Understanding Teacher Identity: The Complexities of Forming an Identity as Professional Teacher introduces the reader to a collection of research-based works by authors that represent current research concerning the complexities of teacher identity and the role of teacher preparation programs in shaping the identity of teachers. Important to teacher preparation, as a profession, is a realization that the psychological, philosophical, theoretical, and pedagogical underpinnings of teacher identity have critical importance in shaping who the teacher is, and will continue to become in his/her practice. Teacher identity is an instrumental factor in teachers’ and the students’ success. Chapter One opens the book with a focus on the development of teacher identity, providing an introduction to the book and an understanding of the growing importance of identity in becoming a teacher. Chapters Two–Nine present field-based research that examines the complexities of teacher identity in teacher preparation and the importance of teacher identity in the teaching and learning experiences of the classroom. Finally, Chapter Ten presents an epilogue focusing on teacher identity and the importance, as teacher educators and practitioners, of making sense of who we are and how identity plays a critical role in the preparation and practice of teachers.

In the world of education, the most effective educators pride themselves on their special ability to positively impact the impressionable minds of their students. They are able to justify their effectiveness through their students' standardized test scores and other forms of data. Indeed, these are legitimate ways to measure a teacher's effectiveness in the classroom but they don't tell the full story. There is something to be said about the specific attributes a teacher possesses in order to be effective in the classroom. What are those intangible qualities that define the success of that teacher? The response to that question will consequently lead to an even deeper question -- how did that teacher acquire and develop these special qualities? That question can be best answered by exploring the source of their teacher identity. Through this exploration, one will discover that the teacher's identity is directly and indirectly shaped by their unique life experiences and the valuable lessons they have learned from those experiences. Shaping the Teacher Identity guides the reader through a self-exploration of their life and helps them extract the inherent qualities that uniquely define who they are as educators.

Teaching For Success is a comprehensive guide for navigating the process of becoming an effective teacher in the wake of contemporary and systemic challenges. Focusing on the core concept of teacher identity in clear, invigorating prose, the book illuminates how teachers can arrange, adjust, and assemble their own personal and professional teaching influences in conjunction with educational research into a coherent, unique, and successful whole. Olsen’s attention to classroom practice, social justice issues, personal satisfaction, and teacher success stories offers a sharp and useful guide for teacher development. This revised second edition has been updated and includes a new chapter that guides both new and experienced teachers through emerging, thorny issues in educational policy and practice, including high-stakes testing, blended learning, the demands of networking, and the Common Core State Standards.

This book addressed teachers’ necessity to be able to respond to the new needs and demands caused by an ever-evolving educational system, as recognized in the national and international policy and research literature. The book proposes an analysis of the features that shape the journey of the teacher profession and professionalism, a journey which needs to be collaborative, agentive and dialogical: • Collaborative in changing the personal and professional teacher development from an individual and solitude process toward a joint discovery with mutual enrichment and shared directionality; • Agentive in the ability to activate internal and external resources for an individual, productive and communicative transformation; • Dialogical in the ability to enrich the personal narrative with the voices of others and opening spaces for dialogue and listening. The seven chapters are structured in a way that gives flow and pace to the unfolding story of the developing teacher identity and is informed by a whole range of research and literature. This book serves as a reference point for teacher-students, in-service teachers and teacher educators who are interested in their professional development and looking for new perspectives. It also offers some helpful insights for administrators who need to make ICT decisions on course development in teacher education.

This book explores the experiences, understandings, and beliefs that guide the professional practices of teacher educators. What are the responsibilities of doing the job and how does it re-shape the professional identity of those who do it, day in, day out?

Addresses the various types of discourse within the process of professional identity development. This work emphasizes that the intersection of the personal and professional in teacher identity formation is more complex, and accents the need for teacher educators to take steps to facilitate such integration.

This volume extends the authors' work on ""personal practical knowledge"" as the way through which teachers hone their craft - ""Teachers' Professional Knowledge Landscapes"". They examine the question of how professional identities are formed.

Understanding teachers’ professional identities and their development is key to unpacking teachers’ professional lives, the quality of their instruction, their motivation and commitment to teach, and their career decision-making. This book features a number of scholars from around the world who represent a variety of disciplines, scientific paradigms, and inquiry methods in researching teacher identity. By bringing these chapters together, this volume initiates active scholarly conversations and extends the boundaries of teacher identity research and practice. This collection of chapters provides significant insight into teacher identity and will be essential reading for pre-service and in-service teachers, teacher educators, school administrators, professional developers, and policy makers at various levels.

Teacher identity is shaped by recognition or its absence, often by misrecognition of others. Recognition as a teacher, or the strong and complex identification with one’s professional culture and community, is necessary for a positive sense of self. Increasingly, teachers are entering educational settings where difference connotes not equal, better/worse, or having more/less power over resources. Differences between discourses of identity are braided at many points with a discourse of racism, both interpersonal and structural. Teacher Identity and the Struggle for Recognition examines the nature of identity and recognition as social, cultural, and political constructs. In particular, the contributing authors to the book present discussions of the professional work necessary in teacher preparation programs concerned with preparing teachers for the complexities of teaching in schools that mirror an increasingly diverse society. Importantly, the authors illuminate many of the often problematic structures of schooling and the cultural politics that work to define one’s identity – drawing into specific relief the nature of the struggle for recognition that all face who choose to entering teaching as a profession.

This edited book examines modern foreign language teachers who research their own and others’ experiences of identity construction in the context of living and teaching in UK institutions, primarily in the Higher Education sector. The book offers an insight into a key element of the educational and socio-political debate surrounding MFL in the UK: the teachers’ voices and their sense of agency in constructing their professional identities. The contributors use a combination of empirical research and personal reflection to generate knowledge about MFL teachers’ identity that can enhance how they are perceived in the social and educational establishments and raise awareness of key issues affecting the profession. This book will be of particular interest to language teachers, teacher trainers, applied linguists and students and scholars of modern foreign languages.