Competing and Conflicting Identity Plotlines: Navigating personal narratives of entering teaching

Abstract

This self-study explores the range of stories I tell about coming to teach, my perceptions of the various audiences as I engage in the telling of such stories, and the competing and conflicting plotlines entailed in the set of stories. Using positioning theory and narrative inquiry tools, I identify and unpack a canon of stories that have one of two plotlines: “Of course I am a teacher” and “I never intended to become a teacher.” I conclude by describing the effects of this self-study on my work both with students in school and with teacher candidates preparing to teach.