Supporting preservice teachers to navigate the tensions of teaching English Language Arts
An examination of two teacher educator's literacies pedagogies
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21729971 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Lori Mckee (0000-0002-7856-6085, University of Saskatchewan), Tara-Lynn Scheffel (0000-0002-5467-3601, Wilfrid Laurier University) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 75-95 |
| Publication date | 2024-10-22 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Australian Journal of Language and Literacy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1038-1562 • E-ISSN: 1839-4728 |
| Publisher | University of Alberta Libraries (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.20360/langandlit29699 |
| OpenAlex | W4403673962 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
In 1997-1998, we taught in the same independently funded elementary school. As teachers of Grade 1 and Grade 2, the school leadership asked us to research and recommend a program to support early reading instruction and replace the outdated basal readers. Opinions were sometimes diverse as we met with parents and school board members to identify beliefs/priorities in early reading instruction. More than 25 years later, in our work as teacher educators in two provinces, we are embroiled in similar conversations about reading instruction in a field mapped by polarizing views expressed in reports, social media, and teacher professional texts. As teacher educators, we recognize: 1) this context as challenging for preservice teachers to enter professional practice and 2) our role in supporting preservice teachers in entering the field. This was the impetus for a research study examining our pedagogies. We ask: How are we, as teacher educators, supporting preservice teachers to navigate the theoretical and practical tensions of teaching Language Arts through our pedagogies? In this article, we share findings from a collaborative Self-Study of Teacher Education Practice (S-STEP) where we leverage our long-standing relationship as critical friends in research/teaching to examine our teacher education pedagogies in our elementary English Language Arts courses in 2022-2023. Data sources include teaching artifacts (e.g., syllabi, powerpoints, activities) and videorecordings of discussions as we share these artifacts over Zoom. Guided by posthuman perspectives, we consider the non-human and human entities that were a part of our pedagogies. Analysis is currently underway. Preliminary findings suggest a shift from sharing particular practices with each other to a focus on decision-making to support preservice teachers in weighing the desires of teaching practices in literacies as well as diffusing binaries. This article highlights teacher education practices as relational and moving in response to context
Art · English language · Language arts · Literacy · Mathematics education · Pedagogy · Sociology · The arts · Visual arts · Art Education and Development · Digital Storytelling and Education · Literacy, Media, and Education · Psychology
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |