Abstract
Teachers’ personal and professional literate histories impact their beliefs and practices regarding literacy instruction (Gomez, 2009). Bernstein (2014) explained, “Students pick up on the ways in which teachers are oriented to literacy and if teachers—in part—shape students’ literacy practice and, possibly, their identity, then researchers must continue to attend to the complexity of teachers’ literacy identity and its manifestation in practice” (p. 126). When teachers are active in their literate lives as readers, writers, and creators, they send a message to their students about the power and value of literacy (Affinito, 2021).
This study investigated how K-12 teachers in a graduate-level literacy course in the Midwestern United States engage in literacies in their personal and professional lives. Through one-on-one qualitative interviews and analysis of teachers’ reflective writing and course artifacts, the researchers aim to provide a greater understanding of teachers’ personal and professional literacies. Findings show that, through the process of collaborative reflection and participation in literacy conversations, the teachers are able to see the impacts of their own literate practices on their teaching practices and students’ literacy learning.
This research shows the importance of teachers’ developing and reflecting on their own literacy practices and concludes by advocating for increased emphasis on teachers’ own literate identities in teacher education programs.
Author Information
Bailey Herrmann, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, United States
Jessica Gallo, University of Nevada, United States
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