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Increasingly, teacher leadership is being recognized as an essential ingredient in education reforms; however, few teachers consider themselves leaders. Becoming a leader is not just acquiring knowledge and skills for leadership, but developing a new professional identity. As teachers become leaders, however, this identity might put them at risk with dominant school culture where norms of egalitarianism, isolation, and seniority persist. Luehmann emphasizes the value in offering safe spaces in which teachers can take risks as they “try on” new identities. We utilized an online environment to support ninth-grade science teachers in the development of common perspectives, commitments, and visions for teacher leadership as they implemented a new freshman physics curriculum. Our findings illustrate the potential benefits of blogging in terms of providing identity resources and opportunities for identity work. Specifically, by participating in pedagogical transactions, social interactions, and intellectual deliberations via blogs, teachers were supported in their efforts to be leaders in their classrooms, schools, and districts.

This study investigated the effects of the use of scaffolds in written classroom assessments through the voices of both native English speakers and English language learners from two middle schools. Students responded to assessment tasks in writing, by speaking aloud using think aloud protocols, and by reflecting in a post-assessment interview. The classroom assessment tasks were designed to engage students in scientific sense making and multifaceted language use, as recommended by the Next Generation Science Standards. Data analyses showed that both groups benefitted from the use of scaffolds. The findings revealed specific ways that modifications were supportive in helping students to comprehend, visualize and organize thinking, and elicit responses. This study offers a model for both sensitizing teachers and strengthening their strategies for scaffolding assessments equitably.

The purpose of this study was to investigate inscriptions used in "Types of chemical reactions" topic in Turkish, Indian, and American chemistry textbooks. We investigated both the types of inscriptions and how they were used in textbooks to support learning. A conceptual analysis method was employed to determine how those textbooks use inscriptions to present "Types of chemical reactions." Results revealed that textbooks disproportionately used inscriptions at symbolic level and failed to present submicroscopic level. Moreover, in Turkish and Indian books, explicit connections between all three levels of inscriptions were inadequate whereas American textbook had them sufficiently. Inscriptions including multiple levels were provided simultaneously in American textbook. This research will contribute to growing literature of international studies about use of inscriptions in science textbooks.

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