Dwight L. Rogers

Children's discourse patterns and power relations in teacher‐led and child‐led sharing time

This study investigates childrens language and interaction patterns during sharing time in a first grade classroom. When sharing time shifted from a teacher‐led to a child‐led event, corresponding changes appeared in childrens language, including in discourse routines, style, content, and frequency of verbal interactions. In child‐led formats, peer culture flourished. Several linguistic routines were developed and used by children as a means of social control, as an agent for group bonding, and as expressions of care and concern. Two different child‐led formats revealed how the events structure regulated participation and length of turn during sharing sessions. We suggest that teachers create speech situations that children are allowed to control. Such occasions encourage childrens language development, learning through language, and the kind of collaboration essential for growth of peer culture.

Action research as an agent for developing teachers’ communicative competence

Action research is a vehicle to put teachers in charge of their craft and its improvement. Yet there is considerable variation in what people see action research accomplishing for teachers. These variations range from mundane technical improvement in classrooms to transforming a teachers identity (Oberg & McCutcheon, 1987). Some see these variations as a problem (Holly, 1987). We do not. It appears to us that what is changed through a teachers involvement in action research is the ability to participate in the culture, to decide what will be maintained and what will be altered. Different teachers and action research

Social competence in kindergarten: Analysis of social negotiations during peer play

This article describes and analyzes the social interactions of twenty kindergarten children during their play with building blocks. The study applied naturalistic data collection and analytical methods to provide evidence of a variety of social negotiation strategies and differing levels of social competence of these kindergarten children. Data from the investigation indicates that children were involved in constructing a social order during play. The study suggests that social competence cannot be viewed only as an attribute of an individual but must be examined within the context of on‐going social interaction. That is, social competence will be influenced by the demands of the particular situation, the definitions of self and others held by each individual involved, and the language competence of each individual.

It's about the Kids: Transforming Teacher-Student Relationships through Action Research

Action research is often included in teacher education programs to improve teacher reflection and practice; however, there is little indication of its impact on students. In this article, the authors examine action research conducted by 114 experienced teachers enrolled in a masters of education program. The teachers came from a range of disciplines and grade levels. Based on their investigation, the authors determined that action research provided a vehicle for teachers to (a) establish more personal relationships with students, (b) develop a better understanding of students as learners, and (c) give students a voice in the classroom. The authors illustrate these themes with three portraits of exemplar teachers.

Enhancing the Development of Language and Thought Through Conversations with Young Children

Abstract While much research has documented the lack of dialogue between children and teachers in classrooms, relatively little research has focused on the conversations of teachers who facilitate this type of verbal interaction with young children. This study, based on ethnographic fieldwork in a preschool classroom, was designed to address that gap in the literature, with particular emphasis on one teachers ability to involve children in meaningful dialogue. The teacher had been evaluated by parents, children, supervisors, and other teachers as particularly sensitive and responsive in her interactions with young children. The study examines these interactions through an analysis of a sample of her questions recorded in formal field notes and selected videotaped dialogues. Results indicated that this teacher asked questions which encouraged open, extended conversations; eschewed questions which solicited brief, factual answers; and maintained relatively long, natural, and child-centered conversations wi...

Consultation in New Teacher Groups: School Psychologists Facilitating Collaboration Among New Teachers

There is a growing recognition of the need to provide new teachers with formalized mentoring and as a result induction programs are now flourishing around the country. Elements of successful induction programs include formal mentorship, reflective practice, and collaboration. The New Teacher Group (NTG) is one form of induction program that meets these criteria. This qualitative study examined how the process of consultee-centered case consultation (CCC) facilitated collaboration, problem-solving, and professional development in an NTG. Over the course of the school year in this NTG, a developmental shift was evident in which the teachers’ descriptions of themselves and their students became more positive and replaced the more negative descriptors that were found early in the consultation process. The participants’ negative images of themselves, such as inadequate and frustrated, were replaced with positive images that conveyed their evolving ability to think flexibly and effectively. The new teachers’ approach to problem solving also underwent a change in which they increasingly began to use professional concepts and methods to identify and define problems. NTGs offer school psychologists an opportunity to expand their consultation role within school districts.

Mediation of Consultee's Conceptual Development in New Teacher Groups: Using Questions to Improve Coherency

This qualitative study applied methods used in discourse analysis to investigate how a consultants questioning supported the goal of group consultation to empower beginning teachers to become effective problem solvers in their work environment. The focus of the study was on the process of questioning and communicative coherency as the group evolved over the course of the school year. The participants in this study were 7 White elementary school teachers in their first year of teaching. There were 12 sessions held over an 8-month period. The investigators found evidence of a parallel process between the coordinate consultation process and coherency in consultative discourse, such that as the coordinate process developed and improved, so did the coherency of group discourse. Implications for practice, training, and future research are discussed.

Encouraging science through playful discovery

Children are natural investigators. Their innate curiosity and interest in objects, coupled with adult encouragement for them to mess about with these materials, helps, “...children make discoveries that provide a base for scientific conceptual development on which they build for the rest of their lives” (McIntyre, 1984, p. 25).

Fostering social development through block play

Playing with blocks can help develop social skills and give children an opportunity to practice positive behavior.

Encouraging extended conversations with young children

It is largely through conversations with more experienced adults that children come to learn about the world outside their own personal experiences.