What is it about?
There is little evidence that documents links between teacher education and teacher practice. This study follows twenty three teachers into their classrooms, twelve that have had a writing methods course and eleven with no writing course or professional developments, to examine differences in their teaching practices and their students opportunities to learn.
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Why is it important?
Findings demonstrated significant differences on multiple, effective practice indicators such as; (1) opportunities to write in multiple genres, (2) engagement and support in process writing, (3) student decision-making and self-regulation, (4) peer social interactions during independent work times. These differences in teaching practices could not be attributed to the teacher's years of experience or the diversity of their contexts, but instead, there were clear connections between teachers’ practices and understandings they developed in the course.
Perspectives
This study explores the complexity of a teaching and learning system. Teachers’ instructional decisions impacted their students opportunities to learn writing. It appears that the students in the classrooms of non-course teachers experienced a narrowed curriculum that could constrain development of knowledge, skills, and strategies. Surprisingly, most elementary school teacher's are not required to take a dedicated writing methods course. Non-course teachers in this study were left short-changed by teacher education programs. We argue that findings imply that teacher education coursework/professional development must be comprehensive.
Sherry Dismuke
Boise State University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Investigating Differences in Teacher Practices Through a Complexity Theory Lens: The Influence of Teacher Education, Journal of Teacher Education, June 2017, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/0022487117702573.
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