English Teacher Identity in a Methods Course Wiki Michelle Jewett

University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs Education ETDs 7-5-2012 I felt like the enemy and the savior all at once': English teacher identity in a methods course wiki Michelle Jewett Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/educ_llss_etds Recommended Citation Jewett, Michelle. "I felt like the enemy and the savior all at once': English teacher identity in a methods course wiki." (2012). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/educ_llss_etds/15 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Education ETDs at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Michelle Ann Jewett Candidate Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies Department This dissertation is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication: Approved by the Dissertation Committee: Don Zancanella, Chairperson Lucretia (Penny) Pence Laura Haniford Janet Alsup i “I FELT LIKE THE ENEMY AND THE SAVIOR ALL AT ONCE”: ENGLISH TEACHER IDENTITY IN A METHODS COURSE WIKI by MICHELLE ANN JEWETT B.A., English, California State University, Long Beach, 1991 M.A., English Literature, California State University, Dominguez Hills, 1999 DISSERTATION Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico May, 2012 ii DEDICATION In memory of Cheri Lynne Jewett iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thank you to Dr. Don Zancanella, my advisor and dissertation chair, for his support and wisdom. Thank you to my committee members, Dr. Penny Pence, Dr. Laura Haniford, and Dr. Janet Alsup. Gratitude to all the methods students in this study; thank you for allowing me into your teaching lives. To my husband, Steven, and sons, Elias and Kai: all my love. iv “I FELT LIKE THE ENEMY AND THE SAVIOR ALL AT ONCE”: ENGLISH TEACHER IDENTITY IN A METHODS COURSE WIKI by Michelle Ann Jewett B.A., ENGLISH CREATIVE WRITING M.A., ENGLISH LITERATURE PH.D., LANGUAGE, LITERACY, AND SOCIOCULTURAL STUDIES ABSTRACT This study explores the identity constructions of two cohorts of preservice teachers enrolled in English methods courses during a semester of field experience. This research employs a qualitative methodology and documents the nature of participant’s responses posted to online wiki forum. Data sources include archived electronic interactions and course assignments such as reflective journals. Constant-comparative method as described by Creswell (2007), content analysis as described by Marshall & Rossman (2006), and Gee’s (2003) notion of affinity identity are used to examine the discourses and ideologies of methods students as they construct notions of English teacher identity. Study findings indicate a focus on the social practices of the domain of teaching secondary English and an absence of English Language Arts pedagogy and content, suggesting that developing teachers perceive the identity of an English teacher as a solitary, selfless giver who is responsible for nearly every aspect of classroom experience and interaction. v TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES …………………………………………………………….. ix CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION ……………………………………….… 1 English: A History of Contested Ideologies ……………………………... 2 The English Methods Course …………………………………………….. 4 Background ………………………………………………………………. 7 Research Questions ………………………………………………………. 8 Significance of the Study …………………………………………………. 9 Organization of the Study ………………………………………………... 11 Definition of Terms ……………………………………………………… 12 CHAPTER TWO REVIEW OF RELATED RESEARCH ……………….… 20 Teacher Identity …………………………………………………………. 20 English Teacher Identity ………………………………………………… 28 Technology in Teacher Education Research …………………………..... 36 Summary ………………………………………………………………… 53 CHAPTER THREE METHODS AND PARTICIPANTS …….………….… 54 The Teaching of English Course ……………………………………..….. 54 Sampling .................................................................................................... 65 Participants ................................................................................................. 66 The Student Teaching Practicum …………………………………..……. 77 Analytic Framework .................................................................................. 80 Methodology …………………………………………………………..… 81 vi Data Collection .......................................................................................... 82 Data Analysis ............................................................................................. 84 CHAPTER FOUR ANALYTIC NARRATIVE ……………………..…..…… 88 Thematic Patterns …………………………………………………..….... 90 Teachers Build Student Success ……………………………………........ 93 Teachers Motivate Students ………………………………………....…... 99 Teachers Meet Student Needs …………………………………….……. 107 Teachers Build Classroom Community ………………………….…...... 114 Teachers Build Caring Relationships ………………………….…….…. 120 Teachers Never Give Up Believing in Students …………………......… 127 Teachers Make a Difference ……………………………………….…… 131 What About Content? …………………………………………….…….. 136 Summary …………………………………………………………..……. 139 CHAPTER FIVE DISCUSSION ………………………………………..…… 141 English Identity and Ideology: Confirming the Research ………..…...… 143 The Absence of Content in English Identity ………...…………..……… 148 Discussion …………………………………………………………..…… 156 Implications for English Methods Courses ……….………………..……. 159 Implications for Future Research ………………………………..………. 166 Reflection ……………………………………………………..……....…. 168 Conclusion ……………………………………………..………………… 172 vii APPENDIX A REFLECTION WHEEL JOURNAL MODEL………….... 174 APPENDIX B CONSENT FORM………….…………………………..…… 176 REFERENCES ……………..…………………………………………..…….. 178 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Wiki Contribution and Teaching Status of Participants……………….. 77 Figure 2. Texts Read in Field Placements………………………………………... 79 Figure 3. Text-based Instruction Conducted in Field Placement……………….... 80 ix CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Developing a teacher identity in any discipline is not as simple as acquiring new vocabulary or rules for behavior; the trajectory from neophyte student teacher to expert instructor is not a linear, unproblematic path (Britzman, 2003; Alsup, 2006). Crafting a teacher identity while learning to teach is a struggle “to borrow, to negotiate, to claim ownership, and to take up that which seems already completed” (Britzman, 1994, p. 54). However, the identity of an English teacher is further complicated by social and institutional associations and expectations, both real and imagined, that often restrict and predetermine the roles available for developing secondary teachers (Carter, 2009). Unlike other disciplines, English teachers are the “mediators of literacy and culture” and therefore “in the implicitly ethical position of ‘norming’ for students the ways in which language and literacy matter in America” (Staunton, 2008, p. 22). This humanist gatekeeper role is oftentimes the reason young English majors are attracted to the teaching of our discipline. But, the associated responsibility implicit in this role can limit and control the identities available to English teachers. Perhaps for this reason, secondary English teacher identity, more than any other discipline, is steeped in ideologies and “identity politics” (Zemblyas, 2003). In the past fifteen years, anthropologists, sociologists, cultural theorists, educationists and others have become increasingly interested in teacher identity, its process and characteristics, resulting in the emergence of a new separate area of research (Beijaard et al., 2004). Essential to this research, is the sociocultural understanding that teacher identities are produced by, and in turn produce, teachers through multiple 1 discourses (Britzman, 2003). Becoming a teacher is viewed as an identity forming process where one engages in dialogical practices with others to author oneself (Danielewicz, 2001). “We borrow the very thing we feel authored by and that we then author” (Britzman Foreword in Alsup, 2006, p. xi). This process is often associated with Bakhtin’s (1981) notion of “authoring of self”. Furthermore, because social structures position people in ways that reproduce societal norms and conventions (Fairclough, 1989), teacher identity is a social and ideological process that occurs through and is affected by participation in individual and local discourses as well as larger social, cultural, and institutional discursive practices (Gee, 2001). English: A History of Contested Ideologies Since its inception by the Committee of Ten in 1893, the school subject we call English has been a contested, conglomeration of disparate fields with a discordant past (Meyer & Sawyer, 2006). With its history in rhetoric, reading, oratory, grammar and literature, the discipline has always been characterized by “competing viewpoints as to the ultimate purpose of knowing, learning, and teaching English” (Meyer & Sawyer, 2006, p. 47). In this century alone, English has been the home of many debates, primary among them, and the normative versus transformative curricular movements. The “cultural literacy” and “standards” movements of the 1970’s and 1990’s are two examples of normative movements that purported to uphold the Western values and cultural heritage of the status quo. In contrast, John Dewey and the Progressive Movement of the 1920’s and 30’s

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