'Connecting the Dots': Noticing Interviews Support a Novice Teacher's Identity Work

Beginning teachers are challenged to make concrete the identities they envision for themselves in their practice. We examine how a particular context, the noticing interview, supported a novice teacher's identity work through disciplined awareness to cultivate the inner witness. In a noticing interview, teachers view and discuss video segments from a classroom observation as a way to capture in-the-moment attention and sensemaking. Using the case of a beginning teacher, we found that creating accounts of instructional practice and accounts for instructional decisions helped her connect the dots between her vision of teaching, her personal and social identities, and her pedagogical commitments. These findings have implications for whether and how the noticing interview can become a generative context for teachers developing insights about themselves as noticers in practice and their emerging professional identities.