Preparing in Advance to Respond in-the-Moment: Investigating Parallel Changes in Planning and Enactment in Teacher Professional Development

Abstract

Despite warrants for classroom discussion, research consistently finds that discussions in K-12 classrooms remain rare. Our research investigates whether and in what ways practice-based teacher learning opportunities focused on discussion facilitation influence opportunities for student talk. Grounded in data from a job-embedded professional development program for fourth- to eighth-grade literacy teachers, we analyzed videos of teachers co-planning and co-facilitating discussions with students. Findings indicate that, across 1 year, during co-facilitated classroom discussions, teacher talk decreased, while student talk increased. In a parallel finding, our analysis of co-planning sessions revealed that the ways teachers planned for discussions also changed. Teachers went from engaging only in what we call proactive pedagogical reasoning to balancing that with what we have come to call responsive pedagogical reasoning.

Developing Micro-Teaching with a Focus on Core Practices: The Use of Approximations of Practice

“…Adoption of this approach does not negate a focus on developing responsive and adaptive teaching that recognises the intentional, situated and contextual aspects of teaching [40][41][42]88]. A number of authors have suggested, however, that the inclusion of AoPs and rehearsals in coursework can support the development of routines, responsive teaching and adaptive expertise [12,23,32,36,44,89,90].…”

Stepping in or Stepping On: Mentor Teachers’ Preferences for Mentoring Inside and Outside of Interactive Teaching

“…Taken together, the forms of mentoring inside and outside the action represent an integrated repertoire of practices to be used in purposeful and flexible ways to help novices learn to teach. For example, forms of mentoring outside the action, such as co-planning, create opportunities for novices to learn how to design worthwhile learning opportunities (Kavanagh, Danielson et al, 2022; Smith, 2005). Other outside-the-action practices, such as journal writing, video analysis, and debriefing, provide opportunities for novices to develop habits of reflection and self-assessment (Stanulis et al, 2019).…”