| Teacher development and curriculum reform have been the important issue in education reform. Many high schools claim that they are carrying out all-around development education and caring for teacher development. The fact is that teachers are still overburdened and depicted by virtue of certain isolated competencies, such as knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Teachers’identity, their spiritual and emotional integrity are often ignored. With no authenticity in their teaching, they play the role of transmitting knowledge and take the illusion of regulation, measurement and control. Consequently, teachers are faced with the loss of passion, initiatives and commitment. The school environment where they work has a significant impact on their professional growth. If the school culture denies them to have choice and doesn’t honor the inner truth from their inner world, will they recognize themselves as an authentic being? Eventually, they disconnect from students, from subjects, even from themselves.In the history of education, the orientation of teacher development depends on different understanding as to the nature of education. Day (2002) stated that identity is characterized as a dynamic and integrated unit that is composed of plenty of components like one’s genetic background, personal biography, social influence, institutional values and cultures. Through reflection and self-evaluation, one’s identity is continually informed, formed and reformed in the daily life through interaction with others. The authentic teacher values the tacit knowledge, which is born of experience but not the product of purposeful action. It lightens the way for the teacher to guide students into an unknown territory (Wu,2005). The authentic teachers hold the great knowledge developed and self-acquired in practice and reflection.I conducted in this paper a case study on the professional life of a middle school English teacher, Miss Ding, who is dissatisfied with the school education, trying to make no efforts to highlight the essential role that teachers’identity should play in an authentic teacher’s life. Teacher’s identity is constantly rediscovered by teachers themselves and others, and gradually, this process is accompanied by a career or even a teacher’s whole life. This thesis explores Ding’s professional growth, witnessing her struggling on the road to being an authentic teacher. Ding has got more mature by reflection, puzzlement, study, hard work, frustration, determination and never giving up. The study of the teacher’s identity in her professional growth is conducted in two aspects. First, using the method of discourse analysis, I analyze her classroom discourse form the aspects of her classroom authenticity, the use of affective I-statement and her role as a mentor and a teaching material controller. The analysis of the classroom discourse makes it clear that the class is student-entered. Ding has accustomed to playing an authentic role. This way is in keeping with Confucius’ conception of authenticity in pedagogic language----Only one who bursts with eagerness do I instruct; Only one who bubbles with excitement do I enlighten. Second, through narrative inquiry, I attempt to reveal her deep thoughts and give a relatively complete picture of her identity. Only when we take heart as teacher can we "give heart" to our students-and that, finally, is what good teaching is all about (Palmer,1990). The narrative inquiry indicates that Ding is satisfied with her role. Ding hopes to be an authentic teacher in a good environment no matter what difficulties she is to meet. I try to reveal teachers’ current situation through Ding’s story, striving to find a better and sustainable way to improve teachers’professional development. Methods employed in this research are case study, narrative and discourse analysis. |
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