Poonam Arya

Facilitation and Teacher Behaviors An Analysis of Literacy Teachers’ Video-Case Discussions

This study explored how peer and professor facilitations are related to teachers’ behaviors during video-case discussions. Fourteen inservice teachers produced 1,787 turns of conversation during 12 video-case discussions that were video-recorded, transcribed, coded, and analyzed with statistical discourse analysis. Professor facilitations (sharing experiences; affirming ideas; and asking for critical thinking, information, observations, and connections) and peer facilitations (recall, critical thinking, connections, and affirmations) in recent conversation turns were linked to teachers’ current turn behaviors, including recalling information, critical thinking, and making connections to content in video cases. These results suggest that modeling, scaffolding, and co-construction among professors and peers support specific teacher behaviors during video-case discussions.

Collaborative Peer Video Analysis: Insights about Literacy Assessment and Instruction.

This mixed-methods study explored (a) the purposes for which teachers selected video clips of their own literacy teaching and assessment practices to share and discuss with peers, (b) how these purposes were related to the content of the discussions, and (c) what variables were related to teachers’ generation of new ideas and future actions that they considered. Data included 39 transcribed video events, in which 14 in-service teachers engaged in discussions of their video clips. Emergent coding and constant comparative method were used for analyses. The authors found three purposes for sharing clips—explicit problems, implicit problems, and successes. Three issues were addressed—methods/materials, reader engagement, and reader processes. Six themes described how teachers’ purposes were related to their discussion content. First, sharing one problem led to one conversational focus. Second, sharing multiple problems led to multiple conversational foci. Third, sharing a problem and then a success resulted in peers focusing on the success. Fourth, sharing a success and then a problem resulted in peers focusing on the problem. Fifth, sharing a success related to methods/materials or reader engagement bred peers’ interest in how to apply these ideas to their own practice. Sixth, sharing a success related to reader processing led to peers focusing on other issues in the video. Based on the statistical model, teachers’ generation of new ideas was related to purposes and issues for clip sharing, and future actions considered were related to the clip type (instructional clips yielded more future actions).

Teachers’ reports of learning and application to pedagogy based on engagement in collaborative peer video analysis

Given international use of video-based reflective discussions in teacher education, and the limited knowledge about whether teachers apply learning from these discussions, we explored teachers’ learning of new ideas about pedagogy and their self-reported application of this learning. Nine inservice and 48 preservice teachers participated in video-based reflective discussions and documented their learning, sources of knowledge that contributed to their learning, and application of this learning to their teaching in their practica courses. A total of 227 response sheets with this information were collected. Multilevel logit regression was used to examine how sources of learning and content learned were related to teachers’ application of learning to their teaching practices. We found that teachers reported applying 40% of their learning; particularly, what they learned about methods and materials for instruction, and that they learned from both video and discussion almost equally.

Reconsidering Children's Readings: Insights Into The Reading Process

This study highlights the complex reading processes of two primary grade struggling readers. It provides a more complete picture of the readers’ use of all parts of a text, verbal and visual, to construct meaning during reading. The oral reading data show that students used various linguistic strategies to read words, and the eye-tracking data illuminate not only when, where, and for how long they looked at words (verbal) and illustrations (visual), but also the movement between them. Further, the readers were involved in strategic processing throughout the text and not only when they struggled with the reading.

Video Use in Teacher Education: A Survey of Teacher-Educators' Practices across Disciplines.

Video methods utilize tenets of high quality teacher education and support education students’ learning and application of learning to teaching practices. However, how frequently video is used in teacher education, and in what ways is unknown. Therefore, this study used survey data to identify the extent to which 94 teacher-educators used video in their teacher education courses along with the specific uses of video. Further, multilevel multivariate analyses identified what factors impacted these uses. Findings included that many teacher-educators underused video in their teacher education courses, and typically used only one type of video in each course. Any type of video use was significantly related to teacher-educator, course, and discipline-area factors, and interactions amongst these. Specific types of video use were significantly related to institutional-demographic, teacher-educator, support, course, discipline-area factors, and interactions amongst these. Implications for increasing video use and breadth of types of video uses in teacher education are discussed.

A Three-Pronged Approach to Video Reflection: Preparing Literacy Teachers of the Future

Abstract Purpose This chapter explores whether, and how, video reflections used across three contexts in teacher education (video case-study reflections, self-reflections, and Collaborative Peer Video Analysis reflections) result in teachers’ greater depth and breadth of reflective ideas about literacy assessment practices as compared to their reflections in just one context. Methodology/approach This qualitative case study of 18 teachers tracks their reflective content over time, and uses emergent coding and constant comparative methods to identify patterns in the breadth and depth of teachers’ reflections across three contexts: video case studies, self-reflections, and Collaborative Peer Video Analysis. Findings Teachers demonstrate greater depth and breadth of reflection across the three contexts, as compared to any one context. Three patterns were identified that describe how teachers develop depth of reflection across these contexts: identifying problems, shifting learning, and transferring learning to novel contexts. Two patterns were identified that describe how breadth of reflection occurred across these contexts: broad array of ideas for a specific topic and a broad range of topics. Practical implications Teacher educators can use a three-pronged approach to video reflection to promote depth and breadth of teachers’ reflections. Opportunities should also be provided across time, and prompts should be provided for guiding reflection to support breadth and depth of teachers’ analyses.

Relations among resources in professional learning communities and learning outcomes

Abstract This study focused on two professional learning communities (PLCs) situated in literacy education practica courses. How four PLC resources (colleagues, facilitators, readings, and videos) were related to outcomes, including teachers’ learning, teachers’ application of this learning, and subsequent students’ learning, was examined. Participants included 18 in-service teachers and the 21 children they taught. Data included 537 teacher reports of learning, 102 lesson plans, 195 teaching session videos, and 21 reader reports, which were used to identify outcomes and the resources that supported these. A multilevel structural equation model was used for analysis. Findings highlight the unique contributions of each resource for supporting specific PLC outcomes. For example, video was the most effective resource for supporting teachers’ application of learning to their teaching, and when this occurred students were significantly more likely to learn as well. Implications for more strategically providing these resources in PLCs are discussed.