Abstract

In the past decade, educational researchers have engaged in research on teacher emotion regulation. However, there has never been an in-depth look at teacher emotion regulation studied from the first person perspective of the teacher. This study seeks to offer just such a perspective. The self-study explored how, across time, I as the teacher participant, teaching in a mid-socioeconomic suburb of Utah, responded emotionally in terms of classroom interactions. Over a 4-month period, I made daily "in the moment" recordings of emotional classrooms situations and at the end of each week, the collection of recordings was reviewed and coded, creating analytic memos that identified patterns of responses. A critical friend then interrogated my analysis to provide me with critique, analysis, and response concerning the patterns and progression she and I identified. This process reveals a pattern of emotional experience (that of a triggering episode eliciting an emotional response, followed by negative or positive reaction) and the subsequent less or more effective coping strategies. As the study progressed, the coping strategies I utilized as emotion regulation in my classroom shifted from less to more effective as I made judgments about whether my responses effectively supported me in terms of emotion regulation, and my goals for the classroom. Reflection shifted my understanding of the underlying reasons for my emotional responses, which enabled me to create new patterns of analysis and response that led me to better regulate my emotion within my classroom. Findings reveal that reflection, coupled with interaction with a critical friend, contributes significantly to my development of emotion regulation as a teacher. Although this study provides an examination into my particular emotion regulation, both teachers and teacher educators can profit from the findings. This study demonstrates the need for a different kind of professional development for supporting teacher emotion regulation, one that incorporates cycles of "in the moment" recording of experience, reflection on experiences, and interaction with a critical friend allowing space to adjust and retry. The findings suggest practical approaches to support teachers in developing more effective emotion regulation.

Degree

College and Department

David O. McKay School of Education; Teacher Education

Rights

http://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/