Figuring Out How To Be a Teacher in a High-Stakes Context: A Case Study of First-Year Teachers’ Conceptual and Practical Development

Abstract

High-stakes education reforms across the United States and the globe continue to alter the landscape of teaching and teacher education. One key but understudied aspect of this reform process is the experiences of first-year teachers, particularly those who participated in these high-stakes education systems as students and as a teachers-in-training. This article employs Holland, Lachicotte, Skinner, and Cain’s conception of figured worlds to understand how such reforms affected two first-year teachers’ conceptions of themselves as educators and what it is they were to teach their students. It concludes with suggestions for teacher–educators and mentors to help novice and preservice teachers succeed in these high-stakes contexts so that they can work toward becoming educators who attend to their students’ individual needs and teach them how to be active and reflective citizens.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors would like to thank the editors of this journal, the anonymous reviewers, and the Friendly Frogs Learning Community for their thoughtful suggestions in strengthening this article.

Notes

1. A Title 1 school is one in which at least 40% of the children in the attendance area of the school or at least 40% of students enrolled in the school come from low-income families. The most common measure of low-income status is the percent of children who are eligible to participate in the federal government’s free and reduced-price lunch program. Being identified as a Title 1 school entitles that school to receive additional federal funding that is to be used to improve the academic achievement of the children from these low-income households.

2. She had visited and was considering interviewing for a teaching a position at a private Montessori school.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Christopher P. Brown

Christopher P. Brown is an Associate Professor of curriculum and instruction at The University of Texas at Austin. He is the program coordinator and graduate advisor for the early childhood education program area.

Debra E. Bay-Borelli

Debra E. Bay-Borelli is currently teaching online teacher education classes for Angelo State University in San Angelo, TX. She is also an expert curriculum consultant for Pearson Education Corporation.

Jill Scott

Jill Scott is an Assistant Professor in teacher education at Abilene Christian University. She works with pre-service teachers and novice teachers during their first three years.