The twofold purpose of this study was to trace prospective and practicing mathematics teachers' understandings of content area reading instruction in relation to domain knowledge in mathematics, and to examine the extent to which online pedagogical mentoring supported the integration of such instruction and knowledge. The design called for two pairs of prospective and practicing mathematics teachers to develop, implement, and reflectively evaluate four lessons. A multilevel mentoring approach was used to leverage the valuing of domain knowledge in mathematics. Course materials, lesson plans, teacher reflections, mentors' feedback, interviews, and case reports were analysed using Bourdieu's concepts of cultural capital, field, and misrecognition. Results indicate that despite the study's focus on prioritising domain knowledge through pedagogical mentoring, the instances in which such knowledge were integrated effectively with reading instruction varied in relation to a mentor's expertise in mathematics. If reading teacher educators are to support prospective and practicing mathematics teachers in content area reading instruction, additional sources of mathematics cultural capital are needed.
Background/Context One of several challenges to fusing reading and science instruction through the use of reflective practice arises from recent claims that it is questionable whether anyone can “make” preservice teachers into reflective practitioners. This challenge has implications for researchers and teacher educators in general, especially if one assumes that novices are without sufficient resources for reflecting on their own experiences and interactions. Two frequently cited commissioned reviews of reading research conclude that skills-based instruction in graphic organizing, self-questioning, summarizing, and other similar generic reading strategies can improve adolescents’ comprehension of written texts. However, there is a growing consensus about the importance of domain-specific pedagogical knowledge, and preservice teachers who view science instruction as largely concept oriented may not view reading instruction as highly relevant. Little research has been directed toward understanding how preservice science teachers learn to integrate what they know about their subject matter with the generic reading strategies they are taught in content literacy courses. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study The researchers documented a prospective science teacher's struggle to make sense of an online content literacy course that attempted to strengthen her capabilities to combine skills-based instruction (reading) with concept-based instruction (science). Specifically, the researchers were interested in her reflections on the feedback she received from the course instructors and, in turn, how her struggle caused the researchers to reflect on several contradictory discourses in the online course that needed addressing before offering it in subsequent semesters. While looking at the course through the eyes of this student's experiences and interactions, the researchers were also mindful of how her professional identity as a science teacher was being informed by those same contradictory discourses in small but incremental ways throughout the semester. Research Design In the context of an online content literacy course, 11 pairs of prospective and mentor teachers worked as partners in the instruction of middle school students reading one or more grade levels below actual grade placement in one or more content areas. This interpretive case study focused on one of those pairs. The concept of approximations of practice framed this study and led to a focus on the clinical aspects of reflective practice manifested during periods of preactive teaching (e.g., lesson planning) and reflective teaching (e.g., explaining and receiving feedback on the planned lessons). Data Collection and Analysis Data sources included a prospective teacher's four intervention lessons plans and e-mails containing reflections on those lesson plans from the prospective teacher, her mentor teacher, and the teaching team. Analysis was a four-step process that included coding key sources and writing analytic memos through the use of deductive and inductive methods. The primary researcher used discourse analysis to interpret the researchers’ and participants’ written reflections related to preactive and reflective teaching. Conclusions/Recommendations Implications derived from the study's findings for literacy educators point to the value of collaborating with colleagues in schools of teacher education who have expertise in teaching their specific discipline's content. Most importantly, the implications point to the need to reexamine the assumption that prospective teachers are without sufficient resources for reflecting on their own experiences and interactions in situations that call for fusing skills-based reading instruction with concept-based science instruction.
This article describes a community science night as a professional development experience for teachers in a rural school in the southeastern United States. As participants circulated through eight astronomy activities, they engaged in reading images, reading writing, and reading their natural and physical world. Through such diverse textual encounters, participants were given multiple means for accessing science, and teachers were given a model for understanding the relationship between science and literacy. تصف هذه المقالة ليلة مجتمع علمية كتجربة التنمية المهنية للأساتذة في مدرسة ريفية في جنوب شرق الولايات المتّحدة. حين تجوّل المشتركون في ثماني أنشطة علم الفلك انشغلوا في قراءة الصور وقراءة الكتابة وقراءة عالمهم الطبيعي والمادّي. وقد توفّرت للمشتركين طرق عديدة لتقييم العلم من خلال تجارب ملموسة متنوّعة وتوفّر للأساتذة نموذج لفهم العلاقة بين العلم ومعرفة القراءة والكتابة. 本文描述一间位于美国东南部的农村学校,为教师举办社区科学之夜以作为他们专业培训的经验。当教师巡回参与八项天文学活动时,他们都专注于阅读图像、阅读文字、阅读他们的自然与物理世界。透过这么多样化的篇章接触,参加者认识到多种进入科学知识领域的方法,而教师亦认识到一个用以了解科学与读写能力之间关系的教学模式。 Cet article décrit une séance de nuit d'une communauté scientifique en tant qu'expérience de développement professionnel d'enseignants d'une école rurale du sud‐est des Etats‐Unis. Alors que les participants passaient par huit activités d'astronomie, ils ont été amenés à lire des images, à lire et à écrire, et à lire le monde physique et la nature autour d'eux. Ainsi, au travers de ces diverses rencontres, les participants ont bénéficié d'une multiplicité de moyens d'accès à la science, et les enseignants ont profité d'un modèle permettant de comprendre les relations entre la science et le monde de l'écrit. В статье описан праздник естественных наук, организованный для местного сообщества в сельской школе на юго‐востоке США, в результате которого учителя этой школы сделали колоссальный шаг вперед в своем профессиональном развитии. Для гостей было подготовлено восемь различных заданий по астрономии: они учились читать изображения, письменный текст, а также явления окружающей природы и мира. Встречи со столь разнообразными видами текста дали гостям множество стимулов и способов заинтересоваться наукой, а учителя познакомились с оптимальной моделью взаимоотношений науки с разными видами грамотности. Este artículo describe una actividad científica comunitaria que tomó lugar una noche como una experiencia de desarrollo profesional para los maestros de una escuela rural del sureste de los Estados Unidos. A medida que los participantes circulaban por ocho actividades sobre la astronomía, ellos participaron en la lectura de imágenes, la lectura de escritos, y la lectura de su mundo natural y físico. Por medio de tales encuentros con textos diversos, se les dio a los participantes múltiples medios para acceder a las ciencias, y se les dio un modelo para entender la relación entre las ciencias y la capacitación.
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