LITERACY STUDIES

iii It is in the best interest of the American educational system that novice reading teachers be provided with the opportunity for ownership of their pedagogy and be enabled to forge an identity that legitimatize them as an integral part of the educational arena. Nurturing a teacher’s critical self and critical pedagogy will address the needs of the novice reading teacher and increase our understanding of a reading teacher in the 21 st century. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the ways in which five South, Southeast and West Texas reading teachers constructed personal understanding of their pedagogical development and professional identity from their experiences during their novice years of teaching. Findings from the rich and compelling stories of the participants uncovered six core themes commonly shared by the participants. Novice reading teachers experienced: (a) using prior lived-experiences to impact reading pedagogy, (b) concern for students ’ social, cultural