Weaving into one meaningful piece: The construction of teacher -self identity in the personal and professional histories of a family of women educators.

摘要

This qualitative and feminist study focuses on the personal and professional histories of a family of women educators. The primary focus of the study is to gain life histories and a multigenerational view of three women in the teaching profession as they inform the history of teaching. By focusing on three generations of women teachers/educators within one family (ages ranging from 37 to 87), I explore their personal and professional life histories and the intersection with the changing social, historical, and institutional contexts across generations (Holland & Lave, 2001). Each woman tells their life stories and recounts the meaning that teaching and the identity of teacher/educator has had in their lives.;Generally, women teachers' histories have been underrepresented in the historiography of education and teaching, even though women have been the majority of teachers (Donato & Lazerson, 2000; Rury, 1991). This study contributes to a greater knowledge of women teachers as they conceptualize their personal and professional lives and places an emphasis on lived experience, connecting the personal and professional spheres of their lives, and the narratives/stories of the participants as part of the creation of the history of teaching.;This study makes two major points: (1) their life stories model an ongoing construction of teacher-self identity throughout their careers that brings together their micro (the personal) and macro (the broader social, historical, and institutional context) histories; and (2) if the institutional and constraints of public education become too constricting and the construction of an integrated teacher-self identity is not possible, people may leave the teaching profession and construct a broader professional identity. If we want to encourage life-long teachers in the profession, this research suggests that there must be an ongoing interaction, negotiation, and co-creation between the self and the profession of teaching, or as one of the participants articulates "a weaving into one meaningful piece" between the woman and the teacher.