Collaborating to Address the Challenge of Academic Language

Abstract

Teacher candidates rely on mentors working in their college-based teacher education programs and mentors working in the college’s partner schools to support their development as future teachers as well as their Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA) preparations. This study describes a semester-long collaboration between a clinical professor, teacher candidates from her college, and teachers from the college’s partner schools, as they engage in shared readings and study group sessions focused on the topic of academic language, a topic that is central to national learning standards, the edTPA, and teaching in an urban context. The main goal of this collaboration was to provide teacher candidates an opportunity to study a relevant topic in depth with inservice professionals to enrich their clinical experiences. The objective of the study was to determine the ways in which inservice and preservice teachers’ conceptualize the topic of academic language and connect this thinking to their attempts to address the Common Core Learning Standards.

Against the Script With edTPA: Preservice Teachers Utilize Performance Assessment to Teach Outside Scripted Curriculum

“…Existing edTPA-focused research tends to center on the programmatic and individual practice of university-based teacher educators. These studies often note curricular and/or pedagogical changes resulting from edTPA adoption intended to support PSTs to pass the assessment (e.g., Fuchs, Fahsl, & James, 2014; Hildebrandt & Swanson, 2014; Kleyn, López, & Makar, 2015; Lachuk & Koellner, 2015; Lahey, 2017; Ledwell & Oyler, 2016; Madeloni & Gorlewski, 2013; Miller, Carroll, Jancic, & Markworth, 2015; Ratner & Kolman, 2016). For example, in a study of 12 autonomous programs within one institution, Ledwell and Oyler (2016) found that edTPA led to an array of curricular changes, ranging from superficial—such as altering wording on preexisting assignments—to substantial—such as redesigning curricular content.…”

Does Metacognitive Reflection Benefit Art Students?

“…Academic language could be difficult to comprehend (Jucks & Paus, 2012), because it conveyed context specific concepts (Uccelli et al, 2015). When students had learned to use the academic language of a subject, communication between teacher and student improved (Lahey, 2017). Knowing academic language also helped the learner think about the content (Nagy et al, 2012).…”

“…This includes vocabulary words, which can be difficult to comprehend (Jucks & Paus, 2012), because they convey context specific concepts (Uccelli, Galloway, Barr, Meneses, & Dobbs, 2015). When students have learned to use the specialized vocabulary or academic language of a subject, communication between teacher and student improves (Lahey, 2017).…”

“…Knowing academic language also helps the learner think about the content (Nagy, Townsend, Lesaux, & Schmitt, 2012). While academic language is only a part of a visual art curriculum (National Coalition for Core Arts Standards, 2014), students need support from the teacher to learn it (Lahey, 2017). Metacognitive reflection (MR) offers a method to increase student learning of academic language, and other subjects in general (Bond, Denton, & Ellis, 2015;Jucks & Paus, 2012).…”

Preparing secondary teacher candidates to teach academic English

“…In order to prepare high school teachers to teach AE, secondary teacher education programs must begin to draw teacher candidates' (TCs') attention to teaching AE early in the required coursework and field experiences (Lahey, 2017). In this article, one training session designed to aid in the preparation of mainstream secondary TCs to identify and teach features of AE in their content area lessons is described.…”