Unpacking Urban Teaching Residents’ Mental Constructs: Supporting the Professional Identity Development of Teachers of Color

Abstract

When teachers of color professionalize their teaching, they encounter tensions between their personal and professional identities, causing dissonances. This study examined 36 teaching residents of color and their professional identity development in one northeastern urban teacher residency (UTR) program in the United States. We used narrative research to explore how participants constructed themselves as teachers in their stories. We analyzed program archival data through the lens of perezhivanie, a mental model that individuals establish to resolve dissonances. Narrative analyses of admissions essays, interviews, journals, and autobiographies revealed that participants’ personal histories inform their equity pedagogy. Specifically, participants constructed their own professional identities in the UTR program via cultural filters shaped by their life experiences being historically minoritized, particularly to (a) develop their teacher-selves to construct practical knowledge and (b) transform their personal-selves to foster equity pedagogy. The implications for supporting the professional identity development of teachers of color are discussed.

Keywords

teachers of color teacher residency program professional identity

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Agnoletto

M. A.

de Carvalho Kuerten Dellagnelo

Johnson

K. E.

(2022). Perezhivanie in action: A novice teacher’s refraction of mediated dramatic events. Language and Sociocultural Theory, 8(2), 153–179. https://doi.org/10.1558/lst.18163

Barahona

Toledo-Sandoval

(2025). Exploring Chilean EFL student teachers’ development of teacher identity through perezhivanie. Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 24(1), 57–72. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2022.2075875

Beck

J. S.

(2020). Investigating the third space: A new agenda for teacher education research. Journal of Teacher Education, 71(4), 379–391. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487118787497

Beijaard

Meijer

P. C.

Verloop

(2004). Reconsidering research on teachers’ professional identity. Teaching and Teacher Education, 20(0), 107–128. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2003.07.001

Carter Andrews

D. J.

Castro

Cho

C. L.

Petchauer

Richmond

Floden

. (2019). Changing the narrative on diversifying the teaching workforce: A look at historical and contemporary factors that inform recruitment and retention of teachers of color. Journal of Teacher Education, 70(1), 6–12. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487118812418

Chang

(2024). Refracting historical contradictions in U.S. bilingual education: Reflections on the Asian American and Pacific Islander teacher shortage in the post-pandemic world. Bilingual Research Journal, 47(1), 107–121. https://doi.org/10.1080/15235882.2023.2296414

Chang

Martínez-Roldán

Torres-Guzmán

(2020). Struggling to-be or not-to-be a bilingual teacher: Identity formation in a Change Laboratory intervention. Methodological Innovations, 13(2), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1177/2059799120921696

Chu

Wang

(2024). The urban teacher residency model to prepare teachers: A review of the literature. Urban Education, 59(8), 2489–2518. https://doi.org/10.1177/00420859221102976

Cong-Lem

(2025). The relation between environment and psychological development: Unpacking Vygotsky’s influential concept of perezhivanie. Human Arenas, 8, 225–243. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42087-022-00314-6

10.

Dang

(2013). Identity in activity: Examining teacher professional identity formation in the paired-placement of student teachers. Teaching and Teacher Education, 30, 47–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2012.10.006

11.

Darling-Hammond

(2023). Response to how teacher education matters. Journal of Teacher Education, 74(2), 157–159. https://doi.org/10.1177/00224871231160378

12.

Day

Kington

Stobart

Sammons

(2006). The personal and professional selves of teachers: Stable and unstable identities. British Educational Research Journal, 32(4), 601–616. http://www.jstor.org/stable/30032695

13.

Durham

(2024). Centering equity for multilingual learners in preservice teachers’ technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK). Journal of Teacher Education, 75(3), 347–360. https://doi.org/10.1177/00224871231223460

14.

Frank

A. W.

(2010). Letting stories breathe: A socio-narratology. University of Chicago.

15.

Garza

Werner

(2014). Preparing mathematics and science teachers through a residency program: Perceptions and reflections. Teaching Education, 25(2), 202–216. https://doi.org/10.1080/10476210.2012.762352

16.

Gist

C. D.

Bristol

T. J.

(2022). Handbook of research on teachers of color and indigenous teachers. AERA Publications.

17.

Gist

C. D.

Jackson

Nightengale-Lee

Allen

(2019). Culturally responsive pedagogy in teacher education. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.266

18.

Goodwin

A. L

. (2012). Teaching as a profession: Are we there yet? In Day

(Ed.), The Routledge international handbook of teacher and school development (pp. 44–56). Taylor & Francis. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203815564-6

19.

Goodwin

A. L.

(2023). Enduring problems, rethinking process, fulfilling promises: Reflections on the continuing shortage of teachers of color. Journal of Teacher Education, 74(2), 167–170. https://doi.org/10.1177/00224871231160372

20.

Guha

Hyler

M. E.

Darling-Hammond

(2016). The teacher residency: An innovative model for preparing teachers. Learning Policy Institute. https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/teacher-residency

21.

Hammerness

Craig

(2016). “Context-specific” teacher preparation for New York City: An exploration of the content of context in Bard College’s urban teacher residency program. Urban Education, 51(10), 1226–1258. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085915618722

22.

Hill-Jackson

Craig

(2024). ‘Where the good ideas are’: 75 years of the Journal of Teacher Education. Journal of Teacher Education, 75(2), 129–140. https://doi.org/10.1177/00224871241232033

23.

Josselson

Hammack

P. L.

(2021). Essentials of narrative analysis. American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000246-000

24.

Klein

E. J.

Taylor

Onore

Strom

Abrams

(2016). Exploring inquiry in the third space: Case studies of a year in an urban teacher-residency program. The New Educator, 12(3), 243–268. https://doi.org/10.1080/1547688X.2016.1187980

25.

Kohli

(2019). Lessons for teacher education: The role of critical professional development in teacher of color retention. Journal of Teacher Education, 70(1), 39–50. https://doi.org/10.1177/002248711876764

26.

Kohli

Dover

A. G.

Jayakumar

U. M.

Lee

Henning

Comeaux

Nevárez

Hipolito

Cortez

A. C.

Vizcarra

(2022). Toward a healthy racial climate: Systematically centering the well-being of teacher candidates of color. Journal of Teacher Education, 73(1), 52–65. https://doi.org/10.1177/002248712110519

27.

Lantolf

Swain

(2019). Perezhivanie: The cognitive–emotional dialectic within the social situation of development. In Al-Hoorie

MacIntyre

(Eds.), Contemporary language motivation theory: 60 years since Gardner and Lambert (1959) (pp. 80–106). Multilingual Matters. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781788925204-009

28.

Matsko

K. K.

Ronfeldt

Nolan

H. G.

(2022). How different are they? Comparing teacher preparation offered by traditional, alternative, and residency pathways. Journal of Teacher Education, 73(3), 225–239. https://doi.org/10.1177/00224871211015976

29.

Mensah

F. M.

Jackson

(2018). Whiteness as property in science teacher education. Teachers College Record, 120(1), 1–38. https://doi.org/10.1177/016146811812000108

30.

Miles

M. B.

Huberman

A. M.

Saldaña

(2020). Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook (4th ed.). Sage.

31.

Merriam

S. B.

Tisdell

E. J.

(2016). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation. (4th ed.). Jossey-Bass.

32.

Patton

M. Q.

(2015). Qualitative evaluation and research methods (4th ed.). Sage.

33.

Phillip

T. M.

(2011). Moving beyond our progressive lenses: Recognizing and building on the strengths of teachers of color. Journal of Teacher Education, 62(4), 356–366. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487111409414

34.

Quan

Bracho

C. A.

Wilkerson

Clark

(2019). Empowerment and transformation: Integrating teacher identity, activism, and criticality across three teacher education programs. Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, 41(4–5), 218–251. https://doi.org/10.1080/10714413.2019.1684162

35.

Reagan

E. M.

Goodwin

A. L.

(2025). Let’s stop asking whether teachers are professionals. Let’s ask what kinds of professionals we want teachers to be. National Education Policy Center. http://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/teachers

36.

Rodgers

C. R.

Raider-Roth

(2006). Presence in teaching. Teachers and Teaching, 12(3), 265–287. https://doi.org/10.1080/13450600500467548

37.

Rodgers

C. R.

Scott

(2008). The development of personal self and professional identity in learning to teach. In Cochran-Smith

Feiman-Nemser

McIntyre

D. J.

Demers

K. E.

(Eds.), Handbook of research on teacher education: Enduring questions in changing contexts (3rd ed., pp. 732–755). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203938690-85

38.

Rodrigues

Mogarro

M. J

. (2019). Student teachers’ professional identity: A review of research contributions. Educational Research Review, 28(0), 100286. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2019.100286

39.

Roegman

Reagan

Goodwin

A. L.

Lee

C. C.

Vernikoff

(2021). Reimagining social justice-oriented teacher preparation in current sociopolitical contexts. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 34(2), 145–167. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2020.1735557

40.

Saldaña

(2025). The coding manual for qualitative researchers (5th ed.). Sage.

41.

Silva

McKie

Knechtel

Gleason

Makowsky

(2014). Teaching residency programs: A multisite look at a new model to prepare teachers for high-need schools (NCEE 2015-4002). National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED548234.pdf

42.

Sleeter

(2001). Preparing teachers for culturally diverse schools: Research and the overwhelming presence of Whiteness. Journal of Teacher Education, 52(2), 94–106. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487101052002002

43.

Sleeter

(2023). Reprint: An invitation to support diverse students through teacher education. Journal of Teacher Education, 74(2), 181–187. https://doi.org/10.1177/00224871231161458

44.

Smirnova

(2024). A deeper form of reflection: Perezhivanie as a tool for teacher development. Mentoring & Tutoring Partnership in Learning, 32(5), 489–504. https://doi.org/10.1080/13611267.2024.2366268

45.

Suarez

McGrath

(2022). Teacher professional identity: How to develop and support it in times of change. OECD Education Working Papers, No. 267, OECD Publishing, Paris. https://doi.org/10.1787/b19f5af7-en

46.

Svajda-Hardy

Kwok

Hill-Jackson

Hutchins

(2025). The “who” of teacher residencies: Preservice teachers’ motivations for selecting a teacher residency program. Action in Teacher Education, 47(1), 63–81. https://doi.org/10.1080/01626620.2024.2358921

47.

Taie

Lewis

(2022). Characteristics of 2020–21 public and private K–12 school teachers in the United States: Results from the national teacher and principal survey (NCES 2022-113). National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education. https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2022/2022113.pdf

48.

The Teacher of Color Collective & Souto-Manning, M. (2022). On the mis-education of teachers of color: A letter to teacher educators. Journal of Teacher Education, 73(1), 66–80. https://doi.org/10.1177/00224871211057487

49.

Turner

C. R.

Pasternak

D. L.

Allen

K. R.

Evans

L. M.

Lize

K. M.

(2024). “There’s a lot of stumbling forward”: The impact of Whiteness on teacher educators’ reconceptualization of culturally based English education curriculum. Journal of Teacher Education, 75(1), 43–57. https://doi.org/10.1177/00224871231178249

50.

Veresov

Fleer

(2016). Perezhivanie as a theoretical concept for researching young children’s development. Mind, Culture, and Activity, 23(4), 325–335. https://doi.org/10.1080/10749039.2016.1186198

51.

Vernikoff

Goodwin

A. L.

Horn

Akin

(2022). Urban residents’ place-based funds of knowledge: An untapped resource in urban teacher residencies. Urban Education, 57(1), 32–57. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085918801887

52.

Vygotsky

L. S.

(1993). The collected works of L. S. Vygotsky, Vol. 2. The fundamentals of defectology (abnormal psychology and learning disabilities).( Knox

J. E.

Stevens

C. B.

, Trans.). Plenum Press.

53.

Vygotsky

L. S.

(1994). The problem of the environment. In van der Veer

Valsiner

(Eds.), The Vygotsky reader (pp. 338–354). Blackwell.

54.

Willis

(2019). The use of composite narratives to present interview findings. Qualitative Research, 19(4), 471–480. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794118787711

55.

Yang

Markauskaite

(2021). Preservice teachers’ perezhivanie and epistemic agency during the practicum. Review of Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 31(4), 647–668. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681366.2021.1946841

56.

Zeichner

(2010). Rethinking the connections between campus courses and field experiences in college- and university-based teacher education. Journal of Teacher Education, 61(1–2), 89–99. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487109347671