Expert Student to Novice Teacher: Identity Shifts in Literacy Teacher Education

Abstract

Teacher candidates need to enter today’s increasingly diverse classrooms with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions required to be effective educators. Part of the process includes candidates making an identity shift from student to teacher. This study explores the use of Dialogic Inquiry Groups in a reading methods course as a vehicle for identifying candidates’ current identity stance as well as in facilitating further development. Qualitative methods are used to describe candidates’ characteristics along a continuum from expert student to novice teacher. Findings suggest that while some candidates resist the shift to the teacher identity, careful scaffolding by the instructor can influence change. Implications for teacher education are discussed.