The authors argue for the importance of practice in the professional lives of literacy teachers. Literacy practices and teaching practices are imbued with intentionality, context (temporal, social, political, and cultural), perspective, and outcomes. The goal of this article is to open a dialogue that could begin to normalize a theory of practice and practitioner research as central to the professional identity of teachers. The authors suggest that this professional identity is not something that can be given to teachers; rather, teachers must claim it through their practice.

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Background/ContextThis article describes the application of the theoretical framework proposed by Grossman and her colleagues to a research effort focusing on text-based discussion as a context for comprehension instruction. According to Grossman and her colleagues, a useful way to consider the teaching of complex practices to candidates is to focus on (a) how the practice is represented, (b) how the practice is decomposed, and (c) how candidates are provided with opportunities to approximate the practice. The context for the present study was an Institute of Education Sciences Teacher Quality Grant in which the authors collaborated with 9 teacher educators, who were learning about text-based discussion as a context for comprehension instruction, to design, implement, and revise modules to support candidates in comprehension methods courses. The modules provided teacher educators with representations of text-based discussions in the form of video excerpts and lesson plans. The modules also provided structured activities to decompose the practice of text-based discussions, for example, by focusing on analyzing the texts to be discussed and crafting questions to engage students in understanding the important ideas in the text. Finally, the modules provided opportunities for candidates to approximate the practice of enacting text-based discussions by using a collaboratively developed teaching plan for a common text.Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of StudyThe focus of the study was to collect data on the module implementation in the form of assessments of candidate learning and evaluation of module content and use by teacher educators in order to develop resources that would benefit a wider audience of teacher educators and their students.Research DesignThe study is an example of design-based research focused on the iterative development and study of the modules in order to support teacher educators to prepare candidates to enact text-based discussions in the context of literacy methods courses. The study was conducted over the course of 3 years, with a 4th year to prepare the resources for dissemination.Conclusions/RecommendationsOur efforts to design and revise the modules were greatly influenced by the framework suggested by Grossman and her colleagues. The framework provided a way to represent and decompose the module content and to maintain our focus on the importance of providing opportunities for approximating the complex practice of text-based discussion.

Recent research highlights the importance of providing teacher candidates with opportunities to approximate practice. Less attention focuses on tools teacher educators use within and surrounding approximations to focus candidates’ attention on features of practice. This multi-case study investigates how three teacher educators use different approximations in ways that strategically reduce the complexity of learning to teach and scaffold the development of practice. Data indicate teacher educators capitalized on four tools that scaffolded and shaped approximations into spaces for co-constructing shared understandings of practice. These tools include: instructional activities, representations of practice, planning templates, and specified texts and instructional goals.

Delve into important components of modeling for literacy teaching in elementary classrooms through multiple representations of the instructional practice for preservice teachers.