Steven Z. Athanases

Toward a Consistent Stance in Teaching for Equity: Learning To Advocate for Lesbian- and Gay-Identified Youth.

Abstract Three education classes of mostly prospective teachers provided instruction on issues related to Lesbian- and Gay-identified (LG) youth in schools, including readings, a video, a guest speaker, discussion, and writings. Written responses of 97 students, of whom more than a third were students of color, revealed lack of knowledge of LG youth prior to instruction and strong appreciation for new knowledge. Some students voiced resistance and reconciliation related to religiosity, and many raised questions regarding classroom application. The dominant stance, however, was appreciation for challenges facing LG youth and reports of plans to advocate for them in schools. Students made many links to broader social justice issues. Enabling classroom processes appear to have included an equity framework, cultural insider perspectives, and a safe discussion space—design principles for teacher education and development related to advocating for all youth.

Curriculum for mentor development: problems and promise in the work of new teacher induction leaders

This study examines four case studies of mentors of new teachers who assumed leadership of teacher induction programmes. Using cycles of action research conducted in a teacher induction leadership network, the case‐study authors inquired into the features of the mentor curriculum. Cross‐case analyses suggest the need for three elements of mentor curriculum. Tools, scripts, and routines can support the work, but generic scaffolds need to be adapted and tailored to local needs. In a time of standards reform and high‐stakes assessment in the US, the needs of new teachers should be tied to students and their learning, the ultimate target of mentor development, particularly in many urban and other high‐need districts. Finally, action research and inquiry skills can enable mentors and induction leaders to respond to data about how mentor curriculum must be tailored to the particular needs of mentors, new teachers, and students.

Scaffolding versus Routine Support for Latina/o Youth in an Urban School: Tensions in Building toward Disciplinary Literacy.

Scaffolding is widely referenced in educational literature and practice, in literacy education in particular, but often in reductive ways. Scaffolding is key for diverse youth in high-need settings, but few studies examine complexities and tensions of scaffolding in practice. This study asked how, if at all, teachers at a California high school with a mission to prepare urban, low-income, mostly Latina/o youth for academics and college admission enacted scaffolding to help students, many of them English learners, achieve academic goals. Drawing upon school and classroom data collected over a year and a half, including videorecorded observations, interviews, and student work samples, the study used observation instruments and qualitative analyses to answer questions using two teacher cases. Considering scaffolding for whom, teachers supported students they hoped to see achieve but whom they felt needed many supports, given histories of low test scores and some academic failure. In scaffolding for what purpose(s), much attention was devoted to scaffolding basic and intermediate levels of literacy activity, with less evidence of scaffolding disciplinary literacy and higher-order thinking. For scaffolding how, planned scaffolds of sequenced activities dominated, with promising examples of interactional scaffolds. One teacher case illustrates routine support, while the second illustrates scaffolding aligned with core elements of contingency, fading, and transfer of responsibility and with use of sociocultural dimensions of learning. The study highlights promise and tensions in scaffolding learning for Latino/a students in one urban public high school, with implications for teaching youth of color in low-income settings, teaching English learners, and preparing teachers for this work.

Conviction, Confrontation, and Risk in New Teachers' Advocating for Equity

Despite frustration with school constraints, new teachers who graduated from a program focused on advocacy for equity spoke for students in need in school forums and spoke up about issues of equity. Speaking for students, driven by convictions about equitable access to resources and a responsibility to act, often helped garner support and affected attitudes and school practices. However, this did not occur cost‐free. Despite apparently strong preparation to advocate for equity, teachers reported that advocacy required persistence and sometimes confrontation with colleagues and administrators, some describing an assessment of risk, often feeling vulnerable in new jobs. A case of one teachers advocacy for special needs students and for one boy in particular illustrates these issues. Suggestions are offered for ways teacher education can prepare teachers to speak for students in need and speak up and against practices and policies that impede equity.

Fostering Data Literacy Through Preservice Teacher Inquiry in English Language Arts

Data literate educators can generate questions about learning in their classes; collect and analyze classroom data to answer them; and develop inferences and explanations. Two elements may promote data literacy: (a) breadth of classroom-based data collection and (b) depth of analysis. We examined these in inquiries conducted by 80 preservice teachers of secondary English in diverse classrooms over a 6-year period. Analyzing products, processes, and self-reports, we found inquiries evidenced a range in breadth of data collection and depth of analysis. Qualitative themes and two cases illustrate data analysis processes and challenges of pattern finding, initially crude analyses in striving for depth, and the need for data literacy mentoring.

Learning About English Learners' Content Understandings Through Teacher Inquiry: Focus on Writing

Writing is central to academic development, permeates content area coursework and serves as both a vehicle for and a display of learning. For English learners (ELs), writing poses challenges, and teachers need preparation in how to understand and respond to these. This study reports 5 teacher inquiry processes that preservice teachers in one teacher education program used to learn more about their ELs and their writing performances, strengths, learning, preferences, and needs. The inquiry processes provided opportunities to develop knowledge of content and students (Ball, Thames, & Phelps, 2008), a key subdomain of the knowledge base of effective teaching.

Adaptive Teaching for English Language Arts: Following the Pathway of Classroom Data in Preservice Teacher Inquiry

Consensus exists that effective teaching includes capacity to adapt instruction to respond to student learning challenges as they arise. Adaptive teachers may keep pace with rapidly evolving youth literacies and students’ increasing cultural and linguistic diversity. Teachers are challenged to critically examine pedagogy when some contexts expect compliance with scripts and testing regimens and impede innovation. Recent research is building cumulative knowledge on adaptive teaching in literacy—its forms, purposes, and values. For preservice teachers (PSTs) still developing curriculum and routines, developing adaptive expertise is particularly challenging. The present study examined how, if at all, a data- based model of teacher inquiry in one teacher education program fostered adaptive teaching in grades 7-12 English language arts placements in mostly high poverty, highly diverse schools. The study examined 96 inquiries collected over seven years, plus PST questionnaires, memos, and discussions. PSTs overall worked with classroom data in ways that discerned patterns in student work and used findings to change the means by which their objectives could be met, through adapting literacy routines, materials, strategies, and activities. Adaptations were complex, not always effective, often challenging as PSTs weighed alternatives, tried to align adaptations with data, and worked to develop data-based rationales for instructional adaptations. Inquiry processes that supported PSTs in adaptive teaching included close examination of data, discovery and reflection, alignment of adaptations with data, and critique of adaptations. A disposition of flexibility supported the work. Findings contribute to literatures on adaptive literacy teaching and preservice teacher inquiry in English language arts.

Diverse Language Profiles: Leveraging Resources of Potential Bilingual Teachers of Color

Bilingual prospective teachers of color may possess experiences and knowledge particularly suitable for teaching linguistically diverse students but may need guidance and support to leverage such resources for teaching. In a class of 76 undergraduates, with a focus on bilingual students of color intending to teach, this study used self-reflexive inquiry to foster reflections on language histories, repertoires, and ideologies. Using surveys, writings, and focal student language profiles, the study surfaced themes and contrasts across profiles and found that self-reflexive inquiry promoted metalinguistic awareness and helped students begin to leverage their linguistic resources in generating ideas for teaching linguistically diverse learners.

Organizing High Schools for Latina/o Youth Success Boundary Crossing to Access and Build Community Wealth

This article presents a 2-year critical case study of an urban high school innovating to enhance the academic performance of low-income Latina/o students, highlighting high-leverage practices that promote boundary crossing between school and community. First, we highlight foundational elements of school logic, mission, and community ethos that enabled boundary crossing. Second, we identify a key set of boundary-crossing practices that tap and build community wealth, and forms of capital that are shared, by bringing community into school and fostering youth engagement in community. We also reveal opportunities afforded and complexities arising from boundary crossing between school and community.

Self-Reflexive Inquiry Into Language Use and Beliefs: Toward More Expansive Language Ideologies

ABSTRACT The pedagogical innovation of this study is self-reflexive inquiry into language, culture, and identity. This work was conducted in a course on Cultural Diversity and Education serving 76 culturally and linguistically diverse undergraduate students, many of whom planned to become teachers. Through analysis of a Personal Language Inventory and other assignments and surveys, we surface the range of beliefs these diverse students hold about language, prompted by reflective activities, including the impact of their experiences with linguicism and the tensions and variations they report on dominant language ideologies. We highlight potential openings for transformation and argue that a deep understanding of the often-unexposed language ideologies of potential teachers before and as they enter teacher preparation programs is a necessary first step toward developing coursework and experiences that will help guide them toward more expansive views of language. Such expansive views may impact future teachers’ practices and student learning opportunities, particularly important in classrooms of linguistically diverse learners.