Education Commons^™

Adaptive Instruction Through Reflection: How Preservice Teachers Create And Implement Individualized Literacy Lessons In A University Reading Center, Jennifer Marie Lennon

Dissertations

Modern classrooms are increasingly diverse. Students vary in their academic abilities, personal interests, cultural and linguistic backgrounds, and previous experiences (Allen et al., 2013). To meet the varied needs of students, educators must adapt their instruction so all are able to find success. Modifying lesson plans and changing instruction based on student needs are forms of adaptive instruction (Hoffman & Duffy, 2016; Vaughn, 2019). This study explored the metacognitive processes of preservice teachers (PSTs) as they implemented adaptive instruction within their literacy lessons in a university reading center tutoring program. Adaptive instruction was examined through two lenses: first, as PSTs …

Navigating The Chasms Between Real And Ideal Literacy Professional Development, Poonam Arya, Kathryn L. Roberts

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

In this study, we examine the supportive and hindering factors that influenced 26 teachers’ implementation of pedagogy learned through a research-based, resource-intensive literacy PD initiative (100+ hours). Through post-intervention interviews, we explore the space between learning and enactment of new practices for literacy teaching and learning. Specifically, we ask, What are teachers’ perceptions of the contextual factors that support and hinder their moving from learning to implementation of literacy PD? Results indicate four primary supportive factors (PD facilitators, communities of practice, schools/administrators, and student affective responses) and three primary hindering factors (circumstantial factors, lack of resources, and mismatches between school …

Teaching Priorities As Both Durable And Flexible: Writing Pedagogy Classes Across International Contexts, Charlotte L. Land, Jessica Cira Rubin

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

This article developed from a year-long inquiry into our practices as writing teacher educators. As new university faculty in two different countries, we drew on a previous literature review project to identify enduring priorities for teaching writing pedagogy. We then analyzed our developing practices in these unfamiliar places, specifically noting what also felt flexible enough to work across contexts, leaving space for local adaptation. For each of our classes, we explore how we expressed those priorities: discussing teaching practices as connected with theories and discourses of teaching writing, supporting teacher-student experiences through a cycle of writing, and facilitating appreciative views …

Imagining The Possible: Reflections On Teaching A Writing Methods Course For Pre-Service Undergraduate Secondary English/Language Arts Teachers, Emily S. Meixner

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

What's possible in a teaching writing methods class? In this essay, the author provides a descriptive portrait of the undergraduate secondary writing methods course she teaches, focusing on five specific learning outcomes: teacher writing identities, knowledge of writer's craft, grammatical awareness and an understanding of linguistic justice/injustice, writing workshop methodology, and genre-based unit and lesson planning. Course readings, assignments, and work samples are included.

Building Community In An Asynchronous Write-To-Learn Course, Mary K. Tedrow

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

This study examines one online asynchronous course, Writing in Literature, devised by the researcher to determine the potential for building a student-centered course functioning as a learning community in spite of the limitations of the lack of shared space or time. The course was examined via student surveys that qualified experiences within the course as well as a review and coding of end-of-course student reflections. The survey and reflective commentary indicate that it is possible for an asynchronous course to effectively build a vibrant learning community. The learner to learner, learner to instructor, and learner to content framework recommended …

Structured Pathways, Reinforced Plans: Exploring The Impact Of A Dual Enrollment Program On The College Choice And Career Interests Of Future Teachers Of Color, Jennifer M. Johnson, Joseph H. Paris, Juliet D. Curci

Journal of College Access

In response to the critical shortage of a diverse teacher workforce, Temple Education Scholars is a “Grow Your Own" dual enrollment program model designed to promote access to postsecondary education and educator diversity. Grow Your Own programs have frequently been cited as a promising and potentially sustainable model for addressing the disparity between the racial identifications of students and those of their teachers. Using social cognitive career theory, we explore how three participants in the Temple Education Scholars program develop academic and career interests in teaching and make educational choices related to their career aspirations. Following case study analysis, we …

"It Opened My Eyes...": The Potential Of An Embedded Clinical Experience In Teacher Preparation, Danielle M. Hilaski, Nicole Maxwell, Jennie Jones

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Teacher candidates (TCs) often feel underprepared for their first teaching positions. Teacher education programs are, at least partially, responsible for the level of readiness of their graduating TCs. Fortunately, teacher educators have the capacity to positively change teacher education, creating a more effective, better prepared teaching force. Embedded clinical experiences connected to university literacy courses are one innovative approach to create more purposeful and engaging learning opportunities for TCs. TCs in an early childhood and special education program participated in an embedded clinical experience focused on reading and assessment, which allowed them to implement course content directly with elementary students, …

Effects Of Behavioral Skills Training On Preservice Teachers’ Ability To Code Articles, Rena Vanderwall

Dissertations

The research-to-practice gap in education has been well documented over the decades (e.g., Abbott et al., 1999; Burns & Ysseldyke, 2009; Cook & Odom, 2013; van Ingen & Ariew, 2015). To best benefit PreK-12 student outcomes, educators must understand and implement scientifically based practices in their teaching (Elementary and Secondary Education Act, 20 U.S.C. § 6301 et seq., 2015; Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1400 et seq., 2004). However, this task can be daunting. When presented with educational research, teachers often struggle with identifying the key information, as well as applying it to their …

Foregrounding The Margins: A Dialogue About Literacy, Learning, And Social Annotation, Lauren Zucker, Jeremiah H. Kalir, Michelle L. Sprouse, Jeremy Dean

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

Annotation, or the addition of a note to a text, enables readers-as-writers to make their thinking visible. This article, which is structured as a dialogue among four literacy educators, discusses the potential for social annotation to transform literacy learning, assessment, and teacher education. Collectively, the authors argue for social annotation as a vital and transformative practice in hybrid and post-pandemic education. The authors reflect on their personal and pedagogical uses of annotation, sharing related resources for educators across K-12 and higher education contexts.

Decentering The Book(Room) And (Re)Centering Students’ Interest In Contemporary Issues: Theories, Questions, And Relevance, Annamary Consalvo, Katharine Covino, Natalie Chase

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

This article offers a framework by which teacher educators can offer novice teachers of English a way to open up the teaching of literature away from book-centric practices and toward those of inquiry. A six-step process, accompanied by a detailed example, is offered that acknowledges the traditional bookroom options and connects to the wide array of literary theories that can generate essential questions and move teaching away from atomized, right-wrong kinds of instruction and toward addressing issues of interest and importance to youth.

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 …

The Learner Profiles Of Novice Literacy Coaches, Lisa L. Ortmann, Katherine Brodeur, Susan Massey

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Literacy coaches need support developing their professional capacities for coaching (Kern et al., 2018). This study explored the ways novice literacy coaches developed literacy coaching discourses during coursework in two reading specialist master’s degree programs. Through qualitative and discourse analysis of transcribed coaching videos and assignments, novice literacy coaching discourse was compared to professional literacy coaching discourse. Findings revealed candidates used coaching language and stances with varying degrees of success, but the discourse of novice and professional differed greatly. Five learner profiles of novice literacy coaching are presented: the interviewer, the role-player, the curious learner, the cheerleader, and the natural …

What Covid-19 Is Teaching Me About Writing, Rebekah J. Buchanan

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

This is a narrative piece for the special edition, Writing Teacher Education in Extraordinary Times. It addresses my work with English Education candidates, student teachers, and first-year writing students.

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

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.

Disruptive Teaching: Centering Equity And Diversity In Literacy Pedagogical Practices, Anne Swenson Ticknor, Mikkaka Overstreet, Christy M. Howard

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Teacher educators must prepare preservice teachers (PSTs) to become equitable practitioners who honor the voices and experiences of their future students. In this article, we advocate for centering equitable teaching in literacy education courses and making explicit how to disrupt traditional perspectives of teaching diverse students. This qualitative study investigated PSTs’ perceptions and attitudes about teaching diverse students after a series of modeled lessons. Analysis revealed that over the course of the semester PSTs either continued to focus on barriers related to equitable teaching, began to discuss new possibilities for teaching, or were ready to enact the practices they had …

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 Reading Responsively Through Tutoring, Jodi Nickel, Scott Frederick Hughes

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

This article describes a community service learning collaboration between a teacher education program and a nonprofit literacy society. Seventeen teacher candidates (TCs) tutored young readers weekly for seven months as part of their course-related field experience and completed reflective assignments analyzing their own learning and the learning of their tutees. The study demonstrates how the tutoring experience enhanced the pedagogical competence of TCs (kid-watching, assessment, instruction, responsiveness, professional conversations, and affirmation of impact). These findings align with contemporary research in literacy teacher preparation, which identifies that the combination of coursework and tutoring is effective in promoting the integration of TC …

“If We Don’T Include Literature, Where Do We Teach Our Students From?” An Effort To Introduce Children’S Literature To Indonesian Preservice Teachers, Tati L Durriyah

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Indonesia’s new literacy initiative called Gerakan Literasi Sekolah (GLS) focuses on developing literacy-rich school environments through a sequence of book engagements. As the locus of control in daily literacy activities (Lehman, 2007), teachers in Indonesia assume much of the responsibility for student literacy learning. Despite this, Indonesian teachers receive minimal preparation in facilitating literacy instruction using literature; for example, courses that introduce student teachers to children’s literature are not commonly offered in Indonesian teacher education. This study aims to fill in the dearth of data regarding the efforts to introduce Indonesian preservice teachers to literature for children and the pedagogy …

The Bellringer Sequence: Investigating What And How Preservice Mathematics Teachers Learn Through Pedagogies Of Enactment, Mary A. Ochieng

Dissertations

This study examines preservice teacher learning through pedagogies of enactment—approaches to teacher education that allow preservice teachers to learn by doing what teachers do. Preservice teacher (PST) learning is examined through the implementation of the Bellringer Sequence (BRS), a pedagogy of enactment conceptualized in the study. The BRS is centered around bellringers—brief mathematical tasks implemented as students arrive for class. The BRS is a sequence of four activities centered on a bellringer: preparation (for teaching a bellringer) implementation (of the bellringer with peers), debriefing (discussing the implementation as colleagues), and written reflection (about the effectiveness of the bellringer).

Practice-based approaches …

Impacts Of Cohort Membership On Teacher Candidates In An Alternative Certification Program, Katherine Eaton

Dissertations

Post baccalaureate teacher education programs are an effective way to increase the teaching pool with candidates who are content experts (Beijaard et al. 2004; Brantlinger, A., & Smith, B., 2013; Zeichner, K. M., & Schulte, A. K., 2001; Schultz, K., & Ravitch, S. M. 2013; Humphrey et al., 2008). Many of these programs utilize a cohort model design where students progress through the program together as a group (Maher, M. A. 2005; Jorissen, K. T., 2002; Ross et al., 2006; Mandzuk, D. et al., 2005). In his book, Deep Knowledge (2013), Larkin describes the complex nature of preparing candidates for …

Searching For Mirrors: Preservice Teachers’ Journey Toward More Culturally Relevant Pedagogy, Tanya Christ, Sue Ann Sharma

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Culturally relevant text selection and pedagogy support students’ motivation, engagement, literacy outcomes, and positive identity formation. Nevertheless, there is limited research on teacher preparation that fosters these outcomes. We explore 17 preservice teachers’ challenges and successes with culturally relevant text selection and pedagogy for their students’ literacy instruction. Data sources include reader responses, lesson plans, and reflections. Emergent coding and constant comparative analysis yielded four categories of challenges (resistance, limited view of culture, lack of knowledge about students’ cultures and identities, and lack of opportunities for students to develop critical consciousness) and three criteria for successes (knowledge about the students’ …

A Collaborative Children's Literature Book Club For Teacher Candidates, Tara-Lynn Scheffel, Claire Cameron, Lindsay Dolmage, Madisen Johnston, Jemanica Lapensee, Kirsten Solymar, Emily Speedie, Meagan Wills

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

This paper highlights the two-year journey of an extra-curricular book club for teacher candidates as they explored children’s literature in order to further their teaching practice. Initial themes were confirmed and refined as the journey of the book club concluded after two years. A sociocultural theoretical framework guided this work and considered Cambourne’s (1988) conditions of learning, specifically immersion in texts, as well as the important role of social contexts in developing shared text meanings. A qualitative methodology, drawing on participatory action research (Kemmis & McTaggart, 2005) and taking a case study approach to sharing the "case" of this collaborative …

“This I Believe” About The Teaching Of Writing: Secondary Teachers’ Digital Essays About Their Pedagogical Understandings, Denise N. Morgan, Natasha H. Chenowith

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

This case study (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016) examines the final projects of two secondary teachers in a graduate course about writing pedagogy. Teachers created digital essays along the lines of the National Public Radio’s “This I Believe” essays, which articulated their beliefs about the teaching of writing. We posed two research questions: a) What pedagogical understandings do teachers identify as their beliefs about writing and how do they represent those ideas in a digital composition? b) What did teachers learn from participating in the process of composing a digital essay? We found that teachers “reimagined” the teaching of writing, were …

Poetry Is Powerful: High School Students And Pre-Service Teachers Develop Literacy Relationships Through Poetry, Susanne L. Nobles, Amy Price Azano

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

Teaching poetry can serve as a roadblock for many English teachers who lack confidence with the genre. Likewise, high school students struggle reading poetry and creating their own poetic works. In an effort to provide an authentic learning experience for our students, we created a semester-long, collaborative poetry project between our high school and college students. This manuscript provides details about the goals, processes, and takeaways for both groups of participants. The high school students were two classes of freshman-level English students who practiced developing critical literacy skills while reading, reciting, and writing poetry. The college students were pre-service English …

Developing Preservice Writing Teachers’ Professional Judgment: Design Conjectures For Supporting Equitable And Rigorous Writing Instruction, Britnie Delinger Kane

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

To meet the composition demands of the future, secondary students in the United States will need more rigorous and more equitable writing instruction. They will need opportunities to inquire into and frame authentic problems. They will need to communicate for a variety of audiences and purposes, and they will need access to a variety of linguistic and literary forms. In turn, secondary teachers will need improved preparation for teaching writing. This conceptual review outlines what intellectually rigorous and equitable writing instruction looks like, arguing that teaching writing in these ways requires that teachers deploy substantial professional judgment. I then rely …

“It Sounds Wrong” Vs. “I Would Be Curious”: Challenges In Seeing Students As Writers In A School-University Partnership, Anne Elrod Whitney, Nicole Olcese, Virginia Squier

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

This article presents qualitative data and a pedagogical reflection from two teacher educators as they consider a writing partnership between preservice teachers in their methods course and a class of middle school writers. The purpose of the partnership was to help preservice teachers think about students not just for the purposes of evaluation and grading, but as writers, and, more importantly, as human beings. Authors present their inquiry and the challenges that arose as a result of the project, including reflections on the partnership from preservice teachers.

Preserving Social Justice Identities: Learning From One Pre-Service Literacy Teacher, Anne Swenson Ticknor

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Identities that include social justice stances are important for pre-service teachers to adopt in teacher education so they may meet the needs of all future students. However maintaining a social justice identity can be difficult when pre-service teachers are confronted with an evaluator without a social justice stance. This article examines how one pre-service teacher preserved a social justice identity by actively resisting racial and cultural stereotypes of students in her student teaching field experience. Analysis of language data illustrates that pre-service teachers can enact social justice pedagogy in elementary classrooms and preserve a social justice identity. This report reveals …

The Lived Experiences Of Veteran Elementary Urban School Teachers: Why And How They Stay, Cynthia A. Anthony

Dissertations

Longevity in teaching careers depends on many things, including job satisfaction, the work environment, career stages, and strategies to manage stress and avoid burnout. Teachers who have high levels of job satisfaction are more likely to stay in the profession. Job satisfaction is dependent on the motivators in a job: administrative support, collegiality, recognition, advancement, and growth. The work environment, job demands, career development, empowerment, and bureaucracy, plays an important role in retaining teachers.

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine factors that enabled and encouraged a sample of 12 veteran elementary school teachers in a small urban …

Understanding Literacy Teacher Educators’ Use Of Scaffolding, Joyce E. Many, Eudes Aoulou

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

This inquiry examined four literacy teacher educators’ perspectives and practices as related to scaffolding by using document analysis (i.e. syllabus), observations, and interviews. Findings indicated these teacher educators used scaffolding to develop preservice teachers’ dispositions, strategies, and conceptual understandings. Faculty used scaffolding processes such as modeling, feedback, purposeful structured assignments, discussions, and reflective pieces. Participants’ use of scaffolding varied; with the participant with more years of teacher education experience exhibiting a richer and larger repertoire of scaffolding strategies. Findings also suggested some faculty might be unsure of how to monitor preservice teachers’ growth in order to provide subsequent scaffolding.