Developing a Theory of Ambitious Early-Career Teacher Practice

• Published in: American educational research journal Vol. 50; no. 3; pp. 574 - 615
• Main Authors: Thompson, Jessica, Windschitl, Mark, Braaten, Melissa
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.06.2013; American Educational Research Association
• Subjects: Academic Discourse; Beginning Teacher Induction; Beginning Teachers; Classroom observation; College instruction; Context Effect; Critical Theory; Curricula; Discourse analysis; Learning; Longitudinal Studies; Pedagogy; Professional Identity; School Community Relationship; Science education; Science Instruction; Science Teachers; Secondary School Teachers; Teachers; Teaching; Teaching Methods; Teaching, Learning, and Human Development; Trajectories; United States (Northwest); Universities; induction; contexts; tools; identity; novice teachers
• ISSN: 0002-8312; 1935-1011
• DOI: 10.3102/0002831213476334

Current theories of novice teacher learning have not accounted for the varied influences of pedagogical training, subject matter knowledge, tools, identity, and institutional context(s) on the development of classroom practice. We examined how 26 beginning secondary science teachers developed instructional repertoires as they participated in two types of communities, one infused with discourses and tools supportive of ambitious teaching and another that reinforced traditional practices. We found three trajectories of practice—each with distinctive signatures for how novices engaged students intellectually. Differences were explained by: the communities with which teachers most closely identified, the degree to which teachers' discourses about student thinking were developed within these communities, and how teachers used tools from the communities to shape their practice.