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Full-Text Articles in Education

(De)Valuing Multimodality: Exploring One Teacher-Writer’S Uneven Development In A Multimodal Composition Course, Mike P. Cook, Brandon Sams Oct 2020

(De)Valuing Multimodality: Exploring One Teacher-Writer’S Uneven Development In A Multimodal Composition Course, Mike P. Cook, Brandon Sams

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

This paper examines the learning experiences and identity development of one ELA pre-service teacher (Elise) in a multimodal composition course. The authors rely on single-case study methods to understand Elise’s multimodal compositions and reflections across the semester. This inquiry asks: a) In what ways does a multimodal literacy course influence PSTs' views of and positions on multimodal literacy instruction? b) What influence does a course focused on multimodal literacy/composing have on the identity development of ELA/writing teachers? c) What prior experiences and understandings facilitate or prevent PSTs uptake of multimodal concepts? Findings detail 1) how Elise at once valued and …


What Writing Processes Do Teacher Candidates Use? Findings From A Think-Aloud Protocol, Tracy Linderholm, Amanda Wall, Xiaomei Song, Whitney Carter Oct 2020

What Writing Processes Do Teacher Candidates Use? Findings From A Think-Aloud Protocol, Tracy Linderholm, Amanda Wall, Xiaomei Song, Whitney Carter

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

The objective of this study was to examine changes in teacher candidates’ writing processes and writing quality while enrolled in a writing-enriched course that was part of a college of education’s teacher education program. Participants in the study were enrolled in an introductory middle grades course that focused on pedagogical methods in general. A modified think-aloud method was used to collect data on ten teacher candidates’ writing processes as they responded to a writing prompt, once at the beginning of the semester and then again at the end. Data examined were the final product of writing, writing processes used in …


Connecting Our Pedagogical Questions And Goals: An Exercise For Writing Teacher Development, Jessica Rivera-Mueller Oct 2020

Connecting Our Pedagogical Questions And Goals: An Exercise For Writing Teacher Development, Jessica Rivera-Mueller

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

In this article, the author argues writing teachers can more fully inquire into their questions about teaching writing by paying closer attention to the ways their goals for teacher development shape their engagement in pedagogical inquiry. To explain these connections and illustrate these possibilities, the author shares findings from a narrative-inquiry study that examined the development of pedagogical inquiry in the lives of four teachers of writing. Using the participating teachers’ shared goals for teacher development, the author demonstrates how writing teachers can reflect upon the development of pedagogical inquiry, stretch themselves to practice other aspects of pedagogical inquiry, and …


Preservice English Teachers’ Evolving Conceptions Of 21st-Century Writing, Amber Jensen Oct 2020

Preservice English Teachers’ Evolving Conceptions Of 21st-Century Writing, Amber Jensen

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

This study used stimulated-recall interviews throughout four secondary English preservice teachers’ (PSTs) semester-long student teaching internships to examine how critical teaching moments shaped their evolving conceptions of 21st-century writing. The article first describes the participants’ collective definitions of features and experiences of 21st-century writing in the ELA classroom, focusing specifically on how they understood digital and multimodal composition. It then examines two case studies that demonstrate how PSTs’ teaching experiences destabilized, challenged, and contradicted their emerging definitions. Findings suggest that English educators may engage PSTs in conceptualizing nuanced and flexible 21st-century writing pedagogies as they construct field experiences as reflective …


The Dimensions Of Teachers Who Write And The Essence Of A Writing Life, Shari L. Daniels, Pamela Beck Oct 2020

The Dimensions Of Teachers Who Write And The Essence Of A Writing Life, Shari L. Daniels, Pamela Beck

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

The purpose of this grounded theory case study was to explore the perceptions among ten K-12 teachers who teach writing and also write themselves. What are the key essentials for teachers to sustain a writing life? What habits of mind or attitudes are necessary for teachers to sustain a writing life? Interviews served as the primary data source along with writing artifacts from the participants’ own writing life. Findings indicate that teacher-writers committed to a writing life do so for the purpose of 1) discovering meaning, 2) connections to others 3) commitment to learning and 4) well-being, with an overall …


Teachers Writing, Healing, And Resisting, Anne Elrod Whitney Oct 2020

Teachers Writing, Healing, And Resisting, Anne Elrod Whitney

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

For at least the past twenty years, writing education and writing teacher education have been carried out in more and more tightly managed, neoliberally influenced policy conditions as well as worsening conditions of inequality in educational resources based on both race and on income. The result is increasingly dehumanizing conditions for teaching and learning writing. This context intersects in interesting ways with the notion of the teacher-writer. This essay re-raises and reframes the idea of the teacher-writer to open up possibilities for both resilience, and resistance-- both in teachers’ individual lives, and for teachers in the collective sense.


Teaching Reading-Writing Connections Online To Pre-Service Teachers In A Children’S Literature Course, Treavor Bogard Jul 2020

Teaching Reading-Writing Connections Online To Pre-Service Teachers In A Children’S Literature Course, Treavor Bogard

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

This account of transitioning a children’s literature course to remote learning during the Covid-19 pandemic describes the use of digital service learning and instructional scenarios to develop pre-service teachers’ knowledge of teaching writing craft across literary genres.


New Possibilities For Field Experiences: Learning In Practice In A University Writing Center, Michelle Fowler-Amato Jul 2020

New Possibilities For Field Experiences: Learning In Practice In A University Writing Center, Michelle Fowler-Amato

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

In this article, I discuss an initiative to support preservice and practicing English language arts teachers in their growth as teachers of writers through a field experience in a university writing center. In addition, I highlight how I modified these plans when our campus transitioned to online teaching and learning in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Demonstrating how teachers grew, despite the challenges we faced, I argue the importance of teacher educators considering new possibilities for field-based teaching learning, particularly during a time in which preservice teachers may have limited access to learning in practice in K-12 schools.


Keeping Things Going: Reflections On Teaching “Teaching Writing” Online, Emily S. Meixner Jul 2020

Keeping Things Going: Reflections On Teaching “Teaching Writing” Online, Emily S. Meixner

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

What does it mean to “keep things going online” in an undergraduate teacher education course on teaching writing? In this article, a teacher educator describes how, in consultation with her students, she adapted a secondary English methods course on teaching writing to teach it online. While highlighting and celebrating what worked, she also reflects on lessons learned and teaching questions that continue to persist.


Looking Forward, Looking Back: Reflections On Values And Pedagogical Choices During Covid-19, Susanna L. Benko Jul 2020

Looking Forward, Looking Back: Reflections On Values And Pedagogical Choices During Covid-19, Susanna L. Benko

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

In this reflective essay, the author describes teaching a writing pedagogy course for secondary English education students during the Covid-19 pandemic. The author describes two different bodies of literature – ethics of care and high leverage practices -- and reflects how these concepts guided her pedagogical decision making when moving her class online on a short timeline.


Writing And Adapting Instruction During The Time Of Covid-19, David Premont Jul 2020

Writing And Adapting Instruction During The Time Of Covid-19, David Premont

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

Writing and teaching writing during the early parts of the Covid-19 pandemic presented a number of challenges. This article explores a few challenges and possibilities to address the teaching of writing.


An Evolution Of Writer's Notebooks: Authenticity And The Power Of Writing In A Pandemic, Alex Ellison, Sarah Hochstetler Jul 2020

An Evolution Of Writer's Notebooks: Authenticity And The Power Of Writing In A Pandemic, Alex Ellison, Sarah Hochstetler

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

This article narrates how one assignment, the writer’s notebook, evolved when a writing methods course shifted online in response to COVID-19. In offering their early observations and selected reflections from course colleagues on the use of the notebooks, the authors emphasize the power of writing and echo the necessity of authentic writing assignments, especially when the commitment to these always-important values is disrupted.


Alternative Delivery Methods: A Reflection On The Semester That Almost Wasn't, Joshua J. Anderson Jul 2020

Alternative Delivery Methods: A Reflection On The Semester That Almost Wasn't, Joshua J. Anderson

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

As educators we are by our very nature self-reflective practitioners. The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 forced many of us to reconsider our approaches to remote learning, and this narrative describes my experiences with alternative delivery methods of instruction during the past two months. It is my hope that others can learn from both my successes and my failures. I encourage all educators to thoughtfully examine what they have experienced during this unprecedented time and consider how the lessons learned can positively influence their instructional approaches and readiness moving forward. The narrative begins by contextualizing my background, programs, classes, and institution. …


Building Online Writing Community Through Other-Oriented Lenses In An Era Of Crisis, Kristin A.K. Sovis Jul 2020

Building Online Writing Community Through Other-Oriented Lenses In An Era Of Crisis, Kristin A.K. Sovis

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

This narrative describes how an undergraduate writing teacher educator’s personal response to the COVID-19 pandemic influenced her approach to working with writing methods students. The piece outlines her process for supporting students’ social-emotional and academic needs as the classroom community’s work shifted from face-to-face class meetings and K-5 clinical placements to the online space. Important to this process is building on the course's previously covered course content to re-imagine with students the approaches, routines, and procedures for the now online-only writing community.


Rethinking The Teaching Of Writing In An Era Of Remote Learning: Lessons Learned From A Local Site Of The National Writing Project, Troy Hicks Jul 2020

Rethinking The Teaching Of Writing In An Era Of Remote Learning: Lessons Learned From A Local Site Of The National Writing Project, Troy Hicks

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

As the COVID-19 pandemic forced schools to close in the spring of 2020, teacher consultants from a local writing project site were compelled to make their practice public, sharing conversations about what remote learning and the teaching of writing could look like through a series of eight webinars and, subsequently, an open institute in the summer of 2020. Built on principles of the National Writing Project including openness, flexibility, and an inquiry-driven stance toward professional learning, the work of this site’s director and teacher leaders is described as they worked together to think about issues of equity and access, socio-emotional …


Failure, Flexibility, And (Self-)Forgiveness: Authentic Modeling Through Distance Instruction, Brandie L. Bohney Jul 2020

Failure, Flexibility, And (Self-)Forgiveness: Authentic Modeling Through Distance Instruction, Brandie L. Bohney

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

After adjusting her writing methods course for distance learning due to coronavirus restrictions, an experienced teacher but early-career teacher educator gets a difficult and important reminder about what failure in the classroom feels like. Using this failure as an opportunity, she chooses an honest and vulnerable approach to readjusting the course and finds that the strategy serves both her and her students well.


Modeling Adaptive Expertise Together, James E. Fredricksen, Amber Warrington Jul 2020

Modeling Adaptive Expertise Together, James E. Fredricksen, Amber Warrington

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

In this piece, we reflect on our pedagogical responses during the Covid-19 semester as we taught many of the same students in two different undergraduate courses in our English teaching program, namely Teaching Writers in Secondary ELA Classrooms and Assessing Readers and Writers in Secondary Classrooms. We apply the "adaptive expertise" framework to guide our reflections.


Voice And New Literacies: Student Perceptions Of Writing Instruction In A Secondary English Classroom, Jenny M. Martin Jan 2020

Voice And New Literacies: Student Perceptions Of Writing Instruction In A Secondary English Classroom, Jenny M. Martin

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

Voice is an integral part of writing instruction, and over half of state writing assessments include voice on scoring rubrics; yet, there is a dearth of research on voice and writing instruction with adolescents. Increasingly new literacies and digital tools are being used in the high school English classroom but with relatively little known about how these tools can teach voice during writing instruction. This qualitative single-case study examined how a public school, ninth-grade English teacher used new literacies to develop voice in students’ writing and participants’ perception of these instructional choices. The sample included the teacher and 14 students, …


Influential Fellows: A Professor And Writing Fellows Reflect On Identities, Feedback, And Communities, Sharlene Gilman, Paxton Beck, Nancy Zola Jan 2020

Influential Fellows: A Professor And Writing Fellows Reflect On Identities, Feedback, And Communities, Sharlene Gilman, Paxton Beck, Nancy Zola

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

Insufficient attention has been directed to first year and first generation developmental writing students whose courses involve embedded peer and near-peer tutors. This article explores the learning communities and learning and teaching identities mutually constructed by one professor of developmental composition and two Writing Fellows who are secondary English education majors through working together with our population, and how relationship dynamics impacted identities and curricular choices.


Teacher Candidates As Writers: What Is The Relationship Between Writing Experiences And Pedagogical Practice, Vicki Mcquitty, Ellen Ballock Jan 2020

Teacher Candidates As Writers: What Is The Relationship Between Writing Experiences And Pedagogical Practice, Vicki Mcquitty, Ellen Ballock

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

Both teacher candidates (TCs) and practicing teachers are asked to engage in personal writing experiences as means of learning about writing instruction. Yet, research on the relationship between writing and teaching writing provides variable, sometimes contradictory, results. This study investigated the relationship between TCs’ experiences writing a personal narrative in an undergraduate teacher education course and how they read and respond to a second grader’s personal narrative. Results indicate that, initially, many TCs did not draw on their writing experiences to inform how they analyzed, interpreted, and responded to the student’s composition. However, when specifically prompted to think about their …


Learning To Teach Writing Across Contexts, Kristine Pytash Jan 2020

Learning To Teach Writing Across Contexts, Kristine Pytash

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

The purpose of this study is to examine how Jacob (pseudonyms are used), a preservice teacher, understood and implemented writing instruction during an early field experience and then again during his student teaching placement. This study contributes to the literature suggesting that the context where the teaching occurs significantly influences preservice or novice teachers’ instructional decision-making. Examining how Jacob appropriated conceptual and pedagogical tools during his early field experience with his implementation, or lack of, at his student teaching site, deepens the field’s understanding of how context influences instructional decisions and how preservice teachers may hold on to certain beliefs …


When Memories Make A Difference: Multimodal Literacy Narratives For Preservice Ela Methods Students, Kate Hope Jan 2020

When Memories Make A Difference: Multimodal Literacy Narratives For Preservice Ela Methods Students, Kate Hope

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

This article examines multimodal literacy narrative projects designed by students in a methods of teaching course for secondary preservice English Language Arts teachers. For the multimodal project, preservice teachers infused written, audio, and visual text using a variety of creative mediums. Through combined theoretical frames, the researcher explores semiotics and preservice teachers’ use of multiliteracies as they shift their conceptions of what it means to compose. Finally, this article explores how the act of reflection through the literacy narrative influences preservice teachers’ notions of teaching composition through a variety of mediums.


Exploring The Impact Of Teacher Collaboration On Student Learning: A Focus On Writing, Shannon M. Pella Jan 2020

Exploring The Impact Of Teacher Collaboration On Student Learning: A Focus On Writing, Shannon M. Pella

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

In this yearlong case study, six English teachers in an urban high school in Northern California engaged in sustained collaboration focused on developing and enacting strategies to improve the writing skills of their culturally and linguistically diverse freshmen. The study was conducted between August 2018 and June 2019, to determine the connections, if any, between teacher collaboration and student learning. Qualitative data were analyzed from teacher collaboration and observation of classroom practices, focus groups and teacher-created artifacts. Students’ on-demand writing assessments in fall and spring were compared with instructionally supported writing. Student surveys were analyzed in a mixed methods approach. …


Preservice Teacher Writer Identities: Tensions And Implications, David Premont, Shea Kerkhoff, Janet Alsup Jan 2020

Preservice Teacher Writer Identities: Tensions And Implications, David Premont, Shea Kerkhoff, Janet Alsup

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

Because of recent attention underscoring the lack of preservice teachers’ (PSTs) writer identities , the purpose of this manuscript is to learn more about the writer identities of two PSTs, how to uncover the tensions that exist therein, and how they intend to enact that writer identity in the secondary classroom. This multiple case study examines the writer identity of two PSTs from a midwestern university in the United States. Data collection included a visual metaphorical representation, participant generated reflections in class, and participate generated reflections in practicum. The data suggest that contrasting writer identities exist among preservice ELA teachers …