Abstract
Teacher identities and beliefs influence instructional practices. In order to explore this process, this self-study was conducted by three literacy professors from different ethnic backgrounds including one African-American professor, one Chinese national professor and one White professor. The purpose of this study was to examine how professors' literacy identities are shaped and how sharing these identities, experiences and beliefs in meaningful professional dialogues influences instructional practice. We examined the role of our identities and beliefs on our instructional practices using multiple forms of qualitative data such as journal entries, digital stories, and critical group discussions. Despite the range of differences among participants, we also shared commonalities in our identities and experiences. Findings from the study reveal that our literacy stories shaped our identities, our identities and beliefs shaped our instruction, and our reflective process shaped change in our practices. Through this process we were able to adjust our instruction in order to meet the diverse needs of our students. This reflective process influenced and improved our instructional decisions.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Howard, Christy M.; Hu, Ran; and Faulconer, Johna
(2020)
"Sharing Stories: Reflections of Professors’ Literacy Identities and Beliefs,"
Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research:
Vol. 22:
Iss.
3.
https://doi.org/10.4148/2470-6353.1317
Included in
Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Elementary Education and Teaching Commons, Higher Education and Teaching Commons, Junior High, Intermediate, Middle School Education and Teaching Commons, Other Education Commons, Other Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons, Pre-Elementary, Early Childhood, Kindergarten Teacher Education Commons, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Commons
