Browsing by Subject "teacher identity"

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    Being and Belonging in America: Second-Generation Asian American Teachers’ Stories of Negotiating Identity and Culture
    (2021-06) Phadke, Meghan
    In the last quarter century, the United States has seen the highest levels of immigration since the turn of the 19th century (Frey, 2020; Massey, 2013). Unlike migrations of the past, this one has brought Brown and Black folks from across the Global South to the United States, forever changing the demographics of the nation (Frey, 2020; Foner, 2000; Massey 2013). This boom is largely a result of post-colonial conditions, neoliberal policy, and U.S. military incursions that have destabilized the globe. These factors, along with the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, have ushered in a large-scale shift in U.S. demographics, that while geographically uneven, continues to change the notion and nature of American identity (Alba, 2018). As the United States continues to experience large-scale immigration, primarily from Asia and Central and South America, we must confront the ways in which this reality is impacting our schools, teachers, and students. This dissertation is concerned with the implications of this ongoing transformation in demographics within the United States on the nature and notion of American identity, of what and who count as American, and the impacts of this shift on the realities for schools and the lives of teachers and students who labor and learn within them. In attending to this concern, this study focuses on Asian Americans, a population that significantly contributes to this demographic shift and who are increasingly the target of White anxiety and rage. In addition to socio-culturally situated contestations of belonging, this population has historically faced legal and formalized exclusion which has compounded Asian Americans’ relationship to the social imaginary of America. This contestation is even more pronounced for Second-Generation Asian Americans, whose belonging is additionally complicated by their status as American-born. This critical narrative study presents the stories of four Second-Generation Asian American elementary school teachers currently working at public elementary schools in the Twin Cities, alongside the researcher’s own story as U.S. student, teacher, and teacher-educator. These stories reveal fraught negotiations of identity and culture and the ways in which these teachers mobilize their Second-Generation Asian American identity in the service of their students.
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    Transforming the Transformation: A post-intentional phenomenological exploration of Montessori teachers engaging in anti-bias and anti-racist teacher self-reflection
    (2018-06) Christensen, Olivia
    Montessori teachers often enter the teaching field with a strong sense of a Montessori social identity developed through their transformational teacher education experience (AMI, 2018a; Malm, 2004), uniting them around a shared knowledge and belief system (Fairclough, 1992, 2003). While a social identity can connect individuals and provide security and purpose, it can also limit beliefs and behaviors by producing a prescribed way of being (Foucault, 2010). Research (e.g., Sumison, 2002) has shown that when teachers are confronted with instances that challenge their teacher identity and social practice (Fairclough, 1992), they may experience dilemmas and uncertainty (Cuban, 1992; Lampert, 1985) that call their self and social identification as a teacher into question. This post-intentional phenomenological study is an attempt to better understand what is produced and provoked (Vagle, 2018) when Montessori teachers engage in anti-bias and anti-racist (ABAR) teacher self-reflection, a critical first step to implementing antiracist teaching practices in an early childhood classroom (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010). Specifically, I explored what is produced and provoked in the Montessori self and social identity as teachers consider ways of being a teacher that possibly differ with the Montessori teacher way of being. Six Montessori early childhood teachers participated in three workshops on ABAR self-reflection which I developed and facilitated over the course of three and a half months. Participant experiences, including my own, and additional phenomenological material (e.g., Montessori's writing, current initiatives in the Montessori social world) offered important insight into the life and evolution of the phenomenon. To guide analysis, I used Jackson and Mazzei's (2012) thinking with theory and Deleuze and Guattari's (1987) notion of the rhizome to conceptualize the life and growth of the phenomenon. Findings revealed elements of the Montessori social identity that provide meaning and purpose for teachers working towards dismantling oppression as well as limitations in the form of a regime of truth (Foucault, 1977/2010) that can challenge the development of a dialogic identity. Implications suggest recommendations for Montessori teacher education programs including strategies of incorporating ABAR reflective practices into Montessori teacher development, reevaluating the words and position of an adored leader for relevance as society evolves, and encouraging social activism by disrupting the notion of objectivity and neutrality in teaching.