The impact of role modeling on the professional identity of pre-service teachers

Research shows that mentoring EFL pre-service teachers during the practicum element of teacher-training courses allow them to get experience and to develop, improve, and put into practice their teaching skills. This professional practice can impact the development of a positive or negative professional identity in teachers. Current literature, however, seems to focus on the shaping of teacher identity and learner identity, but there is little empirical research regarding the development and shaping of the identity of pre-service teachers. Pre-service teachers are the main actors of this practicum stage of teacher-training programs and, therefore, by working in collaboration and being supported by a mentor as a role model, they develop their professional identity. The present qualitative case study sought to explore the shaping and re-shaping of the professional identity of fifteen EFL pre-service teachers of a northern Mexican university and the impact of working with English teacher mentors as role models. Information gathered through the constant comparative method of data from the participants taken from their reflective journals, mentor-observations, and self-observations suggests that although working with a positive role model encourages the development of a stronger teacher identity and an improvement in their teaching practice, working with a bad role model can also have the same results

Diario de trabajo: Herramienta para la expresión de los docentes en formación Journal: tool for the expression of preservice teachers

La finalidad del presente artículo es reportar resultados de un estudio cualitativo con enfoque fenomenológico, llevado a cabo con 11 diarios de trabajo, cuyo objetivo fue conocer las emociones, las situaciones y las estrategias de trabajo implementadas por estudiantes normalistas quienes redactaron sus experiencias basadas en la estructura propuesta por Farrell (2019) construida a partir de las aportaciones de Dewey (1933), Shön (1983) Alvarado, Neira y Westmacot (2019). Las condiciones sanitarias predominantes a partir de 2020 condujeron a la modificación de las maneras tradicionales del prácticum. El trayecto formativo práctica profesional de la malla curricular 2018 de la licenciatura para la enseñanza y aprendizaje en Telesecundaria, sirvió de apoyo para el análisis de diarios de trabajo realizados por los normalistas. Se diseñaron códigos con datos In Vivo, relacionados con la temática y se clasificaron en categorías. El análisis de los diarios sustentado en la teoría fundamentada (Charmaz, 2006) permitió acercarse en el conocimiento de las experiencias de los normalistas, sus sentimientos, los esfuerzos para dar cumplimiento a la jornada de práctica y el provecho del prácticum según, González-Garzón (2012), Mayorga Fernández (2017), Tejada-Fernández (2017), Huerta Ramón (2018) y Venegas Ortega (2018) como aspecto formativo. Los resultados cualitativos muestran que hubo deficiencias para la comunicación y la participación vinculadas a los recursos tecnológicos con que se contaron. Los normalistas tuvieron dificultades para la retroalimentación de los adolescentes en los grupos de secundaria. Además, las políticas administrativas impusieron la aprobación general lo que vulneró la actividad de los docentes en formación

PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF IMAGINED COMMUNITIES IN AN ENGLISH LANGUAGE MAJOR IN MEXICO

Recent work has shown the importance of identity in language learning and how the desire to belong to an imagined community drives individuals to invest in their learning (Norton, 2000). This work has documented that a mismatch between students' imagined community and the community envisioned by the teacher can have negative outcomes on students' learning trajectories. Other research has explored how institutional policies and their linked educational practices reflect differences in the imagined communities each institution sees their students potentially joining in the future (Kanno, 2003) and how reading materials and the discourses reflected in them can affect learners' visions of themselves(Pavlenko, 2003). However few studies have tried to document how an `imagined community' might be collectively constructed for others through a complex interaction of social and cultural structures, circulating discourses, institutional discourses, educational practices, group dynamics and personal histories that produce visions of potential identities (I) and their respective imagined communities (IC's) in which newcomers get socialized. There is a gap in current research on how `imagined communities' and `identities' for second language learners get constructed, circulated and made available to learners within institutional contexts.Through this qualitative study involving questionnaires and autobiographical research I studied the construction of imagined communities in an English language major in Mexico. I explored how professional identities and their related imagined communities are collectively constructed and made available to students in order to understand how institutions, programs administrators and faculty members could enhance the spread of successful professional identities and inspire/stimulate L2 speakers in their educational and professional trajectories

Desafíos que contribuyen al proceso de formación del director de escuela primaria

Training is used as a mechanism to ensure better performance of the professionals. In Mexico the training processes of primary school principals are unclear, and teachers appointed generally occupy the position without academic preparation for leadership roles. This situation has favored principal training and leadership learning happens in their incumbency, and sometimes this learning happens by trial and error. We present this work that was conducted with the objective of analyzing the training processes for principals of primary schools to identify some of the elements that enabled their leadership learning and effectiveness. A multiple case study was conducted using narrative biographical analysis, which identified practical experiences and challenging difficult situations that enable preparation and leadership learning. The study found that exercising authority helps rebuild their professional identity, and this helps principals to learn the function and develop the needed skills for the function. Reported experiences include challenging experiences as organizing the dynamics of school work, the involvement of families in school activities, and obtaining resources to implement actions for improvement. The process found has favoring elements such as in situ learning that practice provides; however, the shortcomings of this approach are that leadership learning occurs in specific situations and mostly by trial and error.La formación profesional presupone un mejor desempeño de los profesionistas. En México, los procesos de formación de los directores de escuelas primarias no son claros. Por lo general, docentes sin preparación académica para la función directiva ocupan el cargo. Esta situación ha favorecido la formación en el desempeño de la función. El presente trabajo se realizó con el objetivo de analizar procesos de formación de directores de escuelas primarias para identificar algunas de las experiencias y desafíos que les brindaron posibilidades para formarse. Para ello se utilizó un estudio de caso múltiple con un análisis biográfico narrativo que permitió identificar cuatro desafíos de la experiencia de ejercicio de la función. El desafío de ejercer la autoridad ayuda a reconstruir la identidad profesional, en tanto que los desafíos de organizar la dinámica de trabajo escolar, involucrar a las familias y conseguir recursos para implementar acciones para la mejora, ayudan a aprender la función y desarrollar habilidades necesarias para la función. El proceso encontrado tiene elementos favorecedores, como el aprendizaje in situque la práctica proporciona; sin embargo, aparece limitado, reducido a un ejercicio empírico de ensayo-error.