Susan D. Martin

Maneuvering Together to Develop New Practices: Examining Our Collaborative Processes.

Although collaboration is foundational to self-study methodology, few self-studies of teacher education practices have focused on collaborative teaching processes. In this inquiry, two teacher educators report a two-year self-study into the collaborative processes of planning and reflection that they used to co-construct significant changes to their practices in concurrent sections of a writing methods course. Situated in narrative inquiry, cyclical reflective and dialogic methods were used to generate and analyze data. Examination of our collaborative processes revealed that four interlinked factors were central to the ways in which we worked together: our modus operandi, shifting roles, collective vision, and support for risk-taking. We discuss these factors and how we maneuvered together to develop new practices; we also suggest implications for teacher educators and self-study researchers.

What about Writing? A National Exploratory Study of Writing Instruction in Teacher Preparation Programs.

ABSTRACT This small scale, exploratory study reveals how writing instruction is taught to preservice teachers across the United States in university-based preservice teacher education programs based on online survey results from 63 teacher educators in literacy from 50 institutions. Despite the growing writing demands and high stakes writing sample testing in K–12 classrooms, our survey of literacy teacher educators indicated that teacher preparation programs rarely offer stand-alone writing instruction methods courses. Evidence suggests that writing methods are frequently embedded in reading methods courses. Equally concerning, data indicate a lack of confidence among many teacher educators regarding teaching writing methods. This study highlights the need for greater attention to writing in teacher preparation programs and adds to the conversation of why these issues continue to plague higher education.

Minding the Gate: Challenges of High-Stakes Assessment and Literacy Teacher Education

As four teacher educators teaching a course associated with state-mandated assessment of literacy subject matter knowledge and instructional practices, we conducted a self-study of our experiences. In this article, we describe how high-stakes assessment further compounds the problematic nature of teaching and learning literacy in coursework. We discuss challenges associated with curriculum, instruction, assessment, and the social milieu of the course, as well as the ways that we have dealt with these challenges. Implications for teacher educators are discussed, as we all must deal with important issues in this era of accountability.

New Literacies and Technology: Keeping Current in a Writing Methods Course

Understandings of reading and writing in digital environments have been referred to as new literacies. Digital technologies, as they pertain to writing, do not just support writing, but change what we write, the ways we write, and who we are writing to. These changes, and what they mean for effective P-12 teaching and learning, have important implications for literacy teacher educators and teacher education programs. With these issues in mind, we embarked on a collaborative self-study focused on examining what we were doing about technology in our K-8 writing methods courses. We were curious about how this had changed over the last 9 years. Findings from this inquiry revealed that some changes evolved over time, while others blossomed quickly. Changes clustered around two categories – written products and writing processes--and how these affected our knowledge and teaching practices. Additionally, our vulnerabilities as writing teacher educators in the face of rapidly changing technology came through in this inquiry. Implications for teacher educators are discussed.

Investigating Differences in Teacher Practices through a Complexity Theory Lens: The Influence of Teacher Education

How to prepare teachers to be effective in our nations’ classrooms seems to get increasingly complex, yet the links between teacher education and teachers’ eventual practices are little understood. Using complexity theory as a theoretical framework, this mixed-methods study investigated writing teacher practices of 23 elementary teachers. Twelve teachers had participated in a comprehensive course focused on writing, either at inservice or preservice levels. The other teachers had not taken any course focused on writing and had little to no writing professional development. Despite the small number of participants in our study, quantitative analysis demonstrated significant differences on multiple, effective practice indicators. These findings were borne out in qualitative analyses as well. Clear connections of teachers’ practices and understandings and the course were noted. These findings contribute to understandings of the ways in which teacher education coursework makes a difference in optimizing candidate learning and reducing the variability across teacher practices and subsequent student learning opportunities. Findings suggest implications for policy makers, teacher education programs, as well as for teacher educators and researchers.