ABSTRACT
Acknowledging the impact teacher education programs have on teacher identity formation, this chapter presents an inquiry into the role a reflective identity-oriented approach can play in molding critically reflective teachers. Aiming to examine how the identities of teacher educators and candidates intercept and how explicit focus on reflection and teacher identity formation can foster reflective teachers, the project employed the Reflective Teaching Model. Two teacher educators (TEs) adopted reflection and teacher identity as a pedagogy, inviting 18 teacher candidates (TCs) to reflect on their own teacher identity formation through a series of structured reflective assignments that culminated in teacher identity texts posted online. The TEs used their own identity texts as models and engaged in a written mediation with the TCs. As it emerged, TEs and TCs identities intercept and influence one another in complex ways, which should be considered when designing TC courses. Insights into TCs’ identity and ways to optimize the way teacher-training programs are construed are discussed.
