Melissa Parker

Leading by Example: Teacher Educators' Professional Learning Through Communities of Practice

There has been a limited interest in examining physical education teacher educators’ role and practices in embedding professional responsibility and commitment to continued professional learning for both teacher educators and pre-service teachers in a physical education teacher education (PETE) program (MacPhail, 2011) Directed by a landscape of community of practice (CoP) as professional development (Parker, Patton & Tannehill, 2012), this article shares four case studies that demonstrate the extent to which PETE learning can be mapped onto the landscape. In essence, a CoP is sustained over time, involves shared member goals, involves frequent discourse, is active and social, and is characterized by problems being solved by the members. The ideas in this article in tandem with Wengers (1998) CoP process can encourage teacher educators to consider whether opportunities undertaken in a PETE program, and with colleagues external to the PETE program, encourage an authentic CoP.

Mapping the landscape of communities of practice as professional development in Irish physical education

Numerous primary and post-primary communities of practice (CoP) are used as educational change mechanisms to support teachers improving physical education (PE) practice in Irish schools. This studys purpose was to examine perspectives of program facilitators and participants of Irish PE CoP created to address teachers’ interests. Specifically examined were views of successful professional development and characteristics supporting or hindering its success. Participants included 33 teachers and 7 facilitators. Analysis identified three themes: purpose and success, guideposts, and roadblocks. Views of success paralleled CoP defined purposes. Incentives, a positive learning environment, supportive emotional environment, structure of the group, and facilitation with care were guideposts. Roadblocks hindering success included: time, ineffective learning environments, policy, the status of PE, and the context of schools and teaching. Overall, varying CoP structures, leadership, and support recognized multiple aspects of teacher capacity building.

Helping Teachers Help Themselves: Professional Development That Makes a Difference.

For school administrators to facilitate impactful teacher professional development, a shift in thinking that goes beyond the acquisition of new skills and knowledge to helping teachers rethink their practice is required. Based on review of the professional development literature and our own continued observations of professional development, this scholarly article synthesizes findings and presents core features of effective professional development, including what those features might look like in practice. Strategies for teachers, administrators, and schools to begin to engage in meaningful professional development experiences are presented and discussed.

The Voice of Youth: Atmosphere in Positive Youth Development Program.

Background: Positive youth development (PYD) programs adhere to the notion that all children have strengths and assets to be promoted and nurtured rather than deficits that require ‘fixing.’ The study of PYD programs indicates three aspects which set them apart from other programs for youth: activities, goals, and atmosphere. Of these, atmosphere has been least studied and what is known about atmosphere has been studied from a mostly adult perspective. Interestingly, while student voice is central to any educational process, students are not often consulted directly about their contributions. Aims: The purpose of this study was to examine the atmosphere of a PYD program grounded in self-determination theory (SDT) through the eyes of the participants. SDT suggests that people have the needs of relatedness, autonomy, and competence which must be met for successful growth. Method: An ethnographically informed case study was employed. Twenty-three participants from grades four and five (9 males and 14 females) took part in a PYD program using basketball as a medium. Data collection included focus groups, individual interviews, extensive field notes, and artifact collection. Responses were analyzed through open and axial coding. Trustworthiness strategies included: prolonged engagement, data triangulation, extensive field notes and researcher journal, member checks from both the staff and students, and peer debriefing. Results: Four themes were identified in respect to atmosphere: relatedness, learning, relaxed climate, and enjoyment. Each theme is discussed in terms of how these youth perceived the construct as influencing their participation, and as integral parts of what they viewed as positive atmosphere. Each of these themes indicated that the students were provided with a voice that allowed them to express their ideas and interact positively with the adults and the environment. Discussion: Relatedness, competence, and enjoyment have been found separately as important components of successful programs. However, it is the interaction of these themes within the relaxed structure that is unique to this study. For instance, the students chose a greater level of autonomy over higher competence. This led to a higher level of enjoyment which led to greater engagement in the program and its goals. The data also supported the notion that a program grounded in the principles of SDT could be successful, particularly in promoting opportunities for youth in respect to autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Taking into account student voice was a major piece to the success of this program, the student data supported the idea that creating and maintaining a positive atmosphere was good teaching. However, fostering these needs is not automatic but more likely to occur if purposefully implemented through sound pedagogical practices such as the instructional alignment of goals, activities, and assessments.

What Has Been Learned from School-University Partnerships

JOPERD • Volume 83 No. 9 • November/December 2012 S chool-university partnerships are often epitomized as a one-way street, with university faculty providing K-12 teachers novel lessons or tricks for Monday’s classes. Both parties generally leave dissatisfied. Teachers rarely receive the content or instructional knowledge they need (or would like), and university faculty are no closer to understanding the realities of educational reform than before. Little is learned; little changes. As revealed in this feature, however, much of the promise of educational reform resides in the positive partnerships or relationships between schools and universities. Such relationships serve to reduce the ivory tower image of universities working apart from K-12 practitioners and schools, thus creating the potential for a positive environment of continuing professional development for both partners. Like any relationship, cooperation is the key as people come together for a shared purpose, in the enlightenment or renewal of both school physical education programs and teacher education. Along the way, teachers, administrators, university faculty, and most importantly students profit from this relationship. As Lieberman (1992) stated:

Rock climbing: an experience with responsibility.

JOPERD • Volume 80 No. 2 • February 2009 M any people worry that today’s youths face more obstacles and receive less direction on their way to adulthood than any previous generation. With overburdened schools, overextended parents, dangerous substances, gangs, and a society that appears to be preoccupied, the challenges that youngsters face are real and, at times, seem insurmountable (Larson, Eccles, & Gootman, 2004; Roth, 2004). Many believe that the challenges faced by young people are confined primarily to the United States’ large inner cities. Unfortunately, this is not the case. It is becoming increasingly clear that youths everywhere, regardless of geography, are bombarded with challenges that may impede their successful progress to adulthood. Historically, it was assumed that children would become productive adults through the completion of the academic requirements of school and a supportive home environment. If this did not occur (and “problems” arose), then remedial action was taken. The phrase problem free is not fully prepared (Pittman, Irby, & Ferber, 2000) best illustrates the shift in thinking that has occurred about such issues. In essence, avoiding trouble does not ensure that youths will develop all the assets necessary to lead a productive life. This paradigm shift (for some) has led to an increased acceptance of youth preparation and development as necessary and laudable goals of schools and youth programming as opposed to the prevention and deterrence structure that previously existed (Gambone & Connell, 2004). Thus, the call for helping youths to develop the necessary “assets” (Benson, 2006) to become contributing members of society seems to be a reoccurring theme in much of today’s educational literature. Youth development programs encompassing many fields—including physical education, community development, psychology, and sport psychology—arose out of the desire to address the needs of youths. Programs with youth development goals are aware of the challenges that young people are exposed to and strive not to remediate but to help young people become “healthy, Rock Climbing: An Experience with Responsibility

“I Learned More at Lunchtime”: Guideposts for Reimagining Professional Development

While professional development (PD) initiatives for practicing teachers are not new, an increasing body of research has contributed to a growing understanding of what constitutes effective practice in physical education. Findings indicate an enhanced recognition of the importance of providing teachers with PD opportunities where learning is aligned, coherent, and sustained. Yet, PD practice in physical education remains largely unchanged. The purpose of this article is to close the theory–practice gap by identifying what researchers have come to know as core features of effective PD and by providing examples of what these look like in practice. The article concludes with strategies for teachers and schools to begin to engage in meaningful PD experiences.

Incorporating the Outdoors in Physical Education

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Looking Across and Within: Studying Ourselves as Teacher Educators.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the ongoing self-study of a community of physical education teacher educators (PETE) striving to enhance their research capacity and program effectiveness. The underpinnings of the project reside within professional development/professional learning and self-study. Engaging in self-study projects ‘allows teacher educators to focus on their own practice and students’ learning while meeting the research expectations of life as an academic’ [Tannehill, D. (2014). My journey to become a teacher educator. Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, 19. doi: 10.1080/17408989.2014.898745]. While often beginning with individuals looking at their own work, self-study does not need to confine itself to individuals and can involve collaboration among varying numbers across a variety of participants [Loughran, J. J., & Russell, T. (Eds.). (2002). Improving teacher education practices through self-study. London: Routledge Farmer]. This paper reflects one PETE programs attempts to examine the early findings of our programmatic self-study research into the development of a PETE learning community. It describes our initial findings reported through three themes reflecting our self-study work and experiences: dialogue, memory, and becoming, which link directly to Ovens and Fletchers [Ovens, A., & Fletcher, T. (Eds.). (2014). Self-study in teacher education: Exploring the interplay of practice and scholarship. London: Springer] self-study characteristics of community, stance, and desire. While still a work-in-progress, this project has allowed our group to address tensions, dilemmas, and practices of interest, providing for the acquisition of knowledge to move forward both programmatically and individually. Our intent in sharing this work is to provide a platform for discussion as to the potential programmatic use of self-study to enhance PETE programs and the research capacities of PETE.

Signature pedagogies in support of teachers’ professional learning

Signature pedagogies [Shulman, L. 2005. “Signature pedagogies in the professions.” Daedalus 134 (3): 52–59.] are a focus of teacher educators seeking to improve teaching and teacher education. The purpose of this paper is to present a preliminary common language of signature pedagogies for teacher professional development (PD). In all, 24 papers from the study of physical education PD projects with clearly articulated pedagogical objectives and documentation on achieving those objectives were included in the analysis. In total 479 teachers and 48 facilitators across the US and Europe were interviewed and/or surveyed. Three discrete PD signature pedagogies holding potential to enhance teacher growth and learning within the context of PD were identified: critical dialogue (process of acquiring knowledge through communicative interactions), public sharing of work (testing out practices in classrooms and share ideas with larger audiences), and communities of learners (collective learning around a shared concern or a passion). It is our hope in providing the beginnings of a common vocabulary for pedagogies of teacher professional learning we have encouraged additional steps toward developing signature pedagogies for learning across different PD settings and content areas.