名古屋外国語大学論集

第7号

2020年7月

Research Note

Perceptions of Teacher Identity
Mina HIRANO

Abstract
This research note explores how a novice lecturer continues to develop her
teacher identity by using the “onion model” or “a model of levels of change”
which has been introduced and used for teacher education by Korthagen (2004),
especially in terms of developing teacher identity. The model has six layers: theenvironment, behaviour, competencies, beliefs, identity and mission or deepest
inspiration to understand and explore people’s behaviors from within. The author
created three types of reflection sheets through which one can self-reflect as ateacher for each layer to help face issues and challenges in the classroom byexploring teacher beliefs and identity behind behaviour. In addition to gaining
awareness of professional identity and beliefs, the benefit of exploring teacher
identity through such reflection sheets was also seen in developing competencies
in lesson planning. The examples of such lessons are introduced in the Results
section. This research note aims to help teachers gain awareness of their professional identity and beliefs in order to become better teachers.

251

INTRODUCTION
This study note started with a simple but fundamental question – “How canI be a better teacher?” by the author - a novice lecturer who has been teachingcommunication in English at university levels for three years and has recently
started teaching at Nagoya University of Foreign Studies (NUFS) as a full-time
lecturer. The main courses that the author was assigned to teach at NUFS are
called “CORE English1” which are designed for first and second year English
majors. Though the author enjoyed teaching the courses to motivated learners
and with inspirational colleagues, there were also struggles and challenges as ateacher, especially in terms of creating interesting lessons to introduce various
topics. As the author started asking herself the simple question mentioned above,and started seeking a theoretical model as a hint to assist her teacher development, the author encountered the so-called “the onion model”2 which visualizes
six levels-from the core to the outer-to understand and explore people’s behaviors from within. This model was adopted by Korthagen (2004) and has beenused in teacher education and professional development, especially in terms ofdeveloping teacher identity. Through such perception of teacher identity, thisstudy note aims to help teachers gain awareness of their professional identityand beliefs in order to become better teachers by sharing the journey of how theauthor is discovering her teacher identity and beliefs.

LITERATURE REVIEW
Teacher Identity and Development
Bullough (1997) defined teacher identity as “what beginning teachers believe
about teaching and learning and self-as-a-teacher-is of vital concern to teacher
education; it is the basis for meaning making and decision making… Teacher
education must begin, then, by exploring the teaching self” (p.21). Focusing on
the teacher as a person in teacher education has its historical roots in Humanistic
Based Teacher Education (HBTE)3 which started around 1970. One of its main252

Perceptions of Teacher Identity ■representatives is Carl R. Rogers who claimed that one of the key traits foundin successful teachers is “genuineness” or “the ability to be a human being withstrength and weakness, to be authentic with your students” (Rogers, Lyon, &Tausch, 2014, p. 51). Even though HBTE did not succeed in collecting major
support back then, many researchers today see teachers’ personalities-such as“enthusiasm, flexibility, or love of children” (Korthagen, 2004, p.79) as a part ofcompetencies. The central questions of HBTE such as “Who am I as a teacher?”“What kind of teacher do I want to be?” or “How do I see my role as a teacher”
are essential to develop a professional identity today as Korthagen claimed(p.81). Why then it is essential to develop a teacher’s professional identity?
Hamachek (1999) indicated that “the more that teachers know about themselves- the private curriculum within- the more their personal decisions are apt
to be about how to pave the way for better teaching” (p.209). In other words,
the more teachers explore about themselves, the better outcomes can be drawn
from within, as a shape of transformation or development of their behavior andcompetencies. The next question is how a teacher can explore his/her professional identity. Korthagen (2004) introduced a model called “a model of levelsof change” or “the onion” to answer the question.

A Model of Levels of Change
The model which is shown in Figure 1 is called “a Model of Levels of
Change” or simply “the Onion Model” (Korthagen, 2004). According to
Korthagen, this model has been used for teacher education both for novice andexperienced teachers to help them develop effective professional identities. The
model has six levels: the environment, behavior, competencies, beliefs, identity
and mission (See Table 1). As explained in Table 1, the two outer levels- “theenvironment” and “behaviour”- are visible to others. The third level, “competencies” can be both visible and invisible. The last three levels towards thecore- “beliefs”, “identity”, and “mission” (The author made an alternative name253

Data Source: Korthagen (2004, p.80)
Figure 1. The onion: a model of levels of change.

Table 1. Six levels of the “onion model”
Levels of the “onion model”

Meaning/Example

1. Environment

the class, the students, the school, problems in theclassroom

2. Behaviour

actual behaviour of the teacher towards
problems/students

3. Competencies

skills/knowledge of the teacher(e.g. competency to show empathic understanding )4. Beliefs

the teacher’s beliefs that determine their competencies(e.g. a belief that caring learners’ feelings is important)

5. Identity

what kind of teacher does one wants to be/ what kindof role does the teacher want to take in the class

6. ‌Mission/ “Deepest
Inspiration”

what inspires you most as human being/ meaning of
one’s own existence

Note: This table was created by the author based on Korthagen (2004)254

Perceptions of Teacher Identity ■for the last level “mission” instead of the word “deepest inspiration” in order toavoid religious images towards the term) are invisible to others; what’s more, theteacher him/herself may not be aware of them. Each level can be influenced. For
instance, a teacher who believes that teaching is the transmission of knowledge
and a teacher who believes that teaching is letting learners explore the contents
of a topic are likely to develop different competencies and behavior. Theiridentities or roles as teachers may likewise, be very different. Another example
is if a teacher believes caring about learners’ feelings is important, naturally,he/she will develop the competence to show empathic understanding. While, if
a teacher does not have such a belief, showing empathy does not even seem tobe a ‘competence’ to him/her. The point is whether a teacher is aware of such
beliefs behind behaviour or competences.
For a clearer understanding, the author created Table 2 which shows a simple
question that a teacher can ask to oneself for each level.
In this study note, the onion model explained above is used as a core concept.

Reflective Teaching
In addition to the onion model which was explained in the previous paragraph,reflection is used as a key approach to explore the author’s professional identity
Table 2. Six questions to develop professional identity
Levels of the “onion model”

Questions

1. Environment

What do I have to deal with it?

2. Behaviour

What do I do?

3. Competencies

What can I do?

4. Beliefs

Why do I do that? What belief led me to do that?

5. Identity

Who am I (as a teacher)? What role do I want to takein the class?

6. ‌Mission/ “Deepest
Inspiration”

What is my deepest inspiration as a teacher/person?
What is my ultimate goal of teaching/ life?

Note: This table was created by the author based on Korthagen (2004)255

and beliefs. As Bartlett (1990) pointed out, reflection involves two meanings“relationship between an individual’s thought and action” and “the relationshipbetween an individual teacher and his or her membership in a larger collective
called society” (pp.204–205). Kemmis (1986) also defined the meaning of reflection as “an action oriented, historically-embedded, social and political frame, tolocate oneself in the history of the situation, to participate in a social activity, andto take sides on issues” and “through reflection and the action which it informs,
we may transform the social relations which characterize our work and our working situation” (p.5). Therefore, self-observation or self-reflection including usingreflection sheets, diaries, and learning logs have been used by many researchers.
Richards and Nunan (1990) indicated that a critically reflective teacher can go
beyond “how to” questions to “what” and “why” questions through which theteacher gain more power to teach (p.201). Through combining the onion modeland reflection, this research note explores the author’s professional identity andbeliefs and how they affect her development as a teacher.

RESEARCH QUESTIONSIn this study, two research questions were explored:
RQ1. What kind of identity and beliefs does the author have as a teacher?
RQ2. How do the author’s identity and beliefs affect teacher development?
These research questions explore emic perspectives of the author about identity and beliefs and how they were connected to the development of her behavior
and competencies as a teacher. Data were collected through self-reflection sheets
answered by the author. Details of the reflection sheet will be described in thefollowing section. Through exploring these research questions above, this study
aims to explore answers to a big question – “How can I be a better teacher?” orteacher development.

256Perceptions of Teacher Identity ■METHOD
Participants
In order to answer RQ1 and RQ2, the author plays a role as a self-observer
who observes and explores her teacher identity and beliefs based on the onion
model. Self-reflection is an effective tool especially when it comes to explore
issues within a person such as identity and beliefs as Richards and Nunan (1990)
claimed “experience alone is insufficient for professional growth, and thatexperience coupled with reflection is a much more powerful impetus for development” (p.201). Reflection sheets were created and analyzed by the author.

Instrument
Reflection sheets.
Three types of reflection sheets were created based on the onion model. (SeeAPPENDIX 1-3). The first reflection sheet, “30 Questions to Help Developing
Professional Identity” consists of 30 questions- eight questions about “beliefs”,
eight questions about “competencies”, four questions about “identity”, two questions about “mission”, three questions about both “competencies” and “beliefs”,
three questions about both “identity” and “mission/deepest inspiration”, one
question about both “identity” and “competencies”, and the last question. The
last question-‘Is there anything you’ve realized about yourself after answering
these questions?’ is the most significant question.
The second reflection sheet, “Reflection Form- My behavior in the classroom” consists of seven questions and is designed to reflect a teacher’s reaction
to certain issues or incidents in the classroom. The first four questions allow ateacher to reflect on what happened, who were involved, how he/she felt, andwhat was the teacher’s reaction to it. After answering the four questions, theteacher reflects if there was a gap between his/her actual behavior and ideal
behavior in such situation by answering the fifth question. Further, the teacher
will reflect what is keeping him/herself from taking ideal action by answering257

the sixth question- “What is keeping me from taking ideal action?” Finally, theteacher is encouraged to explore his/her own beliefs, identity, or competencies
and how they affect his/her own behavior in the classroom in order to take better
action.
The third reflection sheet, “Reflection Form - My struggles as a teacher”
consists of eight questions to reflect and analyze struggles that the teacher isgoing through at the moment. Through this reflection, the teacher is encouraged
to reflect and realize which level of the onion model is related to the struggle.
All reflection sheets were created and mainly answered during summer
after the first term; however, in terms of reflection sheet “30 Questions to Help
Developing Professional Identity”, it took half a year to complete reflecting andanswering all the questions.

RESULTS
Teacher’s Beliefs and Identity
There are mainly two things that the author found out about her teacher beliefs
and identity through answering “30 Questions to Help Developing Professional
Identity”. First of all, it was confirmed that positive role models that the author
had when she herself was a student affected her beliefs and identity as a teacher.
The author has a total of eight positive role models from teachers at elementary
school to professors at university and graduate school. (Table 3).
As shown in Table 3, there were seven keywords regarding the author’steacher beliefs that were adopted or learned from positive role models. The first
three keywords-“Active learning”, “Teaching through songs”, and “Scaffolding”
are related to the author’s teaching style or approach. The fourth keyword“Caring for students” connects directly to the author’s belief that caring learners’
feelings is important. The fifth keyword “Learner identity” connects to theauthor’s identity. The following is a question and response to one question on
the first reflection sheet:258Perceptions of Teacher Identity ■Table 3. Keywords of the author’s teacher beliefs adapted from role models
Keywords

Role Models

Examples

1 Active learning

K (ES)-Taking the whole class for a walk to ‘find Spring’for science class2 ‌Teaching throughsongs

K (ES) and M(JHS), M (*)-Teaching English through songs

3 Scaffolding

R (Gr), M (*)-Encouraging peer scaffolding inside and outsideof the class-Giving precise assistance to each student

4 Caring for students

M and N (JHS),
S and P (Col),A (Uni) , R(Gr)-Always showing empathy-Listening to Ss’ feelings and taking action whenneeded for a solution-Act of kindness such as offering a piece of caketo each student on Christmas though the teacher
cannot eat any due to medical reasons

5 Learner identity

R (Gr),-Enjoys learning new things from books, research,and people-Showing attitude to learn from Ss

6 Stimulate learning

S (Col)-Always stimulates Ss’ to explore global issues-Explore the connection between global issues andone’s own behaviour/decisions

7 ‌Purpose of learningand teaching

A and S (Uni)-Questioning the purpose of education in depth(ES): Elementary school, (JHS): Junior high school, (HS): High school(Col): College , (Uni): University, (Gr):Graduate school , (*): Others
Underlined : Attitude or behaviour that the author adapted after becoming a teacher

Question 7- “Do you like learning?”“I generally enjoy learning new things in any way- throughbooks, lectures, experience, and from people. I love this job because
learners and I can learn from each other.”
The Sixth keyword “Stimulate learning” shows the author’s role identity as ateacher. It was confirmed that the author sees herself not so much as a ‘teacher’
but more as a ‘facilitator’ by her answers to the questions. The following are
the questions and responses to two of the questions on the first reflection sheet:
Question 9- “Do you like teaching?”“Generally speaking, I never felt I like ‘teaching’ even though
I love this job. Actually, I don’t really feel that I’m ‘teaching’ in the259

class. To me, “communicating with learners” best describes how I feel
during the class.”
Question 10- “What role do you want to take in the class?”“My role in the class is to stimulate leaners’ interests in topics.
After that, I would just observe, praise, encourage, and assist.”
The Seventh keywords “Purpose of learning and teaching” represents how
the author has continued to ask the deeper meaning of learning and teaching. It
is interesting to note that one of her role models, a professor teaching Teacher
Education, kept asking “Why do you want to teach English?” At the end of
the semester, he introduced his version of the answer, saying “My purpose ofteaching English is to raise a person who can appreciate both similarities anddifferences among different cultures. Thus, he/she can contribute to bun bullying
and further, fulfilling world peace.” The author is continuing to seek her versionof the answer.
In addition, Question #27 “What is your deepest inspiration as a person?”helped the author to percept the core level of the onion model. The answer was“To share the joy of living and the goodness of life”. Then when the author asked
herself the deepest inspiration as a teacher, the answer was the same – “I want toshare the joy of living and the goodness of life with learners through teaching.
” This answer was developed from the author’s personal experiences which shelearned through life; however, the author was also inspired by the President of
NUFS, Dr. Kameyama who wrote the message below to the students on theschool homepage:“I would like to ask all NUFS students: What is our purpose in learning?
My answer is that we learn in order to survive. Then what is the purpose ofliving? My answer would be that we live in order to confirm the joy therein.
Only when we understand the joy, our lives have real value.”(NUFS homepage “President’s Message” https://www-e.nufs.ac.jp/about/message/)260

Perceptions of Teacher Identity ■As the President Kameyama appealed to the students, the author also believes
that the purpose of education is to encourage and support learners to learn to live,
and learn the joy and goodness therein. That was also the most significant thingthat the author has learned as a student and also as a person.

How Teacher Beliefs and Identity Affect Teacher Development
The most significant findings about the effect of a teacher’s beliefs andidentity on teacher development through this study note was found throughReflection using “My struggles as a teacher”. The author selected a struggleof planning free lessons to introduce certain topics from textbooks especiallyfor the second year students who are given deeper topics such as ‘Personality’,‘Happiness’, ‘Education’ and so on. Fortunately, the author could receive goodsuggestions, ideas and materials for lessons from a colleague which worked wellin the class. However, when she tries to think of such lessons on her own, she
could not be satisfied with them. As she reflected, she noticed some beliefs about
herself as a teacher that she unconsciously had- “I can’t think of creative lessons
like other people because I don’t have enough experiences and competence”.
Then, the author started to question such beliefs as she wrote at the end of thereflection sheet: “Is it really true that I am lack of experience and competence?
Is it true that I’m not good at planning creative classes? I don’t think it’s true.
Maybe, this negative impression about myself was affecting my struggle.”
Furthermore, exploring teacher identity and deepest inspiration through the
30 questions explained in the previous paragraphs gave the author a hint to goover her struggle. Since the author found that her “mission/deepest inspiration”
is to share “the joy of living” and “goodness of life” with learners, she started tofind a connection between such inspiration and topics and learners. For instance,
if the topic was “Technology”, the author started to ask one question before she
started to plan a lesson- “What is the connection between technology and happiness?” In such a way, the author was able to deepen the topic and started to enjoy
261

planning free lessons with more confidence. In addition, the author started to
discuss more about the topics informally with her colleagues during daily lunch
time where various ideas and opinions were exchanged. As a result, the author
and her colleagues often combined the ideas and created lessons collaboratively,
as well as reflecting on the results afterwards. The details of such lessons andthe process of collaboration with colleagues are explained in Table 4 below.
As described in Table 4 above, the author started to do more creative lessons
using songs and pictures as well as adopting a new teaching strategy called D.I.E.
(Describe, Interpret, and Evaluate) which she learned from her colleague. The
Table 4. Examples of lesson plans that the author collaboratively created
TopicsIntro-topic activity

Collaboration Processwith Colleagues andAcknowledgements

Technology

1. The teacher selects 5~6 pictures/illustrations
related to either the positive or negative side of
the topic.
2. Put Ss into small groups. Each group receives adifferent picture.
3. In a group, Discuss, Interpret, and Evaluate(D.I.E.) the picture. Then, collect more information
about the issues the picture represents.
4. Change the groups and each member describes
the picture they saw in the previous group, then,gives information they researched.
Then, the group has a discussion on both thepositive and negative sides of technology.
5. Finally, each student fills in a class reflection
log.

-The author learned thebasic concept and skills of
D.I.E. from her colleague,
Jessica Zoni Upton who
continually inspired her
by introducing interesting
images, short movies, andnews related to the topics.
-The author borrowed
the idea and the format
of a reflection log fromher colleague Eric Hirata.
This log helped the author
not only find what Ss
learned but also built
good relationships as
the author always writes
comments back to the Ss.

Education

1. Ss answer a learning preference survey
2. Put Ss into pairs (if Ss prefer, it can be done
individuually as well). Each pair was assigned one
learning style out of three (through books/ people/ technology). Then, do mini-research on ‘thepurpose of education’.
3. After research, Ss are put into small groups. In agroup, each student reports what was learned andhow it was learned
4. Finally, discuss the strengths and drawbacks ofeach learning style.

- The author and hercolleague, Zoni Upton
collaboratively planned
the entire lesson.

262

Perceptions of Teacher Identity ■Marriage
andRelationships

1. The teacher selects three song lyrics about
several types of relationships (e.g. romance,family, friends).
2. Put Ss into 6 groups of 4 people. Each group
receives one of the three song lyrics. In a group,
read and discuss the relationships in the lyrics.
3. Mix the groups which received the same lyrics.
Share and compare each group’s version ofinterpretation of the lyrics.
4. Finally, enjoy listening to the songs and do awhole class discussion.

- The author shared theidea of using songs tointroduce the topic.
- Zoni Upton contributed
to create discussion
questions which can beused for any song lyrics ateacher would like to use.
- The author, Zoni Upton,
and Wan Jung (Amy) Lin
contributed to searchingfor various types of song
lyrics related to the topic.

Environment

1. The teacher selects six different pictures related
to environmental issues.
2. Put Ss into a small group. Each group receives adifferent picture.
3. In a group, Discuss, Interpret, and Evaluate(D.I.E.) the picture. Then, collect more information
about the issues the picture represents.
4. Change the groups and each member describes
the picture they saw in the previous group, then,gives information they researched.
5. Have a whole class discussion about the issues
each group discussed. Then, the teacher introduces
a poem “Kurikindi, the golden hummingbird”
which explains how the small act of one person
can solve a big problem.
6. Ss are assigned to think of one simple act
that they can do every day to solve certain
environmental issues as a project.

- The author adopted theidea of using the poem
“Kurikindi, the golden
hummingbird” for the
project from the former
professor at Nanzan
Junior College, Ms.
Tomoko Sekiguchi who
is one of the author’s rolemodels and has taught theauthor that every global
issue is connected toour daily behavior, thus,
everyone can contributeto solving the problems
by doing simple actions.
- The author borrowed
some of the pictures from
Jessica’s collection of
D.I.E. for environmental
issues.
-The author was also
inspired by Lin who
has enthusiasm about
environmental issues andhas introduced her daily
efforts or actions to makea change.

Notes: Ss=Students

author noticed that as the negative beliefs about herself as a teacher due to her
struggle of planning lessons diminished and she recovered her confidence by
exploring her teacher identity deeply, her competences as a teacher in terms ofcreating lessons and also working collaboratively with others have improved.
263

DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONSIn this study note, the author’s teacher beliefs and identity and how theyaffect teacher identity were explored through reflection based on Korthagen(2004)’s onion model consisting six levels- “environment”, “behaviour”,“competences”, “beliefs”, “identity”, and “mission/deepest inspiration”. As wasshown in the Results section, the author could explore teacher beliefs and identity. Additionally, through reflection, the author could be aware of unconscious
beliefs which were affecting her competence negatively especially in lesson
planning and could renew such beliefs through confirming her original beliefs,
identity, and the deepest inspiration as a teacher. Such transformation within was
helpful for the author to improve the quality of the lessons as well as contributing
to collaboration with colleagues.
However, this research note is solely limited to the author’s case. For further
investigation, researching other participants using the same reflection sheets
are needed to measure the effectiveness. Furthermore, learners perspectives arealso needed to avoid this kind of research being a ‘monologue’ from only one
teacher’s perspective. Thus, the author has already collected data from learners and is investigating what qualities learners believe make a ‘good teacher’.
Through such studies, a wider picture of teacher identity and development
which benefits learners can be developed. Finally, the author would like to end
this research note with a quotation of Hamachek (1999) which expresses thesignificance of exploring teacher self in teaching- “Consciously, we teach what
we know; unconsciously, we teach who we are.” (p.209).

NOTES
1

Core English course for the first year students cover topics such as ‘University Life’, ‘Marriage
and Relationships’, ‘Environment’ and so on. While, Core English course for the second year
students explore topics such as ‘Personality’, ‘Happiness’, ‘Technology’ and so on. Lecturers
give classes through using the same text and program but the first lesson to introduce each topic
is up to each instructor which was challenging to the author for the first term.

264Perceptions of Teacher Identity ■2

According to Korthagen (2004), this model was often introduced as ‘the Bateson model’ eventhough Gregory Bateson (1904–1980) never explained such model in the publications (p.79).
Therefore, the author followed Korthagen’s example and described this model as “the onion
model” or “a model of levels of change”.

3

According to Korthagen (2004), HBTE originally started in humanistic psychology movement
which was mainly led by Rogers and Maslow around 1970’s and then adopted to areas of education. The central attention of HBTE is ‘person of the teacher’ and as Maslow described, its purposeof education is ‘self-actualization’ (p.79).

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Bullough, R.V. (1997). Practicing theory and theorizing practice in teacher education. In
J. Loughran, & T. Russell. (Eds.), Purpose, passion and pedagogy in teacher education (pp. 13–31).
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Korthagen, F.A.J. (2004). In search of the essence of a good teacher: towards a more Holistic approachin teacher education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 20, 77–97.
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Wright, T. (1987). Roles of teachers and learners. Oxford University Press.

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APPENDIX 1: 30 Questions to Help Developing Professional Identity
1. Who was your favorite teacher(s)? Why did you like him/her?
2. What kind of classes do you still remember? Why?
3. What kind of teachers you didn’t like? Why?
4. What was one thing that you learned from someone that you will never forget?
5. What brought you to be a teacher?
6. If you were not a teacher, what would you be?
7. Do you enjoy learning?
8. Did you learn something from someone lately? When? What? How?
9. Do you like teaching?
10. What role do you want to take in a class? Why?
11. Who is your “best” student? Why do you think that person is the best?
12. Who is your “worst” type of student? Why do you think that type is the worst?
13. When is your happiest moment with your students?
14. What is one thing you hate to do/say as a teacher? Why?
15. What do you enjoy most as a teacher?
16. Please describe a “good teacher” in your words.
17. What are your strengths?
18. What are your weakness?
19. What is most challenging for you as a teacher?
20. What was your greatest achievement as a teacher?
21. What was your greatest mistake as a teacher?
22. Have you ever lost your confidence as a teacher? What did you do to get it back?
23. What kind of knowledge you have are useful when you teach?
24. What kind of experience you have are useful when you teach?
25. Is there any skill/knowledge/competence you want to develop to be a better teacher?
26. List three things that are essential to your life.
27. What is your deepest inspiration as a person?
28. What kind of person you would like to be in 5 years?
29. What do you think your students may remember about you/your class in 10 years?
30. Is there anything you’ve realized about yourself after answering this questionnaire?

266Perceptions of Teacher Identity ■APPENDIX 2: Reflection Form for Teachers - My behavior in the classroom
1. What happened?

2. Who were involved? 
3. How did I feel about it? □ Mad □ Sad □ Frustrated □ Upset □ Scared□ Confused □ Lonely □ Guilty □ Other 
4. What was my reaction? 
5. Ideally, how would I like to react? 
6. ‌(If my answers for 4 and 5 were different,)What are keeping me from taking
ideal action?
□ lack of competence (What kind? )□ lack of preparation time (Notes )□ lack of communication (with whom? )□ group dynamics in the classroom (Is there anything I can do? )□ relationships with students (Notes )□ Others □ I’m not sure. I want to talk with others and ask opinions.
7. Is there anything I’ve realized about myself or the situation after the reflection?

267

APPENDIX 3: Reflection Form for Teachers - My struggles as a teacher
1. What am I struggling with?

2. Who are involved? 
3. How do I feel about it? □ Mad □ Sad □ Frustrated □ Upset □ Scared□ Confused □ Lonely □ Guilty □ Other 
4. What have I done about it? Was it effective? 
5. Who have I talked about it? Was it helpful? 
6. Which area(s) do I think is related to my struggle?
□ environment (workplace/classroom/texts and materials/others □ behavior (of myself/ students/others □ competencies (what kind? □ beliefs about (teaching/ teacher’s role / myself / others □ identity as a (teacher/ person/ others □ mission or goal as a (teacher/ person/ others 

)
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)

7. How do I think my answer for Question 6 is related to my struggle?
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8. Is there anything I’ve realized about myself or the situation after the reflection?
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