ABS192 - My answer to this has already changed: How two novice English teachers understand the teaching profession - Board 15

New teachers have complex stories to share about their experiences with teacher education and subsequent entry into their first jobs. In this presentation, we examine interview transcripts with two new teachers as they began a teacher education program, finished student teaching, and completed their first year as professionals. Our analysis was a two-pronged approach: We conducted a collaborative inductive analysis of transcripts focusing on the goal-oriented, tool-mediated action that the teachers described in their experiences, and we created images as complementary visual representations. Using both language and image as analysis, we discuss how the sociocultural contexts of family backgrounds, schooling, teacher preparation, and the preservice and professional teaching contribute to the development of two novice teachers and their perspectives on what it means to teach in urban schools. We show how the teachers anticipated working in their chosen profession and how their expectations changed over time in relation to organizing their lives, interacting with students, and managing their senses of optimism, fear, and trust that they had chosen the right job for themselves.