Denise N. Morgan

The Impact of Literacy Coaches on Teachers' Beliefs and Practices

The field of literacy education has long been concerned with the question of how to help classroom teachers improve their practices so that students will improve as readers. Although there is consensus on what characterizes effective professional development, the reading research on which this consensus is based most often is small scale and involves direct support provided by university faculty. The South Carolina Reading Initiative is an exception: It is a statewide, site-based, large-scale staff development effort led by site-selected literacy coaches. Although university faculty provide long-term staff development to the coaches, the faculty are not directly involved with the professional development provided to teachers. In this study we sought to understand whether site-based, site-chosen literacy coaches could help teachers’ beliefs and practices become more consistent with what the field considers to be best practices. To understand teacher change, we used two surveys (Theoretical Orientation to Reading Profile, n = 817; South Carolina Reading Profile, n = 1,005) and case study research (n = 39) to document teachers’ beliefs and practices. We also had access to a state department survey (n = 1,428). Across these data, we found that teachers’ beliefs and practices became increasingly consistent with best practices as defined by standards set by the South Carolina State Department of Education, standards that were consistent with national standards. This suggests that large-scale staff development can affect teachers when the providers are site-based, site-selected literacy coaches.

The Power and Potential of Primary Sources

Using primary sources with students has untapped potential for expanding and deepening the reading experiences of elementary and middle grade students. Primary sources expands teachers’ palette of reading materials, allows students to connect more closely to topics for learning, and deepens their understanding of the past. This article argues for the inclusion of more primary sources as a way to expand students’ world knowledge and develop their critical thinking skills. In addition, using primary sources is one way to support teachers in meeting the new common core state standards. Benefits of using primary sources and how to analyze primary documents are highlighted. Ideas for primary source collections and working with students are shared.

The Use of Conceptual and Pedagogical Tools as Mediators of Preservice Teachers’ Perceptions of Self as Writers and Future Teachers of Writing

This study examined a writing methods course for early childhood preservice teachers (PSTs). Addressing the concerns for the teaching of writing, the course sought to engage PSTs in learning designed to create cognitive shifts concerning their perceptions about writing. The goal of the study was to analyze how a writing methods course mediated PSTs’ knowledge of the tools necessary for them to be successful teachers of writing and how PSTs’ development as teachers of writing changed. Activity theory was employed as the analytic lens addressing the social context of learning and content knowledge acquisition. Data included course writing and responses to open-ended reflective essay items (N = 258). Findings include the utility of conceptual and pedagogical tools to develop PSTs’ understandings of writing and the ways teaching decisions can be developed. Additional findings address shifts in PSTs’ thinking about themselves as writers and future teachers of writing.

Investigating the Unit of Study Approach as a Way to Teach Writing to Early Childhood Education Preservice Teachers.

The purpose of this study was to better understand the learning opportunities within a university writing methods course centering on a unit of study experience. Specifically, we wanted to investigate what early childhood education preservice teachers (PSTs) learn about poetry and the writing process when engaged in a poetry unit of study. Our findings revealed that a unit of study format: (a) served as a vehicle to deconstruct and develop new genre awareness; (b) helped PSTs live process aspects of writing instruction; and (c) supported PSTs in developing genre-specific knowledge through the use of mentor texts.

Chapter Glancing: Noticing and Naming Chapter Openings.

Writers carefully include critical information in the opening lines of their chapters, but students often gloss over these beginning sentences, missing information that could help them better comprehend the text. To address this concern, the authors created a strategy that prompts students to examine the opening lines of chapters, helping readers notice and name what is seen, thus deepening their understanding and engagement. This article describes the Chapter Glancing strategy, showing teachers how to lift up the opening lines of chapters to help students examine the information embedded there. The strategy prompts students to predict and infer as they notice and name aspects of the text that hold promise for future understandings. By illuminating what readers do, Chapter Glancing becomes a useful strategy that students transfer into their own reading. How to introduce this strategy to students and the variations for using this strategy are addressed.

Book Review: The Texts in Elementary Classrooms

The Texts in Elementary Classrooms spotlights the essential role texts play in children’s literacy development. Although the teacher plays the central role in what and how students learn, appropriate text selection aids teachers in their support of children’s growth as readers. In this book, sponsored by the Center for Improvement of Early Reading Achievement (CIERA), editors Hoffman and Schallert have assembled 12 chapters that provide readers with a careful way to examine texts chosen and created to support students’ literacy growth. This comprehensive book is organized into four parts. Part 1 addresses aspects of the reading process and how particular text features can support these processes. Each chapter in Part 2 addresses a specific type of text commonly available in classrooms. The authors provide in-depth examinations of a particular text type, highlighting special features and providing guidance on how to evaluate and select texts for appropriate instruction. Part 3 focuses on book selection for English Language Learners and issues pertaining to the inclusion of texts. In Part 4, a tool for examining the quality and richness of texts and a process for examining how teachers and students use texts are described. JOURNAL OF LITERACY RESEARCH, 38(1), 105–109 Copyright