Joyce E. Many

Being a friend and a mentor at the same time: a pooled case comparison

ISSN 1361–1267 (print)/ISSN 1469–9745 (online)/04/010023–14

Mentoring in Literacy Education: A Commentary from Graduate Students, Untenured Professors, and Tenured Professors.

This commentary continues a dialogue which began among literacy teacher educators attending an alternative format session about mentoring in the academy at a national conference. Literacy teacher educators participated in an informal discussion centered on the nature of mentoring in the academy for doctoral students, untenured professors, and tenured professors. Doctoral students focused on their changing identities and roles in the academy, their concerns about navigating the political infrastructure of academia, and the importance of assuming a proactive stance towards obtaining mentoring, especially for part‐time doctoral students. Untenured professors focused on the ways they were inventing and reinventing themselves within the power and politics of academia and their need for more holistic mentoring during these turbulent times. Tenured professors were able to embed mentoring experiences into their scholarly work and find ways to benefit or learn from mentoring experiences. These mentors also found comfort in more informal mentoring that included self‐initiated endeavors centered on mutual interests. Our commentary draws on these discussions as well as the professional literature on mentoring to describe the importance of mutual trust and reciprocity in mentoring throughout all stages of academia with attention to cultural and linguistic diversity.

How scaffolding nurtures the development of young children's literacy repertoire: Insiders’ and outsiders’ collaborative understandings

Abstract This collaborative inquiry involved four educators in the analysis of how children, ages three, four, and five, created meaning from the experiences in their preschool classroom. Drawing on our insider and outsider perspectives as teachers and researchers, we examined the social interactions in this context and focused specifically on the teachers use of scaffolding. Through literacy scaffolding with an academic focus, an intellectual focus, and an emotional focus, the teacher was able to build bridges from the unknown and not understood to the known and understood. The purpose of our naturalistic inquiry, therefore, was to explore how the teacher used scaffolding to nurture the development of young childrens literacy repertoire.

Profiles of Three Preservice ESOL Teachers' Development of Instructional Scaffolding

This study explored English as a second language (ESOL) preservice teachers’ conceptions of and abilities to provide scaffolded instruction. In-depth study of three interns indicated that each was unique with respect to their views of scaffolding and in the degree to which their implementation of scaffolded instruction changed over the course of the year. Participants differed in the focus of scaffolding and in their attempts to scaffold within lesson frameworks, across sequential lessons, and through responsive instruction. Though some preservice teachers can develop complex conceptions of the process, scaffolding is closely linked to interns’ understanding of language and literacy development.

Patterns of selectivity in drawing on sources: Examining students' use of intertextuality across literacy events

Abstract The purpose of this article is to explore the ways in which students use intertextuality within diverse literacy events in a classroom context. Data were collected through a seven‐month naturalistic study in a classroom of eleven and twelve year‐old students in Aberdeen, Scotland. Analysis of the intertextual connections made revealed different patterns depending on the mode of discourse (whether oral or written) and the functional context of discourse (literary or informational) in terms of the types of sources to which connections were made and the relevance of the connections.

WHEN THE LITERARY EXPERIENCE IS A DIFFICULT EXPERIENCE: IMPLICATIONS OF READER‐RESPONSE THEORY FOR LESS PROFICIENT READERS

I examine the difficulties some readers face when reading literary works. I draw from reader‐response theory to emphasize that in literary transactions readers play vital roles as active interpreters of meaning. By integrating their past literary and life experiences with the world of the text and by using their imaginative powers, readers breathe life into literary works. From the research on proficient and less proficient readers’ responses to text, I highlight the difficulties that researchers have observed some readers to have during this creative process. I then discuss classroom approaches to literature that can help readers develop their ability to become an active partner with the text in creating meaning from literature.

Understanding the Impact of a State-wide Reading Consortium on Literacy Teacher Educators

Abstract Research on the impact of professional development and mentoring in the activities of K‐12 classroom teachers and their positive effects has been widely documented (Borko, Davinroy, Bliem, & Cumbo, 2000; Broaddus & Bloodgood, 1999; Lyons, 1991; Richardson, 1999). However, comparatively little is known about the effect of professional development and mentoring on the lives of teacher educators. This study examines the impact of professional networks that include mentoring activities in higher education. Since the late 1990s, teacher educators from institutions across a southeastern state have participated in a state‐funded reading consortium designed to improve the literacy performance of P‐12 students. In an effort to better understand the impact of this network, this qualitative inquiry explored the development of this consortium and the impact of involvement in this state‐wide reading consortium on literacy teacher educators. Primary data sources focused on indepth interviews with members involved in the reading consortium for two or more years. Secondary data sources included (a) interviews with informants from various state agencies who had worked directly with the consortium, (b) course syllabi, and (c) consortium minutes, accountability documents and publicity documents. Constant comparative analysis of the data and follow up member checks revealed the nature of the collaborative network which emerged within this consortium and the ways in which this collaboration intensified over time and impacted both state initiatives and teacher educators. Specific positive impacts were apparent with respect to teacher education and professional development and with regard to the reshaping of literacy teacher‐educators professional lives as educators and researchers. Finally, the findings underscore the importance of support, through collegial and mentoring relationships as well as through state funding on professional development of the research and teaching lives of literacy teacher educators.