Abstract

1. DEVELOPING HIGH SCHOOL PHYSICS TEACHER LEADERS THROUGH A FRAMEWORK OF PROFESSIONAL VISION AND PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY Gregory T. Rushton; David Rosengrant, Kennesaw State University Brett A. Criswell, University of Kentucky Evolution of TL Model Combines Dempsey’s (1992) four metaphors of teacher leadership with Goodwin’s (1994) notion of professional vision 1. Teacher as Fully Functioning Person – someone who can ‘look out’ and attend to the entire context of the classroom 2. Teacher as Reflective Practitioner – someone who can ‘look back’ and analyze teaching and ‘look ahead’ and change practice 3. Teacher as Scholar – someone who can highlight appropriate literature, and envision how to translate that into context-appropriate practices for herself and her colleagues 4. Teacher as Learning Partner – someone who can help others develop the components of professional vision needed to see their practice differently and change it as necessary DUE-1035451 Abstract Recent efforts to enhance and support STEM education in the US have included programs to attract a high-quality K-12 teaching workforce through both traditional and alternative preparation programs (Abell, et al., 2006). Relatively little emphasis, however, has been placed on the retention of these professional educators, which has led to several mainstream reports on this subject concluding that more attention should be given to "plugging the holes in the 'leaking bucket' of teacher supply" (Guarino et. al, 2006; Ingersoll 2002, 2010.).  One response from national funding agencies has been to support projects aimed at developing teacher leaders in the STEM disciplines. Outcomes Professional Vision & Practice ➔ “… I like what you mentioned about, ‘Look at this’ and ‘Look at this’ and, ‘How would that be different?’ I mean, I’m keeping the question. But I’ll probably add another slide saying, ‘A. Look at this. How many [wavelengths] are shown here?’ And, ‘B. …’ Because now I know that that’s an issue area. (John, April workshop) Professional Vision & Mentoring ➔ “And I think too many times, that’s what a lot of pre-service and in-service novice teachers do – is they try to be the clone of whoever they were trained under” (Patti, March workshop) [contrasted with] “It just wasn’t how I was going to do it. So, is that my way, or is hers equally valid? I guess I don’t want to dump … or make it seem negative in any way, somebody doing something different from what I would be doing” (Tess, November workshop) Professional Identity & Interaction with Colleagues ➔ “Because I feel like a lot of people maybe in my district, or in my county, or even within my school don’t take me as seriously as a leader because I’m younger than them.” (Natalie, April workshop) [contrasted with] “Multipliers. That, um, that book really made me kind of just look at my personality different, I guess … So I'll always have an opinion and then people will respect me, but no, not really. That's not really how it works. They kind of disrespect you, because you always have an opinion.” (Natalie, December workshop) Revising the Model of Teacher Leadership Development 1. Teacher as Fully Functioning Person – Someone who has a sense of herself in relation to the profession, and who can see into the nature of her practice and out to the context of that practice. 2. Teacher as Reflective Practitioner – Someone who can see into the meaning of her practice and out to the ways that practice might be reconstructed in the context. 3. Teacher as Scholar – Someone who can see the potential for innovation in practice both in her / his particular context and in the broader profession 4. Teacher as Learning Partner – Someone who has a sense of the way in which s/he may maximize the potential of others’ practice, and who can see the means and the measure for realizing innovation in practice • Prof. Development Model • To influence professional identity, we enacted a 100+ hour modular sequence of teacher leadership presentations and activities • To influence professional vision, we brought in functioning physics teacher leaders to present practice and approaches; installed preservice teachers in each participant’s classroom; provided travel funds to professional conferences; and content lessons to develop stronger PCK in physics. Context The Initiative to Increase and Mentor Physics And Chemistry Teachers (I-IMPACT) has recruited 8 HS physics teachers to engage in a five-year leadership program intended to stabilize and bring innovation to the physics teaching career to move it towards professional status. REFERENCES Abell, S., Boone, W., Arbaugh, F., Lannin, J., Beilfuss, M., Volkman, M., & White, S. (2006).Recruiting future science and mathematics teachers into alternative certification programs: Strategies tried and lessons learned. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 17 (3), 165 – 183. Guarino, C. M., L. Santibañez, et al. (2006). "Teacher Recruitment and Retention: A Review of the Recent Empirical Literature." Review of Educational Research, 76(2): 173-208 Ingersoll, R. M. (2002). "Holes in the Teacher Supply Bucket." School Administrator, 59 (3),42 – 43. Ingersoll, R. M. and D. Perda (2010). "Is the Supply of Mathematics and Science Teachers Sufficient?" American Educational Research Journal, 47 (3), 563 – 594. What is a Teacher Leader? This is often not well defined in the literature (York-Barr and Duke, 2004) but is needed to determine the extent to which someone or a group is exhibiting leadership traits or actions. We are seeking to develop both a model for capturing teacher leadership and a professional development program to promote growth towards this goal. Data Sources and Methods 1) Videotapes of PD sessions, (2) Reflection documents, (3) Interviews conducted by evaluation team (focus group & individual) (1) Gee’s (2001) Four Identity framework and (2) Grounded Theory (Charmaz, 2005) to [re-]construct the model of teacher leadership We would like to recognize the important contributions of our graduate student researchers:Tugce Gul, PhD student, Georgia State University; Lorene Rayton, MAT student, Georgia State University; Rebecca Mortensen, MAT student, Kennesaw State University; and Kevin Cameron,MAT student, Kennesaw State University.