A case study of teacher idenity develoment in middle leve student teachers

This case study considers the centrality of NMSA/AMLE educator standards to the development of teacher identity in middle level student teachers. Initial survey and transcriptions of four audio taped interviews were analyzed. Standards of the NMSA/AMLE were used as framework to examine whether the values of NMSA/AMLE manifest themselves in the developing professional identity of middle level student teachers. Courageous, collaborative leadership and School-initiated family and community partnerships were found to be difficult characteristics for the participants to develop at the early stage of becoming a teacher. Discussion includes suggestions to teacher preparation programs for fostering these characteristics within the identity of new middle level teachers.