectations with “to do” list on the board; discussing basic needs with a student privately

11 May Observation 4 50:00 Behaviors, goals for the day, role playing; interactions, conversations; Mrs. B. discusses social interactions, shares a personal story; flexible seating, by choice; interest-based activities and learning; rotating, interacting, smiling, close proximity; advantage, disadvantage

______Date Data Duration Main Points of Interest: Key Words Collection Min:Sec

14 May Interview 40:04 Thoughtful conversations, thinking before speaking; (Teacher life lessons, strong values, morals, opinions; Identity) purposeful sharing of experiences, ways to conduct

myself, sharing person stories; project myself the way I want to be seen; “man in the mirror”; been told to dumb down my teaching; celebrate success, practice reflection; want students to feel empowered, appreciated, respected

16 May Observation 5 45:00 Flexibility, empowerment, student choice, quiet talking, freedom, self-monitoring; “working and leading while walking around”; incentives with tickets, verbal praise, proximity, smiling; “out of sight, out of mind”; motivational, sharing, interacting

18 May Observation 6 45:00 Goal setting, reflections, frontloading; purpose of goals, how, why, brainstorming; modeling how to goal set; think alouds, I do, we do, you do, family feel, comfortable, relaxed, energized; active, participative, invested

21 May Interview Spiritual means faithful, ethical to me; not (Spirituality, church-centered necessarily, faith, belief, hope; ethics) ethical, foundational, firm belief in good, duty; right choices, doing the right thing according to personal beliefs, people are good, rules and goals are necessary, deep-rooted beliefs; conversations; collaborations, relationships, discussions matter; integrity, code of conduct and ethical conduct; right and wrong, less technology, more real conversations, social-emotional matters, whole child, whole adult, responsibility, model positive behaviors; my influence matters

23 May Member Checking Reviewed transcripts, discussed implications; made changes, made adjustments

24 May Member Checking Reviewed transcripts, discussed implications; made changes, made adjustments

24 June Member Checking Read Chapter 4, discussed impressions, facts (2019) ______Note: T = teacher; artifact collection took place over the duration of data collection.

veteran in-service teacher who had taught elementary students for more than 10 years.

Her classroom was part of the natural setting for her as a teacher; however, teachers do not lose their teacher identity when they leave through the door of a school. (See

Appendix A for the email inviting her to participate and Appendix B for the email to the superintendent of the school system.)

The story of this participant was the focus of this research. Listening and learning about the formation of teacher identity and how it was explained and explored was a challenge. One of the reasons that I wanted to pursue this research was that “a vivid portrait of excellent teaching, for example, can become a prototype that can be used in the education of teachers or for the appraisal of teaching” (Eisner, 1991, p. 1999).

Learning about the evolution of a teacher through her personal perspective should be continuous because teachers constantly adjust their ideas about what is best for their students and for themselves. Teaching is an art and a science; therefore, one cannot

“prescribe” or create a formula that describes how a teacher becomes a teacher. Teachers are constantly evolving and molding their craft. Over time, a teacher’s skills and identity evolve. The complexity of that identity grows as well (Rodgers & Scott, 2008).

Knowing this, researchers must continually research and learn about this important figure in society. “Good teachers share one trait: a strong sense of personal identity infuses into their work” (Palmer, 1997, p. 11).

In my choice of a participant, I sought a practicing teacher who possessed qualities that warranted sharing (Hattie, 2012; Wong & Wong, 2015). I was aware that as

I learned through the data collection process and the data analysis process, I would be

impacted. I intended to make meaning of the information that the participant shared with me. From experience, I knew that as I analyzed data, the uncovered information would continue to take shape. Pieces of the story naturally formed new knowledge and created new meaning. That said, as a portraiture‒case study researcher my responsibility was to narrate the story, draw the sketch, and create the portrait as concretely as possible. In particular, capturing emotions through a portrait promised to be colorful. I was on a mission to assure that I was careful to submerge myself in the stories. After gathering and analyzing the data, I presented my findings in an engaging way to allow readers to make meaning, interpret, and reconstruct the knowledge using their own schema and personal story (Stake, 2000). In qualitative research, knowledge is formed in such a way that a piece of the researcher and a piece of the reader eventually bond to form new meaning.

The participant I chose was a middle-aged in-service White female elementary teacher serving students in a semisuburban school.

Greatness in teaching is just as rare as greatness in medicine, dance, law, or any

other profession. Although the qualities that make great teachers are not easy to

inculcate or duplicate, understanding these qualities can give all teachers a

standard of excellence to strive for, and guide schools in their efforts to recruit

and retain the best teachers. (Goldberg, 2003, p. 219)

Studying a teacher who has been and was currently in the field can offer insight, perspective, and details that deserve to be studied. Adding to the body of research to give practitioners information to promote contemplation and analysis will contribute to the

pool of research about in-service teachers. Diversity and social awareness are of increasing importance in the field of education. Acknowledging the race, age, and gender of the participant is important to the overarching view of the study; however, every voice is an important voice. Identity is built on the personal characteristics of the participant.

“Good teaching cannot be reduced to technique; good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher” (Palmer, 2007, p. 10); good teaching was, therefore, a primary focus of the study.

Data Collection

The data collection was the next important task for consideration. A qualitative research study has “three major sources of data,” [which are] “interviews, observations, and documents” (Merriam & Associates, 2002, p. 12). The decisions made for the methods of the study are intertwined and dependent upon one another. A researcher’s choice of sources determines the quality of the information gathered as shown in Table 3.

The research must be “information-rich,” and worthwhile “cases are those from which one can learn a great deal about issues of central importance to the purpose of the research” (Patton, 1990, p. 169). My goal was to ensure that I collected enough data to create a true picture of this case that would answer the research questions I had posed.

The data collection process was thoughtful, thorough, and intentional. The goal was to answer the research questions regarding the exploration of teacher identity. In order to do so in a qualitative research study, gathering data that was targeted and specific

Table 3

Data Sources

Method Purpose Interviews, semistructured, face- To allow for dialogue and discourse on intentional topics to-face, audio-taped, to be To allow for teacher reflection on intentional topics transcribed, stimulated recall interview To allow for deliberation and explanation on personal thoughts, feelings, and actions To allow for reflection on personal construction on teacher identity To explore the impact of the school setting, students, and staff on the formation and changes with teacher identity Observation and field notes To understand the participant’s actions and interactions in the classroom and in the school setting To explain observations and interviews To summarize experiences To understand the reflective process Conversations and To understand how the participant shares and acts in unplanned situations analytic memos To explore how the teacher reflects upon professional development Artifacts To gather evidence of the participant’s work To analyze as a piece of data for triangulation, e.g., lesson plans, private notes, reflections, minutes from meetings, exit tickets, emails

was imperative; therefore, I planned the data collection process based on the three most

commonly accepted sources in qualitative research to support my goals.

Rationale for the Data

The goal of this research was to answer my questions with information-rich data

that would create a portrait to show, explain, draw, and depict the formation, creation,

and life of the participant’s teacher identity. The timeline was designed to fit this

research plan. “Adequate time in the field should also be coupled with purposefully looking for variation in the understanding of the phenomenon” (Merriam & Associates,

2002, p. 26). I chose multiple sources of evidence from which to collect data so that my study would be comprehensive, thorough, and information rich. Information was cross- referenced and analyzed separately and together.

The research process was guarded in a protected, safe manner. All interviews and conversations were recorded, if possible. Analytic memos were created shortly following these interactions to allow space for me to be reflective. The audio tapes were downloaded to my private computer and used only for my research purposes. These forms of data were password protected and remain private. Pseudonyms were used to conceal the name of the participant.

According to Bruner and constructivist theory, “learning is an active process in which learners construct new ideas or concepts based upon their current/past knowledge.

The learner selects and transforms information, constructs hypotheses, and makes decisions, relying on a cognitive structure to do so” (“Constructivist Theory,” 2017).

When we chose artifacts connected to the participant’s identity, she felt empowered and trusted as a part of the research process. In addition to my role as the researcher in this study, I was also a learner in the shared process of data collection.

Semistructured Face-to-Face Interviews

Interviews, which were conducted as the first form of data collection, were set up to be semistructured, allowing them to be authentic and fluid. Guiding topics were arranged prior to the interview. “The semi-structured interview contains a mix of more

and less structured questions. Usually, specific information is desired from all the participants; this forms the highly structured section of the interview” (Merriam &

Associates, 2002, p. 13). The goal was to gather information in a focused manner, but the structure allowed the interviews to take shape and grow during the process.

The interview process is a creation of both the researcher and the participant, one that I believe brings the best results. The researcher is responsible for the direction, process, and structure of the interview; yet the participant can help to form the richness of the dialogue. The interviews began as a questionnaire and were conducted orally (Agee,

2008). The preparation of the interview was shaped through open-ended questions, but the organic development of dialogue was determined through the actual outcomes of the process; this is called a “versatile approach to doing research”

(Cohen, Manion, & Morrison, 2011, p. 78). For example, one of the foci for Round 1 of interviewing was family (see Appendix C). “The studies employing the identity status paradigm have examined family background variables as predictors of identity status, identified certain personality variables associated with each status, and [showed] some developmental patterns among the identity statuses” (Côté & Levine, 2002, p. 18).

In the guided interview approach, the researcher develops a list of topics that are to be the focus of the interview. In this research the questions were not written in a formalized way, but the topics governed the direction and flow of the conversation

(Patton, 1990). Flexibility, situational sensitivity, and open-ended responses are the features that define this type of interview (Merriam & Associates, 2002; Patton, 1990).

The topics were logically sequenced, and the idea of the predicted conversation was well

thought out. This was the guide to the interview process; it resembled using a topic outline instead of a descriptive outline. The organic flow of conversation and the descriptive, natural flow of experiential sharing was the goal (See Appendixes D‒I).

Each research question benefitted from the act of interviewing. During the focused interview, responses to questions covering the intentional topics of family, ethics, spirituality, college experiences, daily interactions, classroom happenings, and characteristics, evolved in open opportunities to blossom and unfold. Connections were made to prior experiences, schema, and social interactions in the formation of a teacher’s identity (Adams, Gullotta, & Montemayor, 1992; Archer, 1994; Kroger, 1993; LaVoie,

1994; Marcia, 1964; Marcia, Waterman, Matteson, Archer, & Orlofsky, 1993; Schwartz,

2001; Van Hoof, 1999).

After-school hours interviews were conducted at Washington Elementary School in locations chosen by Mrs. B. The setting was comfortable because it was her environment. For example, during several interviews, Mrs. B. pulled up a chair, resting her feet on it, and sipped water while we chatted. The situation felt a bit as if we were just conversing casually instead of purposely gathering data for research. Mrs. B.’s body language showed that she was comfortable, empowered, and open to sharing.

After the passage of about one hour, each interview drew to a natural close.

Staying on topic was a bit challenging because Mrs. B. often took off with her sharing and barely took a breath, giving voice to her stories, ideas, and philosophies. My main purpose during each interview was to ensure that we returned to the questions at hand

with the overarching goal of answering the research questions. I conducted interviews at least every other week during the research.

Stimulated Recall

Stimulated recall was used to review, reflect upon, and recall information to ensure that the meaning the participant intended was retained during the data collection process. The participant thus had an opportunity to read and reflect on her verbal output.

In addition, stimulated recall ensured that the participant shared what she meant to share and could also extend and elaborate on her ideas if she desired; this process involves

“asking learners to introspect about their learning” (Gass & Mackey, 2000, p. 2).

Stimulated recall occurred in stages in which process tracking was used as a way to report verbal information and then to review the data that was reported (Shavelson,

Webb, & Burstein, 1986; Sugrue & Day, 2002). This was completed during the delivery of information as well as later during other interviews. The intention was to create a fluid conversation and connection from interview to interview. Sharing in this manner resulted in dialogues that resembled natural conversations. Mrs. B. and I reviewed the data as a team, and then she was given the data to review independently (Gass & Mackey, 2000, p.

13) to reflect actively on the information she provided.

Conversations and Analytic Memos

To conduct purposeful, “in-the-moment” opportunities prior to beginning research, I designed my conversations so that if and when an opportunity arose, I had an overarching scope of what I wanted to do to help promote my ultimate goal: answering my research questions. With this in mind, I knew that all conversations would not

necessarily yield a focused product, but the more proactive I was, the better I set myself up to be prepared and single-focused. I used the guided interview approach for efficiency

(Patton, 1990, pp. 283‒284). I created a list of topics that I wanted to be our focus; hence, these conversation‒interviews were conducted with a topic outline as a guide.

The sequence of the topics was unimportant; moreover, the topics folded together during each conversation. Following these conversations, I wrote analytic memos and gathered spontaneous information to help create rich data accounts as shown in Table 4.

Because of the informal nature of these conversations, stimulated recall interviews were a useful tool to review information that was gathered. After I observed situations, I took the time to have conversations with the participant. I created time for reflection for her to think and explain the event that had taken place. Information on personal identity, which was the focus of attention (Bogdan & Biklen, 2003), formed the foundation of this teacher’s identity.

Interviewing was a powerful tool to gather personal information from this participant. Every word that was used could shed a different light onto the shared story

(Seidman, 1998; Vygotsky, 1987). Using the interview as a tool to gather information about teacher identity was highly intimate and private; in fact, the sharing brought more emotions and color to light than I could have imagined. Choosing to conduct multiple interviews resulted in compelling and impressive data.

Member checking was used following the series of interviews and observations to ensure that the participant approved the data. Transcripts were offered to her for review

Table 4

Examples of Observational Field Notes

Field notes Observation, Targets, and Notes Initial Impressions Questions Setting Mrs. B.’s classroom. Mrs. Mrs. B. is talking to one of It seems as if something B. is walking from desk to the students whom she had had taken place before I desk speaking with the asked to come to the side of walked into the room. students. She has a smile the room. She is talking so Mrs. B. wants her on her face, laughed, and that the class cannot hear conversation with a gently touched the her. ***I need to ask her particular student to be shoulders of some of the what she is talking about. private. I can tell because students when walked by. She looks upset with the she has pulled that student Some students raised their student. She is not tending aside, and her voice heads to talk to her as she to the other students. The cannot be heard by the walked by, not all of them. other students remain in other students. The mood felt light. The air their seats, talking but not felt light. The sun shone in disruptive. the windows. I could see the blue sky lighting up one side of the classroom. This is a usual feeling that I have when I am in her classroom.

Participants Mrs. B., homeroom class Cannot hear the The student does not look (about 20 students); time: conversation. I wish that I upset or angry; neither

10:00. One student “S” is knew what it was. does Mrs. B., who having a conversation with gestures when she speaks.

her privately but still in the She tends to tilt her head room. Note: Ask Mrs. B. about to one side. this conversation today. Write down details later.

Activities, Students are all over the Students are mostly I like that I am seeing Interactions classroom. I can hear Mrs. engaged. One girl keeps interaction with B. walking throughout the looking around the room. students like this. room. I cannot hear what Some students keep The last observation, she says to each student standing at their seats. This Mrs. B. was in the when she is at each desk. is acceptable for Mrs. B. front of the room. Most of the students behave She allows for free well without direction or movement while learning. obvious monitoring, yet they are behaving appropriately.

(Merriam & Associates, 2002), and she was frequently reminded that she could review any of the data at any time. The data was “our” data and belonged to both of us.

Each research question benefitted from the reflective process of creating analytic memos. Metacognition was used routinely and purposely. The research questions guided this process and were placed intentionally in the forefront of the research process.

Metacognition continued to be the key process of blending and folding thoughts and experiences. “A clear understanding of the goals motivating your work will help you to avoid losing your way or spending time and effort doing things that don’t advance these goals” (Maxwell, 2005, p. 15).

Observations

Observations were essential to the data collection process because they provided information that was organic, in the moment, authentic, and alive. “Observation data represent a firsthand encounter with the phenomenon of interest rather than a secondhand account obtained in an interview” (Merriam & Associates, 2002, p. 13). As the researcher, I was not only an active participant, but I was the principal of the building where I conducted this research.

The participant and students were familiar with me, know me, and routinely see me coming in and out of the classrooms. Students, who frequently came up and asked me questions while I sat in the back of the room, the students saw me as an extension of their learning process (Merriam & Associates, 2002), and I was a member of the “group” in some capacity. My role as an administrator was more of a teacher leader or facilitator to the educational process. I was not a part of the classroom as a student; however, I was

a part of our “family” community at the school. Because students were accustomed to my participating in lessons, sitting with them while they worked, and being available to answer their questions, I was viewed at least a semiparticipant.

Using observation as a firsthand means of data collection fulfilled its promise to spark conversations in many ways. The observations were discussed during the interview process as well as directly after the observation as a follow-up. Interviews provided a time for natural stimulated recall sessions. The observations served as a spontaneous opportunity to discuss the “why” behind decisions the participant had made. Fortunately, opportunities to unearth hidden perspectives were plentiful (Merriam & Associates,

2002).

Each research question benefitted from the process of conducting observations.

“Observation is the best technique when an activity, event, or situation can be observed firsthand, when a fresh perspective is desired” (Merriam & Associates, 2002, p. 13). In order to do this effectively, I continually kept in mind the focus of the study. The goals of the study were equivalent to the research questions as they guided my thinking throughout this process (Maxwell, 2005). Observations allowed time for me to immerse myself actively in the field as I continually focused on the research questions.

Documents and Instructional Artifacts

The intent for data collected during this process was to create a holistic view or portrait of the participant by gathering any artifacts that she was willing to offer. “These can be written, oral, visual (such as photographs), or cultural artifacts. Public records, personal documents, and physical material are types of documents available to the

researcher for analysis” (Merriam & Associates, 2002, p. 13). Each artifact was like a piece that fit into a puzzle. Through artifacts I collected, I created a holistic picture that added a new dimension to the participant that I had never known before as her colleague.

A new person seemed to come into focus right in front of me.

Documents, which were a rich source of information that was already present, were not dependent on the conversation or topics but instead existed in time because of the phenomenon already at hand. This teacher existed in her environment of the classroom and school because it was where her teacher self was centered. That said, her social situations extended to her home and the community because being a teacher was not reserved for the school setting only. It was “preexisting” and “contain[ed] insights and clues in the phenomenon, and most researchers find them well worth the effort to locate and examine” (Merriam & Associates, 2002, p. 13). Data sources appeared in

Table 3 above.

An inherent freedom was present in this form of data collection. The participant was empowered to share any type of document that she wanted, and I encouraged her to think in a holistic manner; therefore, choices and decisions were in her control. I intentionally reminded her about sharing artifacts with me throughout the research process, which was one of reflection-in-action. I asked the participant to continue sharing openly whatever she thought would be purposeful and helpful to the process. I requested documents that could illustrate her educational style, lessons chosen, and articles of reflection. The data collected from the observations, interviews, artifacts, and

analytic memos were used collectively to answer the two research questions. I hoped to have at least 10 artifacts to support this data source.

Data Analysis

“All researchers aspire to produce valid and reliable knowledge in an ethical manner” (Merriam & Associates, 2002, p. 22): I can identify with this statement. My goal was to gather enough data so that I could answer the research questions in a thorough and distinctive manner; therefore, when I began, I had hoped that the amount of data I gathered in my findings would represent saturation. Until the process began, I was concerned about how I would know whether I had enough data. Very early in the process, I realized that the data was rich and powerful, and I understood the potential and the capacity of the data I had collected.

As the research process continued, my concern transformed into the fear that I had too much! How was I going to assure that I used the most important data? How was I going to make sure that I made the best choices possible to create a portrait that correctly and intimately showed who Mrs. B. was during all these episodes of her life? I was confident that the data that I gathered was rich and colorful. The next challenge would be to use the data properly so that I was able to create a portrait descriptive and vivid enough to capture the essence of Mrs. B. the way that I saw her when I looked at her with my own eyes.

Strategies to ensure reliability were put in place during the data analysis process, such as triangulation, member checking, reflexivity, adequate engagement in data collection, audit trail, and rich, thick descriptions. A continuous comparative method was

employed to determine whether the phenomenon of exploring teacher identity intersected with ethical data collection. The end result needed to be a “holistic interpretation of what is happening” (Merriam & Associates, 2002, p. 25), a depiction of Mrs. B. through my eyes. My voice was one of “witness” but equally one of participant. As the data collection process grew, I easily saw that my lens had changed from the researcher who was watching the stories of Mrs. B. unfold to one of the actors in her story. In other words my relationship with Mrs. B. was transformative as if I were no longer sitting in front of her as she shared her stories but instead walking alongside her.

Choosing a Research Methodology

Portraiture methodology, which is a research design similar to a phenomenological study, focuses on a daily experience or how people experience living.

In this case, the focus was on how a teacher experiences living. “People express their experience of phenomena in language” (Merriam & Associates, 2002, p. 97) by describing their experiences in words, stories, and retelling. The participant recounted stories or thoughts to share her story, and the words she chose gave meaning to her world and experiences. For this study, the participant shared her story her way: She crafted the meaning of her story with the words, expressions, and gestures she chose to use during interviews and conversations (Merriam & Associates, 2002). Language has meaning; therefore, using the participant’s words to depict her story was important.

I used the deductive process when analyzing the data collected while keeping the overarching theme of teacher identity formation in mind. Similar to the way a funnel works, the data was gathered and refined to narrow it down to the most important

particles of information. Only these particles filter through. “Using semiotic [focus on language expression] phenomenological procedure, a researcher may interpret persons’ conscious experience of [a] phenomenon by using the methodological schema of description‒reduction‒interpretation” (Lanigan, 1988, p. 148); therefore, conducting interviews, reducing them to common themes and particles, and finally making meaning through interpreting constituted the process for analyzing these words (Merriam &

Associates, 2002).

Transcriptions

Interviews were transcribed by an online service; observations and conversations were transcribed by hand. All transcriptions were hand coded thoroughly using a reduction process to arrive at themes (Charmaz, 2006). After transcribing, I used a paradigmatic reduction process as I searched for patterns and themes with individual responses. The focus on finding themes required a language-choice approach to accomplish the portraiture or phenomenological approach (Merriam & Associates, 2002).

Next, the most important part of the data analysis for a portraiture study was the awareness and hermeneutic approach for viewing the data through an aesthetic lens. For example, the researcher should consider what might not have been said but was seen or the feelings that were brought to the surface during interviews. Inferred information can be as important as what was said.

The methodology of portraiture was new to me. My use of the portraitist’s lens brought into view hidden art and aesthetic nuances; the patterns revealed themselves through careful analysis and rereading of the data. The arduous process, one of

discovery, yielded the commonalities that separated themselves to produce a clear picture of this person who identified herself as an in-service teacher. Without a doubt, this was a joyful learning process.

Reading All Data

Reading and rereading the data was the most important step in the analysis process. As in any qualitative study, I was the expert, hence required to know this information inside and out. In order to be able to discuss and represent this information in a reliable and trustworthy manner, I needed to read and reread the data many times.

When I did so, the stories became my stories in such a way that I could almost feel what the participant might have felt. The stories became like minimovies that I could play over again in my head. Thus, I was able to fluidly move through the information to make sure that the rest of the data analysis process continued properly, thoroughly, and efficiently.

Portraiture methodology is similar to the use of watercolors. Proceeding with this metaphor, each of the themes and points of data were blended and washed together. All the themes and colors in between blended together as one piece. In the work of Monet, the famous 19th-century Impressionist, every brushstroke conveyed meaning and brought light and truth to the painting. When viewing the paint from afar, the brushstrokes blended together to create light-filled landscapes, often including water lilies. When looking closely, the blending and layers of paint created another image to appreciate.

Monet’s landscapes were attacked during his lifetime for lack of exactitude and precision. Over time the beauty of the paintings was realized, and critics saw the light. A

moment in time was captured with intricate bits and pieces of color. If the portrait was the moment in time instead, it could be disturbed with just a puff of wind. Art is defined with intent. The artist has a purpose for each brushstroke and color choice. This is the methodology that I chose; but I will convey my portrait with words instead. The words show truth and optimism with an autobiographical slant. Portraiture can be accomplished only by a researcher who has taken part in the gathering of data and has been placed into a new setting and circumstance to gather data. Through the process, I was thorough, deliberate, and open-minded to reading the data in an intentional, meaningful manner

(Creswell, 2014).

Coding

The coding process, which was done thoroughly and intently during and after the reading process, consisted of bracketing information or chunking off ideas into various headings and groupings. Thus, ideas were uncovered and represented multiple times, rising to the top to become themes with layers and details; these themes have been reproduced in the findings section in a complex critical manner (Creswell, 2014). For portraiture, they were reproduced in great detail, rich, accurate, and in full color. Using the words of the participant was important because doing so helped me to capture the essence of her thoughts and feelings. These words resulted in the identification of themes and patterns when coding.

Audit Trail

The use of an audit trail (Guba & Lincoln, 1985) was documented and demonstrated through the transcriptions and coding process that served as a way to deem

the data “consistent, dependable, and reliable” (Merriam & Associates, 2002, p. 27).

Keeping this paper record to use, review, and reference supported the deductive process that was routinely used during data analysis.

To ensure that the audit trail was trustworthy and aligned with the data, one recommended technique is the use of the participant’s words and vocabulary.

It is easy to determine if the findings are grounded in the data if the conceptual

level of the findings stops at description. In other words, the primary

researcher can use similar words and phrases to those used by the participants.

More capacious or ‘umbrella’ terms can then encapsulate several similar

and/or related terms and thus leave a visible audit trail. (Cutliffe & McKenna,

2004, p. 130)

As the primary researcher, I focused on words written in observations and interviews to locate concrete themes and patterns.

Personal Journal

To keep my thoughts focused and clear, I kept an intentional, deliberate account of my actions and feelings. Dynamics and relations between a researcher and participant can change during the research process. Knowing this, I kept a journal to audit myself and document essential changes in personal discourse (Merriam & Associates, 2002).

The journal allowed me to address any personal biases that I encountered through using the reflective writing process. As a former teacher and administrator in charge of evaluating this participant, I recognized the importance of remaining consistently thoughtful.

Methodological Challenges and Strategies to Support Reliability

Qualitative research is by nature subjective. As the researcher, I had to be aware of my thoughts and interpretations of the information that I observed, learned through interviews, and gathered as artifacts. “Qualitative researchers understand that they are part of the research process and thus affect the results” (Thomson, 2011, p. 80). Sharing, disclosing, and reflecting on issues that connected me closely to the research process were necessary in order to be honest and ethical during this process. Discussing the inherent dilemmas kept them at the forefront of the audit process and the thinking process.

Validity, Subjectivity, Reflexivity, and Consciousness

The nature of this study forced me to be aware of the power of subjectivity, reflexivity, and consciousness. I was charged with understanding the influence of these three elements throughout this study. “Subjectivity has and continues to be a much discussed concept in qualitative methodology” (Merriam & Associates, 2002, p. 289).

Discussions of the importance of remaining true to the ethics and purpose of a study were not only important to this study but to all studies of a qualitative nature.

Subjectivity has become a natural part of qualitative research. Portraiture is appropriate for the study of a person who is observed through the eyes of the researcher, who then interprets what has been observed and constructs the portrait of the participant.

As the researcher, I noticed that the process of gathering data was delicate, purposeful, and deliberate. The processing of the data was completed with the highest regard for the participant; however, the portrait itself ultimately depicted more than the participant. The

portrait was the product of what the participant had experienced and what I had seen through my critical lens, but each and every word contributing to it was chosen by me, not the participant: The words were derived from my interpretation, thoughts, and impressions. I knew that my subjectivity would help me to bring life to the data that I had collected.

Full Disclosure: Teacher Observations

Teachers participate in the learning process every day. Even though they are charged with instructing students, they are self-learners or lifelong learners. Most teachers want to challenge themselves to continually learn new concepts because they love learning. Observing teacher growth is a privilege for the administrator of the school because it brings the learning process full circle from teacher to student and student to teacher. These observations can be formal and follow the Ohio Teacher Evaluation

System (OTES).

The process, which consists of preconferences, observations, and postconferences, is a systematic way to collect data, hold intentional conversations that are semistructured, and perform scheduled observations. Teachers have a rubric they use as a guide to help them ensure they include research and evidenced-based practices in their instructional process. As the building principal, I used the same tool as a semiobjective tool to evaluate teachers. Formally and informally observing teachers afforded me the best learning position of anyone in the building. I served in the dual role as instructional leader and eager student each day.

The first ethical dilemma I confronted in this research project involved inviting a teacher at my school to serve as the primary participant of this study. Ethical disclosures required discussion and deliberation. The research project was born of both formal and informal observations of this teacher as promoted in case study research. The relationship between this expert teacher and me began five and a half years before this study commenced. The dynamic involved professional educators, whose relationship was characterized by professionalism and respect. The participant was an in-service teacher who had taught for over 20 years at the same grade level with the same teaching partner. All experiences had taken place in this small-school environment.

This skilled teacher obviously had further potential that deserved to be promoted, practiced, and enhanced; my interest had been piqued several years earlier as I watched her grow into an expert teacher as defined and described by the Ohio Teacher Evaluation

System as well as by experts (Darling-Hammond, 2006; Darling-Hammond & Bransford,

2005; Findell, 2007 Hattie, 2012; Shulman, 1986, 1987).

The second item to disclose was how participation in this study could have affected the participant’s teaching position at the school. As a researcher, I had to “come clean” to clarify my position in this research process (Denzin & Lincoln, 1994). “With portraiture, the person of the researcher—even when vigorously controlled—is more evident and more visible than in any other research form” (Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis,

1997, p. 13), so I intended to conduct myself in a mindful way to remain sensitive and alert to the nuances that might appear during this process (Dweck, 2006). The teacher’s participation did not influence the security of her teaching position in any way; her

employment was unaffected. During the year of the study, the participant was scheduled for a short cycle of observations, that is, simply a walk-through observation followed by a conference. The results of this process were not recorded or documented in the evaluation system; therefore, her evaluation rating did not change during the particular school year regardless of her classroom performance. Previous to this school year, this participant had received an evaluation rating of “accomplished.” Finally, this research project was not evaluative in any way; it was designed to produce knowledge and understanding.

The third item to consider was the administrator‒teacher relationship, or the power relationship. “Validity is a goal rather than a product” (Maxwell, 2005, p. 86). Thus, my goal for this research project was to remain ethical, honest, and transparent. I brought to this process an awareness and understanding that I held a position of power in this project not only as the researcher but as a supervisor. I had been forced to ask, “Whom should I study? Who should be the subject of this study? Who will be the participant with the richest experiences to support this study?” The answer to these questions was Mrs. B. In a case study, the researcher can create “a vivid portrait of [an] excellent teacher [and the result can be a model or] prototype that can be used in the education of teachers” (Eisner,

1991, p. 199). My goal was to use the chosen participant as just such a guide. Knowing that this potential power relationship existed, I acknowledged its potential threat and hindrance to the outcomes. My plan was to remain constantly reflective and to monitor my actions, intentions, and discussions in order to remain as ethical as possible during this project (Dweck, 2006). My awareness of this relationship was consistently present.

The fourth item that I disclosed was the intentional protection of the participant.

My goal was to protect her identity and to ensure that I created a space for readers to create personal thoughts. “Portraitists need to prepare for the site visits thoroughly, interact with the actors on the scene with dignity and care, and guard the relationships that are established throughout the writing of the final portraits” (Lawrence-Lightfoot &

Davis, 1997, p. 173). My relationship with the participant emerged, evolved, and changed throughout the course of data collection and data analysis. The color of the portrait was created through this process (Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997). This was the nature of this type of study.

The fifth item I disclosed was the daily lives of this researcher and the participant.

Working full-time while conducting this research posed a challenge for me. I had limited time to conduct my research as did the participant. I was unwilling to impose or invade any part of the participant’s workday to interview her; therefore, I conducted interviews outside school hours. Being intentionally mindful, the decision to do so ensured that the participant’s workday was uninterrupted. The participant had limited time outside school just as I did, and I wanted to be respectful of her time; so she chose the times we held our interviews to fit her schedule. Nonevaluative observations of this teacher were conducted during the school day. The teacher was able to tell me what times she wanted me to come into her classroom for nonevaluative observations, and she said I could come into her room for these observations anytime I wanted. I still asked her whether the times I had chosen were good for me to be in her classroom. Showing respect for her time was

important to me. This is not about perfection. “It’s about learning something over time: confronting a challenge and making progress” (Dweck, 2006, p. 23).

The sixth item I disclosed was the shared leadership environment of this particular school setting, which had been in place at this school for five years. Even though I existed in a power role with this participant, the culture of this school had intentionally been one of shared or servant leadership.

The portraitist makes deliberate and specific use of context in several ways that

reflect her focus on descriptive detail, narrative development, and aesthetic

expression as well as her interest in recording the self and perspective of the

researcher in the setting. (Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997, p. 44)

When I introduced this style of leadership to the staff members through modeling and practice, most staff members were hesitant, uncomfortable, and wanted more direction. They were unaccustomed to sharing or taking on leadership roles: They did not know how to trust that using their voice and thoughts would be meaningful and respected. As years passed, the culture we created supported their trust in their own voices; they were permitted and encouraged to use their professional knowledge in a productive manner. The participant had risen to a teacher‒leader position; therefore, her voice had become elevated because she had been judged as honest and ethical by the staff. She had earned their respect, and her expert teacher characteristics were evident.

My hope was that this teacher‒leader role that she has created for herself helped to equalize the imbalance of power in this research‒working relationship.

The seventh item I disclosed involved the validity of this participant’s voice in reference to her honesty and ethics in her responses and actions. I asked whether she would feel the need to answer and act in a certain manner to try to impress me or “do the right thing.” Would she feel compelled to participate in an activity she otherwise would not? I was aware that this could be an obstacle, and that a hidden element may have eluded me; however, the honor and credibility of this participant had been proven through her actions over the previous five years. I felt as certain as I could as a researcher that she was of good intent and had honorable wishes and a sense of ethics in her professional character.

Finally, the five years that I had known this participant led me to believe this study could be of benefit in increasing understanding of teacher identity and its complexities. A relationship of “prolonged time” is beneficial to any study (Creswell,

2014, p. 202), and the relationship I had been fortunate to develop with the participant was one of true professionalism and respect. She shared information that could help create knowledge and understanding of new information that would extend the research into the identity of in-service teachers and why their identity development matters.

“Informing every aspect of the portraiture process, the declaration of porous and protective boundaries in relationships is an exacting, challenging, and crucial enterprise on which the authenticity of the final portrait relies” (Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997, p. 174).

Challenges and Bias

In order to ensure that this study was rigorous and reliable, several procedures were put in place to help support the process. Qualitative research requires that these procedures of reliability are overt and acknowledged (Creswell, 2014) as one form of quality assuredness.

Using my school and district as the setting for data collection erased one challenge of being a full-time administrator: I was unable to take time off from work to complete my research, and I had a natural setting for my participant that could work for her and the ease burden of collecting data. The setting and the participant conveniently fit the expectations of my study.

Next, I approached my superintendent, who had already approved my study. I requested a formal written letter to be included in my research documentation. I am fortunate that as one of the “gatekeepers” (Creswell, 2013, p. 178), I was able to secure this setting a bit more easily than other researchers. My goal was to finish the University

Institutional Review Board (IRB) process and then acquire these permissions so that ethical considerations were resolved. I had several teachers who had expressed an interest in working with me for this study. That said, one of them was most fitting for the purposeful sample needed.

Triangulation

Triangulation, or the use of multiple sources for data collection, was used to ensure that the same type of information was collected from different sources. The process of triangulation served to ensure reliability in this study. Multiple forms of data

sources included interviews, conversations, observations, analytic memos, field notes, and instructional artifacts, and each one of these sources was used through a deductive process to find patterns and themes, which were then crossed-referenced to locate further themes. This helped identify any information acting as an outlier, which in some cases could be connected and placed where it belonged (Merriam & Associates, 2002).

Member Checking

Member checking was conducted in a way that was fitting for this study.

Typically, “the provisional report (case) is taken back to the site and subjected to the scrutiny of the person who provided information” (Lincoln & Guba, 1985, p. 236).

Every day when I went to work, Mrs. B. was a natural part of my day. We did not speak about the study and the research process during the day, and she was extremely respectful of the research process and my mission to keep it private. I did not speak about my personal “schoolwork,” or the work that I was doing for my research, with my teachers.

It was important to me to keep this piece of my life separate from my workday. I wanted to keep a small barrier between my research and my “day job” because I always wanted the teachers to know that our school and all that occurred in it had primacy. My research was never to come into question as interfering with my ability to do everything that I needed to do at the school.

Member checking was completed but in a relaxed conversational manner. Mrs.

B. and I reviewed notes, documents, and transcripts. When these were shared, the conversation was natural as if we were out for a cup of coffee. The tone was relaxed and enthusiastic but a bit anxious at times. Mrs. B. seemed pleased to confirm what I wrote

was what she believed she had shared with me. For example, she once said, “Yeah, that sounds like what I said! I think that you are repeating the story in the way that I intended.” Most of the time, Mrs. B. and I sat in her classroom and talked about our previous encounter. For example, if I had been in her room that day for an observation, she would ask me if I had questions about what I observed.

Mrs. B. was very generous and forthright when talking about what was taking place in her classroom. She shared details about students, why they acted the way they had on that day, what had led up to what took place, and why she thought their actions played out the way they had. When we sat down to proceed through an interview, I tried to start each session with a review of what we had discussed the previous day. I believed that doing so created the tone, framed our thinking, and allowed for some time for light reflection.

This pattern repeated itself throughout the course of the seven-week study. The final week of the study was reserved for member checking and reviewing content, but at this point, most content had been reviewed or discussed. Analytic memos and field notes were ongoing during the seven-week study, serving as a reflective piece for me and a way for me to keep track of smaller bits of information and encounters. For example, when I met with teachers during the school day, sometimes Mrs. B. was in a group of teachers.

After our meetings, I wrote down bits of our conversations and topics that we discussed.

I was able to keep track of our smaller encounters, which continually reminded me of the importance of unplanned discussions and how substantial impressions can be made even in small moments of time.

I found that all the encounters that I had with Mrs. B. were important for me to layer and construct her portrait. The cliché about the layers of an onion truly fits portraiture. Mrs. B. shared all her stories and described the pieces of who she was; as they emerged, piece by piece, they formed a picture that changed before my eyes. I saw

Mrs. B. in a different light, through a different lens, and with new eyes each time she shared more details about who she was with me.

Most importantly, the relationship that I had with Mrs. B. at the beginning of this process continued to grow to create a connection between us that was like no other relationship I had ever had. She shared her thoughts with me openly and honestly in an unguarded and uncensored way, and I was honored. Because I wanted to ensure that I represented everything she allowed me to be a part of in a fair and consistent manner, she read, reviewed, and was able to reflect on the data (Creswell, 2014).

One last round of member checking took place during the extended writing process about a year after the research had been completed to ensure (a) that Mrs. B. truly felt comfortable with the way she was portrayed in the study and (b) that the study was faithful to her accounts. Mrs. B. worked and lived in an environment that had little diversity, approximately 20‒30% of the community comprising families of low socioeconomic status; a diverse subgroup accounted for less than 10% of the population consistently over the previous 10 years. Knowing that this fact may have colored the perspective from which Mrs. B. shared her stories, I wanted to make sure that she was comfortable with the writing and the way the information was conveyed in this study. In

response, Mrs. B. stated that the vignettes were true and captured the essence of the stories and ideas that she had shared.

Rich and Thick Descriptive Findings

A hallmark of portraiture is data that can color a picture full of essence and nuance.

Portraiture is a method of qualitative research that blurs the boundaries of

aesthetics and empiricism in an effort to capture the complexity, dynamics and

subtlety of human experience and organizational life. Portraitists seek to record

and interpret the perspectives and experience of the people they are studying,

documenting their voices and their visions—their authority, knowledge, and

wisdom. The drawing of the portrait is placed in social and cultural context and

shaped through dialogue between the portraitist and the subject, each one

negotiating the discourse and shaping the evolving image. (Lawrence-Lightfoot

& Davis, 1997, p. xv)

The writing derived from an aesthetic perspective. For example, I believe the picture I produced, drawn from the findings of this study, depicts a lifelike image of the participant. Another hallmark of portraiture is to share an optimistic and hopeful image.

“It seeks to illuminate the complex dimensions of goodness and is designed to capture the attention of a broad and eclectic audience” (Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997, p. xvi). I was able to color a picture with language that “turns image into essence”

(Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997. p. xvii) with words paralleling what one would draw using color, details, and description.

Another hallmark of portraiture is that the researcher creates an autobiographical thread throughout the product. As I gathered information about Mrs. B., I found that my thoughts and images colored the data. The lines blurred between data that came directly from Mrs. B. and my own feelings. I sensed some of myself becoming a part of the vignettes. The portrait of Mrs. B. that was created through my eyes was illuminated in an unexpected way.

Teacher identity might not sound like a complicated issue; however, it is quite complex, layered, and multifaceted. Teacher identity can have elements of goodness, caring, and kindness, but it can also be tinged with doubt, negativity, and insecurity. To understand teacher identity, the researcher must connect to a teacher and draw out her or his identity piece by piece, each multifaceted and deserving exploration. As the researcher does so, the deep connection among the parts must be recognized. A teacher’s identity comprises her or his personal identity and connection to society and how the interaction of the two. It also includes experiences and relationships during a teacher’s lifetime from early childhood to adolescence to adulthood.

The elements of teacher identity are countless and as tightly connected as the points on a line. Each relationship a teacher has impacts her or his identity on a personal level and a professional level. The relationships and encounters make imprints that cannot be measured. Just as neurons are constantly being created and interconnected, so acts the formation of identity. Students, colleagues, parents, community, family, and casual acquaintances all have the ability to make an imprint on identity as well as on

teacher identity. The interactions between self and society are tightly bound. As connections are made and unpacked, learning how the pieces fit together continues.

Limited Generalizability

A portrait is created as a dynamic, realistic, colorful, detailed, and rich account of the participant and context uncovered through data collection. The process is meant to produce new meaning and knowledge uncovered through the study of the participant.

“The criteria used in evaluation [must] be appropriate for the research paradigm, i.e., quantitative or qualitative. Quantitative conceptualizations of reliability and validity are unsuitable for evaluation of qualitative research as they were not devised for this purpose” (Horsburgh, 2003, p. 307). If qualitative research is not considered generalizable, it is considered to have little value and lacks a beneficial purpose (Morse,

1999). Understanding the distinction between quantitative and qualitative research helps to support the purpose of qualitative research. Statistical quantitative research is designed to fit the study and the study population for the purpose of comparing the demographics, the characteristics of the population, and the traits used in the selection process (Morse, 1999); however, a qualitative researcher determines participants based on a theoretical premise of the work to be done and a theory to be investigated. The theoretical stance assumed in qualitative research guides the purpose and analysis of the quality of the findings (Horsburgh, 2003).

A flat understanding of qualitative studies would be that each study stands alone and is not generalizable according to quantitative descriptions (Gibbs, 2007). The aim of qualitative research is to use theoretical understandings to explore and extract findings

that can serve as purposeful and underpinnings for similar phenomena. “If qualitative research is considered not generalizable, then it is of little use, insignificant and hardly worth doing. Of course, qualitative research is generalizable” (Morse, 1999, p. 5). I hope the learning that evolved from this research process influences findings or research for future studies such that future researchers may deem the findings beneficial to pursue in connection with their studies.

Ethical Boundaries

This study was an important endeavor to create and explore teacher identity as it intersects ethics, family, educational life, and spirituality. As noted above, the current literature has room for further exploration of teacher identity. In order to deem this research trustworthy, establishing ethical boundaries to show my intent was good and authentic was necessary. More importantly, the safety of the participant had to be guaranteed. Qualitative researchers aim to produce research that is reliable, valid, and conducted in an ethical manner (Creswell, 2005; Maxwell, 2013; Merriam & Associates,

2002). The procedures were monitored through triangulation, member checking, prolonged study, and rich and descriptive data. The data were analyzed in a thorough and ethical manner.

Researchers must remain ethical, professional, and responsible. As the researcher, I was privileged and honored to be welcomed into the personal life of the participant. I respected the boundaries and guidelines of the research process and the participant; in fact, respecting the participant is paramount. Acknowledging that I was invited to be a part of a larger community in the school, classroom, and world of this

participant, I always remembered that I was in the personal space of this individual; therefore, my conduct had to be held to the highest degree of ethical conduct possible.

The responsibility to hold all information confidential and respectable was within the boundaries of ethical conduct.

The participant did not have the same experiences in learning about the research process as I have. I found that I wanted to protect her and assure that she was consistently aware of her rights as a participant. A participant accrues benefits as part of a study like this: During the course of many conversations, we unpacked her stories and teaching observations. In me she had a consistent mentor to work alongside her to help her learn more about who she was as a teacher and individual.

Keeping Mrs. B. informed of her rights, the benefits, risks, and potential harm was my responsibility. Attaining all permissions was my responsibility. Acknowledging that this was my dissertation and that I had much to learn was necessary and that I had committee members whom I trusted to supervise me was essential. Finally, I was aware of the possibility that Mrs. B. might have changed her mind and withdrawn from this project at any time. That would have been within her rights, and she could have done so without penalty. See Table 5 for a review of the reliability strategies used in the study.

Ethics in a Power Relationship

The relationship of researcher and participant created a power dynamic natural in the research process; however, the relationship of principal to teacher introduces an authoritative relationship to be explored. Power relationships were present in the roles that we both had in the research process and in the workplace (Foucault, 1977).

Table 5

Reliability Strategies

Strategy Examples and Descriptions Triangulation Includes a variety of types of data sources (interviews, analytic memos, observations, field notes, instructional artifacts) One participant—data collected was used to compare, contrast, similarities, differences Interviews, observations, field notes, analytic memos, instructional artifacts

Member checking Opportunities offered routinely after interviews and observations for checking of notes and collected data After interviews were transcribed, data were given to the participant for review Interviews taking place after observations Review or redefining of data collection

Rich and descriptive Abundant information collected findings Detailed information Senses, cultures, in-depth; vignettes Multiple documentations

Limited Data specific for this study, setting, participant generalizability Unique portrait, individualistic Limited transferability

Ethical boundaries Credible, dependable, limited outlier data Confidential Permissions granted and documented IRB submitted Research supported across field Bias acknowledged, shared

Although I was a researcher, I needed the participant to be able to fulfill my research goals, so I was reliant on her. I held power in having more background knowledge about the process and project, but she held the power with regard to my needing her to complete this project.

Relationships during the course of this research can be viewed as rights and duties or powers and vulnerabilities (Harré, 2005). Researchers and participants have rights

because they are vulnerable without them. They have duties that assign them a power position in relation to someone else. In this research process, we both occupied positions of power in some way. I needed the participant to be truthful, available, and willing to participate; however, my role as the researcher and principal may have introduced an unknown element of power that was intangible, one perhaps inherent in the relationship that could not be uncovered as long as I was her superior. Although she could leave the project, she could not leave her job. She could not stop working in an environment in which we would both continue to be present; therefore, the element of situational ethics was challenged. Open discussion took place in this regard continuously; however, I could not know how much this could have damaged the research process.

Power can bring an element of productivity and subjectivity to the process

(Foucault, 1977). “Freedom must exist for power to be exerted, and also its permanent support, since without the possibility of recalcitrance, power would be equivalent to a physical determination” (Foucault, 1994, p. 342). Eliminating power was not a possibility. Being aware of the relationship with the participant was a matter of choice.

Certain elements must be an intentional part of the research process: knowledgeable about the process and content, structured, clear, gentle, sensitive, open, steering, critical, remembering and interpreting (Kvale, 1996). A thorough ability to be reflexive and adaptable in the process was necessary.

A good qualitative researcher is aware of the ethical constructs of the research process. I was aware that I had to remain as objective as possible, knowing that implicit

bias might be present; I could do only my best to safeguard my participant in every way possible. Regarding cognitive values,

we should recognize that all values, including the cognitive ones, derive their

authority from our idea of human flourishing and our idea of reason. These two

ideas are interconnected: our image of an ideal theoretical intelligence is simply a

part of our ideal of total human flourishing, and makes no sense wrenched out of

the total ideal, as Plato and Aristotle saw. (Putman, 1990, p. 141)

Insofar as I was aware of my implicit and explicit bias, I worked to remain ethical while putting the safety and care of the participant first.

Writing Style

The writing style for portraiture should be an expression of the experience of the researcher; therefore, the writing derived from data gathered, analyzed, and presented through my interpretive lens. An autobiographical lens was used to share the details, descriptions, and sentiments of the portrait. The canvas served as the backdrop for the language and words I chose. The style chosen for this portraiture was one of illumination and empiricism expressed through the personal context of this researcher. “Typically, arts-based research is presented only in theoretical and expository terms in the educational research” (Diamond & Mullen, 1999, p. 1), but with the promotion of arts-based research, a lane has opened for a new form of expression in educational research. Using descriptive elements and aesthetic details, the “experiential repertoire of the researcher” colored the canvas with “quintessential expression” (Lawrence-Lightfoot

& Davis, 1997, pp. 32‒33).

Limitations

One of the limitations of this study was that it was projected to have one participant. To complete a portraiture study, the participant pool needed to remain small in order to attain rich and detailed data. If Mrs. B. had chosen to leave the study, I would have been unable to complete this project. The pressure of this possibility was undeniable. The goal was to produce as information rich a product as possible. Another limitation of this study was my role as a full-time administrator and the evaluator of the teacher‒participant. The particular year for this teacher’s evaluation was called a “carry over” year; in other words her evaluation from the previous school year remained the same or intact. Thus, I had to use the resources to which I had access during the restricted amounts of time I had to complete this study. The study was limited to information about the participant; it was not intended to be transferrable to other studies but could be compared to like situations or like participants.

Summary of Methods

The study that I conducted was a qualitative portraiture study with one participant.

The data sources included interviews, observations, field notes, analytic memos, stimulated recall interviews, and instructional artifacts, such as lesson plans, emails, and exit tickets. Data analysis was conducted with coding to find emergent themes; the coding process was completed by a constant comparative method of description‒reduction‒interpretation, a deductive method involving creating themes and categories of information. Trustworthiness was established by using triangulation,

member checking, limiting generalizability, and acknowledging bias. The data were rich, thorough, and deep, creating reliable data. See Table 6 for a summary of study stages.

Table 6

Summary of Study Phases

Phases of Study Activity

Study Proposal Discussion of current literature and need for the study June‒January 2018 Conceptualization of the study design and methods Defense of proposal

Institutional Review Completion of IRB forms and documents Board Submitted to Kent State IRB for review via email December‒April 2018 Obtained approval to conduct research

Participant Recruitment Contacted superintendent and teacher via email and followed up in April 2018 person Selected participant Met with teacher to obtain informed consent, discuss, and determined interview and observation times and days Created new timeline for data collection

Data Collection Interviewed the teacher at the time dictated in the timeline April‒May 2018 Completed memos after each observation and interview Conducted a member-check interview before the next interview Transcribed audio recordings with Vanan Online Services Maintained dependability through careful handling of the data sources, taking detailed memos, and logging sources. Kept a log of my actions and interactions with the participant and data

Data Analysis Read, reread, and coded data using the constant comparative method May‒August 2018 (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Completed journal of codes and patterns of words Collapsed codes into categories and theme. Maintained credibility through triangulation of sources Synthesized data

Member checking Continued to conduct member-checking interview with teacher May‒August 2018 Transcribed interviews and audio recordings with Vanan Online Services Coded interview and incorporated into data set Maintained credibility through member checking

CHAPTER IV

PORTRAIT OF MRS. B.

A Tapestry

Portraiture is a qualitative approach to gathering, analyzing, presenting, and portraying data with the written word, drawing an aesthetic and descriptive depiction of the inquiry process at hand. “In the implementation of the methodology of portraiture, as in the construction of a work of visual art, the significance of the details of presentation transport the portrayal beyond simple representation into the realm of expression”

(Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997, p. 28).

The guiding research questions focusing the research process were as follows:

1. What are the dimensions that reveal themselves during a portraiture study of

an in-service teacher?

2. How is a teacher’s identity constructed?

The subject of this portraiture study was Mrs. B., a fourth-grade in-service teacher in a semiurban school district. The four dimensions that emerged through exploration have been discussed below in the presentation of this journey. They are cultivating relationships, respecting spirituality, voice of action, and intentional reflection.

Contextual Background: Setting the Stage for Mrs. B.

For most people, today started out just like any other spring day. The sun was still rising in the sky, and the white marshmallow clouds were above me, foretelling the beauty of the day ahead. The hour was early. I drove to school with cars zipping past me on the freeway as everyone made their way to work. I found myself reflecting on the 98

start of my day, wondering whether my meeting would begin on time and listening to the music on the radio at the same time. My head raced with an agglomeration of thoughts because I knew that today was the day I hoped to begin gathering my data, starting the next phase of my research, and of course, I was worried about how everything would play out. Mrs. B. and I had our first interview planned for after school.

Just like hundreds of days before this, I drove up to a traditional red-brick school and parked my car in my regular parking spot. A playground lay on one side of the building and a field of green grass on the other. When I walked up the sidewalk and got to the bricks that line the landscaped yard, I felt the familiar sensation of excitement that a new day was on its way. I had grown to look forward to the excitement of the day at this school.

The small village where this school had operated for the past 100 years was located between the suburbs and cities off the interstate highway that ran through the state. The village had a rich history of supporting the students who attended school here.

For many years, this village seemed a bit frozen in time. The homes surrounded beautiful lakes that lent charm to the village. The streets wound their way until you see—nestled between homes—this quaint school that seemed a bit frozen in time came into view.

Very few teachers arrived at school this early, and the peaceful calm of the morning filled me with hope and excitement. Dew glistened on the blades of grass, birds chirped their morning serenade, and the scent of the pink cherry blossom tree that stood in front of the school was enough to enliven my senses. Soon, children would call to one another with shouts of “Hello!” Parents would say, “I love you. Have a great day!” The

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teachers on morning supervision duty to would usher the children into the school with cheerful greetings. This would be a typical start of the day for Mrs. B. just as it had been for the past 27 years. I could not help but wonder how the image of this school each day had contextualized Mrs. Betty B. and influenced the way her identity had been formed.

I thought of the thousands of times Mrs. B. had pulled into this same parking lot and greeted her day as I greeted mine. I wondered whether this was what she wanted for her path in life. Some people would find working in the same place for so many years quite challenging. That she has had this as a part of her career was unique, but I could not decide whether I found it admirable or not. I personally found that I grew complacent if I stayed in a position too long. I missed the challenge and the excitement of change.

As much as I disliked the discomfort associated with new situations, I did not think that staying in one position for this length of time would be satisfying and fulfilling.

Mrs. B. was, however, that rare teacher who had student taught and was hired at the very same school. She had spent all her days from her novice years as a nervous young teacher to this point of serving as a veteran leader all in the same location. Over the tenure of her teaching career, most of her days were spent in the very same third-grade classroom. The past few years, however, she had taught fourth grade.

Throughout the seasons of her life, Mrs. B. had come to work here day after day.

I found myself wondering what a flashback would feel like if I could go back to the days when Mrs. B. was a brand new teacher, driving here to school just like today.

What would it feel like to be Mrs. B. when she was simply Miss S., unmarried, without children of her own, and yet to graduate from college? For the first few years of her

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teaching career, she commuted from her childhood home in a neighboring city, crossed into the semiurban school district, and drove to this school, her place of work.

My experience had paralleled Miss S.’s career to some extent. When I started teaching, I commuted from my childhood home and drove to my teaching job. I felt like a fraud. At home, I still felt like a teenager dressing for school. Instead, I was driving to work and in charge of a whole class of sixth graders. I was 22! Who would put a

22-year-old in charge of a thirty 12-year-olds? I can see that Mrs. B. had done the same thing, but she had stayed and worked at the same school for her entire career.

At the outset of Mrs. B.’s career, the students who attended this school came from extremely wealthy families, who promoted tradition and manners and valued school.

According to Mrs. B., many families apparently had a stay-at-home mom, who walked the children to and from school daily. The image of “family” at this school was at the time very traditional. Many mothers volunteered their time at the school by running the library or helping the teachers. When I think back to 20-some years ago, this seemed what I might have imagined at a school embedded in this neighborhood. The stories that

Mrs. B. shared with me seemed to fit into this picture, resembling the contents of a snow globe frozen in time.

Mrs. B. shared with me that she always came to school relishing the promise of making a positive difference in the lives of children each day. She wanted to see things through rose-colored glasses, but during the conversations that followed, I realized that she clearly saw the discrepancies in her hopeful outlook. She recognized that the vision

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she held at the beginning of her teaching career was challenged daily with the transitions and changes that she experienced over the years of her teaching career.

I did not find her outlook surprising. Mrs. B. liked to try to convey a positive image and convince her students that they could achieve any goal that they set. When we dug deeper into her personal history and the connections she made to her younger self, her “self-outside-work,” and her veteran or practicing teacher self, Mrs. B. revealed complexities tightly woven and inseparable from who she was, who she is, and who she tried to be.

The day came for my first formal observation of Mrs. B. for the purpose of this research. I had been in her classroom hundreds of times before this day. I loved visiting classrooms and being a part of the environment. The way a teacher can envelop the students and capture their attention when teaching can stop me in my tracks. I sometimes find myself becoming so enthralled with a lesson that I forget why I walked into the classroom. I waited and watched the clock anxiously partially because of my excitement but mostly because I was eager to play a different role while I visited her classroom.

I hoped that when I sat in the back of the classroom watching that I behaved as if I were barely there. My hope was that my presence in the room did not affect what was taking place and that the students and Mrs. B. continued seamlessly. I am in classrooms a great deal, and teachers and students typically continue with their activities without changing their actions. Even though I say this, I cannot know for sure nor can the teacher know for certain that she has not changed her behavior. Our behaviors can change without our knowledge or intention. I hope that was not the case for this project;

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however, awareness and willingness to be present in the moment were the only elements

I could control.

As I stood outside the main office, the hallways came alive with a wave of students transitioning to the next class. Boys and girls giggled and called to one another.

They were clearly energized from physical education class. The air filled with a combination of scents, I detected the unpleasant smell of sweaty young children exiting the gymnasium and the garlicky odors of something Italian that was cooking for lunch down in the cafeteria. I waited a few moments for the hallways to clear before making my way upstairs.

Late April can bring pleasant weather to this Midwestern school, and this day promised to be warm. I slipped into the classroom and made my way to a kidney-shaped table in the back of the classroom. Mrs. B. acknowledged that I entered the room with a grin but kept conversing with the students in the classroom. The interactive white board was in use, the lights off, and division problems written on the front board. Several students sat at metal desks, three sat on the flowered carpet in the front of the room, and two stood at the side of the counter by the windows. A breeze blew through the windows like a soothing voice bringing a cool rush of air into the room. Students turned their heads in that direction as the freshness rolled through their learning environment.

I was very familiar with Mrs. B.’s classroom because I had known her for several years. The setting for me was welcoming and comfortable. When I walked into this classroom, I found bright colors, books neatly shelved, and little clutter. This might not have been a big deal, but when I walked into classroom after classroom every day, it was

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very apparent to me when teachers took an interest in caring for their classroom.

Classrooms can be different, decorated creatively, with their own individual flare. Each classroom had its own vibe; nevertheless, students deserve to learn in a room where the teacher clearly takes care of her environment.

A common sight I saw when walking into the classroom was students sitting and learning in different spaces. The buzz of active learning was palpable. Students sat as usual in the learning spaces of their choice. I wondered whether they understood the benefits of their flexible seating and enjoyed their ability to choose where they sat.

Sometimes they worked in pairs or small groups; a few students worked independently.

Choosing where to work and with whom was part of the empowerment Mrs. B. promoted. Mrs. B. previously told me that allowing for choice in learning activities and having compassion for personal needs was valuable. Independent learning was important to her.

Mrs. B. was on the go, moving around the classroom. She did not stand still until she dialogued with students. I could sense the intentional movement that she made to connect with each student. Within minutes, she had spoken with half the students, given positive feedback to many of them, reinforced good choices, and patted several students on the shoulder. Without a doubt, I could see her using her classroom management skills to keep the class motivated and focused. A few minutes passed, and Mrs. B. seemed to focus on a specific conversation with one student. I could not discern what they were saying, and the interaction seemed to be quite private. I really wanted to know what she was saying. I liked that she took time with individual students.

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After a few minutes, Mrs. B. walked over to me to see whether I had any questions. I was anxious to talk to her. I wasn’t sure what I was going to hear or what I wanted to hear. I was curious about what each student or group of students was doing. I asked her that question. Maybe I should have waited to ask this question until later when we did not have students present, but Mrs. B. responded willingly. In retrospect, I should have waited to ask her. I might have disrupted the natural rhythm of instruction and classroom make-up.

As soon as I asked my question, a student came up and stood about a foot away from us. The student stood quietly, kind of swaying from side to side. She did not interrupt us but clearly had a question. Mrs. B. took a break from talking to me to help the fourth grader. Mrs. B. asked questions to help the student search for the answers herself and solve the problem. It was one of those teaching moments that was interesting to observe because I was able to see the student‒teacher interaction up close.

Mrs. B. turned her attention back to me. I was glad that she did because I knew that I wanted to hear what she had to say about the other students in the classroom. Mrs.

B. told me that each student had different work designed and individualized for them to work on based on the skills that they needed to develop. At the beginning of the school year, Mrs. B. practiced skills with the students to encourage them to self-manage their behavior. I was amazed at how the students stayed on task during this part of the lesson, but I knew that working independently was a goal in Mrs. B.’s classroom. Mrs. B. cultivated the ability to work, stay focused, and self-manage for stamina and endurance.

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When the students had a question, they were allowed to ask for help or ask a friend as long as they made a choice that would benefit their learning.

Excited to learn more, I intended to talk to Mrs. B. further about the interactions that she had with students. Her comfort level seemed to radiate when she interacted with them. She was natural and clearly at ease. Her conversations and personality seemed to come to life. I could tell that Mrs. B. was still feeling high energy when she walked over to me and just let the information about Brandon spill out of her. She shared his story.

Brandon was a student new to the school this year. His family had been through some tough times. He was a quiet, reserved young man who tried to blend into the class, not stand out or draw attention to himself. Through no fault of his own, many of the students in the class had gone to school with one another for the past five years. As I watched him navigate the lesson and then during his conversation with Mrs. B., he seemed as if he were a part of the group and had always been a member of this class.

Brandon had recently received some summer clothes as a donation from a family associated with our school but with no students enrolled at Washington Elementary.

They were simply a family generous to the students of the school. Mrs. B. shared that she was following up with Brandon to see whether he had written his thank-you note to the family. She explained to him why it was so important to share our thanks with kind people. Mrs. B. continued to promote opportunities for students to practice treating other people kindly, respectfully, and honorably.

When I looked out into the classroom of Mrs. B., I was not surprised with the appearance of the room. The layout was quite typical for fourth-grade learners. Mrs. B.

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taught math and social studies. The desks in her room were lined up in horizontal rows.

The students’ desks faced the front of the classroom where the SMART Board was mounted. The room felt spacious, it appeared bright, and the walls were hung with colored posters and educational tools for decorations. I loved how I felt when I was in an elementary classroom—comfortable and at home.

The cold, gray metal desks in the room seemed forbidding until a student sitting at one of them smiled at the teacher. The more that I sat, observed, and let myself relax and settle in, I was able to see past the furniture and typical sights in the classroom. The color of the desks faded away and was replaced with the faces of the students in the classroom.

The desks were arranged in four rows, each divided into three different groups. A traditional classroom could be divided up in only so many ways; however, the use of the desks is what can make learning different.

While Mrs. B. taught, students could move to another location in the room if doing so helped them to focus better. They did not need to ask permission; they were allowed free choice. At the beginning of the school year, Mrs. B. took time to work with the students to teach them about their learning styles. Students discussed what helps them to learn best. One of the tools she taught them was to change their body from sitting to standing. Another strategy was to move away from another student who was distracting or to move to spot in the classroom closer to the teacher.

As I watched the lesson take shape, one student who was working at her desk moved over to the window shelf to work. Someone changed from sitting to standing. No one sought permission. Students might not have understood the power in being able to

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make these kinds of decisions, but I have come to know this as a hallmark of Mrs. B.’s style and how she led her students.

Facets of Teacher Identity: Dimensions of Mrs. B.

The focus of this study was to discover the dimensions and facets that comprised the identity of a teacher, a gestalt of colors that, when painted together, uncovered much more than I expected when I started this research adventure. This one teacher was able to impart knowledge of how a teacher put together the parts of her experiences and then how they surfaced in her teaching, a phenomenon that deserved exploration. Mrs. B.’s identity was only beginning to emerge through the following important dimensions: cultivating relationships, respecting spirituality, voice of action, and intentional reflection. Through classroom observations, teacher observations, and the sharing of artifacts, I hoped to create a colorful portrait illustrating the beautiful dimensions of a teacher’s identity.

Theme 1: Cultivating Relationships

The coding of data revealed the importance to Mrs. B. of cultivating and building relationships that she used to capitalize upon and grow connections with students, parents, and staff members. Students required a dependable, supportive connection with their teacher. Mrs. B. shared her belief in connecting with each student on an individual, core level. I watched her with her students as she pushed them with questions, imposing high demands on them during instruction. During interviews, she shared a similar demand on herself when she consistently said that she needed to “improve and do better.”

She said the same when she spoke of her daughters, her husband, her mom, her friends,

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colleagues, parents, and students. Her approach with students was holistic. She would push to make sure that she worked to understand the actions, behaviors, learning styles, and the emotions that they brought into the classroom. During an interview, Mrs. B. said,

“I only have nine months with these students. I have to make sure that I can teach them everything I can before they leave me.” That is a lot of pressure to impose on oneself, but I admired her devotion to making a positive, permanent mark on each student and to imparting skills that would last them a lifetime.

I observed Mrs. B. convey to her students the importance of being truthful and honest. To model this concept with them, Mrs. B. insisted on having “deep conversations,” which she defined as “conversations that I have with the kids that relate to real life, the life lessons they need to understand such as how success comes from hard work, perseverance, questioning, and stamina.” She stated that these conversations were essential to intentional relationship building.

When I was fortunate to watch her engage in these deep conversations with her students. When she shared her thoughts about them, I thought of them as a

“heart-to-heart” conversations or family meetings I often had with my own children.

These classroom meetings were intended to offer a time to share thoughts, feelings, and stories that were personal. Listening to her as she shared her thoughts and feelings with the students, I perceived a new vulnerability showing through. Mrs. B. showed sensitivity and weakness and shared mistakes and hardships with the students, making personal connections with the students to help them connect with her. I knew that she

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understood the importance of dissecting feelings and conversations to help students learn to make meaning of the world around them.

I wondered whether she understood that when she connected with her students, that might have been the only time during the day when an adult shared these kinds of thoughts and feelings with them. Students have told me that they saw no one when they arrived home from school. Some students went home to an empty house and put themselves to bed before a parent returned home from work. Some students craved connections with adults. Mrs. B. tried to create a forum for this to happen; however, when she did so, there was a takeaway for her as well. All interactions share connections between self and social situations (Côté & Levine, 2002), and the interactions of Mrs. B. and her students were constant and meaningful. The next layer involved the manner in which the interactions left imprints on the identities of the people involved. Mrs. B. took these experiences and added layers to her own identity.

The following four examples illustrate how Mrs. B. used relationships, nurtured them, and continued to value their importance daily. Relationships were a reflection of both people involved. The interaction was long-lasting and left a mark on both parties. Mrs. B. used her own identity, characteristics, values, and ethics to shape relationships with intentionality.

Example 1: Creating a Family

As Mrs. B. sat in her rocking chair at the front of the classroom, the students stared up at her intently as if the lesson were being taught in slow motion. I loved

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watching their fixation on her. Perhaps the attention had more to do with the topic of slavery, but the students were clearly interested in what was going to happen next.

The lesson was focused on a sensitive topic. Mrs. B. spoke about slavery in an interactive way. The students shared and talked throughout her discussion as if this were her family, and they were sitting around the kitchen table sharing a meal together. Mrs.

B. said:

You may want to go and visit Hale Farm. The content is pretty intense. I want to

be careful when teaching and discussing slavery. The social context is sensitive

and conversations can be emotional. I know that each one of you is getting a bit

older. You are starting to get to the point where you can learn some older things

and can handle that.

Several students smiled, and then a few nodded. This kind of comment was empowering to impressionable students yearning to hear positive and encouraging comments about who they were and what they could do.

Wearing her school-spirit shirt, Mrs. B. read to the students. Her voice was quiet.

The students looked up at her as if holding on to each word so they would never forget what she was reading. The seating was flexible. Students sat on the carpet or at the desks close to Mrs. B.; two students stood behind her as she read. Upon finishing, she looked at the students and paused. Without Mrs. B. saying a word, a student called out,

“Is the underground railroad a real thing? Who gets to help with it?” From here, the conversation started with the ease of a Sunday dinner, only the topic was centered on fourth-grade social studies standards. During the conversation, Mrs. B. used student

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names, changed her tone, and made observable eye contact with each student. Just as the red and orange bands of the rainbow have endless shades between them, Mrs. B.’s mindfulness ranged from her actions, movements, choice of words, and attention to detail.

With only one set of lights on, the room had a calm feel as Mrs. B. sat with her hand on her chin and head tilted to the side. She used her hands while she spoke. When speaking about slavery, she talked about how the children of slaves worked in the fields instead of playing catch or gathering with friends. She made real-world connections with the students. The students nodded and expressed understanding. Mrs. B. understood their need to connect to the content; however, the more important connection was between each student and Mrs. B. She understood that all learning grows from this core relationship she continually nurtured. Creating a deep, personal connection with individuals yielded opportunities to make learning connections for social, emotional, and academic growth.

Example 2: A Student’s Story

Another example of Mrs. B. and her relationship building was visible through her care and compassion for families. She worked hard to create trusting relationships with students’ parents, communicating with them frequently and personally. Typically, her newsletters were written and sent home every Friday. She also conducted conferences with parents during regularly scheduled times, and she contacted parents routinely during the intervening weeks. Mrs. B. preferred to call parents on the phone or to meet with them in person to have authentic conversations and collaborate with them, enjoying the

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personal contact that doing so afforded. Frequently, she met and chatted with parents after school during pick-up time to share an update on the happenings of the day. In addition, she also met with them first thing in the morning before school hours.

One ordinary morning, I walked through the halls on my morning “walk around.”

The school day had yet to start, and soon the bell would ring. Students would overtake the halls and the quiet, serenity of empty hallways would be transformed with the loud voices and laughter of children toting an array of backpacks.

The bell rang, and students bustled into the school. Some students smiled; some did not make eye contact, but most students said, “Good morning” in response to my

“Good morning.” The chaos did not last long, only about 10 minutes. After that, the students were tucked away in their classrooms. The hallways were cleared except for a few late arrivals. I was always amazed at the efficiency of the process. Two hundred students rushed in and settled in such a short period of time.

I could hear some noise coming from the upstairs hallway. I made my way up the stairs and saw a small crowd of students holding their backpacks in their hands or still carrying them on their backs. Clearly something was amiss: Most mornings, Mrs. B. could be found standing at her door, awaiting the arrival of her students, but on this day

Mrs. B.’s door was closed; and the students milled about the hallway. They rumbled, laughed, and chortled as one would expect a group of fourth graders to do. The door to

Mrs. B.’s classroom opened at last, and she greeted her students with a big smile. She called out loudly and proudly, “Look at these wonderful fourth graders! They can always

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be trusted to do the right thing, keep things in check, and be patient! Way to go, Fourth

Graders!”

As they walked into the classroom, she high-fived them and greeted them by name. After the little herd of students entered the room, a mom walked out. She, too, greeted the students as if she were imitating Mrs. B.’s interaction with them. She wished them a great day, then gave Mrs. B. a hug, thanked her, and walked toward the stairs leading to the front doors of the building.

All morning long, I waited to hear about her morning meeting. As the building’s principal, I always liked to be informed. As a researcher, this was a fascinating scenario, and gaining as much knowledge and detail as possible about it was important.

Later in the day, Mrs. B. shared the details of her morning meeting. She clearly wore her heart on her sleeve for this mom and student, but I was still unaware of the situation. Listening to and watching Mrs. B. share the story was just as important as the actual details. Her eyes glistened with the tears as she clearly tried to hold them back, and her voice quivered as she related what had taken place.

Last night, I received an email from Mrs. Main [pseudonym], who asked if we

could meet right away. Her email was almost begging. This was unusual because

I didn’t typically receive such urgent emails or contacts from the mom. This

mom is a sixth-grade teacher, even, calm, and on top of everything that takes

place with her daughter here at school. It was such a peculiar request. I granted

her request and asked her to meet me first thing in the morning before the students

were to arrive.

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This morning when she came in, Mrs. Main had obviously been crying. Her

face was streaked with tear marks and her cheeks were flushed. She came in

alone, so naturally, I asked her where Cassie [pseudonym] was. Mrs. Main said

that Cassie was waiting in the car. Mrs. Main shared that she cannot get Cassie to

come out of the car, and this struggle is taking place every single day. Cassie has

been complaining of terrible stomachaches. She keeps having them routinely. At

first, Mrs. Main thought them to be somatic or due to anxiety. She was trying to

work with Cassie on calming strategies, deep breathing, and visualization

techniques. None of these techniques were working or helping; therefore, Mrs.

Main has taken Cassie to be evaluated by several doctors. No answers yet. The

family is doing everything they can to help to support her. However, for now, the

goal is to get Cassie to come to school.

I was proud of Mrs. B. for the way she handled the situation. Some parents have a difficult time asking for help, but when they did, teachers needed to tread carefully with their advice, actions, and choice of words. Without skipping a beat, Mrs. B. devised a plan to help meet Cassie’s immediate needs. These were the types of situations always took me by surprise. For all the years that I have been in education, I continue to be surprised at the scope of a teacher’s charge. I was pleased to know that Mrs. B. was professional, kind, and generous with her creativity to devise a plan to help support

Cassie.

Mrs. B. suggested that when Cassie was feeling overwhelmed, she could visit the nurse with whom Cassie had developed a strong relationship over the past few weeks, so

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that when she needed a “go-to” person, she had one. Mrs. B. offered to give Cassie a break time during lunch and recess so that if Cassie was in pain, she would have a place for solace and comfort. The issue occurred primarily in the morning. Mrs. B. asked for my collaborative help. Once students came into the classroom, she was unable to tend to

Cassie and her needs, yet she wanted Cassie to get through the doors of the school. Mrs.

B. asked me to create a safe haven for Cassie once she came to school so that if she couldn’t get to the classroom, she would be able to sit in my office until she was physically and emotionally ready to go to class. This, of course, was fine with me.

Then Mrs. B. shared the most important parts of the plan. She would start a journal that would serve as a collective communication tool between Cassie, her mom, and Mrs. B. A procedure was created so that Cassie could use the journal as a tool to write down her thoughts, share her feelings and emotions, and to let everyone know what she needed. Cassie would know that anytime she wrote in the journal, she would get a response from either her mom, Mrs. B., or both. Cassie gave her mom and Mrs. B. permission to share the journal with the doctor so that she might learn of other symptoms that Cassie had. Mrs. B. said the connections she needed to build with her mom and

Cassie would be the key to ensuring Cassie was able to trust her to share what was really occurring. Keeping the journal open with Mom would show there was nothing to hide. It was a “win” for everyone involved. Mrs. B. asked whether all this was acceptable with me. I was happy with the solution and hopeful that Cassie would feel better. The issue may not have been anxiety. Perhaps she suffered from physical ailments; however, we were not medical professionals, and her mom was taking care of that aspect of Cassie’s

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needs. The school day moved along, and Mrs. B. needed to retrieve her students from their art class. She took a long, deep breath, rolled her shoulders back, and walked out the door. The look on Mrs. B.’s face did not convince me that she felt calm inside, but as any strong teacher does, she moved on to the next task at hand.

The interactions of Mrs. B. and Mrs. Main were productive and appeared meaningful. Mrs. B. was confident, caring, and compassionate; however, she was not a counselor. I always worried when these situations arose in school. Teachers had to take on the role of a counselor, therapist, and social worker. They learned how to handle these kinds of situations through professional and personal experiences.

Mrs. B. had taught for well over 20 years, developing the coping skills needed to make suggestions to Cassie’s mom. She could draw from her experiences as a mother as well as her former interactions with other people, parents, colleagues, and family members. Each time I heard of a teacher creating these kinds of plans and helping families in this way, I was amazed at the lengths to which we go to support our students.

Mrs. B. knew she could help families when they struggled, but she crossed the line to some degree in terms of what was expected; yet this was what she required of herself. Building these relationships was an important part of her job. Mrs. B. demonstrated why teaching matters, but the scope of what a teacher truly does far surpasses pedagogy and methods. Mrs. B. continued to teach Cassie the fourth-grade curriculum, but more importantly, she taught Cassie the importance of trusting safe people in her world. Creating a safe world for oneself makes the difference between a good life and a great one. Strong relationships make us strong. Mrs. B.

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believed that family‒school relationships were the key to building successful, empowered young learners: Those relationships make them whole.

Example 3: Student Teaching

A third example of Mrs. B.’s ability to build relationships is the mentoring role she assumed to support novice teachers. Mrs. B. proudly related that she was an in-service teacher who had taught only two grade levels but knew how to convey her story, knowledge, experiences, and expertise to those teaching other grade levels.

Helping guide young teachers was more about sharing and collaborating than it was about pedagogical exchanges and lesson planning. Mrs. B. believed that helping to guide novice teachers as a partner who had walked the same hallways was the best way to teach and guide them toward new skills; however, the responsibility went further than this. She believed the profession of education served a greater purpose. She had the opportunity to help guide these young students who would be our future.

Mrs. B. had an incredible student teaching experience that taught her to “pay it forward.” Her role model and lead teacher was an in-service third-grade teacher, a leader in the district who had created a strong reputation as skilled and knowledgeable. Mrs.

Johnson [pseudonym] typically eschewed working with student teachers. As most teachers know, taking on a student teacher can be a gamble; however, this time, Mrs.

Johnson read the biography and paperwork of this teacher-wanna-be and learned she had a background speckled with a variety of experiences.

Miss S. (the unmarried Mrs. B.) had graduated early from high school and had taken some college classes during her final years of high school. She filled her spare

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time working at a local grocery store and volunteering. She received training so she could spend volunteer time with young children who needed role models and positive influences. Even in her teens, Miss S. was intent on shaping her soul and nurturing not only herself but others. What an incredible view she had on the world even when she was so very young!

Mrs. Johnson accepted Miss S. as her student teacher. A challenge for both women, student teaching is arduous, challenging, and laborious. Any of us who have endured this experience can remember the exhaustion, fear, and demands. Fortunately for Miss S., Mrs. Johnson was the gatekeeper to the knowledge base and ethical guidance that Miss S. desired and welcomed. Mrs. Johnson was the traditional teacher who expected good manners and proper conduct from her students. She set the bar high with her academic expectations for her students as well as for Miss S. Mind you, Mrs.

Johnson was not perfect. Miss S. learned to keep compassion in check and to improve on mistakes when they were made. Mrs. Johnson modeled how to make connections with her students as well as how to discover the hidden needs of each one.

Although the learning and training was challenging at times, Miss S. followed suit and copied, practiced, and honed these same skills. All student teachers have a hard time learning the craft. Miss S was no different. With Mrs. Johnson’s tutelage, time, and practice, Miss S. turned these skills into her own belief system in which she demanded the best from students over the next two decades.

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Example 4: Serving as a Mentor for Student Teachers

I watched Mrs. B. lead a student teacher and serve as a mentor to novice teachers.

She was a tough, challenging mentor teacher who demanded a great deal from her student teachers, and her interactions with the novice teachers was simultaneously compassionate and strict. Watching this process illustrated another way that Mrs. B. connected with people—by showing the need to make personal connections first and then professional and instructional connections second.

I had the opportunity to observe interactions with Mrs. B. when she had a student teacher, observe her interaction as a mentor teacher, and listen to her share her experiences as a lead teacher. Mrs. B. was very serious when in this role. I saw a new side to her personality emerge when in this role. For novice teachers, I saw that she came across extremely knowledgeable and caring but a bit intimidating at the same time. She expected her novice teachers to rise and grow at a quick pace, a necessity obvious to me.

These novice teachers were responsible for students who needed to learn and deserved every second of valuable learning time even when the teacher was new.

As I listened to Mrs. B. share her story, I recalled a new teacher whom she had mentored, one whom Mrs. B. struggled to guide. The student teacher arrived 10 to 15 minutes late to school each day. As a principal, I find this completely unacceptable. For a student teacher practicing her professional skills for the first time, tardiness is a definite way to lose the opportunity for a letter of recommendation. Mrs. B. was not shy about using her voice with student teachers or novice teachers under her charge. She told me that she wanted novice teachers to be of exceptional quality mostly because she wanted

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only great teachers for students. To do this, Mrs. B. worked on creating a professional relationship with her novice teachers but insisted on setting the bar high for their learning.

When Mrs. B. had a student teacher, she used her teacher voice in an authoritative and assertive way. Her leadership skills were on display. To share instructional advice and professional suggestions, she changed her demeanor when she sat with her student teacher. Mrs. B. recounted that she had no difficulty letting student teachers know when they needed to improve or correct their actions. She felt that she must be a role model to the student teacher with actions and modeling, and she wanted any future teacher whom she helped to have the skills for success. She took this role very seriously.

Summary: Relationships Matter

Mrs. B. knew she was destined to “pay it forward.” Just as Mrs. Johnson worked hard to teach her the important skills of learning about each student individually and to set the bar high, Mrs. B. took her turn to do the same. The knowledge and growth she had been afforded over the years were a blessing, not only to her but to her students.

As an in-service teacher she had the responsibility of passing on what she has learned.

The special gifts she was afforded during her own student teaching became a part of her mentoring. In the classroom, she demanded from her students good manners, proper conduct, and respect for one another. Mrs. B. made clear to her novice teachers that they needed to expect this both from their students and from themselves: Set the bar high, meet the bar, and then raise it even higher.

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Relationships are essential for all humans; however, the value placed on them and how these relationships impact people’s “selves” is up to the individual. Mrs. B. used each relationship as a tool. The relationship forged a connection with and provided interaction between herself and another individual, the connection evolving and growing over time. To ensure the relationship would grow and be impactful, Mrs. B. was intentional, mindful, and deliberate in her actions, knowing this relationship was a key to the development of this student. Her essence, time, energy, devotion, and words would leave an impact on each student and student teacher, she hoped, for a lifetime.

Theme 2: Respecting Spirituality

Associated with a holistic and inclusive approach to practice in instruction, processing, behaviors, and thinking, “spirituality in education refers to a transcendence and compassion in the classroom that acknowledges the interconnectedness of the students, the teacher, and the subject” (Jones, 2005, p. 6). The guiding force for Mrs. B. in her educational philosophy was that she was to benefit the students in a holistic manner. She infused her purpose, beliefs, and mindfulness into a driving force that guided her actions, voice, and approach to all her interactions during her day. The words

“transcendent teaching” (Nash, 2002, p. 168), or teaching for a greater purpose, describe this goal, the focus of which is to create understanding together that is beyond what the teacher and student know. Education has a larger purpose than simply achieving the state standards.

Mrs. B explained that her spirituality brought her comfort, filled her up, and guided her in everything she did. Mrs. B. defined spirituality as the ethical way of

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conducting herself so that she treated everyone fairly, honestly, compassionately, consistently, holistically, and loyally. She had a beautiful way of explaining how each of these words fit into her story. Examples from her childhood, her college years, and her own family and children as well as their translation into her professional identity appear below.

The discussion of Mrs. B.’s spirituality motivated me to reflect on how her ethical standards compared with those of other teachers with whom I had interacted. The approaches of Mrs. B. and other teachers were extremely varied. I have noticed that some teachers did not use spirituality as a compass for their day. I know that this quality matters to me, but it may not matter to everyone.

Example 1: Childhood’s Foundational Values

Mrs. B. grew up in a nuclear family of five with strong values. Spending time together and offering a safe environment for growing and learning, her family was not perfect, but as years created distance, memories seemed to be positive, solid, reliable, and loving. During this formative period she embarked on the construction of her individual identity.

Mrs. B. was the youngest of three siblings and had the fortune of several years’ difference between her and her older sister, allowing for an only-child feeling at home.

With a hardworking father who was busy supporting the family, Betty stayed at home with her mother, who volunteered as a PTA mom and was always available for her.

Mom was her guiding light, the ever-present role model, and loving pillar of support, who helped to create a strong young woman who could take on the world.

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Playing school was a vivid memory of Betty’s childhood. Supported by her mom,

Betty always had extra school supplies, teaching materials, and all the necessary items to conduct a proper lesson for dolls and stuffed animals. After completing her own homework, Betty set out to create lessons for her class of soft, fluffy friends. This meant that homework was repeated as Betty often used the lessons from her own day of learning as a guide for her teaching at home, allowing twice as much time for Betty to practice her skills and making her a strong student at school.

When young Betty needed support, her mom was there to guide her. Betty reflected on her childhood and said the family did not attend church, but proper behavior, including treating everyone with respect, practicing ethical behavior, and exercising kindness and compassion, was intentionally modeled, expected, and demanded. Betty recounted “deep conversations” with her mom that helped her learn and grow with guidance. These helped shape and influence the moral beliefs she practiced most. Betty said this with a grin on her face and a twinkle in her eyes that reflected her true feelings of love for and devotion to her mother. Emotion and love washed over Betty as she shared these sentiments.

Betty grew up knowing her core beliefs were to guide her actions and decision making. These beliefs were not necessarily aligned with a particular religious faith but were rooted in knowing the world is a better place when one is good and kind. Betty learned to devote time to other people, to make room for service, and to choose a life that would fill her needs as well as those of others. Her leading role model for these

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behaviors was her mother, who showed her every day that living and doing for other people in the family and community would be fulfilling and rewarding.

Mrs. B. and I discussed how this impacted her decisions and actions in the classroom. Students in contemporary schools do not necessarily have the same structured family life that Mrs. B. had growing up. When she entered the teaching profession, students were often walked to school by their parents, and moms stayed and helped the teachers at school. Today, students are often driven to school by one parent or guardian, or they are dropped off for the before-school care program that the YMCA offers. Many students come from single-parent homes, and few have parents who check bookbags when students arrive home.

The demographics of the students who attended the school had changed dramatically over the years. The residential area for this school once included primarily

White, upper-class families. The residential area for this school at the time of this writing included middle-class housing as well as subsidized public housing. The school accepted students from other school districts; thus, this student body was vastly different from the one at the school when Mrs. B. began her career.

During this conversation, I quickly noticed Mrs. B.’s frustration. She remarked about how sad it was that students came to school so needy these days. Having a range of students from those were well-dressed, fed, and cared for to those who wore clothes too small or who had no school supplies was heart-breaking. Understanding that the needs of students today were vastly different from the needs of students 20 years earlier was paramount to her approach. I felt the same pains and heartbreak that she felt. The

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dynamic in some contemporary schools pushed academic instruction into a secondary position, and basic needs took a front seat.

I wondered whether this made Mrs. B. feel guilty about her good fortune in life because I had been blessed with a similar experience. Mrs. B. paused for a long time when I asked this question. She said she wasn’t sure how to answer it, but she said:

I guess I feel a little guilty that I have had this good fortune and could have the

same for my children, but at the same time I think that I use that to drive my

actions and behaviors. I try to fill in as many of those gaps for students as I can.

That’s why I feel badly that I only get these students for nine months. I cannot

control what happens to them once they leave me. I am certainly not a perfect

teacher by no means; however, I can try to keep these kids safe and give them as

many tools as possible to be successful when they leave me.

The room felt a bit somber after she shared that sentiment. My heart was breaking mostly because I knew that in my role as a principal, I did not touch student lives the same way I did when I was in the classroom. I understood why she felt this way.

Example 2: College Years and Decision-Making Time

During Betty’s college years, she carried these thoughts forward as she decided to choose a major that would focus on helping others. She selflessly chose the field of social work, where she could help individuals in dire need of help, services, and intervention from professionals. In combination with the experiences Betty gained working for Children’s Protective Services and her course work, the gravity of the field

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of study became depressing and turned out not to be what she thought. At an impasse and unhappy with her choice, not enjoying the path she had chosen, she felt as if she would not impact people as she had hoped. What she did next changed her future forever.

Betty remembered clearly that at that time, she was enrolled in a sociology class.

She translated what she learned there to the field of education instead of to social work and made important connections that changed her outlook. After much contemplation and many deep conversations with her mom, Betty changed her major to elementary education and rededicated herself to the career she believed she should have chosen from the start. She was back on the path she seemed to enjoy so much as a child.

Example 3: Creating a Family

Moving forward to a few years after college, Betty was now Mrs. B. and had started a family of her own. She fell into the rhythm of teaching her own children to follow the same compass her mom had set for her. Growing as a mother meant she would make mistakes and every day was not a perfect day, but she used her core beliefs to guide her through challenging days. To her three children, she imparted spiritual guidance, a strong sense of self, and values-driven goal setting. Coincidentally, Betty spaced her children out as she and her own siblings had been. This was unintentional, but

Betty felt a great plan was at hand for her children and when they were born.

Betty tried to orchestrate every day to reflect the excitement and anticipation of

Christmas morning, each present holding the promise of something great to come. She knew this was an unrealistic expectation and even chuckled a bit when she recounted it.

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She seemed almost embarrassed for making that comment aloud; however, her goal was to work hard and offer the best life for her children that she could. Keeping a prevailing optimism in her sights as much as she could, she wanted her children to find joy and beauty in every day for themselves and everyone around them.

When I thought back to this conversation, I was not surprised that Mrs. B. had this goal for her children because it mirrored the goals that she had for the students in her classroom; however, when she dug further into her stories and experiences of her children, she shared the challenges of motherhood. She told stories of her children struggling through experiences: I had felt the same pains that every mother feels when parenting does not turn out quite right.

Mrs. B. stated that she truly had an idealized vision of what she wanted for her children. Unfortunately, she had trouble becoming pregnant as many women do. One of her children had severe health problems that lasted from the time she was a toddler until middle school, causing daily living challenges not only for her daughter but also for the entire family. Looking back seemed painful for her. I saw her eyes darken, and her face lost its animation when she talked about these hard times.

Sharing the impact upon her teaching, she used these feelings and experiences to push herself to help students who had overwhelming social, emotional, and academic needs. Mrs. B. used connection and the experiences she had undergone to help her relate to parents, students, and colleagues. She hoped to respect other people’s challenges and choices, but she knew that this was an area where she needed to continue to work.

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Example 4: Professional Conduct

A fourth example is a portrait of Mrs. B. working with her colleagues and the challenges she faced. Mrs. B. worked to model and practice her beliefs every day with her students and colleagues: She aimed to be honest and genuine both in and out of the workplace. Her goal—to remain steadfast in her approach, conduct, and delivery of interactions with students and colleagues—allowed her to remain strong, quietly powerful, and unwavering. Her commitment to never abandoning her core beliefs even when challenged was remarkable. Ben Franklin once wrote, “Well done is better than well said,” and Mrs. B. tried to live accordingly. Nevertheless, even with this

“walk-the-talk” philosophy, at times Betty felt overcome with frustration.

As admirable as her goals were, Mrs. B. faced daily situations that challenged her beliefs and approaches. She worked toward meeting her personal beliefs, but real life presented obstacles that forced her to grit her teeth, take deep breaths, or even avoid certain situations. The teachers’ lounge was one of these places that routinely provoked an abundance of feelings. The image of a teachers’ lounge is supposed to be one of comradery, relaxation, and a respite for a few minutes during the workday. Ideally, teachers sit and eat their lunches as they relax for a short time before taking the stage again in their classrooms of young scholars.

When I walk into the lounge and close my eyes, I can smell yesterday’s lunches and imagine the hum of the microwave. I hear muffled laughter through the closed windows, which are covered with tissue-paper, stained-glass masterpieces. I can picture teachers sharing details of weekend excursions, fruitful errands, and upcoming holidays.

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All these are potential topics of conversation. This is the idealized image in my head; however, just as easily, this picture can change with the entrance of one teacher. He or she can enter the room abruptly, begin a rant about a student who did not meet expectations that morning or who he or she believed to be rude and disrespectful. The conversation could escalate as other teachers join in, chiming in agreement and adding another anecdote about a student from their classrooms. Before long, the conversation has taken a turn and is heading downhill to the depths of dark complaints riddled with negativism that should not be present at a school.

Honestly, all teacher lounges have their own dynamic, which tends to change over time depending on the personnel at the school. If a routine has been set up that the lounge is a place where teachers go to vent, complain, and share unprofessional conversations, then the lounge attracts or discourages certain teachers. For Mrs. B., this posed a moral dilemma. She felt somewhat like a bystander who did nothing to curb bullying. As an adult who advocated good citizenship and tried to model appropriate social interactions, she found that if she sat in the lounge with other colleagues, she might be thrust into an uncomfortable situation. I knew that Mrs. B. was a strong person with good intentions. She wanted to help students to strive for better in all scenarios.

Listening to her struggle with how to handle the dynamics of the teachers’ lounge helped me see her in a different light. I was drawn to knowing that this was challenging for her.

She experienced the internal struggle of doing what she saw as right versus what she found to be an acceptable alternative—avoidance.

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What should she have done? Should she have burst into the conversation and let the other teachers know that this was a horrible way to talk and that no child deserved to be a topic of conversation in a negative light for other teachers’ ridicule? Some days, she chose the easy path and remained in her classroom. Doing so was nonconfrontational, posed no threat, and helped to keep the negative, stressful feelings away; but she knew this meant taking the easy way out. I could side with her on this. I found that this was often an easier choice: I knew just as she knew that if I did this, I could avoid the stress that the adults in a school often created for me. Other days, she was filled with courage:

Mrs. B. would take a deep breath and walk into the lounge, sit, and chime into the conversation to try to infuse some words that might curtail the negative banter.

She remembered a recent conversation in the lounge that she tried to interrupt.

She chimed in, sharing a positive comment about her morning. “Brandon shared with me that he was able to remember how to do the long division problem last night when he was doing his homework.” As one would expect, the conversation continued around her.

Mrs. B. tried again: “I was excited to hear that we are going to order new kindness shirts for this school year.” The mudslinging and malignant chatter continued.

Mrs. B. later told me she struggled with these types of situations with her colleagues. She knew that she was a veteran teacher whom most other teachers in the building looked to as a role model. She knew that she should be able to shut down negative talk and derogatory conversations about students; however, time after time when confronted with this type of situation, she felt the pain that she experienced when growing up, when she felt unworthy of friends or respect from peers. Her feelings of

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smallness were conjured up and rose to the surface. Stifled and frozen in place, unable to rise to do what was right, she was embarrassed and ashamed of herself when this happened.

I was not surprised that these emotions overcame her. After all, Mrs. B. was a teacher, interacting with people all day long and making decisions constantly about how to respond, what to say, and how to react. Sometimes for educators, these were easier to do with children than with adults. Each interaction was a connection to herself, whether or not she realized the connection overtly. Opening up and facing all of these interactions with emotions was exhausting.

I enjoyed hearing Mrs. B. say that she did not profess to have the answers or strive to be a role model for other teachers even though she was a leader by nature of her position in the school. Her goal was never to be revered or held to any standards other than her own. That said, she believed that honoring herself and remaining strong were her keys to an authentic self and mindfulness of who she was. As she said this, I smiled at her. I knew that she tried to do this at all times, but I have also learned that the struggle to be upstanding all the time was nearly impossible to overcome.

She said that with students, she was in her element, unafraid to be this way. The classroom was her home and comfort zone, where she was meant to be; however, with colleagues, the challenge could be daunting, and she felt as if she had to fix the situation at hand and squelch the negativity. She was not so confident in these situations. She did not feel as strong as she would have liked, admitting this was hard to do; however, the more experienced she became, the more certain she felt the responsibility to set an

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appropriate example for novice teachers about proper conduct. She recognized the dichotomy of this situation—that saying so was easier than acting. Mrs. B. reflected a devotion to who she was as an individual and a professional, aware that she was growing, changing, and still hoping to become stronger in confidence every day. Her identity took its own shape, form, and features. I could see that she knew she was fallible and hoped to continue to grow.

Theme 3: Voice of Action

“What motivates me makes me stronger. What disappoints me motivates me.”

Mrs. B.’s mantra sounded like an inspirational quotation, and she used it as the vehicle to drive forward, persevere, and remain tenacious. Mrs. B. used these words to guide her focus on the goals she created for herself.

Mrs. B. worked to find the inner drive of each student and made connections to their academic and social needs. She created a learning plan for her students and continually reflected upon them and their growth to continue with the iterative process.

Mrs. B. worked to ensure that “We are here for each other,” “There are no put-downs,” and regarding unkind behavior, “We won’t have it.” She used her voice as the change agent for students to become empowered and to find their own voices.

As I listened to her, I could not help but ask her whether when she said these words about working together and permitting no “put-downs” whether she thought of her own stories. She replied that she thought of her own story all the time. Her stories guided her decision making and were never far from her thoughts when working with children. The pain she had felt during childhood was always with her like permanent

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scars. She could call up those pains instantly, and she did not want her students to feel those same pains or to have scars left from their childhood if she could prevent it. I could see the pain on her face as she said so. I could feel the pain of childhood scars of my own as she looked back at me.

Example 1: Connections With a Personal Voice

Mrs. B. worked to be counted on by her students and colleagues. Desiring to be viewed as honest, dependable, and compassionate, she used these characteristics to create a stable, strong learning environment. The connections made among student, teacher, and subject, bringing to light the importance of the indescribable connection can be created only in a holistic, authentic environment. “Nourishment of this spark in the classroom allows it to flourish in the world, in the arena of politics, medicine, engineering—wherever our students go after graduation” (Jones, 2005, p. 1). Mrs. B. used her voice for action in the classroom as well as with her colleagues.

Summertime approached. School would soon be out, and the endless days of summer would be welcomed by everyone! Betty loved the way the air felt on her skin when the sun was at high noon. It made her feel everything was possible. She could feel a slight breeze in the air and could hear the rustle of leaves faintly behind the calling of the birds that had come alive for the summer excitement. The air bore the faint smell of flowers, sweet and light, a reminder of the fresh start summer seemed to be.

Betty remembered that when she was about 10 years old, the arrival of summer made her feel as if she were the luckiest girl on her street. Suddenly, she was the girl everyone wanted to hang around: She had an in-ground pool. Betty knew the glistening,

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blue-watered charm that came with a diving board would draw more friends than she could count! Friends would call her and want to come over and swim. She knew this was because of her swimming pool, but that didn’t matter. She finally felt as if she were a member of the “in group.”

The bright summer days came and went, and they were amazing! Each day seemed filled with swimming fun. Betty was allowed to have friends come over to swim, and she took full advantage of the privilege. This was better than Christmas! She would rather have summer than any other time of year. The splashing in the pool, the hot summer sun, and aromas of cookouts were all reminders that this was the best time of the year. Betty’s skin tanned, and her flaxen locks seemed to glow in the summer sun. Betty came alive! As with many avid swimmers, the summer progressed, leaving a green cast on her hair (the way we might imagine a mermaid’s hair) from the joys of spending time in chlorinated water. Behind her back, the other girls used this as a cruel joke, calling her

“Goober” because of her light-green locks. When Betty learned this, her heart broke. The end of summer came crashing down on her.

Betty, the eternal optimist, tried to remain strong. She continued having her friends come over to swim. She was determined to keep inviting them, hoping this would be the golden ticket to keeping these girls as her friends. She received an invitation to a sleepover, so maybe this was the time she was going to be “in” with the girls.

Betty remembered the sleepover vividly. She could honestly say she wished it were one of those memories that would have been long forgotten. Most of the evening was typical: sleeping bags, pizza, snacks, and loud, giggling girls. The girls decided to

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play a game, typical, normal sleepover stuff. Betty was chosen to be “it” first in a game called Going on a Trip. Betty had never heard of it or played it before. The girls said it was super easy, and they would help her through it. The first player, Betty had to stand under a blanket. That was easy enough to do. Then she waited.

Girl 1 said, “You are going on a trip somewhere hot. You are hot. What do you take off first? You need to take it off. Place it outside of the blanket.”

Betty quivered from underneath the blanket. What kind of game was this? She thought it seemed a bit odd but wanted the girls to think she was cool. Without waiting too long, Betty took off her socks and placed them outside the blanket.

Girl 2 said, “You are getting hotter. You are traveling to a hotter location. What do you take off so that you are not hot?”

Betty froze up a bit. She wore only her pajamas—nothing else. What was she supposed to do? She did not want to wait too long, so she removed her pajama bottoms, placing them outside the blanket. Betty could hear some soft giggles.

Girl 3 said, “You are not at your destination yet. It keeps getting hotter. What do you take off so you aren’t so hot? Come on. Take it off and put it outside the blanket.”

Betty started to dislike this game and felt a bit queasy. What kind of game was this? Was she really supposed to keep taking off her clothes? This was awful.

As one might imagine, the next few steps of the game were quite unpleasant for

Betty. This was not a memory she recalled with pride nor did she like to share this story.

When sharing it with me, Betty put her head down and said she did not share this whole story with her students. To this day, it brought up awful feelings she would prefer to

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forget. Betty looked right at me and said, “All of us have a story that makes us ashamed, sad, embarrassed, and uncomfortable. My job is to use my life experiences to help my students. So that is what I do.”

Betty said she shared the “idea of the story” every year with each class. In order to build connections, Mrs. B. knew she had to be her authentic self. She knew her voice of action was the key to making connections with her students, using her words to make things happen. As she opened her heart for the students to see inside, they trusted her and were willing to believe in what she asked them to do every day because she opened her heart to them. By sharing this and other stories, such as how she did not make cheerleading when she tried out or how she was chosen last for a team, the students could see she was real and felt hurt and pain but could still smile and hug. Most importantly, she willingly shared openly with them each day and walked through their fourth- grade school year by their side.

This story was painful to hear, and when I listened to her, I could see the pain on her face. Mrs. B. told me that she has never shared this entire story with anyone except her immediate family. I felt honored and humbled that she shared it with me, especially in this forum. I was somewhat worried that her defenses were down and because of our growing relationship, that she might have shared more than she really would want shared in the end. I did not want to share such a personal story in this paper simply because her defenses were down.

My goal for this piece was not to open wounds that would create new scars for her. Indeed, my goal was to create a forum where other teachers might read Mrs. B.’s

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story, identify with the heart-felt sentiments, and be vulnerable in the same way to help students grow in their learning about themselves, but for teachers to have the chance to make connections with their own stories.

Example 2: Leadership

Mrs. B. used her voice for action in the leadership role she took on at the school.

Considered a veteran teacher, she had participated in a leadership group for the school and the school district for many years. The purpose of this group was to provide guidance to colleagues in the building based on school data and information the other staff members provided. The guidance was associated with teaching strategies, organizational techniques, behavior management, professional conduct, and other suggested topics.

Mrs. B. used this team to communicate and collaborate with colleagues. Acting as a representative of other teachers in her building, she decided whether action was necessary after analyzing information and data. This was challenging because she was their colleague. Most coworkers did not want to be told what to do or how to do it, especially not by their teaching partner. She quickly said, “I don’t know what makes things work all the time, but I am willing to look for answers.” Mrs. B. spoke poignantly, delivering her thoughts succinctly, respectful of all colleagues in the room. That said,

Mrs. B. shared constructive comments during collaborative discussion because the goal was to improve and meet our goals. Her voice was one of reason, purpose, and action.

I have watched Mrs. B. in action with her colleagues and when sharing her thoughts during meetings. I have seen her use her voice in a confident way, and I have

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seen her use it when trying to persuade peers when they questioned her. Mrs. B. tried not only to use her voice to help teach her colleagues about new ways of doing things but also to convince them to change their ways. As I have learned to watch her through a researcher’s lens and specifically view her as an individual trying to make an impact, I saw a new side of her. I saw the feelings that she shared with me on her face as she talked to her peers. I had never seen these emotions before. I heard only the words that she said, but I had never perceived the layers that were a part of her leadership.

Summary

“Any authentic call ultimately comes from the voice of the teacher within, the voice that invites me to honor the nature of my true self” (Palmer, 2007, p. 30). For teachers to use this voice in a productive manner, they need to know what they want to say so that it has a purpose. Mrs. B.’s voice was used as a call to action to fulfill her goal for the betterment of students’ learning. Dialoguing about her past and the stories that made her who she is allows for connections to be made. As I listened to her dissect her stories, I understood the interactions between her and the world around her.

Theme 4: Intentional Reflection

Reflection can be a powerful tool to understand actions and thinking that occurred in the past or in the present. Teachers who value reflection often want their students to understand and benefit from this process; therefore, teachers who practice reflection will model, teach, and practice reflection actively with their students as well as independently. The process of sharing in the interview process with Mrs. B. unveiled the importance of reflection.

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Mrs. B. believed in intentional reflection, which she described this as “thinking about thinking” (Costa & Kallick, 2008). She showed this in the way she talked and shared her stories with her students. I heard the conversations that she had with her students, and I watched her teach them how to deconstruct their thoughts. Like many other teachers, she wanted to help them practice the Golden Rule and honesty. This is not an unusual expectation in classrooms; in fact, I had seen this in most classrooms.

Teachers typically want their students to be kind and respectful of one another, but young students are new to learning how to do so. Many students today lack the kind of upbringing once considered commonplace, at least in this community.

I have wondered what the impact of Mrs. B.’s middle class, primarily White, suburban upbringing could have on her outlook and actions in and outside the classroom.

She was a middle-aged woman who had been exposed to other cultures, different socioeconomic status, and races; however, each of us will revert to what has left an impression on us when we were raised. Each of us has overt and hidden biases that guide our every action and the foundation that we use as our benchmark. Mrs. B. appeared to be fair and equitable with her actions and treatment of the students in her classroom. She worked to teach them about metacognition, but did she look at issues through her middle-class lens or through their lens?

I am unsure that I really know how Mrs. B. saw her students, parents, and colleagues. I know that as I processed the stories that she shared with me, my hidden bias were just that—hidden. I am unsure that I can see through a lens much different from the one Mrs. B. looks through, but I know that I must be aware of my potential bias.

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Metacognition is valued and important, but the unknown hidden bias that we hold may not be as understood in this process as I would like for it to be.

Example 1: Goal Setting

The end of the school year was upon the fourth graders, and anticipation and excitement filled the warm air of the second-floor classroom in this century-old school.

The open windows allowed fresh air to waft into the room but little breeze. A classroom filled with 11-year-olds needs circulating fresh air, and because this wasn’t happening, a mild mix of odors, ranging from Goldfish crackers to sweaty young children, filled the room. Sunlight tried to sneak in through the windows, but some marshmallow clouds wanted to play hide and seek. They would not let the sunshine come out to play.

Mrs. B. cheerfully drew students’ attention to the goal written on the board. She reminded them they had already worked on the first two goals of the day. The third goal was a reflection piece for their future fifth-grade teachers. Emphasizing honesty as the goal for this task, she explained to the students that the purpose of this task was to give their future fifth-grade teachers their first look at their wonderful incoming students. The purpose of the paper was for the fourth graders to share personal insights about themselves.

The “heart-to-heart” sharing was such that each student would know they were starting out the year honest and truthful about their strengths and weaknesses. The second purpose of the assignment was to set some goals for the following year. When they read this paper in the fall, they would be reminded of the goals they had set for themselves when they were thinking about their fifth-grade year.

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Before her students filled out the sheet for their fifth-grade teachers, Mrs. B. handed out a blank piece of paper to the students and asked them the purpose of the paper. This was their “thinking” paper. Mrs. B. wanted them to identify their interests and their learning styles and to set future goals. Examples of the way she used intentional reflection in the classroom as well as with her colleagues follow.

Unintentionally, the students practiced reflection and metacognition during this process.

The students were to use it before, during, and perhaps even after the assignment. This was one of the reflection techniques Mrs. B. used consistently with her students to help them practice reflecting and “thinking about thinking,” leading the students into the next reflection task.

Example 2: Practicing Metacognition

Mrs. B. asked her students to practice this type of activity with reflections and goal setting three times a year. After each student had taken a diagnostic benchmark test to determine present learning levels, Mrs. B. worked with each one individually, conferencing with them about the assessment and how the student felt about his or her progress.

This conversation was a special time for the student to share their thoughts and feelings about their learning. Mrs. B. guided and coached each student to help them dig deeper into their metacognitive process to help them intentionally learn about how to reflect in a productive manner. Next, the students analyzed their data, set target goals for learning, and identified strategies and the means to attain them. This intentional

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reflection process was a life skill Mrs. B. hoped would carry over to each student’s future.

Example 3: Personal Reflection

I made a personal connection between the way Mrs. B. used reflection and the way that I used it. As a professional, Mrs. B. was devoted to the art of reflection; however, as a person who believed in continually growing spiritually and holistically, she found the active process of reflection and metacognitive tool essential. Equally crucial was the action taken to improve, grow, and progress. Thus, the way that Mrs. B. spoke about reflection was formal. I could not help but wonder whether she really used a formal process for reflection or whether she was able to use it reflexively and fluidly.

Reflection is a powerful tool for teachers to use; more importantly, it is a meaningful strategy for all individuals to use in order to learn and grow.

Reflection must be an iterative process so that steps are taken to learn. This spiral process continues to move forward like a slinky that has a mind of its own as it hops down a flight of stairs. I have noticed that the process of reflection for me has grown exponentially and intentionally. The complexity of how reflection works in my head is neither neat nor tidy. I understand that the connection with identity would be the same, a tightly woven, impossibly inseparable mass of threads.

Conclusion

The themes that emerged to form the portrait of Mrs. B. were like layers of paint on a canvas. Just as an artist paints over a picture on a canvas and adds layers and layers of paint to create a new image, so did the aspects of her personality color the portrait of

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Mrs. B. She had endless layers that continued to grow, change, shape, and reshape into an amazing identity. This snapshot in time is just that: a freeze-frame photo. I say this with confidence because the ever-changing, growing, and learning individual I have come to know as Mrs. B. will be endlessly reshaped and redefined.

A portrait of Mrs. B. was constructed to shed light on four dimensions: cultivating relationships, respecting spirituality, voice of action, and intentional reflection. Each dimension was dependent on the others, and none of them could exist in isolation. A constant blending of all of these occurred, just as the colors of a rainbow showed distinct colors as well as endless hues of beauty. These dimensions can be seen and understood by educator and noneducator alike. They cast a radiant beam on the intentional actions of a teacher and the efforts she was willing to make to do what she believed was the best for each student. The portrait was designed to elevate the good that was apparent in this wonderful person and educator. In addition, the portrait was also designed to show the complexities and dimensions of an individual and how a lifetime of relationships and interactions produced a teacher’s identity.

CHAPTER V

DISCUSSIONS OF TEACHER IDENTITY

Overview of the Study

The dimensions of an in-service elementary teacher’s identity are layered and complex. Time and devotion drive the journey of becoming a skilled teacher (Barone et al., 1996; Berliner, 2004; Palmer & Scribner, 2007; Shulman, 1987). In-service teachers might erroneously be viewed as already skilled in teaching; however, with further study of teacher identity, complexities and differences continue to emerge. The characteristics of teacher identity require educators to focus on this element of teaching. “Identity is wrapped around what we think of ourselves, in social context, and what other people think of us” (Danielewicz, 2001, p. 10).

My research goal was to study a practicing in-service teacher and examine her professional experiences, personal beliefs, and philosophies to create a bricolage, an artistic rendition constructed from a diverse range of available items. The best way to share, blend, and dissect these dimensions was to use the methodology of portraiture. I devised a qualitative study that allowed for knowledge to be created and shaped through the collection of open-ended forms of data, such as observations, teacher memoirs, artifact collection, and interviews. The methodology of portraiture allowed for an aesthetic approach to convey the essence of Mrs. B.

The outer edges of the canvas on which the artist paints physically and

psychologically frame an aesthetic space that is separate from the world at

large. What occurs within the parameters of that frame is set off from everyday 145

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reality and evokes a response that is different from the response evoked by

objects and events in the everyday world. (Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997, p.

33)

The stories that Mrs. B. shared created a gestalt that embodied the dimensions of teacher identity to evoke contemplation. I hope the reader experiences a personal reaction in response to the unique and special qualities of a veteran teacher in the classroom.

This study of teacher identity was born of a professional relationship with a teacher. Mrs. B. exhibited an approach to teaching that was holistic, aesthetic, and infused with energy. This in-service teacher piqued my interest as a researcher, and my fascination with her led me to believe that truths could be uncovered and knowledge could be acquired; furthermore, value could be gained by pursuing a study about the teacher identity of this particular in-service teacher.

Discovery: The Challenge of Hidden Biases

The study led me to learn more about bias and its hidden presence in research and to discover biases that I hold. I tend to make predictions about where I think my learning will take me. This is part of the natural course of learning—taking prior information and combining it with new information. When this process began, I thought that I could keep my biases in check. Remaining emotionally separated from the research and data collection process was essential; thus, I compartmentalized the research process, but the longer I was involved in this project, the more vividly I could see the stories.

When I started this project, I did not think of Mrs. B.’s race, gender, age, or socioeconomic status. She is a middle-class White woman, who was raised in a

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predominantly White suburb. I had been unable to see this part of her identity because I had not looked. I was unable to do so because I was accustomed to taking this part of her identity for granted. I was “color blind.” “Colorblindness is the racial ideology that posits the best way to end discrimination is by treating individuals as equally as possible, without regard to race, culture, or ethnicity” (M. T. Williams, 2011, p. 1). As I continued through the research process, the lack of diversity crept into my thoughts. I wondered how this impacted her actions.

A person who is White may not be aware of the advantages and disadvantages experienced resulting from race (Fryberg, 2010). A White person, such as Mrs. B. or me, even when trying to be aware, may not be able to truly understand the social order that exists. Knowing that I came from a similar background, I found that I was looking for bias in myself. The study has brought on a new lens through which to look. Unpacking our biases is a charge that we need to bring into conversations. “Color blindness” can be present regardless of identity.

The stories, vignettes, and accounts from Mrs. B. emanated from the research that was gathered. The information that Mrs. B. shared was her story viewed through her own lens. I have data that was coded and outlined from the observations, interviews, and memos that were created during the data collection process. As with everyone, Mrs. B.’s stories were described as she saw them through her lens. She had implicit biases like each of us that must be considered. For example, she was a middle-aged, White woman, sharing her story with another middle-aged White woman. Our personal stories have threads of implicit bias that might be unknown to us. “Generally, color blindness

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minimizes the use and significance of racial group membership and suggests that race should not and does not matter, but according to the tenets of multiculturalism, group membership matters and should be acknowledged, respected, and even valued” (Plaut,

Thomas, Hurd, & Roman, 2018, p. 200).

Through the stories that Mrs. B. shared and their analysis, I was able to see dimensions of her that I had not seen before I engaged in this process. The biases of Mrs.

B. growing up in a primarily White middle-class suburb would restrict her view on diversity and perspectives different from hers. Just the same, I am similar in that way:

Being a middle-class White woman would inflict implicit bias onto the student without my awareness. As much as people want to be aware, they cannot see their biases in this light and the nurturing that they received when they were young would color their thoughts even without their realization.

Mrs. B. had never taught anywhere other than Washington Elementary. When she initially began her teaching career, the community of students who attended this school came from middle-class, mostly White families. Twenty some years later approximately 30% of the students in the community lived at or below the poverty line.

Breakfast and hot lunches were served at school, and students no longer walked home for lunch. The lack of diversity in Mrs. B.’s background and experiences might have influenced her biases because of her life experiences and limited her accounts or transferability of ideas. “Against a historical backdrop of racial and ethnic hierarchy, people use [their] beliefs to make sense of, engage in, and structure their worlds” (Plaut

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et al., 2018, p. 200). A change in community dynamics can be subtle and still impact bias.

Mrs. B. may lack the ability to connect with some students or teachers because of her perspectives. For example, Mrs. B. shared multiple times that she believed that novice teachers coming into the professional today lacked the motivation to work hard and to completely dedicate themselves to the profession. Even though this was a generalization on her part, she thought that the younger generation of teachers coming into the profession lacked the passion needed to work hard for kids. She wanted novice teachers to have passion for everything they did in the classroom and to want to improve, not settle for just doing an adequate job. Did this perspective derive from the bias of age, generation, upbringing, or something else? Studies of novice teachers and their attitudes toward color blindness in the classroom have shown that they struggle to change their teaching methods for various ethnic groups (Hachfeld, Hahn, Schroeder, Anders, &

Kunter, 2015). Perpetuating stereotypes through mentor teaching would not be acceptable if this took place intentionally or unintentionally. Perhaps a combination of biases was at work; nevertheless, Mrs. B. felt strongly about this particular opinion.

When I began the research process, I was drawn to the idea that Mrs. B. had a sheltered experience racially and socioeconomically, and I found the idea to be unique and potentially helpful when isolating themes, thoughts, and ways of being. Instead, I found myself wondering how the lack of diversity in her experiences might have limited her ability to make connections with other teachers. The lack of exposure to multiculturalism was more apparent to me through my lens. I have no regrets about the

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path I chose to take with my participant because I believe that I grew more than I thought

I would during this process.

Discovery: My Identity Growth

The research process centered around studying and dissecting a veteran teacher’s identity. That said, I think that through this process, I found myself reflecting on my own identity as an educator. Even though I was neither the participant nor the subject of the study, I learned that everything I heard, the data collected, and the words I wrote impacted me. When I questioned and analyzed her stories, I took that analysis and reflected on my own story and experiences. My story has gained a layer, and my lens has changed as a result of my experience.

Mrs. B. shared her story as she saw it through her own lens. My intent was to take her story and to share it as objectively as possible; however, as the story was filtered through my lens, the writing became a subjective recounting of her story. The words were slightly different, the word choices came from my pool of vocabulary, the tone had been adapted, and the lens through which her story was filtered was mine. Some words were Mrs. B.’s, and some were mine. When I reread what I had written, I could see the story in front of me like a movie; but I did not feel her stories the way she did, yet I had an awareness of the path that her life had taken. The story is Mrs. B.’s story, and it has impact.

Discovery: What Can a Teacher Do With This Knowledge?

The notion of being mindful of who teachers are as educators sounds simplistic and basic. If teachers do not take the time to learn who they are, what makes them

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individuals, and how they process their thoughts as teachers, then their interactions with students, parents, and colleagues will be devoid of meaning. Teachers have the ability to use themselves and their stories in a way that can make permanent imprints on students.

Teachers are students’ guides all day long for months at a time. They must recognize that the words that they use can scar a child or colleague: One action of a teacher can remain in the memory of a child for her or his entire life.

Educators must continuously remain mindful and intentional with thoughts, actions, and words, honing their identities every day, even subconsciously. The teacher chooses to decide whether she or he will use this powerful tool to impact students in a mindful way or let the moment fall away without value. The experiences and relationships of teachers will continue to impact them and add dimension to their identity, and teachers do not have the choice to decide to halt that impact. This is part of being.

“Modern knowledge has allowed us to manipulate the world but not to control its fate (to say nothing of our own), a fact that becomes more clear each day” (Palmer, 2007, p. 57).

Teachers can try to be reflective and aware of the impact of their day and interactions; however, they cannot control everyone and everything. They can be aware: That is all they are able to do.

Discovery: The Importance of Spirituality and Sense of Self

One discovery I made during the research process was the importance of spirituality in the shaping of Mrs. B.’s teacher identity. I did not know the depth of Mrs.

B.’s morals, values, and spirituality before I began this research. I suspected that these would influence in her discussions, but I did not anticipate how prominent they would be.

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What was unveiled to me was the connection to self that spirituality revealed during the process of sharing stories. Palmer (2007) put it this way: “My inward and invisible sense of identity becomes known, even to me, only as it manifests itself in encounters with eternal and visible ‘otherness’” (p. 66). In the literature review I did not focus on spirituality and ethical beliefs and actions, but through the coding process, spirituality, values, and ethical behaviors were undeniably important not only to Mrs. B. but to me as well.

This discovery brought me to worry about the rest of the data collection process and how I became an integral part of the data during this process. In essence, I talked about Mrs. B. as the participant, and I needed to include myself as a participant. I could not separate myself from my lens in terms of what I saw in the data, the themes I found, and the words I chose to describe the story; therefore, my identity was infused into all of this writing. I used her words as well as my words to guide the explanations of her stories and her beliefs.

“Attempts to define spirituality must often be delicate, as the field is rife with land mines. The work is emotionally charged for many people, and considerably nebulous”

(Jones, 2005, p. 2). Spirituality has become something that I can no longer define because it transcends the whole, the ethical, and the true. Identity and spirituality are connected and inseparable. The two are joined in a way that can be truly understood only in one’s personal thoughts. “A teacher has the power to compel students to spend many hours living in the light, or the shadow, of the teacher’s inner life” (Palmer, 2003, p. 4).

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Discussion of the Findings

According to Dewey the heart of education is the teacher, and the self of a teacher requires dissection to understand the complexities of the person leading learning through actions (Boydston, 1985/2008). Learning more about teacher identity should be at the center of the educational process. The portrait of Mrs. B., the in-service teacher who shared her stories and opened her world to me for scrutiny, included four major themes carefully discovered and aimed to show the authenticity of her identity as a teacher: cultivating relationships, respecting spirituality, voice of action, and intentional reflection.

Cultivating Relationships

Mrs. B. shared stories and examples of many relationships that she had cultivated over time. The stories about the people in her life appeared within vignettes and major and minor events. Relationships, which clearly helped to form her personal and professional identity, became foundational and impacted her through every stage of her life. Three examples were culled from the rich data: creating a family, sharing a student’s story, and recounting her student teaching experience.

Mrs. B.’s identity reflected the socially bound nature of identity. “Professional identity is formed within multiple contexts that bring personal, social, cultural, political, and historical forces to bear upon that formation” (Davey, 2013, p. 31). The teaching profession is tied to students, and Mrs. B. showed through her decision making, actions, and discussions that she tied her interactions to individuals.

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Respecting Spirituality

The wholeness of spirituality has been described as “the inherent, seamless, interdependent quality of the world” (Glazer, 1999, p. 10). Spirituality in education, which has its basis in holism, not in religion, accommodates the mind‒body experience for students and for teachers. “Spirituality in education refers to no more—and no less—than a deep connection between student, teacher, and subject—a connection so honest, vital, and vibrant that it cannot help but be intensely relevant” (Jones, 2005, p. 1).

Mrs. B. showed that spirituality was the foundation for her perspectives in a way that drove her vision and actions in the classroom.

Mrs. B. was forthcoming about her childhood experiences, her college years, her family, and views on professional conduct in relation to a holistic approach to the formation of her personal identity through her experiences. She also regularly shared her deeper spiritual self with her students via memories of her struggles and hardships as a middle school student. Mrs. B. shared these aspects of her life not in narcissistic ways but to serve as touch points to help students make moral decisions about how they chose to treat one another in the classroom community and school.

Voice of Action

“Our stories of becoming a teacher . . . often mark entry points into our assumptions [about teacher identity], but the stories we choose to tell and the environments in which we tell them have long-term impact” Murphy, Pinnegar, &

Pinnegar, 2011, p. 157). Mrs. B. took a long time to find her teacher voice, but over time, she grew to trust it. In the early years, Mrs. B. worked to figure out who she wanted to be

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as an individual and an educator as most novice teachers do. When she shared her stories with me, she said of several of them, “I have never shared this with anyone but my family.” The honor of her sharing these private pieces of her history was incredibly special to me.

Mrs. B. used the same philosophy of dependability and trustworthiness in her professional setting as she did with me in the research setting. Using her voice during interviews was as powerful as using her voice in her classroom, with peers, and with parents. “Beyond the story” how identity is shaped becomes manifest (Clandinin &

Connelly, 2000). Mrs. B.’s use of voice helped to inform and shape her story, and what she chose to share, say, and discuss helped to shape her identity. “With practice and an increasing ability to repeat the experience of voice—of hearing and feeling oneself speak, confidence increases. Those who have achieved voice can cultivate authority”

(Danielewicz, 2001, p. 174).

Intentional Reflection and Metacognition

Mrs. B. used reflection in a productive meaningful way as a teaching professional.

She believed that she was among the first group of teachers who were presented with the idea of practicing reflection. “Reflecting-in-action” is a constant process that educators need to experience through the discovery process (Henderson & Gornik, 2007). “When someone reflects-in-action, she [or he] becomes a researcher in the practical context[, . . .] not dependent on the categories of established theory and technique but construct[ing] a new theory of the unique case” (Schӧn, 1983, p. 68). Mrs. B. used this practice to reassess herself, her identity constantly evolving.

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Teacher identity constantly changes based on setting, relationships, experiences, dialogue, and thoughts. Just as depth and rigor are required to understand discourse and practice, metacognition is necessary as well. Mrs. B. seemed to have developed a

“critical or personal pedagogy” over time such that she understood that she

“incorporate[d] a teacher’s multiple subjectivities or identity strands, including personal educational experiences, core beliefs and ideologies, and educational theory and research as a philosophical foundation” (Alsup, 2006, p. 127); that is, she developed a reflective practice. When Mrs. B. took time with students to model aloud what it “sounds like” when one is thinking about making good choices, she helped students to know the nature of mindful, positive reflection. Her calm and professional demeanor in the classroom set the tone for her students and contributed to a constructive learning environment.

Connections to Theoretical Framework

A guiding theoretical framework was constructed during the research process.

Teacher identity touches many parts of educational research. A bricolage of research findings was constructed to support and understand the underpinnings of the identity of a teacher. I used House’s as well as Côté and Levine’s work to form a theoretical framework to guide the study with influences from the work of Gee, Alsup, Davey, and

Holland. To explore identity, Côté and Levine (2002) used House’s (1977) model, which he called his model “personality-social structure-perspective (PSSP)” (p. 6). Côté and

Levine (2002) stated, “The three levels of analysis inherent to the PSSP are personality, interaction, and social structure” (p. 7). Holland et al. (1998), proponents of cultural models, stated, “One’s history-in-person is the sediment from past experiences upon

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which one improvises, using the cultural resources available, in response to the subject positions afforded one in the present” (p. 18). In many ways, my study data coalescing as portraiture revealed Mrs. B.’s “self.”

My research uncovered the three main components of identity—social structure, personality, and interaction—and these became the components of the resultant bricolage.

“The lesson at hand is that we all need to be mindful when telling each other what we think ‘identity’ is how and how it should be understood. We must also listen to what the other has to say” (Côté & Levine, 2002, p.12). The first key finding from my study promotes the importance of cultivating relationships. Mrs. B. continually shared the need to be patient and mindful of building trusting relationships with her students and parents.

Social interaction is a thread that ties social structure and personality together. These pieces are like a Möbius strip without beginning or end.

As an individual’s agency ties together internal and external conflicts and struggles, these forces continue on a malleable path.

Social identity is predicated on secondary relationships, although it can be

affected by primary relationships (e.g., often social roles are granted on the basis

of an individual’s “personality” or personal style, as in appropriate presentation of

self), and self-relationships (e.g., the individual must sustain a personal sense of

continuity to maintain social roles). (Côté & Levine, 2002, p. 8)

The consequences and results of social influence and agency impact a teacher with every position that he or she holds.

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The second key finding from my study is that Mrs. B. placed importance on respecting spirituality. Approaching teaching in a holistic manner that includes the emotional, psychological, and intellectual growth of her students was the only way that

Mrs. B. knew to teach. The “Golden Rule” recommends that we “treat others the way we want to be treated,” which aligns with the spiritual dimension that undergirded all learning in Mrs. B.’s classroom (Côté & Levine, 2002).

Remaining open to learning and connecting, Mrs. B. strove to meet all the needs of her students. She focused on academic, social, emotional, cognitive, psychological, and developmental needs. To make this to happen, Mrs. B. aimed to “see” her students through a lens that was open, nonjudgmental, and compassionate, much as Glazer (1999) recommended:

Sacredness is the practice of wholeness and awareness. It is approaching,

greeting, and meeting the world with basic respect. What is sacredness as the

ground for learning? It is rooting education in the practices of openness,

attentiveness to experience, and sensitivity to the world. Spirituality in education

begins with questions: What is my experience? What is the effect? What are the

interrelationships between myself and others? Are these being attended to?

(pp. 11‒12)

Mrs. B. worked tirelessly to shine a light not only on what the students needed but also on what they would need as they grew.

The third key finding from my study is that Mrs. B. used her voice for action.

“Borderline discourse, as a transformative type of teacher identity discourse, reflects a

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view of teacher identity that is holistic—inclusive of the intellectual, the corporeal, and the affective aspects of human selfhood” (Alsup, 2006, p. 6). Mrs. B.’s intentional use of her voice as an agent of change and support for positive behaviors reflected Alsup’s

(2006) notion that teacher identity includes the ability to transform through discourse.

Researching teacher identity by observing a teacher in her natural setting allowed for an authentic view of the transformative process that took place. Mrs. B. exemplified

Erikson’s (1968) belief that “actively mastering [one’s] environment shows a certain unity of personality and [the individual] is able to perceive the world and himself [or herself] correctly” (p. 92).

The fourth key finding from my study is the importance of intentional reflection, which Mrs. B. taught her students how to do; she used reflection as a tool to continue her personal growth and development as a professional. Gee promoted discourse as a way to discover the connections between self, society, and agency. Gee (2004) discussed the negotiations that a teacher uses to be self-aware: “Discourses are ways of behaving, interacting, valuing, thinking, believing, speaking, and often reading and writing, that are accepted as instantiations of particular identities (or “types of people”) by specific groups

“ (p. 3) Mrs. B. modeled the skill of intentional reflection to grow her personal and professional self.

Limitations

Several obvious limitations might be considered at the close of this study. As the former administrator in the building where this teacher worked, a bias toward valuing

Mrs. B., even romanticizing her actions, might be present; I would be unable to strip this

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away from the data corpus that I gathered or from the portrait I created. Mrs. B. was not in an evaluative cycle at the time of this study, and documentation assured that the research process would not affect her job status in any way. That said, over time, the roles we shared, principal and teacher, grew deeper and more layered. Just as identity changes over time, relationships change as well.

The presence of a power relationship between Mrs. B. and me must be recognized and realized for its possible impact on the study. Even with overt acknowledgement from

Mrs. B. that this would not be an issue or would not taint the study, a researcher cannot always know the extent of hidden influences on a study. Knowing that this limitation was present in the study needs to be stated.

Another limitation is that both the participant and I are White, middle-class females. The participant’s lens was limited by this as was my own. Awareness of our biases is the piece of the puzzle that we could control; that said, we cannot completely control our biases either. Individual experiences and relationships are ours to own and can tint our lens but not change it all together. “Debates about racial diversity happen in every corner of society. . . . People use these beliefs [about racial and ethnic hierarchy] to make sense of, engage in, and structure their worlds” (Plaut et al., 2018, p. 200). Mrs.

B.’s lens was a product of the stories that made her who she was. Her identity was based on the events behind those stories.

In an effort to ensure that I was faithful in sharing her messages and thoughts, I asked Mrs. B. to reread the data and findings and to share her thoughts. She was supportive and thoughtful with her remarks. She said, “Wow! I can’t believe you can

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write like that. You really wrote what I was saying to you. I can even tell who you were talking about [pseudonyms were used] in the vignettes.” Her feedback did not unveil any new perspective to share. The takeaway is that the issue of the power relationship may have been at work, but if the power relationship affected the findings, it was elusive; and we are unable to pinpoint its impact. That said, we had feedback from Mrs. B., in which she shared her thoughts on the results.

Looking Ahead

The goal throughout this research was twofold: to identify the dimensions of teacher identity in an in-service teacher’s role and to uncover how teacher identity is constructed in daily life of classrooms. I believe that I have provided evidence to answer each of these questions; however, the unfolding of Mrs. B.’s stories show that continued study of in-service teachers can benefit future understanding of teacher identity formation.

A teacher’s objective is to model exemplary classroom lessons. Doing so is not easy, nor are the aspects of classroom life easy to describe; however, this research demonstrates that in-service teacher identities unfold, refold, and layer over time through experiences. As a result of encounters, relationships, and metacognition teachers have the capacity to transform selves and lives. The process is internal and external, active and passive, and hidden and overt. It is a complicated conversation with self over time as one changes (Pinar, 2011)

The importance of this complicated conversation is unquestionable. Teachers are critical to democracy and growth: They impact innumerable lives. Learning more about

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how this teacher formed her identity and allowed it to evolve throughout a professional career can open more avenues of learning and growth for other educators. Remembering that a teacher is an individual with a personal life, history, biases, and professional training as well as seasons of a life in the classroom should drive the goal to continue growing this incredible, multidimensional resource of the teacher professional indispensable in society.

The key to understanding a teacher’s identity is to realize that we cannot know who a teacher is without taking the time to understand the person who is the teacher. A complicated conversation is unique to each person and plumbs the depths that identify the dimensions that describe the teacher. The reflective process is necessary as is the journey that the teacher will undertake. Likewise, the Socratic question, “Who am I?” might be investigated. A hermeneutic journey will likely take place and will create and construct new knowledge that will help contribute to the field of education just as this research study created platforms for further thinking about teacher identity.

The choice to write and research with portraiture methodology was intentional and purposeful. Bringing this optimistic form of study to light and sharing research in a way that can be received by nonacademics can bring a new audience to the landscape of educational research. I hope that conversations might be inspired, and a new flame might be sparked to illuminate the importance of teachers and how they are a valuable part of our society and democracy. I chose portraiture for the colors and tones that it brought to a researched story that was lived and deserved to be shared.

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My intent was that readers use their own lens to examine this piece of writing and see that each teacher has a story. Each time a viewer studies a portrait, she or he may uncover a nuance theretofore unseen. The story behind the brush strokes might strike the viewer in a different way, and takeaways might differ. I am excited at the notion that readers might read this portraiture and uncover something that I did not see and that a conversation might take place and a new dialogue ensues. Deep meaning and learning can occur to reveal new knowledge.

Future Research

Future research could be conducted using portraiture methodology. Researchers could invest time in other practicing teachers to seek out common themes and threads with which they have formed their identity. Blending histories and stories can expand the research knowledge base on teacher identity. Remembering that teachers are essential members of the democracy motivated me to pursue this research with that goal in mind.

A purpose underlies growing the original research and continuing to make connections with similar studies. “We must make a compelling case that what we do has value”

(Bullough, 1997, p. 30).

As the portraitist‒researcher, my future goal is to continue to illuminate and bring to life dimensions of practicing teachers’ identities. I believe that researchers should continue to weave together teacher stories like Mrs. B.’s to show the changing, growing, and developing philosophy of identity. Continuing this type of study will help to produce accurate and insightful portraits of teacher identity in research; to do this

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properly, the technique of the portraitist should be used so that future studies can be read

and shared by everyone.

In Conclusion

My study focused on exploring the multifaceted and multidimensional identity of

an in-service teacher. Conducting a qualitative research study using portraiture helped

me create a holistic image of the in-service teacher’s professional identity. Research was

conducted with the participant, and data were derived from observations, interviews, and

gathered artifacts. The data were triangulated through the coding process until clear

themes emerged. Four significant themes were explored during this journey: cultivating

relationships, respecting spirituality, voice of action, and intentional reflection. The

conceptualization of teacher identity was explored, and the results were written to

produce a bricolage of findings.

Teachers will always be a part of the educational process. Understanding in-service teachers and the complexities that make them effective deserves study.

Continuing to study them can help grow the population of effective in-service teachers.

“Good teaching cannot be reduced to technique; good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher” (Palmer, 2007, p. 10).

APPENDIXES

APPENDIX A

RECRUITMENT EMAIL

Appendix A

Recruitment Email

Dear Mr./Mrs./Dr. (name),

My name is Rachael Seifert. I am a doctoral candidate in Curriculum and Instruction at Kent State University. My area of interest has a focus on teacher identity and its formation. The specific focus is on teacher identity of an expert, in service teacher. For my dissertation, I would like to focus specifically on the concept, development, and understanding of teacher identity. I am hoping that you would be interested in being a participant in this study. This would consist of individual interviews and observations of your teaching in your classroom. The observations are not evaluative in any way. This study does not require you to change your teaching and instruction in any way. This study would take approximately nine to twelve weeks. Over this period of time, we would participate in five to six interviews and five to six observations lasting approximately thirty to sixty minutes. Follow up interviews would be conducted as clarifying conversations. I would audio record our interviews and then transcribe them. I would also request at this time that I have your permission to use this data in further presentations of publications with the same safeguards in place to protect your privacy and personal identity. You would have access to reviewing all information and data that has been collected during this process. Pseudonyms would be used in this process and in the reporting of this data. Your participation would help me learn more about teacher identity, how a teacher forms her identity, and how it intersects with practical wisdom and ethic of care. This study has been approved by Kent State University’s Institutional Review Board (IRB). If you have any questions, you may contact Dr. Janice Kroeger at [email protected] or Rachael L. Seifert at [email protected] or 440-487-2572. If you have any questions about Kent State’s rules for research or your rights as a participant, you may call the IRB at 330-672-2704. Please reply to this email if you are interested in participating in this study or would like to know more about this study and your role as a participant. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Kindly, Rachael L. Seifert, Doctoral Candidate 410 White Hall Kent State University Kent, Ohio 44242

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APPENDIX B

APPROVAL REQUEST EMAIL

Appendix B

Approval Request Email

March 8, 2018

Dear Dr. Nichols,

I am embarking on the research phase of my dissertation. I am formally requesting permission to conduct this research within the Cuyahoga Falls City School District at Silver Lake Elementary School.

My area of interest has a focus on teacher identity and its formation. For my dissertation, I would like to focus specifically on the concept, development, and understanding of teacher identity. This would consist of individual interviews and observations with a classroom teacher. Collections of artifacts from the classroom teacher will be requested as a part of this data collection process. The observations, interviews, or artifacts are not to be used in an evaluative manner.

This study would take approximately nine to twelve weeks. All data will be kept confidential and kept secured from other personnel. The research participant’s identity will be kept private.

This study will be presented for approved by Kent State University’s Institutional Review Board (IRB).

If you have any questions, you may contact either Dr. Janice Kroeger at [email protected] me directly. If you have any questions about Kent State’s rules for research process, you may call the IRB at 330-672-2704.

Please confirm with me that this process meets with your approval and is acceptable to conduct.

Thank you for your time and consideration, Kindly,

Rachael L. Seifert Doctoral Candidate Kent State University 410 White Hall Kent, Ohio 44242 440-487-2572 [email protected] 169

APPENDIX C

DOCUMENT REQUEST

Appendix C

Document Request

The purpose of this study is to understand your teacher identity and how it was formed.

The research questions that I seek to answer and that help to guide all of my research are the following:

Research Questions

1. How does a teacher (self) adopt the identity to become a teacher? 2. What is the relationship between expert teacher and teacher identity? 3. How does the expert teacher continually reshape teacher self/ teacher identity?

You are a teacher with a vast amount of artifacts that show your hard work. If you are comfortable, I would like include any artifacts that you would be willing to share and to be included in this research.

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APPENDIX D

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS: ROUND 1‒FAMILY

Appendix D

Interview Questions: Round 1‒Family

1. Tell me about your family.

2. Do you have family members in the educational field?

3. How and why did you choose to enter the field of education?

4. What were the influences that affected your choices with your profession?

5. What were early memories that you have that you think about as a teacher?

6. Did you imagine that you would be a teacher? If not, what else? If so, why?

7. What influences from growing up affect you as a teacher?

8. Who was most influential in your decision making to become a teacher? Who were your

role models?

9. What important educational influences affect you when you are in the classroom teaching?

10. How was your childhood impactful on your becoming a teacher?

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APPENDIX E

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS: ROUND 2‒ETHICS

Appendix E

Interview Questions: Round 2‒Ethics

1. Do you consider yourself a spiritual person? Explain please.

2. What does this mean to you and how does it impact or not impact you?

3. Do you think of yourself as an ethical person? What does this mean?

4. What values are most important to you?

5. How do your values define you? How much a part of you are they? Explain.

6. How do your values and ethics enter into your teaching? Have they always? Never?

7. Think about examples of other teachers. Do you think that values and ethics are important

to those teachers?

8. Give me an example of when ethics or values impacted your teaching? Your profession?

Does it?

9. How do you deal with situations that you encounter that challenge your belief system of

good and bad or right and wrong?

10. Can you give an example of this? If not, can you think of a situation where you were or

another teacher was in?

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APPENDIX F

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS: ROUND 3‒CLASSROOM

Appendix F

Interview Questions: Round 3‒Classroom

1. Give me an example of one of your favorite stories from the classroom.

2. Give me an example of one of your most embarrassing stories from the classroom?

3. Do you feel like you have confidants or colleagues with whom you identity? How?

4. Do you share stories about your “day job” as a teacher with your family? How do you share

these? How are they received?

5. How respected do you feel as a teacher? By family? By society? Does this matter to you?

6. How do you feel when you teach? Confident? Proud? Nervous?

7. How important do you feel your job is to you? Why? Explain.

8. How do you think that students view you? Parents? Does this matter?

9. Explain a lesson that made you feel like you made an impact?

10. What is the most important part of what you do?

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APPENDIX G

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS: ROUND 4‒COLLEGE EXPERIENCES

Appendix G

Interview Questions: Round 4‒College Experiences

1. Where did you go to high school? College? Did you move around a lot growing up?

Explain your childhood?

2. Describe a favorite teacher? Grade school? High school? College?

3. What was college like for you? Did you live away? Home? Explain?

4. Did you have a favorite professor? College experience?

5. What class impacted you the most?

6. How would you describe your educational philosophy? Do you remember what you wrote

about when you had to write one in your education classes? What do you think of now?

7. How do you think that your philosophy fits the “real” teaching world?

8. What advice would you give to someone up and coming to the teaching world,?

9. How does all of this mold what you are as a teacher?

10. Explain how you are different teacher now than you were when you started?

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APPENDIX H

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS: ROUND 5‒TEACHER IDENTITY

Appendix H

Interview Questions: Round 5‒Teacher Identity

1. A large part of my study is about teacher identity. What does this mean to you?

2. What is important about this?

3. Describe what impacts your teacher identity? Why?

4. Describe your personal identity. What is different?

5. How does your value system fit into this? Are values important?

6. Do you have to be caring to be a teacher? Explain.

7. Do you think that teachers reflect on who they are as a teacher?

8. How has your professional identity changed over time? Professional identity?

9. Tell me about your values and how this fits into your teaching.

10. How do your values determine decisions that you make in the classroom? What if this

poses a conflict for you?

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APPENDIX I

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS: ROUND 6‒CHARACTERISTICS

Appendix I Interview Questions: Round 6‒Characteristics

1. Explain the idea of caring. What does this mean in the classroom? What does it look like?

2. Give me an example or tell me a story about you in the classroom?

3. Do you relate your roles outside of the classroom (mom, sister, wife) to situations in the

classroom? Are there connections?

4. Have you ever felt like you hare “stepped over the line” of being a teacher into being a

“mom” or other role in a students’ life?

5. Have you ever known a teacher that was not caring? Explain.

6. Describe the difference between the way men and women teach? Act in the classroom?

Explain.

7. Give me examples of what caring looks like in the classroom.

8. Give me an example of what ethics looks like in the classroom.

9. How do these two things intersect for you as a person? Professional?

10. What is the most important part of “you” that makes you a good teacher?

183

APPENDIX J

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS: MEMBER CHECKING

Appendix J

Interview Questions: Member Checking

1. We have spent a great deal of time together. What have I asked you or what have we

discussed that you want to review or adjust?

2. What would you like me to know about you that I haven’t asked?

3. What is important about your family that I do not know yet that impacts your teacher

identity?

4. What is important about your professional life that we have yet to talk about?

5. Explain what you think I might not have understood or that you think I need to know

better?

6. Do you think that you have given me the wrong impression about anything? If so, what?

What should be fixed or adjusted?

7. What am I missing? Forgetting? Leaving out?

8. How would you describe your relationship with your family?

9. How would you describe your relationship with your school family?

10. Do you think you are important?

185

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