Teaching Development and Diversity in Field-Based Methods Courses

Constructs of Teaching Writing in Research About Literacy Teacher Education

“…Experiences with EC-12 students during their teacher preparation can give PTs a chance to try out or approximate the practices, approaches, and theories they learn about in coursework, and explicit discussion directly following field observations can help to guide PTs’ subsequent interactions and make clear connections to theories (e.g., Donovan, Rovegno, & Dolly, 2000). However, since field experiences bring PTs physically outside of the university in some way, the potential influence of outside factors—such as CTs’ beliefs and practices (Benko, 2016; Johnson, Thompson, Smagorinsky, & Fry, 2003; Wang & Odell, 2003), school norms, or expectations for test prep (Smagorinsky, Wilson, & Moore, 2011)—must also be a consideration.…”

“…Some scholars spoke directly or obliquely to themes of interrupting PTs’ preconceived ideas about students (Flint et al, 2002; Roser et al, 2014) and encouraging PTs to look from different perspectives at the impressions about teaching they brought from their school experiences (e.g., Barnes, 2018). Working alongside individual students can interrupt preconceptions and reframe PTs’ attitudes about students to be more appreciative (e.g., Donovan et al, 2000). In some studies, these experiences helped PTs to understand the complex composition processes students engage in (e.g., Colby & Stapleton, 2006; Kelley, Hart, & King, 2007) or to position students as decision makers in the writing process (e.g., West & Saine, 2017).…”

“…Some of what produced deep understandings and even transformations for PTs in their field experiences included a thorough and transparent theoretical perspective on teaching and learning as established and supported through coursework (Donovan et al, 2000; Roser et al, 2014), collaborating with other PTs (Flint et al, 2002), and working with individual or small groups of students rather than focusing only on whole-class instruction (e.g., Colby & Stapleton, 2006; Wake & Modla, 2010). We found several studies that used PTs’ work alongside student writers to destabilize some structures or ideas that limit PTs’ understandings of writing pedagogy.…”