A Teacher’s Identity

Identity is being who you are. Identity is influenced by everything around oneself and of oneself. A teacher’s identity is constructed through much of the basic parts of one’s life, personality, and where one comes from. Some examples of the basic attributes of a person that affects their identity are:

• Ethnicity
• Socioeconomic status (SES)
• Gender
• Sexuality
• Ability
• Religion
• Occupation

Along with formed identities of teachers by themselves, there are ideas of what teachers are supposed to be or what they have been portrayed as. Stereotypes of teachers are often formed from media like movies, TV shows, books and the news. Some of these stereotypes are the inspiring teacher, the cool teacher, and the attractive teacher. These stereotypes that have been created have effects on teachers to be inspiring, influential, and maybe even be saviors to students. There is a pressure created to be the better of the stereotypes and not fall into the bad stereotypes. As anyone who has gone through the education system knows, almost all of these stereotypes are not true, sadly including the inspiring teacher. That is not saying there are not teachers who are inspiring, but there aren’t very many teachers who get their students to stand up and say “oh captain, my captain” outside of films. As with any other stereotypes, there are only partial truths or no truth to the assumptions made of people who seem to fit a stereotype. When I first thought about being a teacher I wondered what kind of teacher I was going to be. Would I be inspiring or just simply a regular teacher who no one remembers? As I have moved through the past two years of my teacher’s education I have come to terms with the expectations I had for myself and I have had my eyes opened to the reality of being a teacher. I wanted to be an inspiring teacher so I tried really hard to think in inspiring ways, but I had to force it and that didn’t feel right. I understand that not every student will be inspired by the things I do or say in or out of the classroom. Being an educator is going to put me in the position of being inspiring without trying or even knowing it. The teacher that inspired me to be a teacher didn’t even realize they were doing it. They took time to make me feel like I belonged and had somewhere to go if I needed it. They did it out of the goodness of their heart not to be an inspiring teacher or to receive accolades from others. I have realized the idea of being inspiring was more for my personal benefit, I wanted to feel influential and be a leader for myself. Since my first education class, I have realized that my main goal is to help students find their way in life and help them when they are unsure or are struggling. I am there for them, not for me.

Teachers’ identity is also shaped by the codes of professionalism and conduct that are put in place by the government and teaching organizations and federations like the STF. They define the ways in which a teacher conducts themselves in the professional world. This defines where a teacher’s boundaries are and what is expected of them from other teachers. This is the base of what a teacher is to do. These codes of professionalism and conduct uphold the respect that is given to teachers because as teachers they are held to a standard among other teachers.

There are both internal and external influences on the identity of a person. People focus on different parts of their identity depending on what day it is or the situation they are in. On Canada Day there is a pride in that part of my identity, or when I am asked what I am studying in school I am more than happy to tell them I am studying to be a teacher. Different situations change what part of who we are is at the surface for people to see.

What part of your identity are you most proud of today?

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References

Saskatchewan Teachers Federation. https://www.stf.sk.ca/