Millennial Teacher Identity Discourses

Over ten years after the original edition of Teacher Identity Discourses, Janet Alsup revisits her work with a new research study examining the characteristics of the millennial teachers now beginning to populate K-12 classrooms. Building off the first edition, this text is based on a qualitative, interview-based research study, and provides a contemporary look at how millennial teachers experience professional identity growth through language use. This innovative research investigates how formation of a professional identity is central in the process of becoming an effective teacher. Updated with new analyses of teacher identity discourses, the second edition covers themes that still resonate today and provides practical suggestions and sample assignments for teacher educators to use or adapt in methods courses.

Janet Alsup is Professor of Literacy and Language Education, and Head of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Purdue University, USA.

Preface: Can the Master's Tools Destroy the Master's House? Chapter 1: A Teaching Life, Re-visited: How and Why this Project Came to Be Chapter 2: What Does it Mean to be a Millennial Secondary School Teacher? The Paradoxical Chase Chapter 3: Living the Contradiction: Narratives of Opposition Chapter 4: Who's in Control? Stories of Authority and Vulnerability Chapter 5: What Does a Teacher Look Like? Narratives of the Teacher Persona Chapter 6: Using Discourse to Create a Teacher Identity: Narratives of Balance Chapter 7: Seeking Identity Through Images: Metaphors of Teacher Self Chapter 8: To Know Thyself, Again: Teacher Identity Discourses for a New Generation Appendix A: Class Syllabus Appendix B: Interview Protocols Appendix C: Sample Assignments Index