Teachers’ identities as writers: teacher, support staff and pupils’ accounts of the role of emotion in the writing classroom

This chapter sits at the intersection between three established bodies of work: teachers' identities as writers, the 'emotional labour' of teaching (Hochschild, 1983) and teaching writing. There is a broad body of literature that attends to these three areas, yet the emotional experience of teaching and learning to write is an underexplored dimension within these fields of interest. The chapter seeks to contribute a multi-agent account of the emotional experiences of participating in a UK primary writing classroom, exploring the experiences of the teacher, the teaching/support staff sitting amongst the pupils, and the pupils themselves. These accounts are reflected through the shared experience of a particular instance of teaching-w1iting/ writing-teaching, and the interactions within this pedagogical moment which are analysed through the conceptual and sensory lens of emotion. The intention to explore the perspectives of these three groups of stakeholders is a novel approach, and as such adds a fresh perspective to understandings of the role of emotions in the teaching and learning of writing.