Conceptualizing and Understanding Mathematics Teaching Identity in Early-Career Elementary Teachers

Many elementary teachers enter the profession with anxieties about teaching mathematics that can impact their approaches to math instruction. Though teacher education programs often strive to alleviate these anxieties, the process of learning to teach math is complex, and novice teachers often enter the field with little support for continued learning. This study proposes a dynamic systems model of mathematics teaching identity and applies it to understand how early-career teachers negotiate their identities in the first years of teaching. Using Epistemic Network analysis along with qualitative case studies, this study seeks to surface the complex dimensions of early-career elementary teachers’ experiences with mathematics instruction. Findings from this study offer research and teacher educators a meaningful framework to understand mathematics teaching identity and better support early-career teachers.