Performative identities: reflections of a male elementary teacher on teacher subjectivities

dc.contributor.advisorWhitty, Pam
dc.contributor.advisorRose, Sherry
dc.contributor.authorSteeves, Colin
dc.date.accessioned2023-03-01T16:30:49Z
dc.date.available2023-03-01T16:30:49Z
dc.date.issued2016
dc.date.updated2023-03-01T15:02:31Z
dc.description.abstractLooking through a Foucauldian lens, this thesis critically examines a culture of performativity as defined by Butler (1988) and Ball (2003) as central to exploring how teacher subjectivities are shaped and how teachers – and the students they teach – are evaluated and made to feel evaluated under the intersection of various surveilling gazes. I author my narrative through critical reflection of “moments of breakdown or gratification” (Britzman, 2007, p. 1) from my own reconstruction of experiences – and the experiences of those characters implicated within, and “analyze cultural beliefs, practices, and the social experiences that influence our [teacher] identities” (Allen, 2015, p. 33). I share my re-written experiences with a grade one boy whose schooled identity was defined by what he lacked with print-centric literacy rather than his strengths in other modes of communication and meaning making. I illuminate the tension between binary divisions of gender normativity while working in a ‘feminized’ elementary profession. I critically examine several judging gazes – administrative, parental, temporal, collegial, and self-surveillance – as they were brought out through my own personal and professional experiences and the collective experiences shared by my teaching colleagues. I present that teachers are defined more than they are empowered to define themselves. By critically examining how colleagues, students, and myself are evaluated and our subjective identities are governed, spaces for critical discussion of the limiting effects of evaluative practices on teaching, learning, and the agency of self-authoring may be found.
dc.description.copyright© Colin Steeves, 2016
dc.formattext/xml
dc.format.extentv, 173 pages
dc.format.mediumelectronic
dc.identifier.urihttps://unbscholar.lib.unb.ca/handle/1882/14010
dc.language.isoen_CA
dc.publisherUniversity of New Brunswick
dc.rightshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
dc.subject.disciplineEducation
dc.titlePerformative identities: reflections of a male elementary teacher on teacher subjectivities
dc.typemaster thesis
thesis.degree.disciplineEducation
thesis.degree.fullnameMaster of Education
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of New Brunswick
thesis.degree.levelmasters
thesis.degree.nameM.Ed.

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