Finding the Teacher Self: Developing Your Teacher Identity through Critical Reflection [Hardcover]

Finding the Teacher Self offers a foundation to begin and sustain a discussion with preservice and in-service teachers about the role of teacher identities in the classrooms, what their teacher identity is, and how they can continue to develop it. The book is intended to create a backdrop to deepen conversations with and between teachers and administrators on topics that are often avoided or devalued in the contemporary education discourse. Through the delineation of background information from scholarly sources and related discussion prompts and questions, real and constructive conversation can be fostered across the educational landscape including undergraduate and graduate classes, faculty meetings, professional development workshops, or ongoing district-based or school-based reflective teaching projects.Eric Shyman is an Associate Professor of Child Study at St. Josephs College on Long Island, NY. He received his doctorate from Teachers College, Columbia University.

Eric Shyman provides preservice and in-service teachers and administrators an accessible guide for critically reflecting on how educator identities are shaped by our political culture and how educators who aspire to be culturally responsive can turn reflection into practice that serves all children. With a wide variety of reflective exercises, Shyman helps educators to name and work through alienating workplace constraints in order to develop into critical decision-makers and activists for peace and social justice in their schools and communities. These highly recommended pages give substance to what it can mean to become a life-long critical learner and educator. Michael Vavrus, Professor Emeritus, The Evergreen State College; Past-president of the Association of Liberal Arts Colleges for Teacher Education

Finding the Teacher Self: Developing Teacher Identity Through Critical Reflection is a surprisingly compact book with a rich and multilayered message: We teach who we are; and we arelÓÙ