To better understand the critical early years of teaching and teacher
identity development, this study explored the mathematics teacher
identity of two early career middle school mathematics teachers and the
influence of their working communities on its development. Emel and Berk
graduated from the same reform-oriented teacher education program and
were working in fundamentally different working communities that could
be characterized as reform-unsupportive (Emel) and reform-supportive
(Berk). They were interviewed three times and were observed extensively
in their working communities. Findings revealed two different teacher
identities: Emel exhibited a mathematics teacher identity that was more
reform-oriented than non-reform-oriented, and Berk exhibited a
non-reform-oriented mathematics teacher identity. Their working
communities had influenced their mathematics teacher identity in ways
that were both theoretically expected (positive effects of supportive
conditions and negative effects of unsupportive conditions) and
surprising (positive effects of negative conditions and no effects of
positive conditions). The findings are discussed in detail with
implications for teacher education programs and supports for early
career teachers.