Teaching as Emotional Practice or Exercise in Measurement? School Structures,Identity Conflict,and the Retention of Black Women Science Teachers

Identity and Decision-Making

Some studies have suggested that identity is a strong factor in the decision to remain in a high-need school (Ware & Kitsantas, 2007). The development of strong teacher identities may be able to help STEM teachers navigate through challenging experiences, thereby supporting commitment and retention (Brown & McNamara, 2011; Proweller & Mitchener, 2004). However, teachers do not develop a sense of their own identities in isolation; rather, identity is a relational concept (Hong, 2010), entailing not only competence within a particular role but also recognition on the part of others within the relevant community (Carlone & Johnson, 2007; Saka, Southerland, Kittleson, & Hutner, 2012). Other researchers who highlight the importance of recognition for teachers include Brown and McNamara (2011), who discuss mathematics teacher identity as entailing reconciliation between how a person sees himself or herself and how others see him or her, and Tschannen-Moran, Woolfolk Hoy, and Hoy (1998), who describe a feedback relationship between efficacy, effort, and performance.

The results of these studies cohere with ideas from identity theory (Stryker & Burke, 2000), which highlight the importance of consistencies between views of self and feedback from others in supporting identity development. Stryker and Burke (2000) describe identities as “parts of the self composed of the meanings that persons attach to the multiple roles they typically play in highly differentiated contemporary societies” (p. 284). They explain that people make decisions based on the salience of the associated role identity, which is strengthened through the degree of alignment between belief and practices, expectations and outcomes, and self-view and perception by others. When there is fragmentation or inconsistencies, identity conflict and negative emotions ensue. People therefore will take various actions to avoid contradictions between their identities and the self-relevant situational meanings, which refers to the feedback about themselves that they receive during particular events. Actions include changing behavior to be in line with the identity, or discarding the identity altogether. Because working in a particular school can be seen as an act of identification with a professional community, a lack of alignment could contribute to leaving one’s position.

Race and Gender in Teaching Identities

Categorical identities such as race and gender shape teacher professional identity in a variety of ways. Moore (2008) describes the concept of “positional identity,” which emerges from an individual’s life experiences that are affected by gender, class, race, ethnicity, age, and religion. Similarly, Bianchini, Cavazos, and Helms (2000) describe that teachers bring to their work the person who is “constantly negotiated, socially positioned, constrained by ethnicity/race and gender, and morally grounded” (p. 514). These identities factor into self-perceptions and the ways in which others treat a person in workplaces.

Several researchers have focused specifically on the ways in which being Black and female can position a teacher to have a positive impact on students’ learning. For example, Beauboeuf-Lafontant (2002) describes the benefit of teachers who show “womanist caring,” which entails embracing the maternal, and demonstrating commitment to liberation and social transformation. Similarly, Dixson and Dingus (2008) describe that Black women teachers view themselves as part of the community, functioning as othermothers. Casey (1990), who studied the life histories of women teachers, describes how the maternal approach of Black women teachers can oppose patriarchal and racist structures in schools. Farinde et al. (2016) argue that because of the unique historical experiences of Black women, they are situated “to reform teaching through the development of critical perspectives of larger historical, social, political, and economic structures that impact everyday school practices and teaching” (p. 117).

Furthermore, Jennings and Greenberg (2009) discuss the benefits of socially and emotionally competent teachers who are able to develop supportive relationships with students. Emotional competence complements culturally responsive and culturally relevant instructional approaches, which entail affirming the views and experiences of students from diverse backgrounds, a social change-oriented approach, and academic excellence that values students’ worldviews (Ladson-Billings, 1995; Villegas & Lucas, 2002). Teachers who relate to their students through “culturally responsive caring” are able to facilitate positive classroom interactions that support learning (Bonner, Warren, & Jiang, 2018, p. 701). While all teachers can work toward culturally responsive instruction, a teacher’s positional identity may facilitate a deep understanding of students’ lives and the emotional labor that supports becoming an agent of change (Rivera Maulucci, 2013).

While teachers’ categorical identities impact interactions with students, they also have implications for other types of interactions in workplaces, such as biases that may affect how teachers are treated by colleagues and supervisors. For example, teachers from nondominant groups could be more susceptible to identity threat, which is “potential harm to the value, meanings, or enactment of an identity” (Petriglieri, 2011, p. 644). One way in which identity threats could occur in workplaces is via negative stereotype threat, which Spencer, Steele, and Quinn (1999) describe as stress due to individuals’ fear of being judged based on negative views about one’s group. For example, because of stereotypes, women leaders can be penalized for either expressing an emotion that does not match with stereotypes about women (anger) or too little of the emotions that do, such as communal feelings (Brescoll, 2016). As another example, Emerson and Murphy (2014) describe that racial and ethnic minorities experience identity threat due to historical experiences of discrimination that contribute to sensitivity to experiences of exclusion. Studies have also investigated the strain experienced by Black male teachers who are expected in some schools to be strict disciplinarians (e.g., Brockenbrough, 2015).

Leidner (1991) describes that being able to enact one’s gender identity in a way that is satisfying is needed to accept job-related identities. This idea can be applied to considering intersectionality (Collins, 1998), with job satisfaction contingent on being able to enact one’s identity, which emerges from the combination of various aspects of an individual’s background such as race, gender, socioeconomic status, and sexuality.

Identity and Emotional Labor in the Workplace

Obstacles to the successful enactment of one’s intersectional identity can arise in workplaces due to socialization, stereotypes, and expectations regarding emotional expression. Hochschild (1983) describes the concepts of “emotion work,” which is the everyday handling of emotions, and “emotional labor,” which is required to perform a particular job. Emotional labor involves “feeling rules,” which are often gendered in workplaces. Using the example of airline attendants, Hochschild describes the pleasantness that female attendants need to produce in exchange for wages. In creating a self-image that accords with the impression one wants to create, actual emotions may need to be masked in favor of ones deemed appropriate to a given situation. Wingfield (2010) elaborates on feeling rules, which “reinforce gender boundaries by specifying which emotional displays are acceptable for men but not women, and vice versa” (p. 251). Recently, some researchers have investigated racialized feeling rules, and the intersection of gender and race in shaping workplace expectations and pressures. For example, Harlow (2003) found that Black female professors can be subject to bias from White students because their demeanor is viewed as outside the bounds of acceptable femininity.

In considering the ways in which race and gender may be relevant to teachers’ emotions, it is important to note that the practice of teaching involves emotional labor that may be viewed by many teachers as beneficial rather than forced (Hargreaves, 2000), such as creating emotional ties with students and showing enthusiasm for their achievement. For example, Ware (2006) describes that Black students benefit from teachers who are “warm demanders,” which is an identity associated with emotional expression, high expectations and support.

However, teachers need to interact with people other than students, and engage in emotional labor in settings such as meetings with supervisors. In these settings, teachers may experience pressures on emotional expression related to shifts in policies, state requirements, and evaluation systems. Apple (2005) describes how policies such as No Child Left Behind (NCLB; now Every Student Succeeds Act) have led to an “audit culture” in which administrators feel the need to prove they are conducting their schools efficiently. Whereas educators have promoted the exploration of the affective domain in teacher preparation (Shoffner, 2009), policies such as NCLB, and, more recently, “value added” evaluation of teachers, portray a workplace characterized by numerical ratings (Onosko, 2011).

Au (2011) argues that the high-stakes testing movement has led to a “New Taylorism,” with education being framed as factory production. In this movement, teachers’ labor is controlled, the curriculum becomes scripted, and goals become objectification and commodification rather than learning. The emphasis on scores can conflict with creating supportive, emotion-rich classrooms for students (Hargreaves, 2000) and lead to “less attention to the caring and relational aspects of teachers’ work” (Mausethagen, 2013, p. 16).

Emphasis on quantitative assessment has also been critiqued for racial bias. Au (2016) describes that the perceived objectivity of standardized testing promotes a meritocratic ideology, masks structural inequalities, and negates the significance of race. Ledesma and Calderon (2015) critique the colorblindness of standardized testing, writing that it serves to “maintain privilege and protect White supremacy” (p. 218). Frequent testing, scripted curriculum, and regimented instruction disproportionately impact low-income, urban schools that serve mostly African American and Latino students (Kozol, 1991; Milner, 2013). In addition, a focus on strict behavioral management is more often used in schools that serve minority students, and therefore perpetuates inequalities (e.g., Kozol, 1991; Morris, 2005). Teachers of color and all teachers who would like to effectively serve their students from nondominant groups therefore contend with policies and practices that are not in the best interests of their students.

In considering the implications of “New Taylorism” for teacher gender, the emphasis on scientific measurement rather than emotion can be seen as having roots in when teaching became a feminized profession, with women teachers being supervised by leaders who regulated and measured their performance (Kerstetter, 2015). Female teachers were, at times, depicted as “disempowered technicians” (p. 550) with caring viewed as an attribute internal to women and not worth supporting. In considering the current time period, the movement toward standards, testing, and the privatization of schools contributes to racism, sexism, and the oppression of women teachers through deprofessionalization (de Saxe, Bucknovitz, & Mahoney-Mosedale, 2018).

Internal Conversation

When navigating the expectations in workplaces, people are not just following scripts, as there is considerable agency as people enact their identities. Archer (2003) argues that the internal conversation mediates structure and agency as participants engage in self-talk, consider constraints and enablements, weigh the consequences of particular courses of action, and develop a sense of identity. Furthermore, Collins (2004) argues that self-talk can lead to positive emotional energy, internal solidarity, and a sense of identity.

However, the ability to achieve internal solidarity through self-talk is constrained by “ingredients” (Collins, 2004, p. 203). For example, a difficult day at work can have different impacts depending on whether a teacher can recite previous supportive comments from supervisors or colleagues. Without the necessary ingredients for internal solidarity, self-talk can be overwhelmingly negative and reinforce disconnection rather than group membership. Archer (2012) describes that people experience “fractured reflexivity” when they are displaced from the external validation that can provide a sounding board for one’s internal dialogue, and their self-talk may become circular rather than resulting in action.

Self-talk is also a method by which people manage their emotions to convey a particular performance (Grandey, 2000). As an example from this study, Kayla, at several points, experiences sadness but engages in impression management by telling herself, “I have a strict no crying at school policy.”

Setting

This qualitative study of the experiences of new science and math teachers in high-need schools began in the fall of 2014. Ten of the 12 schools, including the charter school in which Kayla taught, were in a city that qualifies as what Milner (2012) refers to as an “urban intensive” area. The school district is also considered high-need, with more than half of the children in public schools qualifying for free or reduced price lunch (National Science Board, 2014).

Participants

Teachers were eligible to participate if they had received a Noyce scholarship in exchange for their commitment to teach math or science in a high-need school for 2 to 4 years, depending on the amount of the scholarship. To recruit teachers for the study, emails were sent to Noyce scholars who were recent graduates from seven local universities. Teachers were selected for participation based on their willingness to be a part of the study.

Although convenience sampling was used, the teachers came from diverse backgrounds, and each was at a different school, enabling cross-site comparisons to investigate the relationship between school structures, identity development, and decision-making around retention/turnover. The study therefore had some of the benefits of maximum variation sampling, facilitating “detailed descriptions of each case” and “important shared patterns which cut across cases and derive their significance from having emerged out of heterogeneity” (Patton, 1987, p. 53). The concern was not to provide a representative sample of teachers, but to include a variety of perspectives and experiences.

Researcher

As a White female researcher working in urban schools in which the majority of students are Black or Latinx, my experiences differ from those of most of the youth and many of the teachers in the communities in which I work. Therefore, considerable attention to the way my own positionality can impact the design of questions, data collection and analysis, and the reporting of results is essential if I am to conduct research in an ethical and fair manner. Milner (2007) describes that when positionality is not adequately addressed, White researchers may use color-blind research epistemologies that lead to the misrepresentations of communities and systems.In order to address potential issues, I take a reflexive approach, considering how my own background shapes my perceptions and interpretations, evaluating my written work for evidence of potential biases, and seeking perspectives that lead to growth. In my exploration of relevant literature, I highlight research that focuses on issues of race within societal structures and social interaction. I emphasize data sources that prioritize the voices of participants, such as journal entries that enable teachers to explore their own interpretations of events, rather than surveys that may reflect the biases of the authors. In addition, my approach to member-checking includes verifying understandings and soliciting feedback from participants on drafts of the manuscript so that perspectives are not misrepresented.

Research Approaches

This article takes a case study approach, highlighting the experiences of Kayla, an African American science teacher. The benefits of case studies include detailed analysis of phenomena within real-life contexts (Yin, 1984). This approach facilitated an in-depth focus on the research questions on how gender and race may interact to shape identity conflicts, emotional labor, and retention of Black women STEM teachers in high-need schools.

The overall approach to qualitative research was influenced by Guba and Lincoln’s (1989) criteria for authenticity, which specify an iterative relationship between research questions, theory, and data analysis. The initial questions were focused on understanding the role of self-talk in teacher retention, with a goal of generating insights for supporting teachers. When the study began, teacher gender was not a specific focus in the research questions. However, gender became an area of attention as patterns in attrition indicated that more female teachers in this study were leaving, which cohered with national data (e.g., Borman & Dowling, 2008). There were also substantial differences in the reconstructed self-talk based on gender, which contributed to a focus on the relationship between categorical identities such as race and gender, emotional labor, and identity conflict.

Data Sources

Data sources included two semistructured interviews each year, field notes from two classroom visits per year, two surveys per year, and journals submitted by the teachers every 2 weeks. Initial interviews were conducted according to a structured protocol, with each teacher responding to the same questions on topics such as general background, purposes of teaching, perspectives on teaching math and science, reasons for entering the Noyce program, experiences, goals, and challenges.

In their journals, participants were asked to record salient events in their days, including reconstructed dialogue and internal conversations as they engaged in decision-making. As the study progressed, interviews also focused on the events of the class sessions observed. In addition to open-ended interviews, some surveys with Likert-type scales were used to generate comparisons between participants on a quantitative dimension. For example, one question that was continually revisited is, “how likely are you to teach in this school in 5 years?”

A focus on journal entries was influenced by Archer’s (2003) approach to researching internal conversations. Participants were provided with descriptions and brief examples to get them started on documenting their own. For example, they were told, “Write it as you remember it happening. You might have ‘talked to yourself’ regarding your teaching, decision-making, responses to events, or other issues. While it may not be your exact dialogue, you can do your best to reconstruct it.” Participants were also shown categories of internal dialogue that Archer (2003) described, which include planning, rehearsing, mulling-over, deciding, reliving, prioritizing, imagining, clarifying, imaginary conversations, and budgeting.

Data Analysis

Data analysis approaches drew on Lincoln and Guba’s (1985) discussion of naturalistic inquiry, which privileges the reflexivity of the individuals. Zembylas (2003) writes, “If we are to understand emotion and teacher identity, then narrative research is a powerful tool to document the way discursive environments provide the construction of teacher identity” (p. 215). In journal entries, teachers recalled conflicts and emotional labor as they described internal states along with actual dialogue, thereby addressing Research Question 2 regarding how gender and race shape identity conflicts.

In analyzing the narratives, a variety of discourse analytic techniques were used, including indexicals, appraisal (Eggins & Slade, 1997), deictics (Wortham, 1996), and subject choice. These approaches helped to illuminate the ways in which teachers affiliated themselves with different communities within their schools. Deictics serve to reference particular groups (Wortham, 1996), and depending on the pronoun used, can suggest groups in which the teacher feels a sense of alignment, or conversely, feels excluded. An exploration of teachers’ sense of membership in different groups combined with descriptions of emotional states helped address Research Question 3, “How might gender and race impact the emotional labor of new STEM teachers in high-need schools?”

The journal, interview, and field note data were coded using Atlas.ti software, which allows for the organization and analysis of qualitative data and linkages by code and/or participant between data sources. Data matrices (Miles & Huberman, 1994) were created that listed each of the teachers; statements that they made about their emotional experiences; statements about their intentions to stay or leave; statements about interactions with different people in their school, including students, families, colleagues, and supervisors; and types of self-talk. Through in-depth analysis of Kayla’s entries, and comparing the experiences of different teachers, insights were generated into teacher retention, including Research Question 4, “What are the implications for retention of Black women STEM teachers in high-need schools?”

Kayla’s Background and Teaching Approaches

Kayla began teaching science in September of 2013. She described her reasons for teaching:

As a product of the city education system, I have now seen both sides of the spectrum in being educated and being an educator. I recognize the potential (myself) in each student I encounter. So, no matter what I am teaching, it is my privilege to ignite that passion of learning and ambition in my students just as my teacher did for me.

She identifies herself as being an African American Christian Woman.

Observations of her class indicated that Kayla had established a supportive and rigorous learning environment. Depending on the day, students were busy at their desks working on projects in small groups, or Kayla was explaining science content and answering questions. The classroom was bright and colorful, with posters that contained chemistry content, inspirational quotes, and information about scientists from diverse backgrounds. In describing her own philosophy of education, Kayla wrote,

In this class each student is a scientist. We will center our findings on respect, creativity and critical thinking. We will learn from each other and work together to find meaning in the world around us . . . students need to have the mental, social and emotional room to grow and truly learn.

Kayla’s strong emotional involvement in teaching was apparent in both her actions and words. For example, a sign in the classroom to motivate her students on state tests read, “Love my science kids.” She wrote in one of her journals,

I love these kids soo much. They are the reason I push hard. They are the best gift and benefit of being a teacher. I see so much of me in these kids. They don’t even know that they are my inspiration for everything I do in and out of this building.

Race and gender shaped the way she related to the students in multiple ways. She described how she grew up in the same area of the city and understands some of the challenges that students encounter regarding racism within society. She worked to meet students’ needs through listening, caring, and understanding. She wrote,

There is this extra baggage that students have that affects them everyday, that they have to work because their parents don’t make enough money in order to afford their apartment . . . or the fact they don’t have Wi-Fi in their house and can’t type a paper in their home, or the fact they were almost shot last night and had to miss a couple days of school, they do need an extension. Not every teacher takes that opportunity to understand that . . . those kids feel like they are not valued, not heard, feel like what they go through doesn’t matter.

Kayla was aware of the impact of race and gender on her connections with the students, describing, “they always call me mom or grand mom, because they see that as someone who would do that in their family.” Being of a similar background to her students fostered an emotion-rich relationship. She described,

I call them my science kids . . . I tell them that I love them and care about them as much as possible . . . I bring them snacks some times and they bring me snacks . . . we just have a relationship.

She elaborated, describing that many students come to her for advice on their classes and other aspects of their school lives. “You take on a mother-child relationship with them . . . if they have any problems with a class or other kids, they come straight to you . . . you listen and you care.”

Year 1 of Study: Identity Conflict and Departure

In Kayla’s first position, she worked in a turnaround charter school run by a for-profit company. Most of the students in the school were African American. When she began participating in the study, she was in her second year of teaching at this school. She described frustration due to a lack of feedback from supervisors and low levels of professionalism from some staff. While she was able to teach in a caring way, engaging in the emotion work that she thought was important to her job, she needed to frequently mask expression of frustration to remain within acceptable boundaries. Following is an example from her journal:

So it has been about a week since B decided to turn in her 2 weeks’ notice . . . I’m p***** that she’s deciding to leave when it’s now March and we are so close to state tests. I’m wondering if she has any ideas the kind of impact is going to have on the kids by leaving at this point in time. So I have been avoiding her. In my mind, I know that I have to act like I haven’t been listening to the word around middle school, but I’m very angry and I don’t know how I’m going to respond.

So she leans in to whisper in her lightest mouse voice, “I don’t know if you have heard but I am not coming back.”

“Oh no B. When is your last day?” I was hoping that my response sounded as fake as I meant it so that she could see how annoying and irritating this conversation was for me.

“Next Friday.”

“That’s parent-teacher conferences.”

“Yup and I will have to leave early for TJ’s game.”

So not only is she leaving for good in the middle of the year, she is also leaving conferences early. Nice!

“Oh ok. Have you told the kids yet?”

“Nope. I’ll probably tell them next week some time. I just have to do this you know.”

“Yeah I understand.” No I don’t and at this point I don’t care. Please stop talking to me.

In this excerpt, there were multiple layers to Kayla’s emotion work. On one level, she communicated care for the kids’ test scores, and anger at the prospect of having them harmed by yet another departure of a teacher. These feelings can be thought of as “emotional labor” as they are part of her job, yet they are also sincerely felt, as they accord with self-relevant meanings attached to her teaching identity. However, she worked to hold back these emotions in her communication with the teacher, managing them by trying to sound “fake,” which she hoped would communicate frustration in a socially acceptable way. In her job, Kayla needed not only to engage in classroom emotional labor, which flowed from her identity, but also emotional work to hold her feelings about her students back to navigate relationships with colleagues.

These conflicting types of emotional labor can be seen as a form of identity conflict, as there was a mismatch between the standards that Kayla held for her professional identity (care for students) and the expectations of her work environment (little consideration for students). Over time, the continued incidents with teachers’ departures and unprofessional behavior seemed to have set up an intolerable identity conflict for Kayla. Her strong sense of social justice and commitment contradicted her daily experiences of dealing with colleagues who were not as committed. She described,

Working in the city, I expect teachers to come in with the reality that the money is non-existent, the hours are long, there is no recognition but we do this for the kids . . . So to give me certain excuses for leaving does not resonate well with me.

In this position, it was very difficult for Kayla to bring her identity standards into alignment with inputs from her environment. As Burke and Reitzes (1991) describe, it is stressful to be in situations when internal and external standards conflict. Kayla’s experience of similar conflicts over the 2 years was a large part of why she left this school and sought a position where she would get more feedback and recognition for her work.

Year 2 of Study: Coherence and Commitment

In her second year, she took a position at a different charter school, run by a nonprofit organization. Most students in the school were African American. She described an environment that was more professional, but high-pressured. She had to submit daily lesson plans, had frequent meetings with supervisors, and was observed by five staff members in her first week of teaching.

Throughout this school year, Kayla’s narrative suggested an increasing coherence between the standards she holds for her professional identity and the expectations of the school. Along with this coherence were more opportunities for emotional expression in her work with students, without the need to hold back her dedication in front of staff. This coherence seems to have positive implications for her sense of identity. For example, she described toward the beginning of the year, “I feel like this is what I was meant to do . . . I feel comfortable! I understand kids. I don’t know them and I already love them. I feel like I can really do this.”

During this year, she described the importance of the positive feedback she received from her science supervisor. Kayla wrote in response to a positive email,

It feels good to be acknowledged and appreciated. I find that I am an insecure person. I need reassurance in order to know that I am doing what I am supposed to though I don’t take complements easily . . . I was blushing, I almost acted as if I didn’t see it just to keep from having to reply or bring it up in conversation the next time I see him.

While feedback was associated with strong emotions that Kayla felt pressure to hide, overall, it was a positive experience and markedly different from the previous year, in which students appreciated her efforts but she did not receive feedback from supervisors.

In addition, the leadership of the school recognized her strong rapport with her students, and she was rewarded for her connections. For example, there was a special field trip for the students, and even though first-year teachers rarely are asked to attend, Kayla was invited. At the end of the year, Kayla was offered and accepted a leadership position in her department.

Year 3 of Study: Restrictive Policies and Identity Conflict

In her second year at the charter school, there was a change in leadership, with new policies and rules instituted that led to Kayla feeling micromanaged regarding the quality of interactions with the students. Journal entries and interviews suggested that the feeling rules of the workplace began contradicting the emotions that she experienced due to the bond that she cultivated with her students. Kayla’s satisfaction with the position therefore declined.

One issue that increasingly troubled her was the pressure that students experienced due to increased emphasis on testing. She responded to this pressure by preparing and encouraging them, yet was critical of the system:

It is so crazy that we put so much pressure on these kids. We dump so many standardized tests, homework, graduation requirements, GPA goals, ACT goal, etc. We tell them to mature quicker, suppress your instincts, don’t feel, don’t react, be quiet, stay focused, stay seated, follow the rules . . . stay up all night if you have to and on and on and on. In spite of all of these constraints, these kids wake up every morning and give all they have . . . These kids are super stars to me.

In this narrative, she was attentive to the students’ emotion work, which entailed suppression of their own feelings. While she does not talk of the suppression of her own feelings in this excerpt, throughout the year her increased concern for pressure placed on students mirrored the increased pressure she experienced as a teacher.

In addition to her concern about the frequent testing of students, she expressed frustration with policy changes that placed more restrictions on student behavior. These included more emphasis on merits and demerits, and less time to switch between classes. She described her reaction to the institution of these new policies:

With all of these changes in systems that have uprooted some of the foundational principles of the school and changes in leadership, I have asked myself, “Is a new system of giving merits and demerits . . . best for students? Is our focus in the right places to allow our student and staff to grow?” Conflicted by my job description and what I feel in my heart, I don’t know that I am convinced that any of the answers to these questions are “yes.”

Her internal conversation suggested conflict between the self-relevant meanings for her professional identity and the expectations conveyed by the school’s emphasis on managing behavior. She expressed being torn between the emotional practice of teaching and the “New Taylorism” of frequent measurement of students (and herself) that resulted from new policies.

While during the previous year Kayla also worked within pressures posed by an emphasis on test scores, these new policies added the additional stress of quantification of discipline. Kayla described her discomfort with the “quotas” of demerits that she was told to offer. “So the fact that now I have to count like a quota how many times I give a merit or demerit as part of my development to me is ridiculous.” In Kayla’s view, she had already established an effective learning environment, with strong relationships with students and a rigorous curriculum. Giving more demerits did not add to her professional development.

The new policies dictated to teachers the language to use with their students, in an increasingly emotionally distant approach. She described, “They want me to use this behavioral system . . . we spent all summer and even our PDs now to use a robotic language . . . they want us to say ‘Becky, demerit. Cellphone.’” Rather than supporting her approach based on love, Kayla was told to use language devoid of the emotional expression that she often feels and expresses.

This behavioral system is called “culture” in Kayla’s school, which recalls the idea of being culturally responsive to students, but the actual components of the program are not responsive. A view of students in high-need urban schools as needing regimentation rather than caring reflects the inequalities that Kozol (1991) has described. While rules and caring are not necessarily opposed, as students can certainly receive discipline and care at the same time, Kayla described that policies that limit communication to a few words assume deficit views of students, reduce the autonomy of teachers, and do not cohere with the emotional practice of teaching:

It is not about me saying “Becky. Demerit” . . . That constrains my personal relationship with the kids because it is taking away from the conversation, “why are you behaving this way” “oh I didn’t eat this morning. My mom and dad are getting divorced. Oh, I got kicked out of my parents’ house.” You take away those situations and conversations, and you’re just ignoring the cause. You are automatically assuming that this child is choosing this behavior for no other reason than he wants to be a jerk, when that is not the case . . . we don’t practice having conversation with kids, we practice giving them demerits . . . so that is telling me you are more focused on the negative behavior than the positive behavior . . . which also tells me that it’s a holistic thing in our school because they do the same thing for us as teachers . . . they focus on my negative behavior and what I am not doing as opposed to all the things I am doing great.

In this interview, Kayla not only critiqued the restrictive policies and deficit views toward students, but also conveyed the reflection in how teachers were viewed and treated.

Quotas on demerits and merits accord with an increasingly mechanized view of education, with an emphasis on numbers to rate both students and teachers. While Kayla had accepted being measured by her students’ test scores, she was much less comfortable with being measured based on numbers of merits and demerits she distributed. The test score measurement still allowed her to enact an emotion-full teaching identity, shaped by her race and gender, whereas the new approach to behavior management did not.

Her journal entries throughout the year indicated continued identity conflicts between professional development focused on emotion-less, robotic environments and her teaching identity emerging from her positionality as a Black female teacher, which, as she describes, places her in a motherly role. For example, she critiqued the requirement of “talking to walls” as part of professional development for working with students:

This year, I have spent more time talking to a wall than I have learning how to be a better teacher. By talking to a wall, I really mean talking to a wall. For professional development, they have us doing these wall practices where we learn how to give robotic responses to students in an attempt to correct their behavior . . . “Sarah, Uniform, demerit!”. I am supposed to take all of the human and relationship qualities out of addressing students and use this standardized way of speaking to get them to change their actions. So, instead of learning how to engage students in class, or plan high level activities . . . I have been standing in a room with a bunch of educators as we all face walls and practice how to sound robotic enough to address students.

Rather than changing her identity standards or actions to line up with the new policies, she worked to oppose the new system. For example, she described a meeting in which the “culture” system was introduced.

She (the administrator) gave a questionnaire . . . “about your culture in your classroom.” . . . So the first question on there was “how is student behavior negatively impacting your classroom” and I am like; 1) one you are assuming that I have these issues; 2) you are assuming that I don’t know how to handle these issues; and 3) you are assuming kids are acting a-fool in classes and that is not the case . . . the first question should have been “do you still have issues with implementing a disciplinary action in your classroom?” because I would have checked “no” and I would have kept going with my day.

She then subtly countered the negative characterizations of the students, using her answers in the questionnaire to criticize the new policy that reduced the time between classes to 3 min. To do so, she turned a question that phrased students’ behaviors as a problem into an answer that highlighted school policy as the problem:

Then the next question was like “what behaviors are interrupting your instruction?” and I blatantly put on there “the fact that the kids don’t have enough socialization during the school day which means they are bringing their conversations into my classroom which I often have to correct” that is the problem.

In addition to expressing opposition to the policies while completing the questionnaire, Kayla also contested changes within her classroom, as she continued to engage students in ways that she felt best met their needs and refused to use robotic language.

I specifically said “No,” not in a disrespectful way. But it is borderline disrespectful now because they made it a part of my development plan to use this system and I don’t want to use this system because . . . I am who I am, this is the way I teach my class . . . In spite of all of this practice, I still address kids in a way that has and continues to work for me. I believe in building relationships with students, making them laugh, and getting to know them so that they know when I am addressing their behavior, I still care about them and that they can trust my judgement/why I am doing what I am doing.

Her independence with regard to these policies led to strained interactions with supervisors, further adding to identity conflict. She recalled one of the meetings:

In this meeting, Kayla’s emotional experiences were rendered invisible in multiple ways. First, the emotion-rich environment that she created in the classroom with her students was challenged by a system that prioritizes robotic, emotion-less language. Second, she needed to engage in emotion work to convey a calm demeanor even though her internal dialogue indicated feelings of frustration. Third, she was reprimanded for not being emotional enough, as she seemed “withdrawn” when given feedback to increase her use of merits and demerits. In her self-talk, she acknowledged the turmoil regarding emotional expression with her side eye emoji next to the word “awesome,” summing up the contradiction she experienced.

Any teacher pressured to use this type of behavioral management system in place of the rapport they had established with students would be troubled in this situation. However, the implications of this system are shaped by teacher gender and race, as increased pressure to move away from warm approaches toward robotic, cold approaches interfered with Kayla’s ability to enact her teaching identity. Furthermore, within the meeting, it is likely that Kayla felt more pressure to remain calm and unexpressive because of her intersectional identity. While her journal stated that not crying is “in her blood,” Black women in workplaces can be subject to negative stereotype threat and prejudice (Settles, 2006; Spencer et al., 1999) and therefore may experience more pressure to refrain from emotional expression. Complicating Kayla’s emotion work, the supervisor’s criticism of her as “withdrawn” may have stemmed from Kayla not meeting the dominant culture’s standards of female emotional expression. Kayla’s emotion work to remain detached, which seemed to cohere with the school’s behavior system, did not sit well with her supervisor who wanted an emotional reaction to feedback. From this meeting, Kayla received the confusing message that she should be “more emotional” in a meeting, but “less emotional” with her students, which was exactly the opposite of the identity standards that Kayla held for her position.

Again, these behavior management systems are likely to be problematic for other teachers as well. In this qualitative study, comparative cases were provided by other teachers who described similar types of strict behavior management approaches in their school, including three White male teachers. While each of their classroom management strategies was different from Kayla’s warm “motherly” approach (in her words), all three also prioritized strong relationships over discipline. Each of these teachers described how, over time, they began ignoring rules that they felt were overly restrictive. For example, one teacher, Sam, stopped sending his students out of class for wearing hooded sweatshirts, as he felt it discouraged learning. Yet, unlike Kayla, he did not receive reprimands from his supervisor for not adhering to dress code rules.

The differences between Kayla’s and Sam’s experience of mismatch with school policies may be due to different management at their schools. It is also possible that race and gender have an impact on the degree of supervision and level of autonomy granted to teachers (e.g., Smith, 2002). Another possibility is that the less “motherly” approach that the White male teachers in this study adopted was still seen by supervisors as coherent with strict discipline practices, whereas Kayla’s was not.