TEACHER´S IDENTITY
FIRST SECTION
My identity

 Is it easy for you to say what is your identity?
 Video: Octavio Paz
 According to the video´s definition of human being
Why is so difficult to interact in our classes?
 Do you know who is the other? What do authors
mean by otherness?
 Read the article:
 What is my background? What is my identity?
 Write down your biography:
a) Personal
b) Academic
Teacher´s identity

 Do you consider yourself a transcultural person?
Why?
 Learning to Teach: The Construction of Teacher
Identity in the Context of Schools:Margaret
Walshaw/Jan Savell (Massey University)
Why brother with professional
development?

 Professional development is related to:
 How do you improve your teaching?
 How do you learn yourself as a teacher?
 How are you able to manage changes?
 How can I related with my colleagues (team-teaching)?
 Can I trust on them?
 How can I mange my group? So on…
Now, work in pairs and before reading about teachers
development, try to define it.
Defining
 is a term used in
 Dale Lange: “Teachers development
literature to describe a process of continual intellectual,
experiential, and attitudinal growth of teachers” (1990).
 “The intent here is to suggest that teachers continue to
evolve in the use, adaptation, and application of their art
and craft” (Lange)
TASK: Work in groups of four and answer the following
questions:
1. What factors promote professional development as a
lifelong process? 2. What elements are necessary for it to
occur? Make a list of the factors you think must be present
for professional development to take place.
Compare your answers
with Andy´s ideas

 Professional development happens if only if, we choose
to. The motives may differ from teacher to teacher, but
this we have in common: no choice, no way.
 Trust is another important issue for me, which goes hand
in hand with openness and honesty.
 Some sense of mutuality or reciprocity is also important
for me. No mater how much older, wiser, more published,
more securely tenured the teachers may be who are
helping me, I think they should be able to identify what
they have learned from me too.
 Knowing that changes need to be made in order to
bring about “better” and “more” learning (my own
as well as my students´) is not the same as making
those changes. For example: I might realize that I
need to increase my student´s motivation, but not
know how to do this!
 Be aware of what is evaluation-driven and teacher
development
“ I decide if, when, why and how I
develop, contract renewal or no contract
renewal”. (Andy Curtis)

What is teachers
development?

 Video: Why professional development…?
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH6BpP21Cuc
 REASONS FOR PURSUING PD.
1. To acquire new knowledge and skills
2. Change (we need to be ready to cope with new
changes – governmental regulations or policies)
3. Increase in income or prestige
4. Empowerment (working out our won way forward,
based on our own understanding – Edge, 1992--)
Teacher´s burnout

Have you ever felt burnout?

 Talk to your partner and discuss what do you think
is to be burnout?
 When could this happen?
 Now read the article about burn out. “Talking about
frustration” (pages 8-10)
 Were your ideas right?
 The Maslach Burnout Inventory uses a three
dimensional description of exhaustion, cynicism, and
inefficacy.
Important concepts and
ideas.

 Concept from the early 70´s
 Final flickering flame, of a charred empty shell, of dying
embers and cold, gray ashes
 Emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduce
personal accomplishment that can occur among
individuals who do “people work”
 A function of the many stress felt by individuals in both
their social life and their work experience.
 Powerlessness
 Lack of enthusiasm to prepare lessons/lack of interest in
the subject
 Loss of energy, loss of memory
How to manage Burnout?

 In general, resting proves to be very effective. This
may include a temporary reduction of working
hours, slowly rebuilding the endurance of the
individual. In his book, Managing stress: Emotion and
power at work (1995), Newton argues that many of the
remedies related to burnout are motivated not from
an employee's perspective, but from the
organization's perspective. Despite that, if there are
benefits to coping strategies, then it would follow
that both organizations and individuals should
attempt to adopt some burnout coping strategies.
12 Strategies
 Employee assistance programs (EAP)
Stemming from Mayo's Hawthorne Studies, Employee Assistance Programs were designed to
assist employees in dealing with the primary causes of stress. Some programs included
counseling and psychological services for employees. There are organizations that still utilize
EAPs today, but the popularity has diminished substantially because of the advent of stress
management training (SMT).
 Stress management training
Stress Management Training (SMT) is employed by many organizations today as a way to get
employees to either work through stress or to manage their stress levels; to maintain stress
levels below that which might lead to higher instances of burnout.
 Stress interventions
Research has been conducted that links certain interventions, such as narrative writing or topicspecific training to reductions in physiological and psychological stress.
 Individual aspects
 Problem-based coping
On an individual basis, employees can cope with the problems related to burnout and stress by
focusing on the causes of their stress. Various therapies, such as Neurofeedback therapy, claim
to assist in cases of burnout. This type of coping has successfully been linked to reductions in
individual stress.
 Appraisal-based coping
Appraisal-based coping strategies deal with individual interpretations of what is and is not a
stress inducing activity. There have been mixed findings related to the effectiveness of
appraisal-based coping strategies.
 Social support
Social support has been seen as one of the largest predictors toward a reduction in burnout and
stress for workers. Creating an organizationally-supportive environment as well as ensuring
that employees have supportive work environments do mediate the negative aspects of burnout
and stress.

Dairy
