Seth A. Parsons

Adaptive Teaching in Literacy Instruction Case Studies of Two Teachers

Researchers frequently suggest that effective teachers adapt their teaching to navigate the complexity of classroom literacy instruction. However, little research has examined how teachers adapt their instruction, teachers’ reflections on their adaptations, or the instructional conditions in which they adapt. To address this gap in the research literature, the study reported here used instrumental case studies to examine two third grade teachers’ literacy instruction. Specifically, this study explored teachers’ adaptations, their reflections on adapting, and the openness of the tasks they implemented. Observations and interviews illustrated the metacognition teachers use to adapt their instruction within the complexity of classroom instruction. Moreover, findings revealed that teachers adapted with greater frequency when using open tasks.

The ABCs of Student Engagement

Teachers can increase all-important student engagement by being aware of its affective, behavioral, and cognitive dimensions.

The Shark in the Vitrine: Experiencing our Practice From the Inside Out With Transdisciplinary Lenses

The Scholars of Studying Teaching Collaborative engaged a dozen faculty members from 12 specializations and 4 colleges at a large public university in a 2-year teaching and research project with the goal of learning about and enacting a self-study of professional practice. Participants were selected from various disciplines to provoke alternative perspectives in whole group and critical friend teams. While we each conducted a self-study, we also designed and enacted a meta-study to assess our professional development within the context of the collaborative. We analyze the potential of engaging in collective self-study and report how the methodological challenges initiated transformational learning that bridged theory and praxis. Learning the self-study methodology was complex, but such concentration multiplied the impact of both personal and professional transformation. The study benefits faculty from a broad range of disciplines, at diverse stages in their academic careers, and working at every level of the academic hierarchy.

A Longitudinal Study of Literacy Teacher Visioning: Traditional Program Graduates and Teach For America Corps Members

The current high-stakes educational context compels many schools and school systems to encourage teachers to use restrictive literacy teaching practices, which are unlikely to meet students’ diverse needs. These restrictions typically fall on novice teachers, who enter the field through various preparation routes, because they often work in schools which are difficult to staff. Researchers suggest that literacy teachers with a clear vision for their teaching may have the fortitude to negotiate such obstacles to best meet students’ needs. This study follows teachers’ vision development from their literacy teacher preparation coursework through their beginning years teaching. The participants come from two different preparation routes: a university based program and Teach For America. This study found both similarities and differences in the development of teachers’ visions from these different preparation programs.

Teaching Against the Grain: One Title I School's Journey Toward Project-Based Literacy Instruction

The current high-stakes testing environment is compelling many educators to teach reading in programmatic ways. This type of teaching contrasts research on effective literacy instruction. This article describes a Title I elementary schools effort to improve literacy instruction not by adopting a program but rather by providing professional development emphasizing project-based literacy instruction. A teacher research study examined how teachers implemented project-based literacy instruction and how they felt about using such instruction. This study found several themes in (a) the types of projects teachers implemented, (b) what went well in using project-based instruction, and (c) obstacles teachers faced in implementing this type of instruction.

Barriers to Change: Findings From Three Literacy Professional Learning Initiatives

ABSTRACT In this article, we describe lessons learned from three separate literacy professional learning initiatives that took place in elementary schools in three different locations: high-poverty urban, medium-poverty rural, and low-poverty suburban. The professional learning initiatives were also diverse in scope: one was a three-year, school-wide partnership; one was a multiyear collaboration with two teachers; and one was intensive coaching of an individual teacher. Each initiative was (a) informed by previous research on literacy professional learning, (b) grounded in social constructivism, and (c) a design-based research study. Through collaborative analysis of data, we discovered shared barriers that impeded each of the initiatives from promoting substantial change. We suggest ways to improve literacy professional learning to better increase the odds of success and lasting change in literacy instruction.

Action research as a reflective tool: a multiple case study of eight rural educators’ understandings of instructional practice

Given today’s educational context, educators are rarely viewed as knowledgeable decision makers, especially in rural contexts where there are few resources for professional development. However, action research has long been characterized as a way to engage in reflective practice while providing a forum for educators to share their knowledge of effective, research-based instruction. Therefore, this paper seeks to explore the ways in which eight rural educators understand their roles and knowledge gained from conducting year-long action research projects. Findings demonstrate that participants reported a shift in their roles as educators, an increased understanding of the benefit of incorporating a researcher lens, and an enhanced sense of responsibility for meeting the unique needs of their students and rural communities. In particular, the paper highlights the need in today’s educational climate for teachers to engage in reflection, which can be supported through action research.

Teachers’ Instructional Adaptations: A Research Synthesis:

Researchers recognize adaptive teaching as a component of effective instruction. Educators adjust their teaching according to the social, linguistic, cultural, and instructional needs of their students. While there is consensus that effective teachers are adaptive, there is no consensus on the language to describe this phenomenon. Diverse terminology surrounding the same phenomenon impedes effective communication and comprehensive understanding of this important aspect of classroom instruction. Moreover, researchers have studied this phenomenon using a variety of methods, in various disciplines, with different results. Therefore, our research team completed a comprehensive literature review of the empirical research studying adaptability across academic disciplines. In this article, we describe how adaptive teaching is defined and conceptualized in the education research literature from 1975 to 2014, the methods used to study instructional adaptations, and the results of these studies.

A Content Analysis of Nine Literacy Journals, 2009-2014

The purpose of this study was to determine the topics being studied, theoretical perspectives being used, and methods being implemented in current literacy research. A research team completed a content analysis of nine journals from 2009 to 2014 to gather data. In the 1,238 articles analyzed, the topics, theoretical perspectives, research designs, and data sources were recorded. Frequency counts of these findings are presented for each journal. Chi-square tests of independence revealed statistically significant differences among the topics, theoretical perspectives, designs, and data sources across the nine journals. These results suggest that the field of literacy research may be fragmented, which has been a concern for literacy researchers since the paradigm wars of the 1980s and 1990s. We urge the literacy research community to continue to demand rigorous research, but to do so in a way that appreciates the power in viewing and studying teaching and learning from diverse perspectives, using diverse methods, and with recognition that a foundational aspect of rigorous research is the match between research questions asked and research methods used.

Toward Adaptability: Where to from Here?

In this article, the collection of articles in this issue are synthesized to discuss conceptualizations of adaptive teaching as a means to foster spaces for adaptive teaching in todays complex educational system. Themes that exist across this collection of articles include adaptive teachers as constructivists, adaptive teachers as knowledgeable professionals, adaptive teachers as reflective educators, and contexts that support teacher adaptations. These themes are discussed with implications for teachers, teacher educators, administrators, and other educational stakeholders. Finally, the discussion shifts its focus to discuss future directions.