Overview

Rather than conceptualizing teacher thinking as an individual enterprise, this book conceives of teacher thought as a social venture. Through the use of qualitative methods and the theories of Valentin Volosinov and Mikhail Bakhtin on their respective concepts of ideology and language, two case studies examine how the identities of two first-year early childhood teachers are fashioned discursively, as they move through the contexts of their teacher education programs, the elementary schools in which they teach, and personal aspects of their lives. Research findings illustrate how these first-year teachers pieced together their identities by appropriating fragments of discourses that circumscribed the various contexts through which they moved. These particular discourses positioned them in relation to their students and families and shaped their pedagogy in ways that created opportunities as well as constraints for the social identities of the children in their care. Monica Miller Marsh illustrates how the concept of discourse can be used with and by early childhood educators to help them develop an awareness of the relational nature of identity formation.

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9780820455594

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Reviews

« Dr. Miller Marsh offers an exciting exploration of the experiences of two beginning early childhood teachers. She guides us through the storied landscapes of teacher education of Ms. Nicholi and Ms. Gonzales and then takes readers to the teachers' school landscapes. The teachers' storied lives are shaped on, and by, storied landscapes - landscapes which Dr. Miller Marsh helps us understand as competing discourses and ideologies. This richly nuanced text draws readers in to understand the complex ways teachers' identities shape and are shaped by the competing discourses of human relations, multicultural education, child-centeredness and behaviorism. As a teacher educator, I have already made Dr. Miller Marsh's work compulsory reading for teachers.

Dr. Miller Marsh offers an exciting exploration of the experiences of two beginning early childhood teachers. She guides us through the storied landscapes of teacher education of Ms. Nicholi and Ms. Gonzales and then takes readers to the teachers' school landscapes. The teachers' storied lives are shaped on, and by, storied landscapes - landscapes which Dr. Miller Marsh helps us understand as competing discourses and ideologies. This richly nuanced text draws readers in to understand the complex ways teachers' identities shape and are shaped by the competing discourses of human relations, multicultural education, child-centeredness and behaviorism. As a teacher educator, I have already made Dr. Miller Marsh's work compulsory reading for teachers. (D. Jean Clandinin, Professor and Director of the Centre for Research for Teacher Education and Development, University of Alberta, Canada)

Author Information

The Author: Monica Miller Marsh, a former kindergarten and fifth grade teacher, received her Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is currently Assistant Professor of Education in the School of Education and Human Development at Binghamton University in New York. Her current research combines the areas of teacher thinking, early childhood education, and issues of diversity.

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