Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

2008

Journal Title or Book Title

International Association for Intercultural Education (IAIE) Conference Proceedings

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Publisher's PDF

Abstract

Urban high school teachers in the U.S. work under challenging conditions and are often isolated from their peers during much of their school days (Shank, 2006). As a consequence, learning communities that develop organically (Wenger, 1998) in urban schools tend to emerge as informal social support networks more than as intentional collaborations (Shank, 2006). Recent studies show that teacher collaboration and a sense of community are essential for stimulating substantive classroom change that does more than just perpetuate the status quo of the school (Glazer and Hannafin, 2006; Shank, 2006; Snow-Gerono, 2005). When it comes to integrating technology, collaboration is essential because using technology in the classroom is not simply another pedagogical technique. For teachers, reconceptualizing who they are as teachers, transforming their identity or sense of self in the classroom, is a necessary part of technology integration because this may go against the grain of everything they have experienced in their own education and their teacher training experiences. For many urban teachers, using technology in their classrooms, specifically in ways that empower students, may be unfamiliar and daunting. Consequently, being able to collaborate with like-minded educators can serve as one step toward envisioning new ways to teach that involve technology use for students. The English/Technology Curriculum Writing Group at the Discovery Institute, College of Staten Island, CUNY was designed with this in mind. The intent was to create a space where teachers with diverse experiences and backgrounds could collaborate, exchange ideas, and gain new resources, thereby beginning to transform their identities as teachers and technology users. The purpose of the study was to use video microanalysis to identify when and how teacher/technology user identities are re/constructed during teacher collaboration.

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