Blog 8 (10/10)

Johnston

Did you notice or read about any correlation between what issues a teacher focuses on and their overall attitude regarding how they are doing as a teacher/self-perception?

You mention the multiple identities of teachers:  "those they bring with them into the teacher education programs, those they develop while in those programs, and those they develop during their practicum."  

Does the first identity appear to influence the second? Do identities formed prior to teaching and teacher education programs impact whether the teacher sees him/herself positively or negatively after becoming a teacher?

You mentioned circumstances necessitated meeting "with the interns at the schools they were working in."  

Was there a noticeable difference between how the interns spoke in the environments of a restaurant and student union versus how they talked in the school at the end of the school day?  It seems like time and physical proximity to the subject of conversation might have an influence over how a person would talk about the subject.

You acknowledged that your "presence at the meeting locates [you] in the data." 

It seems like it would be harder to analyze data with yourself in it but also because you are collecting data from people with whom you are developing a relationship. You're very much invested in these individuals by the time you are ready to analyze your data. How did you separate your feelings from the process?  Or was that even necessary?

"Those who understand identity best talk in terms that imply a level of personal agency over what a person “is,” but many of the individuals who experience the most difficult challenges to identity do not conceptualize it in this way. They see it as a fixed trait. Rather than viewing identity as a negotiation between themselves and others (Gee, 2001), they feel stuck with who they essentially are."  

Has this type of language been documented in people talking about other professions?

"After digitally recording each meeting, I downloaded them onto a password protected computer and deleted the file from the audio recorder." 

Were you nervous to only have one copy of your recording?

Price

Have you found any data to indicate whether the gap between IEP students and their peers has increased or decreased since 2004?

You mentioned parents of older, secondary students file more complaints than other parents.  

Why do you think this is?  Are these parents of students who have recently been identified as needing special education services, or are these parents of students who have been in the system for more than three years? Do you think elementary school teams do a better job of addressing concerns, or are parents less concerned when the child is younger?  At what point (grade level) are parents changing from satisfied to dissatisfied? Sometimes by high school parents choose not to participate. Have you seen that this could be due to frustration caused by feeling like their opinions are not valued?