a r t i c l e i n f o
a b s t r a c t
Article history:
Received 16 July 2007
Received in revised form
8 October 2008
Accepted 8 September 2009
This essay explores the relationship between emotion and teacher identity, using a framework of
personal experience and published research from a variety of disciplines. The author argues that an
increased awareness of emotional experience serves not only to increase rapport among educators, but
also to counteract the persistent dehumanization of the teaching profession in our current sociopolitical
context. She highlights the work of other educational scholars to suggest various means by which this
awareness can be cultivated in research and teaching practice.
2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords:
Teacher
Identity
Emotion
Reective teaching
Critical
My realization of these changes came in part from the interactions that occurred during lunch breaks in the staff lounge.
Munching aimlessly on baby carrots, I noticed that our conversation
revolved around two main topicsdstudent misbehavior and reality
television. Listening to the chatter about these topics, I began to feel
both irritated and somehow isolated. The source of my broader
discontent, I later realized, was this: We were interacting on a very
limited basis. We had restricted the scope of our conversation to
topics that were safe but shallow. I began to wonder if this limited
interaction might be related somehow to our preconceived notions
of how educators should interactdwhat they should think and talk
about. I came to conclude that my colleagues and I were subject to
a paradigm of constructed teacher identity, which was shaping
our social exchanges. When elements outside this paradigm
emergeddvulnerability, anger, eroticismdthey were treated as
a potential threat to this constructed identity, and were either
passively ignored or actively (albeit diplomatically) hushed.
I believe that emotional identity is fundamental to our understanding of professional identity and the interactions it may
generate or preclude. This essay explores the role of emotion within
a paradigm of constructed teacher identity and suggests ways in
which interaction among teachers can be more fully developed to
cultivate professional growthdnot just as educators, but as
complex, multi-faceted human beings. To begin, I will dene the
concepts of emotional and professional identity as they are
discussed in published scholarship. Then, I will offer examples of
how these notions inuence our identity as teachers. In essence,
these rst two sections of the paper seek to answer the following
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Shawna Shapiro is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Washington, where she also
received her MATESOL degree. She is an instructor in two Seattle-based teacher
training programs, and has contributed chapters on pedagogical practice for several
volumes published by TESOL, Inc and Anker Publishing. She has also written other
pieces for several scholarly and professional publications.