Joy Myers

What about Writing? A National Exploratory Study of Writing Instruction in Teacher Preparation Programs.

ABSTRACT This small scale, exploratory study reveals how writing instruction is taught to preservice teachers across the United States in university-based preservice teacher education programs based on online survey results from 63 teacher educators in literacy from 50 institutions. Despite the growing writing demands and high stakes writing sample testing in K–12 classrooms, our survey of literacy teacher educators indicated that teacher preparation programs rarely offer stand-alone writing instruction methods courses. Evidence suggests that writing methods are frequently embedded in reading methods courses. Equally concerning, data indicate a lack of confidence among many teacher educators regarding teaching writing methods. This study highlights the need for greater attention to writing in teacher preparation programs and adds to the conversation of why these issues continue to plague higher education.

Negotiating Ideologies About Teaching Writing in a High School English Classroom

More research needs to examine how novice teachers successfully negotiate multiple ideologies with others in ways that allow them to construct preferred teaching identities. This qualitative study addressed that need by investigating how one high school English teacher negotiated contradictory ideologies related to writing instruction at her school. In particular, the study examined how the teacher negotiated ideologies with allies, students, and practitioner researchers. Implications suggested that practitioner research groups could provide support for ideological negotiations and teacher identity construction. Educators would benefit from teacher education that explicitly discusses and supports methods of negotiation through case study and video analysis.

Two types of coaching styles: graduate and undergraduate students collaborate in a university reading clinic

ABSTRACT Teacher educators simultaneously support and develop pre-service and in-service teachers. Using a situated approach, this qualitative study explored the coaching styles of graduate students who served as coaches to pre-service teachers tutoring in a university reading clinic. The study analyzed written reflections and faculty member observations. Based on the analysis, the two styles that emerged were instructive and collaborative. Furthermore, the data and implications of this study draw attention to the ways experience may shape one’s coaching style and adds to previous research on the value of the reading clinic experience for future and current teachers.

Seeking comfort: How and why preservice teachers use internet resources for lesson planning

ABSTRACT This study examined 158 lesson plans at one institution across two teacher education programs, inclusive early childhood and elementary education, to determine the impact of Internet usage as inspiration on preservice teachers’ lesson plans. Fisher’s exact test determined statistically significant differences between the Internet use of preservice teachers in the two programs. The data revealed that the preservice teachers in the elementary education program used more Internet resources when planning lessons compared to the preservice teachers in the inclusive early childhood program. Follow-up interviews suggest that the preservice teachers in the inclusive early childhood program had more practicum field experiences, thus increasing their use of physical resources and reducing their use of Internet resources.

Shaping our literate lives: Examining the role of literacy experiences in shaping positive literacy identities of doctoral students

The purpose of this study was to examine the ways in which literacy histories and present literacy experiences of doctoral students shaped their literacy identities. Data were collected through surveys, interviews, and visual identity representations. This paper focuses on the literacy stories of two doctoral students with positive literacy identities. Findings suggest that participants valued literacy as a social learning experience from an early age through higher education. These social experiences with reading and writing can take many forms and can be embraced in various home and school contexts. Additionally, these findings highlight the need for schools to create and nurture such experiences across all grade levels, through multiple forums, which may lead to positive literacy identities.