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The authors present findings from a qualitative study of an experience that supports teacher candidates to use discourse analysis and positioning theory to analyze videos of their practice during student teaching. The research relies on the theoretical concept that learning to teach is an identity process. In particular, teachers construct and enact their identities during moment-to-moment interactions with students, colleagues, and parents. Using case study methods for data generation and analysis, the authors demonstrate how one participant used the analytic tools to trace whether and how she enacted her preferred teacher identities (facilitator and advocate) during student teaching. Implications suggest that using discourse analytic frameworks to analyze videos of instruction is a generative strategy for developing candidates’ interactional awareness that impacts student learning and the nature of classroom talk. Overall, these tools support novice teachers with the difficult task of becoming the teacher they desire to be.

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