Evolving identities: exploring leaders’ positioning in the birth of a professional literacy collaboration

Literacy Intervention in Secondary Schools Exploring Educators’ Beliefs and Practices about Supporting Adolescents’ Literacy Learning

“…And yet, in the context of PL designed to bring diverse scholars and educators together to expand their collective understandings of literacy, our findings suggest that differences within schools may become less pronounced over time as participants collaborate to develop consistency in vocabulary and what intervention entails. These findings are consistent with previous research (Amendum & Fitzgerald, 2013; Brock et al, 2021).…”

“…This shift appeared to contribute to more nuanced, practice-focused understandings about the readers in their classrooms, the conditions under which they experienced more or less difficulties with reading, and the ways that instructional scaffolds could support them to engage with disciplinary texts. These findings are compelling in light of prior research that has focused on the importance of developing situated understandings of readers and reading (Lipson & Wixson, 1986) and more agentive notions of students’ own learning (Brock et al, 2021). While readers’ multiple literacies and identities and the broader belief systems and social, cultural, and historical practices that shape and are shaped by them also matter to literacy learning (Frankel et al, 2021), we found that attention to these key aspects of literacy was less prevalent in participants’ responses.…”

“…With the goal of bringing together educators from various backgrounds and perspectives, PL opportunities also should provide extended opportunities for active learning with other colleagues at the same school and/or district to support shifts in teachers’ beliefs and practices (Ingvarson et al, 2005). Ideally, administrators should attend PL opportunities to learn alongside teachers and support sustainability (Brock et al, 2021; Robertson et al, 2020). Moreover, the process of learning is just as critical as the content ; therefore, successful PL experiences require educators to reflect and receive feedback on their ideas over time (McKenna & Walpole, 2008).…”

“…Finally, secondary school systems and resources are important considerations when developing PL opportunities (Opfer & Pedder, 2011). For example, PL is more effective when school-wide goals and values are reflected in the experience, which includes developing teacher agency through the co-construction of knowledge between those delivering PL and participants and by adapting PL experiences throughout the year in response to participants’ needs (Brock et al, 2021; Robertson et al, 2020). These factors are critical to overcoming challenges such as negotiating participants’ varied understandings about literacy teaching (Parsons et al, 2016).…”

What No “Rug Time” Sharing Means: Revisioning Children’s Opportunity to Enact Literate Identities Through the Lens of Positioning Theory

“…Whilst literacy researchers have used Harré's positioning theory in studies of teacher education and professional development (e.g., BROCK, ROBERTSON, BORTI, & GILLIS, 2019;MCVEE, BALDASSARRE & BAILEY, 2004;HUNT & HANDSFIELD, 2013), and in studies of older elementary school children (e.g., ANDERSON, 2009), there is a paucity of literacy studies that have used positioning theory as a framework of conceptualization and analysis to examine young children's positioning in early childhood (early grade) classrooms.…”