Doing math and talking school: Professional talk as producing hybridity in teacher identity and community

Ian Parker Renga; Frederick A. Peck; Ricela Feliciano-Semidei; David Erickson; Ke Wu

doi:10.1016/j.linged.2019.100766

Doing math and talking school: Professional talk as producing hybridity in teacher identity and community

Ian Parker Renga, Frederick A. Peck, Ricela Feliciano-Semidei, David Erickson, Ke Wu

Mathematical Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

Teachers construct professional identities within community as they converse about their work and negotiate what it means to be a teacher. Grossman, Wineburg, and Woolworth (2001) suggest that such negotiation must account for an essential tension between focusing on pedagogical versus disciplinary concerns. How teachers navigate this tension and what this means for their joint production of identity and community is unclear. This gap in the literature became evident in our work with Math Teachers’ Circles (MTC), where we observed K-12 math teachers indexing instructional experiences and concerns despite the program's explicit invitation to set teaching aside and do math problems together for pleasure. Drawing upon a community of practice framework and positioning theory, we consider the work this professional talk accomplished within MTC gatherings. We show how the teachers positioned themselves and established their community, thereby producing hybrid identities and MTCs as a kind of hybrid community.

Original language	English
Article number	100766
Journal	Linguistics and Education
Volume	55
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.linged.2019.100766
State	Published - Feb 2020

Funding

We are grateful to the MTC participants and facilitators who graciously opened their gatherings to our study. We also want to thank George Kamberelis, Carrie Allen, Sara Heredia, Joanna Weidler-Lewis, and the two peer reviewers for their invaluable feedback on the manuscript. This work was supported by grants from The American Institute of Mathematics, The Montana Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education [grant number S367B140023-14A], and The University of Montana. We are grateful to the MTC participants and facilitators who graciously opened their gatherings to our study. We also want to thank George Kamberelis, Carrie Allen, Sara Heredia, Joanna Weidler-Lewis, and the two peer reviewers for their invaluable feedback on the manuscript. This work was supported by grants from The American Institute of Mathematics, The Montana Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education [grant number S367B140023-14A ], and The University of Montana . Appendix A

Funders	Funder number
Montana University System. Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education
Montana University System. Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education	S367B140023-14A
American Institute of Mathematics

Keywords

Essential tension
Hybridity
Math teachers
Teacher community
Teacher professional identity
Teacher talk

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10.1016/j.linged.2019.100766

Cite this

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title = "Doing math and talking school: Professional talk as producing hybridity in teacher identity and community",

abstract = "Teachers construct professional identities within community as they converse about their work and negotiate what it means to be a teacher. Grossman, Wineburg, and Woolworth (2001) suggest that such negotiation must account for an essential tension between focusing on pedagogical versus disciplinary concerns. How teachers navigate this tension and what this means for their joint production of identity and community is unclear. This gap in the literature became evident in our work with Math Teachers{\textquoteright} Circles (MTC), where we observed K-12 math teachers indexing instructional experiences and concerns despite the program's explicit invitation to set teaching aside and do math problems together for pleasure. Drawing upon a community of practice framework and positioning theory, we consider the work this professional talk accomplished within MTC gatherings. We show how the teachers positioned themselves and established their community, thereby producing hybrid identities and MTCs as a kind of hybrid community.",

keywords = "Essential tension, Hybridity, Math teachers, Teacher community, Teacher professional identity, Teacher talk",

author = "Renga, \{Ian Parker\} and Peck, \{Frederick A.\} and Ricela Feliciano-Semidei and David Erickson and Ke Wu",

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AU - Renga, Ian Parker

AU - Peck, Frederick A.

AU - Feliciano-Semidei, Ricela

AU - Erickson, David

AU - Wu, Ke

PY - 2020/2

Y1 - 2020/2

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AB - Teachers construct professional identities within community as they converse about their work and negotiate what it means to be a teacher. Grossman, Wineburg, and Woolworth (2001) suggest that such negotiation must account for an essential tension between focusing on pedagogical versus disciplinary concerns. How teachers navigate this tension and what this means for their joint production of identity and community is unclear. This gap in the literature became evident in our work with Math Teachers’ Circles (MTC), where we observed K-12 math teachers indexing instructional experiences and concerns despite the program's explicit invitation to set teaching aside and do math problems together for pleasure. Drawing upon a community of practice framework and positioning theory, we consider the work this professional talk accomplished within MTC gatherings. We show how the teachers positioned themselves and established their community, thereby producing hybrid identities and MTCs as a kind of hybrid community.

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Doing math and talking school: Professional talk as producing hybridity in teacher identity and community

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