Leveraging science teachers’ identities to support meaningful and actionable professional learning

Abstract

This review explores Lucy Avraamidou’s “Stories we live, identities we build: how are elementary teachers’ science identities shaped by their lived experiences?” which is a multiple case study of the lived experiences of four beginning elementary teachers and the influence of these experiences on their identities as teachers of science. The strength of Avraamidou’s work lies in the way she characterizes participants’ experiences in terms of Figured Worlds. Her work elucidates the multiple, complex influences of personal and professional experiences on professional identity. I extend this conversation by arguing for professional learning that attends to identity work throughout the professional lives of science teachers so as to support professional growth and sustainable change to classroom practice. In this essay, I provide a set of recommendations for professional learning, which includes elucidating the multiple identities that comprise teachers’ professional identities, leveraging knowledge of teachers’ professional identities in professional learning, and blurring the boundaries between public–private and individual-collective forms of professional knowledge that influence teachers’ professional identities.