Literacy Teacher Educators: You teach who you are

1. Literacy Teacher Educators: You teach who you are Clare kosnik, Cathy miyata, lydiamenna,andPoojadharamshi

2. Literacy Teacher Educators: Their Backgrounds, Visions, And Practices • to study in depth a group of literacy/English teacher educators, with attention to their backgrounds, knowledge, research activities, identity, view of current government initiatives, pedagogy, and course goals

3. Data gathering • 2 interviews • Nvivo for analysis

4. 28 Participants Experience as a classroom teacher • 0 years = 1 • 1-5 years = 3 • 6-10 years = 12 • 11-20 years= 6 • 21+ years = 6 Rank at the University • Assistant Professor (Lecturer) = 6 • Associate Professor =5 • Senior Lecturer = 7 • Full Professor = 5 • Other =1 • Contract = 4

5. Drawing on Classroom Teacher experiences More than telling stories Continuity of Priorities • underserved communities • subject organizations • marginalized youth • teacher activism • teacher inquiry groups

6. Ed’lBackground + Research Activities

7. Yes – 6 • No – 22 During Your undergrad Did you plan To do a PhD?

8. Doctoral Research • 17 on children • 5 on student teachers • 3 at the inservicelevel • 3 on something rather different • 8 did their doctoral research in their own classroom

9. Although current research broader in scope, for most a direct link with their doctoral research; e.g., doctoral research on adolescent writing, current research on use of technology for adolescent writing.

10. caring • listener • reflective • team player • compassionate • flexible Qualities of an Effective LTE

11. Terms used to describe self(could select more than one) • Literacy/English professor – 15 • Teacher Educator – 17 • Teacher – 14 • Professor – 3 • Other - Learn with kids – 1; Lecturer – 2; Teacher trainer – 1; Associate Dean – 1; Researcher -1

12. Academic communities • Own university – 15 • Teacher research group or network -4 • Classroom teachers – 8 • Literacy association – 22 • AERA -- 6 • Other - 12 e.g., BERA, minority faculty group • Cannot find a home – 2

13. A Critical Stance in Literacy Teacher education Pooja DHaramshi

14. Participants • A subset of 8 literacy teacher educators with a critical stance • 3 sources considered for selection of LTEs with a critical stance: • 1. pedagogical practices • 2. research and publications • 3. theorists

15. Critical Stance • Consciously Engaging • Monitoring language use, interpretation of language, and actions to see how they maintain or disrupt the status quo. • Entertaining Alternate Ways of Being • “creating and trying on new discourses” (p. 16) • “tension” is used as a resource Lewison et al. 2008

16. Critical stance • Taking Responsibility to Inquire • placing inquiry, interrogation, and investigation at the forefront • Being Reflexive • “being aware of our own complicity in maintaining the status quo or systems of injustice” (p.18) Lewison et al. 2008

17. findings Background of Participants and Influence of Personal Experience

18. melissa I think being a mother influences me, but also being a woman, a woman of colour, being a speaker of English as another language, being someone who has been barred from entering my place of work because of the way I look. [They] tried to buy me out of baby-sitting my own child in the upper west side. So those are experiences that I bring to my classroom.

19. Findings • Consciously Engaging • Goals of Literacy Course • Exploring Difficult Topics During Class Discussions • Entertaining Alternate Ways of Being • Helping Student Teachers Unlearn • Using Alternate Texts and Forms of Expressions

20. pietro • Pietrodescribed a powerful learning moment: … the identity of your students is very likely not your identity, particularly in urban schools…They are scared, they feel vulnerable. I try to broker this conversation. I'm a white, gay man in front of you talking about all of this stuff. How do we position ourselves in the classroom? How do our own identities inform our teaching practices? Some of them are terrified…

21. findings • Taking Responsibility to Inquire • Viewing teachers as intellectuals • Considering multiple perspectives • Being reflexive • Organic and flexible course structure • Authentic learning experiences

22. maya • Maya mobilized an inquiry stance : I want to engage the student [teachers] in inquiry…I want them to discover some things about how literacy works to position people or to exert power through their own inquiring into text. So I see my role as a facilitating conversations between the readings and then providing particular examples and scaffolds so that we can inquire together and they can arrive at different understandings.

23. Multiliteracies approach – Cathy

24. Sub-set 7 literacy teacher educators • 1 New career: 0 – 5 years experience; • 2 Mid-career: 6 - 10 years experience; • 4 Later-career: 10 + years experience

25. Pertinent Nodes/Themes • Early Childhood • Future Plans • Gaps in Knowledge • Goals • Identity • Turning Points • Influences on practice • Pedagogy • Qualities of TE

26. Theoretical Framework 6 Themes (Rowsell, Kosnik and Beck, 2008) • Recognizing a diversity of language forms • Combining the old and the new in literacy pedagogy • Applying a broad concept of literacy • Building an inclusive, critical approach to literacy • Balancing social, cultural, and individual perspectives • Implementing a constructivist, dialogical approach

27. Emerging themes so Far… • Balancing practice and theory • Relational teaching • Vision of the future

28. Relational TeACHING • Supported socio-cultural notion of Multiliteracies • Developed meaningful relationships with students

29. “Being closely attentive to what my student teachers are doing and saying seems hugely important to me.” Justin

30. Student teachers’ Perspective – Lydia

31. Discussion questions • Who should be the literacy teacher educators? • What background experiences are necessary to be an LTE? • What should LTEs try to accomplish in their literacy courses? • What are essential knowledge and skills for student teachers to acquire? • Is building community necessary in higher education? • Should instructors in higher education be expected to build community?

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