Practical knowledge and teacher reflection from a practice-based literacy teacher education program in the first years: A longitudinal study

Abstract

This longitudinal study explores how one university’s practice-based teacher preparation program prepared literacy teachers to develop practical knowledge for teaching and how that knowledge was tested and adapted in the first years of teaching. To understand change, we identified and analyzed points of tension, challenge, or dissonance in the first years, within and across activity systems. We draw on a cross-case analysis and examples from two single cases to explain our assertions that trying on models of practice and developing reflective routines allowed teachers to make strategic choices to accommodate and resist particular practices in their school contexts. Implications include designing practicum experiences to include opportunities to reflect on tensions between activity systems from University practical experiences through the first years.

Reference

Mosley Wetzel, M., Hoffman, J. V., Roach, A. K., & Russell, K. (2018). Practical knowledge and teacher reflection from a practice-based literacy teacher education program in the first years: A longitudinal study. Teacher Education Quarterly, Winter, 87-111.

Journal

Teacher Education Quarterly

Analysis

Is this article part of a larger project or series of studies?

Does this study draw on a large, preexisting data set?

Research Approach

Activity Theory
longitudinal
Qualitiative

Geographic Setting

Southwestern United States

Institutional Context

University based

Certification Level

early childhood to 6th grade

Programatic Focus

Literacy Education

Research Location Context

University

Preservice Participants

First-year teachers
Undergraduates (university based program)

Preservice Sample Size

Duration of Data Collection

2 years

Data Sources

Interviews

Data Analysis Tools

Constant comparative analysis

Researcher Positionality

Inside (studying their own programs)

Research Questions

1. What are the ways in which the practice-based experiences provided in a preservice program lead to preservice teachers' practical knowledge of literacy teaching?
Is this research question explicit from the manuscript? Yes

2. How do preservice teachers negotiate tensions between their practical knowledge of literacy teaching and the new models of teaching they encounter during their first years?
Is this research question explicit from the manuscript? Yes