PLACE IN RETURN BOX to remove this checkout from your record. TO AVOID FINES return on or before date due. MAY BE RECALLED with earlier due date if requested. DATE DUE DATE DUE DATE DUE It I“ ‘- 022 0 12' 2/05 p:/C|RCIDateDue.indd-p.1 PRESERVICE SECONDARY TEACHERS’ CONCEPTIONS OF TEACHING FOR UNDERSTANDING, ADOLESCENTS, AND LITERACY WITHIN CONTENT AREAS By Julia Moorhead Reynolds A DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor Of Philosophy Department Of Teacher Education 2005 52:21:31.1 3C :3: a teacher. ‘ I i. I ‘qn .nva ‘ ‘ Li_l :gLy 0A 6L" w l .3 AA 91,;~"fi“ L. ~I_,..i\\u IE 1 who M? ”N- . “F‘An aasy“ {amuse SunUdL 545i»; EngniSu‘ ‘ , - l ”:“il'h-AS lunb . .\l“'":ds bun E53». Tater‘s ‘:.. “‘2'. 3A, ““2 0 case g..._ E! .1“. ‘D‘.\‘_“‘: 0f 1““ ,. Fug“ A W“ 4 ‘r.-- a. x 9 Km); ’3. ‘ as W.) CU."- .n‘. a. , V.l.‘,1;SQ. ‘b ABSTRACT PRESERVICE SECONDARY TEACHERS’ CONCEPTIONS OF TEACHING FOR UNDERSTANDING, ADOLESCENTS, AND LITERACY WITHIN CONTENT AREAS By Julia Moorhead Reynolds The purpose of this study was to determine how preservice secondary teachers’ experiences in a content literacy course shaped their understandings about what it means to be a teacher. Particularly, it was examined how they were forming their new knowledge of adolescents, teaching for understanding, and literacy within content areas and connecting it to their existing knowledge on content, adolescents, and pedagogy. Using a socioconstructivist theoretical perspective, the study focused on seventeen students who were enrolled in a course in content area literacy. The participants were preservice secondary teachers representing a variety of disciplinary areas — science, social studies, English, mathematics, physical education, art, music, business, and learning disabilities. Methods of data collection drew from a variety of data sources, including observations, interviews, and artifacts of coursework. Analyses were derived from a variety of case study and ethnographic traditions, examining the information for themes and patterns within responses. Results are presented in the form of (a) class themes and patterns of interaction and (b) course themes. Overall, it provides a strong framework for how a course in content area literacy can be structured to help preservice secondary teachers connect the messages of teacher preparation programs as they form their identities as teachers. , ‘33."?3115 W” . . ’ ‘ , 'i..3f'.‘..7.'.l;‘> Jim ti 4 4r 4 l‘ .3331)?“ U ' 3 vi .ugv fL’ ' . "H ‘ v 1" “ARI thb ‘...;I5- :32: areas arm 5 :I " T131“ d]: iCr ‘ . w :— Inn! lm‘lm Y‘ ”my.” 5 A All I '1'; ‘ ‘ I ...»3.’llt€ >Ct‘uflc‘ J‘“ w. .rtwl.iiCl Llit‘dli 'f'j'l‘lhflfii‘ *- ..-...,.ilii.\ Li'nUC .. "A ax pins In ‘ ,l 7.. .uf: “r." Runs. and :‘v".'-""‘n‘ 91 ‘ Llh m‘l'l ?. II ‘ g 5 LI]. a, ‘4‘ UL It was found that participants Ieamed about socioconstructivism while participating in activities that related to this framework during the course. Also, participants found adolescents to be challenging, and they learned that building relationships and motivation can prove to make the differences in the lives of this age group. In terms Of teaching for understanding, participants fomd that comprehension was a strong goal to work towards when teaching, and they shared many different strategies that they Ieamed and found to be helpfiil in reaching that goal. Literacy within content areas grew from being strictly about reading and writing to being a broad idea about many different literacy events, reaching beyond content to have the biggest impact on student learning. This study suggests the importance of a course in content area literacy in enabling preservice secondary content area teachers to connect various messages that they encounter throughout their teacher education experience. The analysis of how the participants conceptualized the course information supports the significance that this course plays in the role of teacher development in terms of connecting content, adolescents, and pedagogy. This study captures information to ponder when contemplating this idea, and it sets up the framework for many future discussions in this field. Copyright by JULIA MOORHEAD REYNOLDS 2005 In memory of my father \mcil‘u‘ C fijhfitlmwk Mil 10$“th )l‘ti tmmmtx—— gratis”) Lila} Hi: com 233.: Lilli task ICKI. isms m mc akin to deal 1:37 but large 0 Tahiti i ‘Alsi‘. i0 3 tail Ithn‘ltnd. 1. gram: throw l a}, L, , L ‘ ~. i n ‘ ' -- ~- .J)) MIA‘Li - lo ml ll 1: " 3,. II. ‘ i J V .l..i‘~.1.”n.\ Ill i1. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Numerous colleagues, friends, and family have contributed in a variety Of ways towards the completion of my doctoral program and this dissertation. I wish to thank all of you for what you have given to me. My committee — I gratefully acknowledge the multitude of contributions by my advisor, Mark Conley. His continued guidance, undying support, and constant encouragement helped make this task rewarding. His optimistic attitude and endless supply of energy, patience, and faith in me have made this dissertation possible. I especially appreciate his availability to deal with every issue along the way, from proposal to final product, no matter how large or small. From him, I have Ieamed the meaning of being a guide and a mentor. I wish to acknowledge the other members Of my committee — Patricia Edwards, Gail Richmond, Laura Roehler, and Ernest Morrell — who have all been strong support systems throughout graduate school, offering guidance, advice, and taking ime from their busy schedules to assist me in my Ieaming. I feel extremely fortunate that I was able to work with such a talented and knowledgeable group of people. Participants in the study — I wish to acknowledge the instructor, Jacqui Dolce, who was willing to take the risk and allow a researcher into her course and whose ongoing work in teaching preservice secondary teachers is making an important contribution to the field. I also thank the students — Adam, Boris, Chief, Dzanna, Gene, Kim, Liz, Mackenzie, Marie, vi ‘1“ his; Oprah. PW hop? dept. and \\ ”bait“! a lig)? -. 4-2 dCOi.u\p: 1.22: .11 1 am cure: has: Baker. K. “-2955” Lisa \1 l . . ," DIM ' .I i . . Q’gn“ "mu-«Lax \ u l 3.9.. My. .w'e ”at: .- .:u: “ .- 1‘...“ . TE'LJ' Y"‘|,wn ‘ uLuN. (“I'd . ‘I. I I ‘ . ‘2‘». I,“ Lt/fi‘ I|.~'Iu.h5' “5‘. ‘ . . ‘ .. , ‘ “‘1“. 0 . i,” ..tt.;.!t Or. “a. ”-3.”. ,2 ‘ flank), 1‘ U u n.,_ ‘\.>“" . “vv-xctloh. d: I ‘ A9; 1 A. ' “Ft. 4» 1‘ 'IJJ) ‘- 731—: ‘ an A I "'Umr . 05‘ ‘I' 'i 0., I “Jr In. ,, M, ' .3“ ‘01“. Marisa, Oprah, Phil, Rachel, Sara, Trey, Victoria, and Watchdog — whose perceptions, humor, depth, and willingness to Share their ideas and work taught me a great deal. Friends and Colleagues — I am extremely fortunate to have such wonderful friends and colleagues — Maureen Baker, Karen Pobojewski, Sara Bouwkamp, Jim Garofalo, Sue Liberatore, Lu Chappell, Lisa Morgan, Andrea Dewey, Sue Gutierrez, Sandy Knottnerus, Heather Downer, among others — who have continually Showed their interest and encouragement and who have supported my efforts throughout graduate school. Family — I provide a special acknowledgement to two very special people in my life. My mother, Jaclyn Moorhead, has supported me in every aspect of my life. She has been particularly helpful in my dissertation writing, being willing to read drafts and give feedback on clarity and conventions. My husband, Bill Reynolds, has been a continual source of strength throughout this process. Without his reminders to set goals and deadlines, it would have been easy to get distracted and lose focus. Both of these people make up who I am, and I am eternally grateful to have them in my life. Finally, I wish to mention my new son, William “Liam” Reynolds, who was conceived while I was collecting data, who was growing inside me while I wrote my dissertation, and who was able to “wait” to be born until eleven days after my defense date. I cannot wait to share this information with him, so he knows that part of his brain relates to my doctoral work. It is a whole new world being a mother, and I am very fortunate to have my dissertation behind me as I begin this new adventure which deserves my total and strong attention and love. vii CST OF TABLES ifliii‘L'ER l ESE-ELIDI'CTHLA Rationilc l ttganmnl ENTER 2 SERIR‘RE RI leather Er Adolesccm hesenicc Theorem Current Sr: EIPTER 3 ‘z-‘EE‘rllilDOLQm Dan C011,. Set Par i IN Rs. Pidi A» PTO iilx Dam Anal} TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ________________________________ x CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................ l Rationale for the Study .................................................................................. 5 Organization of the Study ____________________________________________________ "7 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................... 10 Teacher Education .......................................................................................... 1 l Adolescent Literacy 17 Preservice Teachers’ Resistance to Content Area Literacy ........................... 22 Theoretical Framework __ _____________________________ 26 Current Study ................................................................................................. 28 CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................................... 31 Data Collection .............................................................................................. 31 Setting ................................................................................................ 31 Participants _________________________________________________________________________________________ 33 Instructor .................. _ 44 Researcher’s Role _______________________________________________________________________________ 47 Planned Course Outline ______________________________________________________________________ 49 Assumptions and Definitions _____________________________________________________________ 55 Processes for Collecting Data ............................................................ 59 Instrument ............ 61 Data Analysis ................................................................................................. 62 Determining Themes Throughout the Class Sessions ________________________ 63 Instructor’s View ................................................................................ 66 Course Themes ................................................................................... 66 CHAPTER 4 CLASS THEMES AND PATTERNS OF INTERACTION _____________________________________ 68 Content and Structure of Class Sessions ________________________________________________________ 70 Content ..................................................... 70 Structure of Class Sessions 98 Instructor’s View ............................................................................................ 103 Adolescents ........................................................................................ 1 03 Teaching for Understanding ______________________________________________________________ 104 Literacy Within Content Areas __________________________________________________________ 105 CHAPTER 5 COURSE THEMES 107 ................................................................................................... viii Noisy-30’»: Bull M0! Atlt K- l Sun rat-1mg ‘1 0‘1 Sim M1“ for BR: 8th Tim Sur literacy \\ B'C": [111 PI: .-‘\-l M Em OH Sur CHAPTER 6 :Nll’SlifiS . Summary l (in (‘0 Sir impilt‘lilv Adolescents 1 09 Building Relationships with Adolescents .......................................... 1 12 Motivation with Adolescents _____________________________________________________________ 132 Adolescents’ Multiple Literacies ....................................................... 145 K-IZ Variations with Adolescents ..................................................... 151 Summary ________________________________________________________ 152 Teaching for Understanding .......................................................................... 154 Comprehension for Understanding ____________________________________________________ 158 Strategies as Tools for Understanding ________________ 166 Modeling to Demonstrate Understanding .......................................... I83 Connections to Build Understanding ................................................. 187 Breaking Down to Foster Understanding ___________________________________________ 191 Sociooonstructivism to Construct Understanding .............................. 197 Time Concerns for Understanding .. .. 206 Summary _ ................................ 208 Literacy Within Content Areas ...................................................................... 211 Beginning Thoughts on Literacy ________________________________________________________ 212 Unknown Ideas on Literacy ............................................................... 217 Preliminary Conceptions about Literacy ............................................ 219 A-Ha! Moments about Literacy _________________________________ 227 Writing as a Tool for Literacy ____________________________________________________________ 230 Ending Thoughts on Literacy ............................................................. 238 Overall Comments on Literacy .......................................................... 248 Summary ................................................................ 249 CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS _________________________________________________________________ 251 Summary and Discussion _______________________________________________________________________________ 251 Course Themes .......................................................... 252 Course Content .......................................................... 255 Structure of Class Sessions ________________________________________________________________ 259 Implications for Practice and Theory _____________________________________________________________ 260 Practice ............................................................................................... 260 Theory __________ 262 Significance, Limitations, and Future Research _____________________________________________ 263 APPENDICES ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 267 Appendix A .................................................................................................... 268 Appendix B ________________________________________________ 287 REFERENCES 288 ........................................................................................................... tarlPiRru fiflllPlAN‘ IHEECAIII xrrltoxrl fars-uxnl tatlrritl firriurIR. LIST OF TABLES TABLE 1: PARTICIPANTS ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, 34 TABLE 2: PLANNED COURSE OUTLINE ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, 51 TABLE 3: CATEGORIES OF ANALYSIS ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, 64 TABLE 4: CONTENT AND STRUCTURE OF CLASS SESSIONS ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, 69 TABLE 5: ADOLESCENTS ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, 111 TABLE 6: TEACHING FOR UNDERSTANDING ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, 157 TABLE 7: LITERACY WITHIN CONTENT AREAS 214 Wren 3 Pi 1:13.21". 01 .1135" 3:3; in Intcgt: .q ’7 ‘ '3 fl. .) g gi‘nkLll.‘ b ..'- L__1 f'jji'jltl" .. 3.1.15 0 2.32.1.5. . .::;.';v RI. 7:331. grrpl: m: on a 1:1 filing: 113 II. 33.2%: pr...l‘lc:11 “e in. p’Cd‘ ..\l i\ |‘ \lllllfi St‘t “3T1 135‘3 ’Tlt. “: ~' .itilli “NH 43353111 199111, I . I £135— 15. § REI'I'A 31‘ CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION When a person decides to become a teacher, teacher preparation programs present a variety of messages about teaching. Unfortunately, these messages are typically not offered in integrated ways. Traditionally, teacher candidates face a menu of courses covering content, pedagogy, assessment, and students. AS the research in teacher preparation has often noted, this “collection of courses” approach does not necessarily ensure that teacher candidates know how to put all of the information together to become an effective teacher (Fenstermacher & Richardson, 2005). Teacher preparation programs, grappling with the problem of disconnected courses and knowledge, have focused on a variety of approaches, from integrated coursework to application of knowledge via field experiences such as tutoring (Kim, Andrews, 8t Carr, 2004). And yet, the problem of isolated courses promoting discrete kinds of knowledge about teaching persists in many teacher preparation programs. Within secondary teacher preparation, the required content literacy/reading course is often designed to help teacher candidates make connections between content, pedagogy, adolescents, and context (Stewart & O’Brien, 1989; O’Brien & Stewart, 1990; Stewart, 1990). However, little is known about how such a course adds to a beginning teacher’s knowledge or identity. The purpose of this study is to determine how preservice secondary teachers’ experiences in a content literacy course shape their understandings about what it means to be a teacher. This study is important since it contributes to the growing body of literature on the need for integrated experiences within teacher preparation programs to help teacher candidates gain connected knowledge. 1 R~nJ 635“" Pa 1’1‘“.. Op" '3; 9‘ ‘5 on i“ .. ‘1 § ' «mice 5&0? :12 courses 1 '9 ii. .5»: go 1105: J,“- v a ' I I .n. “RCAI— v‘ u ”.1 oL‘ 1.3.3.14“ \ H n V F\ Q ‘R'V'i ._ ” .| z a v be.” .mg AA ~ . 0,-3.0 J‘I“‘ .3...»...'S:"L\ I I I B | III V‘V‘ 0,.-. ' LulLfl MAUI - bk ‘ ' . 1 fi!“-3.0 ‘ 3" HM» iCOti‘lr 3‘5"? wagon 2 --~..». plng, !‘ d I 1 ~- "F'v. “"1“ I. 0L. M " It ‘84;\ .K‘. .. _ ~ .., '19- - w ~~ W utVQJ‘e .3.” .- .i,'__ ~u~.3.‘lt,43\'\.:.‘ V a 4 TWOH': Cuncm ,‘ >4" \ *3“ a" -, ' .- ‘i'T‘v‘V. ‘ «.4. 7&1 u. M. i“; ' . .;.~.4 . \.i ‘P :3": ‘ 'Hv‘ug‘ 9%.. ' no D, '46‘5‘1.‘ {4‘ '.v I”; p I. " - I ”I“: r'fiY‘ ‘51., ’14 \“‘.I . ru- hf M... V‘ 3'4; Teacher education, particularly at the secondary level, has put an emphasis Since the 19803 on teachers knowing how to teach content (Cochran-Smith, 2004). Currently, preservice secondary teachers are allowed to choose their major and minor, are required to take courses on how to teach in those areas, spend time doing fieldwork in classrooms relating to those disciplines (observing, assisting, and/or student teaching), and finally, look to obtain jobs teaching in one or both content areas. Teacher education courses go back and forth between helping preservice teachers knowing how to manage a classroom and knowing how to teach content. Modern initiatives (and federal mandates) argue that content-specific types of preparation will result in highly-qualified secondary teachers who know that teaching content is their main objective as long as students are quiet and obedient (Cochran-Smith, 2004). In fact, there has been much more of a focus on whether preservice and in-service teachers have knowledge in their subject areas than if they know if their students are learning anything, even though, ironically, standardized tests to measure students’ content knowledge loom in the background once the teacher enters a classroom. Current federal legislation (No Child Left Behind Act, 2002) reasserts the position that teachers must know their subject matter in order to teach well. Teachers face renewed content-based pressures in the form of new curriculum, standards, and standardized testing (Conley & Hinchman, 2004). Practicing teachers are undergoing unprecedented scrutiny about their qualifications based on their understandings of content. Preservice and in-service teachers are left wondering how they can find time to focus on their students when there is so much content to “cover” in the curriculum, based either on standards and/or mandated testing. These policies, ranging from teacher .ie.‘ 9' d p ULHCJY‘ Eli , . n s 9 twigs ls tl‘. 73:22:10.1 pro; "airmen: 1h! gar-11. The en misfit 11111. mi. 51; march 1h. 11‘ In" zc- 11.125111 I . Iqaluit: gfsemze. P311? 3“)"‘"~V ‘ i 2....itlf) Ill 1th sis-5:11:11. and tit”. J .....>'.11.1hc 1‘11 Ins 111 late ' LA 1.31:» lo 111: fl. . . .39 . ,1! l 1’ k Ital; 1 for I; l‘ “J\.i:§ O l .113 STIR " 1‘ ihwuxi‘ I {it Diff I t preparation to regulations concerning practicing teachers, place teachers’ content knowledge and pedagogy at the center. Teacher education takes differing positions among experts in the field as to which directions should be taken for reform (Cochran-Smith & Fries, 2002). Outside of the federal mandates for content knowledge, there are proponents who argue that pedagogical knowledge is the most critical for preservice teachers to acquire during a teacher preparation program (Gore, 2001). As a result, “methods” courses have become a requirement that can either relate specifically to a discipline or to pedagogical ideas in general. The emphasis there is that preservice teachers must know how to teach their content, with information coming at them relating to teaching practices. However, there is no research that shows how the teacher candidates make sense of ' these messages and come to understand their role as a future teacher. Advocates of adolescent literacy promote the contrasting view that teachers (preservice, beginning, and veteran) Should know about adolescents and the multiple literacies in their lives, almost to the exclusion of the content of the curriculum, assessment, and school contexts. Alvermann (1998) argues that teachers need to understand the complexities that face adolescents, advocating for student voices to be the focus in instruction. Also, the research on adolescent literacy focuses on teaching students to think, ask questions, and critically analyze the world around them. It advocates for adolescents to showcase their multiple literacies, both in and out of school. Studies of adolescents engaged in different activities, beyond just reading, display various aspects of their literacy abilities (Alvermann, Young, Green, & Wisenbaker, 1999). The focus of this research has been on the thinking that takes place within the I that} ICE‘I'CS' ‘ . ..1-\“'""c L :33 “WAD“ “ ~,"l".p“’ 1 .._:.-"\§ cl...- ska-‘5‘” “' l «luv-'9' k .1 :v5 I 117%? ~= "* 1' .5M‘5 “‘u‘ u .’ ' ‘ :‘~'.‘1“ ‘\ r‘ 55;;{15‘4 \0“ h . vv I a; 5 I 4" m, -23.: of I 1 a Q-‘AA‘. l. ‘11“ 4 "'3: h. .1. c»hun~ N‘ b V '1" “G 1a ' . “‘"f'W " ‘5 uthuubz. 3‘ b .4-..“ .L ' C a W‘" E‘5Uuur. sir» IIIIKI I «6 .5, . I V . 1 0 ~ . n 5.18». i Iew‘nrl I 'y‘hg.‘ '. AMI. ‘y-w“ S «A... | J“ h a, a ‘,o ""‘Nu Inn-'6‘ . llt~ activities, and how students can easily go beyond the school context to Show their intelligence (Moje, 2000). In fact, when teachers value the multiple literacies shown by students (Hinchman & Moje, 1998; Moje, Willes, & Fassio, 2001; O'Brien, Springs, & Stith, 2001), students are more likely to be motivated to engage in these literacies during school (Graves, 2004). Yet, there is virtually no research available on how adolescent literacy courses help preservice teachers learn about adolescents, their multiple literacies, and how to translate these understandings into classroom practice, particularly in the various content areas. Courses in content area literacy raise the potential of bridging the disciplinary knowledge that is necessary within a content area, the pedagogical knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge (Shuhnan, 1987) that is needed by teachers, and the learning needs of students (in this case, adolescents). Yet, it should also go a step further by advocating that teachers need to help their students understand the content that they are teaching, and even encourage students to make connections to their lives and to question the information they learn. These thinking Skills, making up the “invisible” part of student learning, are necessary in order for students to understand the content that teachers know so well and to become literate within a discipline (V acca, 2002). Plus, content area literacy should embrace the literacies that adolescents bring to school, and make this part of what preservice teachers consider when learning about adolescents. This stresses the importance of preservice teachers having a course in content area literacy, which encourages them to consider literacy when thinking about their content and their students. It can serve as the bridge between teacher education and adolescent .33... connect iterate lt‘fit’hk‘ lzriarnle for Iht [1111131111. 1211212111 are; matron tour: xmaralnm :11: connecnor up from mment alum. Limit-1d hm tl This plt‘i my state arr Wren, 1996 1. 7f: ,3 ’VA. ,...r.1.e teach" literacy, connecting the content, pedagogy, and adolescents and helping to define preservice teachers’ conceptions of what it mean to become a teacher. Rationale for the Study Unfortunately, little is known about what preservice teachers come to understand in a content area literacy course, situated in the context of Ieamings from other teacher preparation courses (Readence, Bean, & Baldwin, 2004). Ideally, a preservice course in content area literacy contributes to teacher preparation by helping preservice teachers make connections between subject matter and student Ieaming. But, given multiple messages from teacher preparation courses that emphasize content, pedagogy, and assessment, along with adolescent literacy emphasizing adolescents, it is difficult to understand how these connections might emerge. This problem is important, given that almost every teacher preparation program in every state across the country requires that preservice secondary teachers complete at least one secondary reading/content area literacy course (Romine, McKenna, & Robinson, 1996). Without knowing how courses in content area literacy contribute to preservice teachers’ Ieaming that the teacher education community is promoting and contribute to the agenda that the adolescent literacy community is advocating, it is difficult at best to argue for mandated or required courses in content area literacy within teacher preparation programs or tO say how those courses could or should contribute to well-qualified teachers. At the same time, this course could play a role in connecting key kinds of knowledge — content, pedagogy, and pedagogical content. This Snxiy is about what preservice teachers come to understand about teaching and Ieaming in a teacher u «ri'lon COU :irrzfiing. :1 “if Jun'l ($335 17131 hdl 3:35 are base :21: and sci if.” The ltk‘l 3.27:3 literacy zisrcrndmgs 1 - .<.\.it to SILdk‘n 2.4., .4 M 31 Pills. ll 1 125.1511. just .1111 Trait-1n COUIS .3171: The c . , I 4 ascents. real .5. '14 "n ugLihl‘li .3301 Rita ”.v . ~‘~‘ 311d cunt" preparation course in content area literacy, focusing on adolescents, teaching for understanding, and literacy within content areas. We don’t know the potential of a course in content area literacy, particularly since studies that have examined the conceptions of preservice secondary teachers in these courses are based on problematic assumptions about the students’ knowledge of reading, context, and schooling (Stewart & O’Brien, 1989; O’Brien & Stewart, 1990; Stewart, 1990). The focus of these studies looked at the resistance of the students in taking the required literacy course. Yet, the studies did not seek to explore deeply what understandings the students did learn from the course, how this related to teaching content to students, and what this meant to their perceptions of what it means to become a teacher. Plus, it leaves open the question of whether or not the students were resistant, or possibly just confused, as they tried to make connections between their other teacher preparation courses, their disciplinary major and minor courses, and the required literacy course. The current study examines preservice teachers’ understandings about adolescents, teaching for understanding, and literacy within content areas in the context of a content area literacy course, while blending their understandings gathered from other courses and experiences within their preservice teacher preparation program. It is important to examine how preservice teachers make sense of content teaching and adolescents as they participate in a course in content area literacy. The focus of this study will be on the content within a course that provides preservice teachers with opportunities to think about their futures as content area teachers while considering the adolescents who will be their future students. Also, this study will examine how literacy plays a role in understanding adolescents and how literacy can help content area teacl’ers ;‘:.<-.;'at teaching their who ,5: me hm :iz‘fstartdmg o .1, HQ“ dk.‘ content 2. HO“ dt" within C 3. H0“ d0 333s. d; 553 Question- 3:37,; area lit: Liffilindmg, ; 1’31 l'ntil {bit if???" .. . ‘2‘ Mill 5cm Organization of T36 0.71m consider teaching for understanding of their content. Given that teachers need to know both their subject knowledge and content-related pedagogical knowledge, while at the same time having an understanding of the students they teach and how to teach 6r understanding of content, important questions are: 1. How do preservice content area teachers come to understand adolescents during a content area literacy course? 2. How do preservice content area teachers conceptualize teaching for understanding within content areas during a content area literacy course? 3. How do preservice content area teachers conceptualize literacy within content areas during a content area literacy course? These questions are important because they address the problem of how a course it content area literacy could contribute to the development of preservice teachers and their understandings about adolescents, teaching for understanding, and literacy within content areas. Until this is explored, there will remain an unknown question of how content area literacy can serve as the bridge between teacher education and adolescent literacy. Organization of the Study The organization of the remainder of this dissertation is as follows: Qapter 2: Literature Review Chapter 2 reviews current research and positions that have been taken on teacher education, adolescent literacy, and content area literacy. It introduces the theoretical perspective — socioconstructivism — which focuses on the construction of knowledge in social contexts, both by the subjects in the study and as the main theoretical framework of I—— t: 50111nt at .neon Fir 9.1:”;‘1 \ a ‘ -:‘,3v ‘ \t; l a»"" - / (u, r.“ rlvl U' I f :: rsitzau‘l‘ ‘: ‘ ! ;-_.‘=;'~ it"‘ji‘ FL“ 4.535 0t inter. ~43: prot ldt‘s -..,_ . i ...-I ':,11 F ~ Jud; (him; I l n' T g 5 ~ ”L. , 7% i Ely "l'l "’ I A ‘V . I win-44.1w” 5. .ff 7': ‘ - :il‘imk‘tlllr‘\ I’VE! ' it “‘4 . wt} C‘ 'r" :n 7"44'.‘ . ‘ Willi}: the content area literacy course. The chapter will also introduce findings that are available on preservice teachers and their experiences in content area literacy courses. Chapter 3: Methodology Chapter 3 presents the research questions and the underlying assumptions about the methodology used. The methodology chapter describes: (a) the setting in which the study took place — a content area literacy course at a small liberal arts college in the Midwest; (b) the participants - seventeen preservice secondary teachers; and (c) processes for data collection, including sources for data. The chapter concludes with a detailed description of how the data were analyzed. The results are presented in Chapters 4 and 5. @pter 4: Class Themes and Patterns of Interaction Chapter 4 explores several themes that emerged from the data and describes patterns of interaction to allow the reader to understand the context of the course. This chapter provides an overall sense of the ways in which the instructor and the students interacted throughout the course with the course themes of adolescents, teaching for understanding, and literacy within content areas. It also describes how participants were encouraged to make connections to their existing knowledge of content, adolescents, and pedagogy. The first section is divided into narratives about the class sessions observed and explanations of the types of activities in which students engaged. The section about the instructor’s view of adolescents, teaching for understanding, and literacy within content areas explores the components of the implicit and explicit messages the instructor provided to the students. Chapter 5: Course Themes Chiptet inst“"stca ;.lt-. 1' ', o ' 1'" 7.36 into .‘L-l I” .~. \ i‘. ll‘lt‘mif t'..1‘_‘.j73 Of ‘ L- A mb;b . 1:45.: 3 sum ~- ~ .1..,, 6‘ C' .._-..‘.§. 4‘. ‘ ¢.\ ————.— Chapter .. .. it to pm statues and s; Chapter 5 presents the cases of the students within the themes of the course — adolescents, teaching for understanding, and literacy within content areas. Each theme is divided into subthemes that emerged from the data based on students’ responses. There is also information on how the participants were making connections to their existing knowledge of content, adolescents, and pedagogy. I concluded each subtheme by providing a summary of what was significant about the students’ experiences. C_hapter 6: Conclusion_s and Implications Chapter 6 summarizes the findings and discusses the significance of the study, linking it to previous work. Implications for practice and theory are presented as well as limitations and suggestions for fiiture research. Tms rim; 7%.: it indies 33:}: \m. 2:»: in a 50th *Tfi‘sr “be ~bi. Prawn 16 2:35 01 COUT‘ Efii‘b on iCJT 5:231 and wt :3” The in' its feet prefiit. '2’“. ‘0’ - hinting. mC\‘ {“31 .1113»; a tistun :‘h'u ., I an“) HUM bt' .C‘Tfififf thr “is” ink (”in t and wit l ’ Him (1‘ t “I‘l'i r. "NJ. CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter describes discourse on teacher education and adolescent literacy, plus, it includes a section on preservice secondary teachers’ resistance to content area literacy. Next, the chapter lays out the theoretical assumptions for the study and the course in a socioconstructivist framework. Rationale for the current study concludes the chapter. Preservice teachers journey through their teacher preparation programs by taking a series of courses that may or may not connect to one another. In some courses, there is a focus on learning disciplinary content, in others, there is a focus on teaching the content, and yet in others, there is a focus on managing a classroom or assessing student Ieaming. The intent of these courses is to create a preservice teacher who is well-rounded in his/her preparation to become a teacher, but the danger is that these multiple (and often conflicting) messages can lead to fragmented knowledge instead of providing guidance in forming a vision of their own role as a teacher. That is why a course in content area literacy could be helpful, since it could provide preservice teachers with opportunities to consider their audience — adolescents — when thinking about planning lessons, teaching content, and setting expectations. It could also put teaching for understanding at the forefront, as content area literacy becomes a possible connection for teacher education and adolescent literacy. Important questions to ask are: 1. How do preservice content area teachers come to understand adolescents during a content area literacy course? 2. How do preservice content area teachers conceptualize teaching for understanding within content areas during a content area literacy course? 10 :‘ Hon dc- .. 4-. 1'34) 4 "is question :i’.:;:‘:on a. ‘- z The tic Terence and fame teaci frigi-gical tc, 4‘... . . 442.1) :36 m“: leather Educ: Teacher ”M‘js' _ ' ‘y-Ji‘fl p A V 7' . l C_‘C / ll '1. “I ‘. I- ‘" .' - “5““. Jill: 3:3»... , ,lu) m Rude“, 3. How do preservice content area teachers conceptualize literacy within content areas during a content area literacy course? These questions are important since they can provide information on what Ieaming takes place during a content area literacy course and if this Ieaming can help to bridge teacher education arrl adolescent literacy. The field of teacher education has provided mixed messages to teachers, both preservice and inservice, on what matters and is important when it comes to being an effective teacher. There are strong arguments for both content knowledge and pedagogical techniques as ways to reach students. Yet, there is no definitive answer on what is the most effective or how a preservice teacher takes these messages and develops a complete persona of what it takes to be a teacher. Teacher Education Teacher education has continually struggled over what it could and should be in preparing preservice teachers (Zeichner, 1993) or providing evidence of its effects (Allington, 2005; Barry, 2005). The majority of the focus in the literature with secondary teachers in teacher education relates to how they learn to teach content or learn how to manage a class (Cochran-Smith, 2004; Ball, 2000). Various teacher educators and scholars within disciplines have written articles and conducted studies on the learning that takes place for preservice teachers as they begin to see their roles change from a student of a chosen discipline to someone who is a scholar and a teacher in a discipline (Wilson, Floden, & Ferrini- Mundy, 2002). This type of preparation can provide preservice teachers with a certain view of teaching, where the teacher and his/her knowledge are key components to becoming an effective teacher. In most cases, when ll :rssmce Wt r.'t:;ls mew. Teacher fire-n littlcr :: mm of ti : Edit to COL Hist cduratn .5232: and an; grant knn‘nlc t none of Jinhndmg th Content l [‘i'iM' i' . .....nitt‘un tor 1);,53 fOI bl *' i the challenges of teaching adolescents is addressed, there is virtually no mention of how much deeper the complexity can develop when a teacher tries to help his/her students comprehend the content through reading, writing, thinking, and discussion. This struggle that the field of teacher education has in defining itself can only serve to confuse a preservice teacher who is attempting to create an identity as a teacher while receiving multiple messages on what is important to know and to do when becoming a teacher. Teacher education defines its purpose as preparing effective teachers, yet there has been little research done as to whether this happens or not (Cochran- Smith, 2001). In fact, many of the leaders in the field argue that much more needs to be done in this area in order to counteract the pressures coming from the federal government to regulate teacher education (Allington, 2005). Since every teacher education program varies in content and approach, each program is varied in what is important to teach, such as content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and/or pedagogical content knowledge. Plus, none of these areas, particularly, relate to helping teacher candidates in understanding their future students. Content knowledge is important, since without it there would not be disciplinary information for students to learn, discuss, question, and/or disregard. Shulman (1987) argues for both content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge (teaching content). Unfortunately, little attention has been paid by the research community to studying pedagogical content knowledge and the impact it has on Ieaming to teach (Segall, 2004; Bullough, 2001). Plus, knowing content and knowing how to teach it does not necessarily take into account the audience — in this case, adolescents — who may or may not be struggling to comprehend the content, particularly as it grows in difficulty. 12 -[ h. 7".42. [hf P‘d it i ’ zzgn'unu‘ nerd. Euzet , . I -:;:-:5 Wm J.".'.".:’Ti. mini: :xbfifiSnfli resent-3e tea: » ," .J¢Q- 4 :AvéulJIii )n '47-» '5 «v9. 7 £13.th .mqn - ‘fwifdi‘l ddllh Xi'fij‘ Piih t l") ......T‘,L etc“ Ct It 31-‘4' «ufle.and ) . 0“?!er _ '2‘; .-m knunl. iiiefllini. (t' iiul\n(iv "7723-1 of , . iii- 4’ H": ‘."d {In . . l. Plus, the pedagogical practices may or may not relate specifically to helping students actually understand the content that is being taught. Conflicting messages (Bertone, Meard, Euzet, Ria, & Durand, 2003) can cause more confiision as a preservice teacher begins working with students and wonders whether the main objective is teaching content, managing a classroom, and/or teaching students to learn subject material. These varied messages about content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and classroom management could come at the expense of thinking about students. Cochran-Smith (2004) argues this by stating that teacher education focuses on the preservice teacher Ieaming “without adequate attention to pupils’ Ieaming” (297). This concentration on the teacher as the learner, both content-driven and pedagogically, excludes the fact that there are students who are the receivers of this knowledge. The most brilliant scholar and thinker is not effective as a teacher, if his/her students don’t learn anything (Hinchman, 1985; Sturtevant, 1996). Without reference to the students, especially adolescents at the secondary level, the transmission of content will be rendered useless. Plus, there needs to be a focus on whether or not the students comprehend the content, even if the teacher has strong content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and classroom management skills. Despite new federal legislation about highly qualified teachers that emphasizes content knowledge, not everyone believes that this specific knowledge is solely sufficient. Cochran-Smith (2003) points out that while the current federal educational policy (No Child Left Behind Act, 2002) requires “highly qualified teachers”, who have a command of subject matter, to be employed in schools, only 19% of the general public, surveyed on characteristics of an effective teacher, saw content knowledge as most 13 «‘0 ”8331‘ In -4} ‘ 7:11:11)?- IO 3 .‘j 3 5112161 ta ere flees «Dari 3:3: ih‘int >l' ;.t::rit-tinl}‘ a tree". knits le 5501.2 that eat: rt .eLs out it EVCI‘. Iht 4 5 '9- .WI‘ \l‘ 4m ~ .7 41111;“ 0 iisi ' ' “'w'l‘ l) 1an \f‘?‘ E ' ', \e-A , if \. "' " u.)j\e Ir] til. 1,, r Te' ‘L .3' OCR“. l\ \ . 1 )‘t .uv‘a ( v.. 4" V‘ _ .uxd nm 1' Sum ~‘t - \yli‘.) I i [in important. In fact, knowledge about students and being able to engage students was most important to almost 50% of the respondents. It is interesting to consider that the general public, with their fundamental knowledge of schools based mostly on their own experiences as students (Lortie, 1975), can see beyond the exclusive importance of content. Something is missing when the federal government mandates the focus of teacher preparation programs to be exclusively on knowing and teaching content. Research has shown that teachers who came from teacher education programs, with a subject— matter emphasis, experienced initial success when teaching, but the success tapered off as teaching became more of a reality with students in real school contexts (Darling— Hammond, 2000). Also, research demonstrated that teachers who were aware about students and their Ieaming styles were more effective in their teaching than a content-only approach (Darling- Hammond, 2000). A combination of Ieaming about subject knowledge, pedagogy, and students could be the best formula. What is unknown is how that can happen and how those connections are made, which is what the current study sets out to discover. Even those who branch into pedagogical content knowledge have the potential to leave students out of the conversation. Subject matter knowledge that preservice teachers develop is inadequate when considering the contexts of a middle school or high school setting (Noddings, 1998). Methods courses can be offered within a discipline, so that preservice teachers learn pedagogical content that is needed for their role as teachers. Yet, preservice teachers are inundated with coursework in their major and minor areas, so they need time to look beyond content and see the importance of teaching that content to students (Virta, 2002). Attention must be paid to the students who these future teachers 14 .i’. teaeh. and I."i'.£\'1$. Plus. ~.;‘} he tml “it :“siriized tes 3557 in putt: Content “fired to ten '37:; that to timing on 1h; :55 has 110 r His-Steal me >313. ex en \\ 111 Ad‘\ 0C d1,“ extents in will teach, and whether or not consideration of student Ieaming could impact the contexts. Plus, considering whether or not the students actually comprehend the content will be vital when considering the pressures to cover curriculum and prepare students for standardized tests and other various forms of assessments. There needs to be something to assist in putting all of this information together. Content methods courses often put focus on the disciplinary knowledge that is required to teach. Quinn (1997) researched a mathematical methods course and the Ieaming that took place among the preservice teachers, both elementary and secondary, focusing on their attitudes and content knowledge throughout the course. Ironically, there was no mention of any discussions about students and how the mathematical pedagogical methods would have an impact or not on student learning. This content focus, even within a methods course, shows the neglect of adolescents (and in this case, even children) and the lack of consideration of potential students when considering becoming a teacher. Advocates, arguing for moving pedagogical methods courses into disciplinary departments in colleges and universities, display the premise that content is still considered the main knowledge that preservice teachers need to develop and demonstrate. There is strong belief in the importance of methods courses being held within the academic departments (Shedd, 2000). The main thought is that teachers teach content, and that is why they need to be taught how to teach this content by experts in the discipline. Yet, consideration should also be paid to the fact that teachers teach students, and the content cannot be taught unless the pedagogy and the audience are taken into account when planning lessons and activities (Segall, 2004). This fragmentation of 15 $3.". 1C .03. ,,i 35:07.35 to di ting: C0! cregies to s 3‘3 Gixer 31.3375 were ‘ ;:=:::nt knmt] iii-SIS In 1 35:25" writ iféltilt‘r 35111:] “CH-L .33 f]. (15115 On U . -“ 3 $3 1"; ' 3 ¢ MT p"l‘dr‘iti l "ts 211. "u " Whine n ’ \ '~‘ 1,12... ‘*‘~;\ L1 tum ~ mu. m i \ i i t. . )0 iii]; knowledge can only lead to disjointed messages being received and interpreted by preservice teachers. In some cases, consideration of students has been trivialized into using false personas to display an interest in students, but not actually using real students to show how things could potentially work. Preservice teachers have been studied as they Ieamed strategies to solve mathematical problems (Van Dooren, Verschaffel, and Onghena, 2002). Given problems that had been solved by “imaginary” students, preservice teachers were told to respond to student work. The entire focus of the study was on the content knowledge of the preservice teachers, and little mention was made of the students. In fact, the idea that imaginary students’ work was used instead of real students’ work illustrated that students were never a factor to be considered in the first place. Teacher education has struggled to balance all of the variables that go into preparing well—qualified teachers. One way that the field has tried to resolve the problem is to focus on content and subject matter knowledge, mirroring the federal mandates for teacher preparation. An overemphasis on content and subject matter knowledge actually throws things out of balance, leaving the field lopsided in one direction and lacking a strong focus. This merits the need for a course that focuses on the students, in this case adolescents, and considers the understanding of those students when planning lessons. This course could assist preservice teachers in considering how they would teach their students, concentrating on helping students comprehend the content that the teacher knows so well. This is the gap that keeps content knowledge separate from student understanding, and there is a need to focus on adolescents and literacy. Unfortunately, 16 ' ..Ct' pr 7 . .. ma". 5...» 1» ”'"nnv Adolescent Lit Tne 74 I ,3.‘ .. 9 iVJI flimkfni in» r ‘ I V. 3"." if)" 00.: a...“ 0:01 5“; .2“. ,tt. 1.; -1» \u. . , A WW '5 1r gi-U‘A‘ll A ' n hie-Jun" 1.- 3 4 "kiln“; ksl “bk h ‘. 4 ’t. egg t_.\rC: Yeppa‘p.qfi 'L _ \o min...“ A. u u. i I “’9‘"? t5» uh Mn»; '- .L 81K. Y A ""‘a . o '4 . H «n hm%.m‘0 Ltd. a '3’ 3.. 1 ’.".‘\ iiyihé‘ 'l ' «"4 ,' . in: “3331‘. 1— A Mu .u; Q A -p . l t Uuigi'tes' ' VV». it” or . Alyl‘ I L - fi'i‘u‘trali . iv.“3.‘\‘ \ ’h. “if '2.‘ ;, ‘i V .yxd‘in v the field of adolescent literacy has also been struggling to define itself in varying contexts of learning situations, in and out of school. Adolescent Literacy The paradigm change in the field of secondary reading has been towards adolescent literacy, with an emphasis on studying youth and their literacy practices within and outside of school. This change was seen as necessary, due to the inattention paid to the capital that adolescents have when it comes to literacy (Moje, 2002). Yet, the pendulum is in danger of swinging almost too far in this direction, to the point that focusing on adolescents exclusively can leave behind the school contexts and the content Ieaming (Moje, Young, Readence, & Moore, 2000), resulting in disconnected information that does not directly relate to pedagogical practices. Plus, courses for preservice teachers in teacher preparation programs have not quite caught up with this change in focus, still offering courses in “secondary reading” or “content area reading” (Stevens, 2002). Often these courses focus on reading and writing strategies, but do not delve deeply into the complexities of teaching strategies to adolescents. Yet, a course that focuses solely on adolescent literacy is not necessarily a replacement for what has previously been in existence with secondary reading and content area reading. When it comes to research conducted on adolescent literacy, the most recent work has focused solely on the students, almost to the exclusion of the school context. In fact, the research tends to argue that the students are the focal point, and the teachers need to start there and possibly teach content once the adolescents’ needs are taken care of by the teacher and the class (Moje, 1996). This could be an effective classroom management technique, but it does not connect the knowledge of content or pedagogy into 17 ’9 131.3511 Che] 3:31 In 3 i “Kl-i"; 01 [h' _kru5 l tecetmon t; [sing .‘trpir'anee 01 {Istnann Y saleseenu. at 311' bt‘flfls I Mines of th. crfizxersstiuns e tinisnelt b\ "‘1? , M inle' ‘5 I“ ,. consideration for the preservice teacher. O’Brien (1998) wrote that adolescents need to be given choices in their Ieaming in order to be engaged and successful. Yet, although written in a school context, the premise of his argument is on the students’ learning outside of the realm of school. In fact, secondary schools are criticized for teaching content when teachers should be teaching students. This misses the point that there needs to be a blending of the two — content and adolescents. This would help a preservice teacher become more connected in thinking about how to teach content to students, and to consider that there actually is an “audience” when teaching. Literacy could function as the common thread to tie it all together. Using out-of-school practices to demonstrate literacy knowledge shows the lesser importance of disciplinary content in school when considering adolescent literacy. Alvermann, Young, Green, and Wisenbaker (1999) studied after school book clubs with adolescents, and then analyzed the interactions of the students while they were discussing their books. Students reported a favorable view of the book clubs due to the social practices of the meetings. Plus, the adolescents appreciated that they could have “real” conversations about the books with each other, instead of having discussions directed exclusively by a teacher. The students also valued the opportunity to choose what they wanted to read, which made them feel that their interests were important. Once again, this study exclusively looked at adolescents’ lives and situated the literacy learning outside of school. This cannot possibly change the way that disciplinary teachers view their roles within secondary schools, while working with adolescents, without taking school contexts into account. The fragmentat'nn of the information only leads to isolated knowledge in understanding students. 18 :f ten literae 5.;- ¢;-.19 "h ,2 inmlu 3:3 :1 .117" '1 "2+ mm! :15 The {on Thinking skills is an area that is critical when considering all of the various literacy practices that adolescents engage in throughout their lives. In fact, studies of adolescents engaged in different activities beyond just reading displayed various aspects of their literacy abilities (Alvermann, Young, Green, & Wisenbaker, 1999). The focus of this research has been on the thinking that took place within the activities and how students did not need a school context to show their intelligence (Moje, 2000). In fact, when teachers valued the multiple literacies shown by students (Hinchman & Moje, 1998; Moje, Willes, & Fassio, 2001; O'Brien, Springs, & Stith, 2001), it influemed students’ motivation to engage in activities during school (Graves, 2004). More research is needed that illuminates how these multiple literacies can be enacted within a disciplinary context, and how secondary teachers can foster that development in content learning. By fostering the connections among the information, preservice secondary teachers would have opportunities to consider how each area contributes to their development as a teacher. The focus on adolescents, in spite of or even in exclusion from school contexts, acts as a competing agenda to the focus on content that teacher education proposes. There needs to be a blending of the two — content and adolescents — for preservice teachers to consider how becoming a content teacher can also connect to becoming a teacher of adolescents. It is important for preservice teachers to develop an understanding of their students, so that they can keep the students’ needs and interests in mind when planning lessons and when working with students. Yet, with pressures from federal policy makers dealing with curriculum and assessment, the focus on content still looms in the background. 19 L‘ndefi ' ‘i . archer \\ m -» mitts-16 fl“ ... . .4 71,11; \kilCIl flittte a kit twice te; relation e .‘Ziesroorn m1 3325:5312; th tannin thus V re ”Uri: ;_ first course . 1 . girth 1 I. I I. ' 4.1. “\kfn‘ [ICE Trier in m. - r,» :I. I ’ limit lit! 'dtttttie ilr‘iT'l-‘ce s» if’ri a Understanding students is only one part when considering the multifaceted role of a teacher who is able to effectively teach content to students. This dramatic shift from the multiple messages in teacher education to an adolescent focus in adolescent literacy is striking when considering how a preservice teacher might attempt to connect the two and become a knowledgeable teacher of both content and students. When we consider preservice teachers and their complex journey in making sense of their teacher preparation experiences, the contrast between focusing on content, pedagogy, and classroom management, along with focusing on students, can pose challenges. Without considering the discourse communities within disciplines in schools, and how adolescents fit within those communities, there is a gap that exists between schools and students (Moje, 2002). This is why a study examining the knowledge Ieamed in a content area literacy course can shed light on how preservice teachers connect all of the information together. Teacher preparation tries to cover so many different concepts that teachers need to know — content, pedagogy, and classroom management. Adolescent literacy promotes an agenda of understanding students. There are few, if any, mechanisms in teacher preparation that help preservice teachers deliberately connect these areas. The fact that adolescent literacy pushes students’ lives outside of school complicates the problem even firrther in many ways. One could speculate that this could be very confusing and ineffective for the students in teacher preparation programs who are looking to develop their identities as teachers within a school context. The conclusion in the past is that preservice secondary teachers are “resistant” when considering literacy, when in fact the reality could be that when faced with choices between content, pedagogy, discipline, and 20 33565315 “ 11 :eimine th; 3125 Mill ‘ ;:-fs;iertrzg Lit: ~35 to 111mm leather iszng of sir ..::ent that is 1 ii ‘Exery te :zigllj. tire-ugh mix} teae'r. '3 "content ar ‘ Import-.1 3.2111035. Tm :1 content and Ten; able to re: E123? students e \fgp'fij ' w. and n 12:41: T101 be L \— - s t": '1»? 'h,l_l‘.; adolescents with no way of connecting them, they could just become frustrated. We need to examine the content within a content area literacy course that provides preservice teachers with opportunities to think about their future as a content area teacher while considering the adolescents who will be their future students. That is what this study hopes to illuminate and add to the conversation within the field. Teachers in content areas need to be aware of literacy and how it impacts the Ieaming of students in their subject areas, resulting in students comprehending the content that is being taught (Pressley, 2004). In fact, in the 19308 when William S. Gray said, “Every teacher a teacher of reading” (Moore, Readance, & Rickelman, 1983 ), this initially brought attent'nn to reading beyond the elementary grades and to the forefront of secondary teachers’ responsibilities across content areas. The terms “secondary reading” and “content area reading” have recently taken on larger meanings in many contexts, putting importance on the need to change the terms to reflect the complexity in the definitions. The move to “content area literacy” put a focus on students’ comprehension of content and ability to think critically about subject matter knowledge beyond just being able to read words on a page. Of course, problems of definitions of literacy with older students can add to the multiple messages on what is important, what should be studied, and what teachers need to know to help their students. Again, the connections would not be clear and the information would be presented in a fragmented, disjointed manner. The federal government appears to be concerned that every child can read by the end of third grade, and assumes that things should “magically” happen in student Ieaming once a child can “read” by decoding (No Child Left Behind Act, 2002). Content 21 :ctontes more can how tr rim-tron. tier: artempti xif': etching . >qo .9 ‘ “Ida 1301?). II €272; has to. ‘3 tie a result $233.1 1991.11 3.31} i‘l‘sed n it: lack of time mitt-es in sect ’ fissures of w . dri: jeanlcd « J i 4-.-::seents {it'll r .\_ . .rxi'innetted n "'“u'iltlns 31- 11‘. fart. ‘ .l n». ;\ Pg, ‘ -' C' :s.‘ ' Ma r becomes more difficult as students continue in school, however, and teachers need to know how to help students comprehend content and make meaning out of the information. Teachers in content areas must be aware of the difficulties facing students when attempting to construct meaning and understand content, and these teachers need to keep teaching for understanding in the forefront of their teaching. Through these connections, they will be much better prepared to confront challenges and to embrace the complexities that occur when teaching content to adolescents. Preservice Teachers’ Resistance to Content Area Literacy Traditional research in the area of preservice teacher preparation in secondary literacy has focused on the students’ resistance towards and misconceptions about having to take a reading/literacy course (O'Brien, 1988; Stewart & O’Brien, 1989; O'Brien & Stewart, 1990). There is documented evidence supporting the students’ negativity, mostly based on their own beliefs about teaching and Ieaming (Stewart, 1990), such as the lack of time to implement reading/literacy strategies, the mismatch of reading/literacy practices in secondary classrooms to their memories as a student, and their conceptions of the pressures of cun'iculum to teach content. It does not relate at all to what the students actually Ieamed in the course, or how it helped them put into context their ideas about adolescents and teaching their discipline. There is no information available on the disconnected nature of their teacher preparation or how they were struggling to make connections among all of the information. In fact, results are mixed on the effectiveness of a literacy course at the secondary level (Gehrke, Shaefer, & Schlick, 1982). Considering that a “secondary reading” course is required by virtually every state in the country (Romine, McKenna, & Robinson, 22 .6er ll I5 1m? ii the qUCSIIC 7:33.113“ for S garment n U nurse or [11 Within ; re cases of se :ssrr-nm tear} 1:17 (Bean 3 31”.“. “lie oppom sani'ledge of ti 33101131 (Igor :Lrernens. esp; ‘ situatitn 'th and 1.1-} »-. . «QRJEZhn & I rim-s . "It utexc HR; is: n] it”? al. Mifl‘iifl' ICC} D6313“. «m diff} 1996), it is implausible to think that research does not exist to demonstrate the value of the course. Plus, federal legislation is currently examining secondary/adolescent literacy learning, so there could be even more pressure to have courses that relate to this issue. Yet, the question has not been answered about what this course should teach and what is important for secondary teachers to know. It is dangerous to consider that the federal government would mandate the course without any research base to inform the content of the course or the need for connections to all areas of teacher education. Within a content area literacy course, studies that detail the actual course content use cases of secondary classrooms, where the preservice teachers spend time observing classroom teachers and/or working with students, as the main metlnd for Ieaming about literacy (Bean & Harper, 2004; Mack & Tama, 1997). This provides preservice teachers with the opportunity to become part of a classroom, since they are lacking the contextual knowledge of their own classrooms as teachers, and their memories of school tend to be traditional (Lortie, 1975) and often laden with misconceptions. The use of field placements, especially where students are given opportunities to work with adolescents in tutoring situations, has proven to be effective in students’ conceptual development about literacy and adolescents (Conley, Kemer, & Reynolds, 2005; Memory, 1983; McLoughlin & Maslak, 2003). This authentic experience, working with adolescents, can help preservice secondary teachers in realizing the complexities of their future students. Yet, there also needs- to be a focus on how these field experiences help preservice secondary teachers consider content and pedagogy along with adolescents and literacy. Despite the relatively small amount of research on preservice teacher Ieaming in content area literacy courses, this calls into question the mandate in virtually every state 23 - - ‘\ {A >20an :2:'\ 1R0!“ 3.1. fills Coup :‘“-"2 in tit s A . ““““ . r ‘ "" i “ _. 53. ‘Juih seem I? (uses. fSP-C’C 1 .132“ st DI the P O'Brie: feed on the la :n and s Supine can i :5 ml» i~ -- AUUCUL) ant: for secondary teacher candidates to take a course in secondary reading/content area literacy (Romine, McKenna, & Robinson, 1996). There is no evidence that can show how this course helps preservice secondary teachers make connections to all that they are Ieaming in their teacher preparation programs. With such an emphasis on content knowledge coming from the federal government (No Child Left Behind Act, 2002), it would seem that this type of literacy course would be easy to sacrifice for more content courses, especially since the research available does not document the necessity of such a course or the preservice teacher Ieaming that results from the course. O’Brien, Stewart, & Moje (1995) argued for revisions to content literacy courses based on the lack of consideration of the complexities of adolescents, preservice teacher Ieaming, and school contexts. Considering that personal beliefs for teaching a chosen discipline can help build awareness of the preservice teachers’ personal knowledge, cases of students and teachers who blend content with literacy would open up the dialogue about what is effective and realistic within school contexts. Encouraging reflection on understandings of course content is critical for a preservice teacher to make sense of the course and its role within all of their teacher preparation coursework. Yet, nine years after their article was published, there is still no focused agenda for teaching content area literacy courses and for providing opportunities for preservice teachers to contemplate their growth and development as a teacher as they connect all of the information. In fact, the shift has moved to adolescent literacy, leaving content area literacy behind. Plus, there is no real plan for connecting content area literacy courses to the Ieaming that takes place in teacher preparation programs. 24 ::r-.:.'e'r.ensior a n )LJCI med .“rs'i’ered ho mammal ltr ~ 5 Within ~.r . .l / I f I J _:i X ‘ ’"ilmil‘l‘n \till ...t;'il;'m inst" *1» . L-kkicefi Secondary content area teachers, both preservice and inservice, have defined roles as teachers of disciplinary areas. Yet, this focus on content, without attention to helping adolescents understand the content, can prove to be fruitless efforts at memorization and compliance. There needs to be a stronger emphasis for teachers to understand comprehension instruction, literacy strategies, and methods to empower students to construct meaning from content information (Pressley, 2004). Also, it should be considered how these literacy practices connect to their existing understanding of pedagogical knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge. Within the small amount of research literature available on comprehension in content areas, the use of comprehension strategies seems to be most prevalent (Fisher, Schumaker, & Deshler, 2002; Hinchman & Zalewski, 2001; Shanahan, C., 2004; Pressley, 2000). Teachers need to consider how comprehension can play a role in their students’ Ieaming and understanding of content. Context also plays a role when considering when comprehension strategies should be taught and used (Graves, 2004), since the “strategies” approach needs to be integrated within subject areas. Yet, integration will be difficult, if strategies are seen as additional techniques to add to a curriculum instead of something that connects seamlessly with the existing pedagogical practices. It is a critical time for a study to be done that examines the Ieaming of preservice secondary teachers within a content area literacy course to see how the course content plays a rob in their development as teachers. The multiple messages that students receive during teacher preparation can only serve to cause confusion, frustration, or even apathy. A course is needed to encourage preservice teachers to think beyond the content 25 n: iiseipiinrr} .2: rnt'nm thei maerunons : t: teach adoles Theoretical Tr Socioet u m2“ context ii in seen: 11.119081. 1 Lifts togeti [sit The act tend on ti: :;"-Ip‘f,‘““’ '1‘ . . n»..l‘},.IlIil:: (\ and disciplinary techniques and to develop an awareness of the students — both personally and within their understanding of content. Keeping students’ Ieaming in mind, through reading, writing, and thinking — literacy practices — can begin to open up the conversations about what it means to be a secondary content teacher, and what it means to teach adolescents. Theoretical Framework Socioconstructivist theory places the experiences and views of participants in a social context at the forefront (V ygotsky, 1987). It has become critical to explore how and why secondary teachers and adolescents use literacy in classrooms (Hinchman & Moje, 1998). For this study, it is considered that meaning is constructed by teachers and students together in the social context of school as they discuss course content (An, 1998). The activity systems that take place within a class among students and the teacher depend on the participation of everyone and the support people receive while participating (Wells, 2000). There needs to be a socioconstructivist approach to content area literacy, both in the course activities and in the way that the course assists preservice teachers in considering adolescents and teaching for understanding (Bean, 2000). The main tenet of the theoretical framework is the collaborative community that exists within the course, providing purposeful activities for participants to explore concepts and ideas. This is a framework that can serve to connect the information that is facing preservice teachers in the areas of content and pedagogy by seeing how strong a role comprehension can play in those areas. Infusing content area literacy into the secondary school curriculum can be a radical premise for preservice teachers. Their own knowledge of traditional schooling is 26 rfimhwé WY“? 011 iIIL . 1‘. m- u their 2W _.\ .. , t ‘ .3.»0»n 1 '\ L;‘l._\":“iuintl ‘1 .. 3:92;:th n ..t 4 '.v 4 222‘ t‘i #35 5‘1 ..!. ”4:322 b3? 9‘3” ‘Y L4,:trlf'ilS “'1 se mm in t acts tnr ass wanted 0 Thou»? raters can le; it ~93? Ci’iittittim bra-SUD“ OI p. rt.) . L :L “iiikinl‘ 4.: ‘r i. :51 ' iuzi. :iiili}. 1. .'I ‘QIUTV' 4-». :31- 1".,1Ci.. It'd. . \. 'M. ‘.»4. ~ . '5 l‘ based on their experiences as students (Lortie, 1975), where they may not recall teachers focusing on literacy strategies or teaching for understanding when they were in school. Plus, their experiences in a teacher preparation program may not have brought student understanding to the forefront. The socioconstructivist perspective shakes up those preconceived notions by moving control of the Ieaming away from teachers and into the hands of the students (O’Brien, Stewart, & Moje, 1995). Teachers are no longer expected to be the sole source for knowledge. Instead, students are expected to construct knowledge based on many sources and come to new understandings within social interactions with others (Wells, 2000). This can be a novel idea to a preservice teacher whose own knowledge of schooling was teacher-centered and focused on memorization of facts for assessment purposes. Plus, they may not have seen this type of pedagogy demonstrated or advocated thus far in their teacher preparation program. Through the zone of proximal development (Vygotsky, 1987), both students and teachers can learn from each other as they discuss content and construct meaning from those collaborative activities. In fact, the main goal of the class activities should be on construction of meaning, not on Ieaming. “Understanding is constructed in the process of people working together to solve problems that arise in the course of a shared activity” (Wells, 2000, p. 66). The same can be said for the current study and the content area literacy course, where preservice teachers had opportunities to construct knowledge about literacy, teaching for understanding, and adolescents through the course content and interactions with the instructor, their classmates, and interactions with adolescents in a field experience. The course models a socioconstructivist approach (O’Brien, 1988) for teaching and Ieaming, which can then be discussed in terms of future courses designed to 27 .2: ::e\ 3’6 ‘ —— H ._- 1’1 :“nififit‘mm ‘ 42:71:33. 1nd! ‘ mfiffli‘nn .‘,.,...sii\” 510?. Ed 3 51d” 3.. I, w. 1. ers and st “:1 .1711?) SUTTUL 5’ ii iii” 31M {.9 , ., aesertiee tr contribute in the development of preservice teachers’ future roles as content area teachers. This approach also serves as a vehicle for the preservice teachers to dialogue while considering how to make connections amongst the various segments of knowledge that they are confronted with during their teacher preparation program. It is time for research to be done on teaching for understanding and comprehension within content areas utilizing a socioconstructivist frame (Bean, 2000). This study sets out to examine how preservice secondary teachers conceptualize literacy, particularly comprehension, as they consider their role as content area teachers. In addition, the study looked at how preservice teachers thought about adolescents and the challenges that existed in teaching for understanding while working with this age group. The mandate for content knowledge is strong, but there also should be a mandate for comprehension of that knowledge, so that teachers and adolescents can consider content beyond a standardized test. Plus, by working with a socioconstructivist lens, both teachers and students can see the value of the process of constructing meaning from activities surrounding content as opposed to memorizing content and reciting it back on a test. It will also be imperative to examine how socioconstructivism played a role in how the preservice teachers connected their own knowledge and new information on content, pedagogy, adolescents, and literacy. Current Study This study sets out to examine the content within a content area literacy course that provides secondary preservice teachers with opportunities to think about their future as a content area teacher while considering the adolescents who will be their future students. Also, this study will examine how literacy plays a role in understanding 28 gyms and grit-ant to se es: to studen tee.’ fer the stt firing a ithc'. The re: 3521) enrui dents mil t aziescents. pr e“ area lit; adolescents and how literacy can help content area teachers teach for understanding. It is important to see how the multiple messages within the teacher preparation courses make sense to students who are asked to connect all of it as they become teachers. There is a need for the stories of these preservice teachers to be told in a way that documents their Ieaming without attempting to push a certain agenda or framework. The research will be completed with students (preservice teachers) who are cmrently enrolled in a content area literacy course. At the beginning of the course, students will be asked to voluntarily participate in interviews about their discipline, adolescents, previous teacher education courses, and their expectations for a course in content area literacy. The same students will be interviewed one-third and two-thirds into the course (5 and 10 weeks) about their understandings within the content area literacy course. Then, at the completion of the course, students will be interviewed about their knowledge of teaching for understanding and how literacy relates to their discipline and teaching adolescents. Knowing the content of the content area literacy course, the researcher will compare that to the responses of the students to see how the corrse content is being understood and conceptualized. Understandings will be analyzed throughout the course to analyze the conceptual development and understandings of the preservice teachers regarding teaching for understanding, adolescents, and literacy. It will also be considered how the course is playing out in their connections of all of their teacher preparation courses. The research questions are: 1. How do preservice content area teachers come to understand adolescents during a content area literacy course? 29 1 H011 dill n‘itlnin er 3. HOW do areas dur Lise questions grant area lit: LBSLierlngSE 1:: to gain an matte teach: 2. How do preservice content area teachers conceptualize teaching for understanding within content areas during a content area literacy course? 3. How do preservice content area teachers conceptualize literacy within content areas during a content area literacy course? These questions are important because they address the problem of how a course in content area literacy contributes to the development of preservice teachers and their understandings about teaching for understanding, adolescents, and literacy. It is a critical time to gain an understanding of the potential for a content area literacy course to assist preservice teachers in connecting teacher education and adolescent literacy. 30 Tgagilt‘l rfiét’é‘l‘ifl kn teach find 3;. Sufism slUC 1. Hon dt' C(tilit‘lii : Holt tit nizhrnc i Hnn'dl areas du Tree question tannin and “an course. at out 01 sent. [111201116000 The fill tiered tours . «1 — *«uu‘JTi’S it“ CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY Teachers need to know both their disciplinary knowledge and content-related pedagogical knowledge, while at the same time having an understanding of the students they teach and how to teach for understanding of content. The focal questions guiding the current study were: 1. How do preservice content area teachers come to understand adolescents during a content area literacy course? 2. How do preservice content area teachers conceptualize teaching for understanding within content areas during a content area literacy course? 3. How do preservice content area teachers conceptualize literacy within content areas during a content area literacy course? These questions are important because they deal with connections between teacher education and adolescent literacy by bringing the two together within acontent area literacy course. Value is placed on both content and adolescents, and literacy (in school and out of school) is considered as a vehicle for teaching for understanding. Data Collection The following sections describe the setting of the study, the participants, the planned course outline and sources of data, assumptions and definitions, and the procedures for collecting data. m The study took place at a small, liberal arts college in the Midwest, with roughly 2,300 total students. The college was founded in 1886 by the Dominican Sisters and is rooted in a strong Catholic heritage. The majority of students commute to the campus, 31 .l . ‘ 3:11.233. 11 Treachery if; initial . racers \xl ”aiinglartgu secures. it strains in fanning it at minors Imitation. v Sniden Lariat eertrfiea :Tii'ate stud;~ $31.76 [in ill: , ““31“?” Ct". w {itgljgltlT‘r . 1.7-1-r_ "“33. In 1.‘ ing‘fi ",1 ,~.. \ du' .’ r O :.' :5- ._ Mme; with 25% of underclassmen living in student housing. There are a series of rental properties surrounding the campus, where students live in off-campus, apartment-like dwellings. It is a college strong in traditions of leadership and service to others. The School of Education is the largest school in the college, with elementary and secondary teacher certification programs approved by the state Department of Education. The teacher preparation program serves students at the undergraduate and graduate levels (both initial certification and advanced coursework). There are eight full-time faculty members who teach courses in educational foundations, multicultural education, reading/language arts, pedagogical methods, Ieaming theory, research methods, and electives. 50% of the courses are taught by adjunct faculty — typically, experienced educators in the field who are currently, or have recently been, teaching and/or functioning in administrative roles in a K-12 educational setting. There are 27 majors and minors within the college that students may specialize in for their teacher certification, with variations depending on elementary or secondary emphasis. Students in the teacher preparation program (both undergraduate and graduate- initial certification) are admitted on a rolling basis with a 2.5 grade point average (3.0 for graduate students), sophomore status (not applicable for graduate students), and passing scores on the state teacher entry-level test. The educational foundations and multicultural education courses can be taken before admission to the program. After admission, an introductory education/teaching course must be taken as a prerequisite for more advanced courses. In the introductory course, students are exposed to information on Ieaming styles, classroom management, lesson planning, and assessment. The advanced courses in the program relate to pedagogical methods, learning theory, and state required reading 32 3,535 mi 0 f0 :.:niete. stutter gaies K6 in e estuary classt trier eertrtiea‘ hrn'tinants The par intent Area T lien anytime . .;.r and stud $53510 panic 5"?téd Out of Training 1" 3.;‘i‘7mmur, ‘5 hiking 0n mi Want run. ’51th “"110!" i ’c UL}: prim“? courses (two for elementary, one for secondary). Finally, once the coursework is complete, student teaching takes place for fourteen weeks in a school setting, usually in grades K—6 in elementary classrooms and in major and minor classes in grades 7-12 in secondary classrooms. If that experience is successful, the student is recommended for teacher certification. Participants The participants in the current study were students taking a course entitled “Content Area Literacy” during the Spring 2005 semester. This is a course that can be taken anytime during their teacher education program except during the introductory course and student teaching. The entire class consisted of 25 students. Of those 25, 18 agreed to participate in the study. One participant dropped the course, and subsequently dropped out of the study, about one-quarter of the way into the semester. Of the remaining 17 participants, all working towards secondary certification in their major/minor, 8 of them are undergraduate students and 9 of them are graduate students working on initial teacher certification (see Table 1). Next, I briefly describe each participant (listed alphabetically by pseudonym), including his or her background, major and/or minor, and any other pertinent information that would provide more information on the participant’s background. For each participant, the portrayal is based on what was said during interviews, what was written up by the researcher, and what was given a final approval and/or revision by the participants before appearing in the following descriptions. Adam was an art major and an English minor who was enrolled as a graduate student in the initial teacher certification program. He received his undergraduate degree 33 gr in E7 ( q .M 1.4.” ‘ Ra‘shmfle l «.4, .‘iLit. VL h we tr.“ h”... i KLHH “ ‘5. its. \ 9 I“ ‘ HHOHQ \ l y , h2““‘no “\A.U\" TABLE 1 PARTICIPANTS Particigant Major Minor Status Adam Art English graduate Boris Math Business undergraduate Chief Business Computer Science graduate Dzanna Learning Disabilities English as a Second Language undergraduate Gene Biology Chemistry graduate Kim Learning Disabilities Psychology graduate Liz Biology Chemistry graduate Mackenzie Physical Education Sociology undergraduate Marie Music none undergraduate Marisa Learning Disabilities Business graduate Oprah History Communications undergraduate Phil Math Physics graduate Rachel Political Science History graduate Sara English History/ undergraduate English as a Second Language Trey Art none graduate Victoria Chemistry Math undergraduate Watchdog History Physical Education undergraduate 34 :21 ani Ere-1- mhnm 1722511011 it 11 1 - 1.; tiers: 5.3219113 I an. i at“ AAA; 5 . .. N314 3 “a" .1;- LUJ. D. T'“ UL 2:10 tutti: Burrs t rates. and a. .. l in art and English at a large state university, where he considered teaching as a “back up” to his real goal of being an artist. Yet, he only focused on art at the time and graduated with the intention of becoming a graphic designer. When he realized that he would miss interaction with people (“I didn’t want to just sit and draw”), he enrolled in the current program to earn his K-12 teacher certification. Working as a preschool teacher, Adam developed a love for young children and utilized his talents in art. He initially envisioned himself as an elementary art teacher (“I didn’t like high school that much, so why would I want to teach it?”). He had an initial field experience in the teacher preparation program at a high school, and this opened his mind to working with older students. Boris was a math major and a business minor who originally started out in the business school at a large state university. He majored in Accounting and Finance, which he found to be quite dry. He transferred to a smaller university that specializes in business, and at the same time he got a job in banking where he currently worked during the study. A few years ago, Boris had a change of heart (“I didn’t feel like I was making a difference”), so he enrolled in the current teacher certification program. He changed his degrees around so he could be a math major and become a teacher in the area he wanted to teach, with business being a possibility as his minor. He enjoyed courses where the instructors told stories about their experiences in schools. He felt that his coursework in the education program was worthwhile up to this point. He was still considering going to graduate school in math instead of student teaching, but he decided to go ahead and 35 men: teach i ainil iecisior nine stud: hi}. there 1 Emma. l racomputer ME high 5. um He had 2: current pr LEISS‘Wi; hc #:133de in ll 2;} of his tour DILIlE’il i... «Uglig’f lb .L. ’l Lil.‘l\ .1! "’d . 3M. x In 'yl?‘ ... " ali‘w'lfvl: V. :SL studs?) 5 l. - ,. £3.41le Flu“? . t w .4 “"Im i‘) student teach in the upcoming semester while applying to graduate school before making a final decision. Chief was a business major and computer science minor who was enrolled as a graduate student in the initial teacher certification program. He spent 20 years in the Navy, where 6 of those were spent teaching military courses in Basic Electricity and Electronics. He worked during the study (and for several years before the study started) as a computer teacher for a private school in grades 1 — 8, along with some work at a private high school with technology assistance and helping a few of the high school students. He had always told himself that he would never get into K-12 education, but when he started working at the school (“I found that I enjoyed it”), he decided to enroll in the current program to earn his teacher certification. Chief felt that most of the coursework he had done so far in the teacher certification program was a repeat of what he Ieamed in the Navy. He was discouraged by the lack of information on assessments in any of his courses. Dzanna was a learning disabilities (LD) major and an English as a Second Language (ESL) minor. She originally lived in Bosnia, where 51': had a degree to teach physical education and lBalth. Afier she came to America, she immediately got a job as a paraprofessional working at a local high school (she was currently working there) with ESL students, mostly Bosnian. She also worked with families of students, helping with translations. From her experience helping ESL students with Ieaming disabilities, Dzanna decided to switch her degrees. She found that her dual background in LD and ESL was 36 firmly helpini fitness. W ' am isa hut:e fired in Amen the .. menu p. ‘n- . ‘ . , ' he: tha cou Gt‘rie it 33.3ch ill in: V4 ‘ .3 -‘ ., @122 35:2: 5 .r‘w‘ o ' Ni £38.; 5,51,, . ._ (a. “LCI u Gav-w 51.5 I‘. .‘ imfaomg “.;e “L A “x “U " Km extremely helpful for families. “I work with parents who are minority to explain about the process, just to make sure that they get enough help.” She feels that the language barrier is a huge obstacle in understanding the special education process and services offered in American public schools. Through her work experience, she also realized for some minority parents, cultural differences, on top of being illiterate, can cause the most harm to students, which are their children. This fact made her realize that her profession was the right choice. She felt glad that she would be able to bring changes in these students' lives. She has a strong desire to serve as a role model for the students, in order to see what could be possible with hard work and dedication. Gene was a biology major and a chemistry minor who was enrolled as a graduate student in the initial teacher certification program. He already had a Master’s degree in biology from a large state university. His interest in teaching was spurred from being a teaching assistant in college. After doing some substitute teaching, he was told by several teachers that he was good with students. It took a few years, but, inevitably (“I feel like I’m being called to it”), he enrolled in the current program. Gene appreciated the opportunities the program has given him to work in classrooms. He finds that this provides a sense of reality and experience of what teaching is really like. Teaching at the community college was also an option for him, but he felt that high school could be the area where he could make the most difference. He and his wife, who was a teacher, were expecting their first baby near the end of the study. Kim was a learning disabilities (LD) major and a psychology minor who was enrolled as a graduate student in the initial teacher certification program. She has a degree in recreational therapy and psychology from a local state university. After being a 37 ill-1m: mother :3 she tamed 1 mMamm hen the em work mm to It 2;" interested i taper. in mat Tfiltr students") ll: has him: m the in 3:: educators. ”Ian 9;, "lb-mi the it? ridsrgradi 5%? she rcul' 537‘) heck"; I mi htl ltt'i 3‘35 {um I n“. ”L; She \; 2i ,3 1 «5. 1:1: \Ir'l lg; mmc I ”Will 3 full-time mother for 7 years, and currently running a day care out of her home, she found that she wanted to go back to school and become a teacher. She had initially considered teaching as an undergraduate student, but she felt that it was too big of a responsibility. Even though her LD certification is K-12, Kim felt drawn to adolescents. She had previously worked at a psychiatric hospital in the adolescent unit, where she had the opportunity to teach some of the classes. She enjoyed that, which resulted in her being very interested in older students. She does not consider herself a content expert (“I’m not an expert in math or any of that stuff. I really want to teach kids how to learn, how to be better students”), so she sees herself as an LD teacher whose role is to help students. Liz was a biology major and a chemistry minor who was enrolled as a graduate student in the initial teacher certification program. Growing up, since both of her parents were educators, everyone assumed that she was going to be a teacher. As a result, she did everything she could do to not become a teacher. She went to a large state university for her undergraduate degree, and she took an internship in forensic mience. It was only when she realized how much she did not enjoy what she was doing (“I dreaded going every week”) that she started looking into teaching. It seemed to be a great fit for her and made her feel like it was what she was meant to do. She started substitute teaching and was convinced that this was the career to which she belonged. She spoke ofien about wanting to be a teacher who inspires students to learn. She also felt strongly about being a female role model for students. She enjoyed that some of her instructors in the current program were female, which gave her a different perspective. She lived with Trey, who was also a participant in the study. 38 ,li-JL it'll git-logy mm“ «mm ilhlcto 3 am lo mks : Eton 1h idolcsccn :eihg who} fig. so you ( mo: lime \ fixation \\ uh oh young ch so of lllllsh Simpslmg n “he: ”Pi-"M at E l i » fi’_ . ‘ ‘ “Mil-ref; 0t ‘ ‘ I ‘ £13 HE]: l0 du liar, f" “Lil I *~ M as ;; ‘2'- its} stud! Mackenzie was a health, physical education, and recreation (PE) major and a sociology minor. She played sports throughout high school, and she continually reminded herself that she had to do well academically in order to have the chance to perform athletically. She did not like school very much as a child, so as a teacher she wants to make school engaging for students. Even though her teacher certification will be K-12, she is interested in working with adolescents. She had a particular interest in middle school, due to her years of coaching volleyball to 7th grade girls. Her goal is to promote fitness (“make it a lifelong thing, so you can stay healthy”), including a variety of ways to exercise through daily activity. Marie was a junior in the teacher certification program, majoring in K-12 music education with an emphasis in vocal misic. Even though she has worked as a babysitter with young children, she wants to teach older students where she can go beyond the basics of music. She envisions herself as a high school choir teacher, with her students participating in competitions. When Marie first came to college, she did not want to be a teacher. Yet, a choral supervisor at her high school told her that she should consider teaching. With her love of children of all ages and her love of music (“I like music so much that it would be cool to be able to do it every day”), she thought that the two would be a perfect fit. Marisa was a baming disabilities (LD) major and a basiness minor who was enrolled as a graduate student in the initial teacher certification program. She came to the current program after being laid off from a job in business. Her husband is a high school SOCial studies teacher, and he was supportive in her decision to become a teacher. 39 She Chot stages and it mmdtlh mimmis sheets H: :kwndphni ummkw ®mh\ £7ng 10).”) a Esmsos h (J? :r' (L '1‘ (I: go} 15 to dot.” ‘thnn fill], 5he U that She chose LD because she really hopes to help students who need alternate strategies and Ieaming methods, and she enjoys challenging work. Also, she is being practical (‘1 know the local hiring needs are more in that area”). Even though her certification is K-lZ, she enjoys working with adolescents. Plus, her two children are adolescents. Her son sometimes struggles academically, so she is hoping that she will be able to help him as well. She was employed as a paraprofessional in a technology lab at a local middle school during the study, where she taught math skills through a computer program. Oprah was a history major and a oommunicatiom minor. She grew up in a small fanning town and went to a small high school. She did not consider her teachers to be very good, so she wanted to become a teacher and do things differently. She originally attended a small state university but transferred to the current college in order to be in the education program. She sees herself as a guide for her students (“no matter what I’m teaching, the goal is to deter prejudice, deter racism, and hatred”). She wants to encourage students to open their minds and think critically about things. Based on her own experience in school, she considers herself lucky, because both of her parents were well-educated and pushed her to go to college, even though it was not a focus at her high school. She wants to motivate more students to consider options after graduation. Phil was a math major and a [hysics minor who was enrolled as a graduate student in the initial teacher certification program. He has two degrees in Engineering, and he worked for 15 years in the automobile industry. When he had children, he stayed home, so his wife could continue working as a physician. Once his children began school 40 ‘F’r-Itrtc. he . O i :rs‘tt‘s uamt Ru‘t ht 52.13:: stud ill 10 stay ; Last-is her ll: tam “I L. St rI 533.3le her rt I Kendal-\- mug and futstmtnu Wis. She iii 1‘ jUSI t. u _. . ,1 5“ l’tdl rt. full-time, he decided to go back to school to become a teacher. Even though he had always wanted to be a teacher, he considers his work experience a plus (“I thought the best teachers were the teachers who had professional experience”). Phil wants to be a role model for his students. Ideally, he would like to steer them into a career in math or physics. Yet, realistically, he knows that the chances of that are unlikely for more than a few students. As another option, he wants to provide them with a positive experience with those subjects. Rachel was a political science major and a history minor who was enrolled as a graduate student in the initial teacher certification program. She has a degree from a large state university, where she did think about getting a teaching certificate but did not want to stay at the university any longer. She did work for one year after graduating, outside her field, since she did not find many options with her degree for a career except teaching. She originally started the current program in elementary education, but changed her mind and wanted to focus more on teaching content, which made her switch to secondary. In the past, she saw some of her previous teachers as role models for strong teachers. She admired teaching styles that got students involved with their Ieaming and went beyond reading the textbook and lecturing. She talked about encouraging her own students to think about the world and be interested in current events. She was still unsure about whether secondary teaching was right for her (“I guess this is just something I’m working on, trying to figure out if it is something I do want to go into, trying it out”), or possibly community college, graduate school, or even teaching at a local museum. At the end of the study, which was the semester before ler student 4] ,3 she aivfl‘flll. nOn‘ ' fit at. Sam \\ (15 Lang ‘5 ,..‘~:;in Y .Hwfig ttht . . 335 a“ "‘1‘1‘ ‘ f "M Jlikkal 13““ ”I 5&6 ert 4.4723335, ‘va umsutt at». v , I’fh‘qvl" L ‘ I 11‘" vain“; “1 b; y v at; 3 need . e tart tr; 3 s Ire; t ceriicattor. hunt school horn . . treats. hts ; z: (I) it! sift: . '1 {-_T a “it: liz. teaching, she was still leaning more towards educational programming, museum education, non-profit work, or even becoming a reading specialist. Sara was an English major and a double-minor in history/English as a Second Language (ESL). She had wanted to be a teacher as long as she could remember, including when she used to play school with her sister and/or her stuffed animals. She loves Ieaming, and has always worked hard in school. She attended a small high school in a local farming community. She envisioned herself as a middle school teacher (“some people say it is the most difficult age, but I am up to the challenge”), but she felt intimidated at the thought of teaching high school. She was open to teaching in an urban school, where she felt there was a need, even though she did not have experience in that area. She also considered teaching in a small school, where she thought she would be most happy. Trey was an art major who was enrolled as a graduate student in the initial teacher certification program. He graduated from a large state university, but he could not find a job in art when he was finished. His next-door neighbor was the president of a local school board, and he encouraged Trey to start substitute teaching. This is what initially opened his eyes to teaching. He felt that his high school art teacher was inspiring, and he wants to have that same effect on his own students. (“I have a great passion for art and a lot of materials that I want to relay to them”) Even though his certification is K-12, his first preference for teaching is high school, then elementary, and last is middle school. He was living with Liz, who was also a participant in the study. 42 l'tt‘tortu t a. a truth mint tits-tell) bean ja told remember Site exert took ; trier. She car It» ‘e. except :t'tt thout why ltt students d imtsm dep- $. at area. \‘t. ”at l. 3th ' “1‘ a mum; t.m . ltom . H3 tutuallt 3. 333:3 mid t1”. W (“it lie .. Victoria was a senior in the teacher preparation program, with a chemistry major and a rmth minor. She had always wanted to be a teacher (“in second grade there was this jelly bean jar, and I wanted to have control over it because the teacher did”), and she could remember enjoying working with younger students while she was in high school. She even took a career placement test in 8”I grade that said that she should become a teacher. She can remember being in high school where everyone disliked math and science, except her. She wants to change that with her own teaching. She will certainly talk about why math and science are important for everyone to know, and also try so that her students don’t dislike it like her former classmates. She was frustrated that the chemistry department at the current college only had 3 people working towards majors in that area. Victoria would like to make science and math exciting, and, hopefully, she wants to encourage more students to pursue further study in those areas. Watchdog was a junior in the teacher certification program, majoring in history with a minor in health, physical education, and recreation (PE). He had an Associate’s degree from a local community college, and he recently transferred to the current college. He initially wanted to be a teacher because he enjoyed coaching so much. He was able to coach middle school basketball near his high school, and he liked being around that age group (“it was good to be around kids”). He sees himself as both a history teacher and a PE teacher. He wants students in his listory classes to learn about how listory can affect their lives. He wants his PE students to learn about fitness and living healthy lives. Overall, he wants his students to become lifelong learners. 43 Jaequel the social stut Lego". her teat“ f3: ‘rrgh schot riere she attt :errfication. a: filClilOIl after néergrduate strata} is l titration th tie following t During figured for St Torrent are“ tau“ Mg and '. if? A, was it “as t 3"") l “3’, '3 P” . “31$ It: hi»- ..i1;;‘d ‘0 3} . 3:14.. Instructor Jacqueline Dolce (Jacqui) is an adjunct instructor at the college. She is also a full- time social studies teacher (US history and @vemment) at a local high school, where she began her teaching career during the 2000 — 2001 school year. (She is also a graduate of that high school.) Jacqui is a graduate of the teacher preparation program at the college, where she attended as a graduate student working towards initial secondary teacher certification, and where she completed her graduate degree in teaching. She came into education after a brief career in broadcasting, which is the area she concentrated on in her undergraduate studies. She is married with two daughters, ages 9 and 6. The following portrayal is based on interview data, a narrative written by the researcher, and information that was given final approval and/or revision by Jacqui before appearing in the following description. During her teacher preparation, she took a content area reading course that is required for secondary teacher certification, which she now teaches in its current form as “content area literacy”. She remembers feeling that the course was very intense and required a great deal of work. It was slightly different at the time, relating mostly to reading and writing. Yet, as the course progressed, she found herself making connections that it was the only course in her teacher preparation that actually gave her practical strategies to use with her future classroom. She thought that the other courses only related to theories and abstract ideas. This course gave her “hundreds of tools” that she Could actually use. During the course, she said that it was stressed, and it made sense to her, that Content area teachers need to teach their students how to read in their content areas. As a 44 onuwmst ndheuub t the com :nmmf. nihnsmt Runuum neheflu rmmhnc in her ihhmmh fifléhudt Moreno fl random menamw 311' \‘L ’ ummflaai if irt‘ltl lil‘Cll huhno fimmx to L.) :“u'slt'rl‘vl nub“. HEM 37 '3t , ”run: {il'i' V It‘s... social studies teacher, she figured that she would be the one to teach her students how to read the textbook, primary source documents, articles, and other resources that would bring the content to students, particularly since she saw herself as the “expert reader of her content”. She also said that the course helped her Ieam that it is her responsibility to guide her students in their learning, more than just give them information to memorize for a test or quiz. It gave her ideas for writing activities as well, which made her excited, since she always enjoyed writing as a student, but was concerned about how she could motivate her own students to be interested in writing in her classes. In her own teaching at the high school level in US listory, Jacqui said that she tells her students that they must do the reading in order to complete the assignments. She knows that this differs from other courses at the high school, where teachers might not assign reading, since they think that their students won’t do it. She does have her students do much of the reading in class, however, since she knows that some of them do not have anywhere at home to read or they are busy with their jobs, family commitments, and other activities that take away from their time to do homework. She requires students to hold their own thinking with graphic organizers or sticky notes. It makes her feel good about her teaching when she sees her US history students get excited about different eras of history. With her g3vemment classes, she does not use the text as much as she does with US history, since she thinks that the text is much more difficult and not easy to break into sections for students to read. She does use simulations to help them experience the content, and to then help her students think about what they are Ieaming. She enjoys seeing that students are actually interested in how the government works and they want to 45 133.13 more after nhrmhcou huhah idus hut tiers and ask t messes and erenesand t zrotoshou huhuflt mmkmm ihkfih.fl Juqm tau tears prrt hmuhnh Irnnmm smhmmm EMS com ifihuht til Jacqui} I”! ' "truttuuttt ." , 33:33. 35 .: m UNIT *4» '3 Dean r learn more after doing a simulation. She does require students to hold their own thinking with graphic organizers or sticky notes when they are reading. With all classes, she spends time reviewing previous information at the beginning of class. Jacqui lets it be an open discussion format, where students feel free to share ideas and ask questions. She models her thinking for students through her own reading processes and skills, which she thinks is so important, so they can learn from her own strategies and ways to make sense of content. She thinks that reading with her students is a way to show them her own passion and interest in the content. She is also very modest about this (“I don’t want to sound like I am some expert teacher, because I’m not”), even though her own teaching does differ strongly from traditional teaching styles (Hinchman & Zalewski, 2001). Jacqui was asked to begin teaching a section of the content area literacy course two years prior to the study, due to her excellent leadership as a literacy coach (extra- duty) at her high school and the fact that she had embraced literacy as an important factor in her teaching. As a literacy coach, she worked with groups of teachers, both within the social studies department and in cross-curricular departments, encouraging them to infuse literacy concepts and strategies into their instruction. I worked as a literacy consultant with this high school, particularly with the literacy coaches, so I was able to see the depth of Jacqui’s knowledge about literacy, specifically in her discipline. Also, I had the opportunity to observe her teach on several occasions, and I saw how she was using literacy as a factor for her students to understand the content. Since the college needed a new instructor, after the initially planned instructor moved to another state, I approached the Dean of the School of Education and asked him if she could be hired. 46 Jacqui s rose on alter ml‘l hour : sermon nihl this teaching .;.-rse content tire the cur .r in court {£335th and 2 erosteney it here is one hour says ti renerteueher Researcher“ lhe .' itsiertattttnr Language f Iftn'dtnzrt 2' We. ti Jacqui started teaching the course in Spring 2003. At the same time, I taught the course on alternating weeks, so every other week I would go to her school during her planning hour and review the upcoming class sessions. Initially, we worked on creating a common syllabus, and I provided her with overhead transparencies and handouts to use while teaching. Eventually, she has taken ownership of the course, in conjunction with the other members of the instructional team, and she now contributes consistently to the course content, course revisions, and course planning. She taught the course six times before the current semester of the study, in addition to facilitating a secondary reading clinic in conjunction with the course during the past two summer sessions. A common syllabus and agenda, across all sections of the course, is still used in order to provide consistency for students and also to build collegiality among the instructional team. (There is one other instructor who teaches a directed study section on Friday nights.) Jacqui says that she “loves” teaching the course, and she feels that it has made her a better teacher with her high school students. Researcher’s Role The researcher is a doctoral student at a large state university, completing her dissertation research. I formerly was a high school English and Reading teacher, a K-12 Language Arts Curriculum Specialist, and a Secondary Language Arts Curriculum Coordinator before starting graduate school for my doctorate in Teacher Education and Literacy. I completed my teacher certification at the college where the study took place as a graduate student in initial secondary teacher certification in the mid—19908. It was during that time that I also finished a second undergraduate degree in English and Reading for my teacher certification areas. 47 ltoolt as inferno of the t rt reading mint :eentee seeor curse lurked sensibility tr Tris made up inelopment er tsecondtry re' Thinterests re Once I .ed to con t«Tuner of 1s ‘iilti adjunc‘ tiered each its item ml “in: “I'd an“ Ill; halting sit; teeth-33k. Fr;- :5 A. , g ‘ ..rr,_.3 the \ ii‘Ji-i at t". I took a secondary reading course in 1996, but my situation was unique from the majority of the class, because it was dually required for my secondary certification and my reading minor. Therefore, my background in reading gave me the point of view of a preservice secondary reading teacher instead of as a preservice English teacher. The course looked much different back then, with reading minors being given the responsibility to teach reading strategies to the rest of the class during each class session. This made up the entire course content, with reading minors getting professional development experience and other course participants Ieaming a variety of strategies. As a secondary reading minor, I was able to bring in information about adolescents because my interests related to that age group. Once I finished the program and was working as a high school teacher, I was asked to come back and assist in the secondary reading clinic at the college during the summer of 1998. I started teaching the course in Fall 1998, and have worked with six other adjunct instructors over the years (the course, typically, has two or three sections offered each semester, and one-two sections in the summer). Overall, I have taught the course twenty-two times before the current semester of the study. I have always worked closely with all of the instructors in developing the syllabus, planning course readings and activities, determining how to evaluate course work, setting up field phcements, and making slight changes to the course each semester based on experiences and student feedback. For the current semester, I took a semester off from teaching the course in order to study the students and their Ieaming. It was important that I was able to take an objective look at the course, that the students saw me as a researcher instead of an instructor, and 48 355 senior figured it“ :ftstrtitres. I act in fro iterrnent Pt recorders 10 s and U tie-s: they u n'ny phont filter inl'or d{"~ihitldtllil§ its trttportu Ed btilfil‘x :hsenrtrons Mentions i‘ol' rigt‘ [1' that they felt free to talk to me without feeling that I was responsible for assessing their work in the course. I wanted to observe the students’ interactions and behaviors during class sessions, and this would have been extremely difficult, in the depth that was required for the study, if I was also responsible for instruction of the class and facilitation of activities. I acted as an observer in each of the class sessions, allowing for sufficient distance from the students, in order to take notes, but also being close enough to document participation. In fact, the most interaction I had was through placing tape recorders to capture group discussions, moving my seat to have a better position to take notes, and moving around the class when students were sharing ideas, in order to see what they were doing. There were additional meetings outside of class, which were set up by phone and/or e-mail, arranged with students to conduct interviews and to gain further information. I also collected artifacts of the students’ work, making copies or downloading them from the course website, and kept those for further data analysis. It was important for me to remain objective in my observations, in order to not let biases and beliefs take over my data collection and analysis. I shared my data of the observations and interpretations with the participants as a way of checking my perceptions (Moje, 1996). Planned Course Outline The course met eight times during the Spring 2005 semester (every other week) over fifteen weeks (ending the week before the scheduled final exam period for the college). It is a course that is required for secondary preservice teachers (by both the college and the state Department of Education) and also required for elementary teachers 49 alt? 3W “0 :‘delOrs ‘ 5:; reading .3155 lnSIl to CU! :r addition trance fo llere learn :tdorr fut Bust 'It'Bnen. St in in ad. tunings II n0 for t;‘.-re lorel lorthe stat inclining lit lili‘l up amt; . I, lll‘t. ‘6" 1 -‘ .‘ “ubi \ . .3 who are working towards a K-8 Reading minor. Before the start of every semester, the instructors meet to plan the common syllabus, including requirements, class activities, and readings. I am the leader of this meeting every time, and I continued to be for the current semester of the study. While I do not function in a supervisory or evaluative role for the instructional team, the instructors do rely on my experience as a graduate student to bring current research and information to the meetings, to discuss for planned changes or additions to the course. I usually send the information to the other instructors, in advance, for their consideration They know that these are merely suggestions from what I have Ieamed in graduate courses and at research conferences, and they are free to debate and/or refute the ideas of including new and/or more information in the course. Based on recommendations for revisions to content area literacy courses made by O’Brien, Stewart, & Moje (1995) and information that was reviewed by the instructional team in advance, the course was revisited to make changes and also to make connections to things that were already happening in the course. With the research community pushing for adolescent literacy, it was also a major focus to bring ideas about adolescents to the forefront (Stevens, 2002). The standards from the state Department of Education for the state-required Reading course for secondary teachers were used as a guideline in developing the course. Following is the outline of the proposed activities for the course (see Table 2), based on suggestions by O’Brien, Stewart, & Moje (1995), with explanations on how this was planned to happen. Autobiography. The course would begin with students examining their own literacy development as a child through adolescence and then up to the current time. This 50 o y _ 5 Field Expert Autobiography Dialogue Readings Teaching Cases Field Experiences Ethnographic Writing TABLE 2 PLANNED COURSE OUTLINE 51 redid hall?“ qlélflS and rasnull t3“ fer. in sorn: {first or p its type of at fess session tree a hot flitting cl. roughts on 1 fitting. Al orients to d' rnrrctor an :rrctturzrged teely insteu would happen through a “Literacy Autobiography,” where students think about their struggles and their triumphs with literacy while growing up, and document those to share in a small group with classmates. Students would be asked to pick a book that impacted them in some way, and then list five different reading and/or writing events that were negative or positive in their literacy development. It would then be discussed as to how this type of activity could connect to their own future students. Dialogue. Starting at the first class, students would write their reflections on the class session and/or the course content on a “Conversation Calendar” (Tovani, 2004), where a box would be written in, and then the instructor would write back before the following class session. This would function as a place for students to write their thoughts on the course content, and give the instructor 3 chance to see what students were thinking. Along with written dialogue, the course would include many opportunities for students to discuss course readings, activities, and thoughts on the course content with the instructor and other classmates. This would be an open forum, with full participation encouraged by all. Also, it would function as a conversation, with people commenting freely instead of waiting to be called on by the instructor. Readings. There would be a variety of readings for students to read and discuss regarding adolescents, teaching for understanding, and literacy in content areas. Adolescent literacy: A position statement (Moore, Bean, Birdyshaw, & Rycik, 1999) would serve as the basis of an open discussion on the needs and rights of adolescents in today’s secondary schools. An article about adolescents and content area literacy (Bean, Bean, & Bean, 1999) would be read to facilitate discussions about adolescents and their out-of-school literacy practices. Also, two required books in the course for students to 52 read ire bl rt tt‘ith sly. llls‘ stcolleet 3'3} 500i nllnltl-Ilc: M iterator .ffuue the ieeourset est-hers an ruin it sc tsetse frt Slim-{loll pt Slfuuiltitns \\ Emitting it i' 30315er ( 'lt‘it‘ation,( lflI'litllal f ii We? C'llfli‘d 3' ' 3 5,530,312. read are by Tovani (2000, 2004), there is a required reference book by Buehl (2001), along with a book by Fisher & Frey (2004), which would be read by graduate students only. The Tovani books relate to comprehension and also adolescents. The Buehl book is a collection of strategies for reference, with explanations and models. The Fisher & Frey book provides strategies that work well across content areas with adolescents, along with stories of how these have worked in different classrooms. Teachinggases. Every week, students would be presented with a written scenario about a content area teacher and his/her students. They would be asked to discuss and/or critique the scenario in groups and make connections (or notice a lack of connections) to the course content from the previous week. This would provide students with ideas about teachers and adolescents, and help them see how the course content could be applied (or not) in a school setting (Mack & Tama, 1997). Students would also be asked to critique the case from a socioconstructivist perspective (Vygotsky, 1987), considering how the situation provided (or not) opportunities for Ieaming to take place in collaborative situations with authentic activities. Field Experiences. Students would be required to complete twelve hours of tutoring with a secondary student in a school setting. A list of possible sites would be provided on the first night, and students would set up the field placement details (location, day, hours) themselves. The sites range from traditional high schools offering remedial reading or reading support courses, middle schools wanting tutors embedded in the content classes, after school programs at a high school, or a GED completion program offered at night at a local high school. Throughout the course, students would work with a student and teach him/her reading strategies as they are Ieamed in the course. Also, 53 .y )..a ents ti 0 m tutorrr llemory. I tend- also Fifi ill CXlt Students tt't erperrences tiniescents. Kinda!) c It scentrr lna tnerrt in 2 3m. tht to lien. 199 Gifts in t lied on t students would participate in several ongoing activities to get to know the person they were tutoring, which would enable them to see more into the world of adolescents (Memory, 1983; McLoughlin & Maslak, 2003). An assigned classroom observation would also be a field experience, although it will only happen once instead of occurring over an extended period of time. Ethnographic Writing. Descriptive writing would take many forms in the course. Students would write a journal after each tutoring session, so they could reflect on their experiences and write about how tutoring helped them Ieam about literacy and adolescents. Also, students would be required to do one classroom observation of one secondary class (middle or high school) in their major or minor, where they would write up a scenario/case based on what they observed, and connect it to course content. In addition, students would complete assignments where they apply the course content in a hypothetical teaching situation in their content area(s). This would include creating a list of possible writing prompts, developing a formal writing assignment, collecting a variety of “texts” that relate to the same concept (Walker & Bean, 2003; Bean, 2000), assembling a collection of strategies to use while teaching for understanding (Bean, 1997), writing a final reflection on the student who was tutored, and working with others in the same content area to write a “plan for literacy” for their future classroom based on the course content. Jacqui, one other instructor who was teaching the course in a directed study format, and I met in early January 2005 to review the proposed syllabus. We discussed the course readings, pulling out key points of each selection. We revised many of the course assignments, developing detailed criteria for assessment of each item. We also 54 Li“)! r ,b . 3% tr 1 iiscoye :orcerttuu research ( life mul :T‘ir'zfm in trauma“ Elite Mid or~ talked about the proposed agenda for each class session, making adjustments for time and workbad. When the meeting was over, the syllabus was revised and sent to be printed (see Appendix A). Assumptions and Definitions In order to answer the research questions, it was necessary to capture the experiences of preservice students in a content area literacy course. It was also necessary to discover their thoughts and ideas as they took the course in order to see how they were conceptualizing adolescents, teaching for understanding, and literacy. Answers to the research questions were not fixed or quantifiable; in fact, the experiences and responses were multidimensional, complicated, and worthy of careful consideration for themes, patterns, and/or connections. Conducting a qualitative study seemed most appropriate in this circumstance, following Merriam’s characteristics (1998). This meant telling the stories of preservice teachers and their Ieaming throughout the course. Attempts were made to understand the meaning that the preservice teachers constructed during the content area literacy course. The researcher functioned as the primary instrument to collect and analyze data through fieldwork in class session observations, interviews, and examination of artifacts. The data required interpretive research in building concepts, instead of testing an existing theory. Finally, the product is richly descriptive, detailing the stories of preservice teachers as they conceptualized adolescents, teaching for understanding, and literacy within content areas. Ethnographic research is situated in culture and a researcher’s desire to understand some aspect of that culture (Purcell— Gates, 2004). In this study, there were many cultures to be considered — preservice teachers, the content area literacy course, and 55 cultures of each discipline. By seeking to understand the preservice teachers’ experiences and conceptions, this interpretive method allowed for examination of this information from the participants’ perspectives. Literacy ethnography provided a method for the researcher to have social interaction with the participants while establishing a variety of data sources. In this study, the course served as the main connection, and all interactions related back to the course and its content. Ethnography has validity in that the various data sources can be triangulated and shared with participants for confirmation. In this study, it was possible to collect this data through class sessions, interviews, and by analyzing artifacts of student work (journals, assignments, class notes). Reliability was based upon tle responses from participants, along with the observation data collected, instead of the researcher inferring meaning from information without participant input. Responses were sent to participants for their consideration and desired changes for revision, in order to ensure that the ideas being presented were their own and not the researcher’s own thoughts after data analysis. Even though an ideal ethnography would be situated over a long period of time, the current study took place during a semester corrse. Therefore, sixteen weeks of a college semester limited the scope of the study. Also, ethnography is neither designed nor intended for generalizability of results, even though insights will be made that readers can consider for their own situations (Purcell-Gates, 2004). Ethnography also presents an accurate reflection of participants’ perspectives and behaviors, using multiple data sources (LeCompte & Schensul, 1999). Observations took place during each of the eight class sessions of the course. It was important that the researcher’s presence did not disrupt the natural flow of the 56 .93 LICK. . l‘ ‘ _.rt 1'1. . .r 3 :u..l“” .;et3rnrttj SSUl ferrgallt gift alltt .\lerrr3n: :fat‘areh 0 their in collection :nten iert'. .tnr‘t‘acts classroom. In fact, the participants should not have altered their behavior because an observer was present. In the current study, the researcher functioned as an observer, documenting behaviors and comments of the participants. It was also important that the researcher considered what effect her presence had on the participants, and that was taken into account when analyzing data (Merriam, 1998). Yet, there is no clear research available as to what extent an observer changes a situation. Interviews were conducted individually with voluntary participants on four occasions. These interactions took the form of a conversation, with the purpose of obtaining information. Interviews are necessary when the information desired is not obtainable in an observational setting. Highly- structured interviews, with set questions, can result in detailed responses, but it is the researcher’s perception of the world that is being answered. Instead, the best method was to have some predetermined questions, but also allow for a natural conversation to occur based on the flow of the interaction (Merriam, I998). The goal was to obtain information that reveals insights and beliefs that are honest and forthcoming, not based on a fixed agenda. Collecting artifacts was another way to reveal information about the participants, albeit in a non-obtrusive format. In fact, artifacts are a long-lasting form of data collection that can endure after the participants are no longer available to observe and interview. These took the form of journals, course assignments, and class notes. Artifacts provided one more way for the “voices” of the participants to be heard during the study (Merriam, 1998). Due to the open nature of qualitative research, there were no set criteria for evaluating artifacts besides looking for themes and details that emerge to provide more insight into the participants’ thoughts and beliefs (Bogden & Biklen). 57 “at? ' .L lgyr‘ll :t‘ilecti zen b3 This study set out to document preservice secondary teachers’ conceptions about adolescents, teaching for understanding, and literacy within content areas during a content area literacy course. Through class observations, interviews, and artifact collection, there were a variety of sources available to build a case about students and their beliefs throughout the course. Case studies of the course and the participants’ experiences, revolving around the themes, were created based on information available about specific students in the study. A case study is a bounded system appropriate for examining a particular phenomenon, a specific social group, or an individual (Merriam, 1998). Case studies can use either quantitative or qualitative methods. In this study, because of the underlying assumptions with interpretive traditions, I used qualitative methods (words and descriptions) rather than quantitative analyses. The case study focuses on the course and the participants’ conceptualizations about adolescents, teaching for understanding, and literacy within their disciplines. This focus on the individual, as a way to investigate some aspect of human behavior, qualifies these as interpretive case studies in education (Merriam, 1998). Exemplar studies in case study research have been rich in rigorous data collection and analysis of multiple data sources, such as observations, artifacts, and interviews (Barone, 2004). Following Yin’s criteria (1994) for quality in case studies, there needs to multiple sources of evidence, the amlysis needs to follow a chain of evidence, and the case study must be reviewed by key informants before it appears in print. All of these factors have been followed in the current study. In terms of definitions for the research questions, first, in this study, the term adolescents is defined as children between the ages of 12 — 18. It typically occurs during 58 CDIL'ESCII ' l rshrpre Process “it ear then I r t,.,- _. L“v-‘lls tr firth cln dldlrirguc r') . _ reliving—,- a time of growth when schooling takes places in grades 7 — 8 (middle school) and 9 — 12 (high school). Second, the concept of teaching for understanding refers to comprehension and instruction for comprehension to ensure that students actually make sense of the content. Literacy within content areas, the third concept, would be any connection to reading, writing, listening, speaking, viewing, visually representing, multiple literacies, and thinking skills. Processes for Collectingjm The course began on January 18, 2005. On that night, I explained the study to the students, passed out the consent forms, and told them that they would be contacted soon to set up the first interview. Then, for each of the eight class sessions (January 18, February 1, February 15, March 1, March 15, March 29, April 12, and April 26), I took detailed field notes on the conversations, activities, and interactions among the students with each other and with the instructor. I also audiotaped the class sessions to refer to when I typed up my field notes. Soon after each session, I typed up my field notes with details from the class and from the audiotapes. I made copies of the “Conversation Calendars” that were completed at the end of each class session by students. I also copied the instructor’s responses to see the written dialogue that took place. Assignments that were completed for the course were photocopied before the instructor assessed them. These were accessed from paper copies that were handed in to the instructor and from the online course website, where work was posted. I also made copies of students’ notes from the course readings for further data, which were handed in to the instructor. 59 1T- {It'll 'Yt'an. - 43.1 ‘ it Si ill tit :i‘ I :h: I": 1"“ LI ill? stir MI 01 'l‘ld’cr 1 Tile tr, J .. "l H L, JJ'V‘ ‘\ I interviewed select voluntary students outside of class time immediately after the class began (within a week), during the fifth week of the semester, during the tenth week of the semester, and after the last class session. These interviews were set up at a neutral place on campus, meeting near the student cafeteria or at the campus coffee house. I took detailed notes during the interviews, and l audiotaped the interviews for reference with my notes. Soon after each interview, I typed up my field notes with details from the interview and from the audiotapes. Primary data sources were field notes taken during subsequent class sessions on the course content, the students’ interactions and responses in class, and artifacts from class sessions and course assignments, along with four structured interviews (beginning of class, one-third of the way, two-thirds of the way, and at the end) with key student informants. The interview prompts were utilized as invitations to conversations instead of just requests for answers. Triangulation of data occurred through a variety of sources, along with sharing the transcriptions with the course instructor and the students. After I began to analyze the study, I shared my writing with the participants, who were profiled in the case studies, to see if it matched their thinking. I also kept a researchers’ journal (Sanjek, 1990) in order to record my own challenges based on the course content, the class activities, the interview responses, and the student work. Having taught the course many times, and also being responsible for part of the creation of the syllabus and course activities, I needed to do something, in order to keep my data collection as objective as possible, as I discovered information. The journal helped me maintain an awareness of my own subjectivity when observing the course, and allowed for insights into the participants’ responses when their answers did 60 “is as bill “f; mmt}: ~m‘ultr; illt {En with. 2' ‘C \ not fit within what I was expecting from what I knew about the course content. This was a place for me to record my feelings, thoughts, and questions. It was also a place for me to compare my findings, to make sure that I was not reading more into the data than was there, or that I was not putting a certain bias on a response based on my own feelings or interest in the course. Instrument The main instrument used in the study was a series of interview prompts for four different structured times throughout the course, when interviews took place (see Appendix B). The pronpts were intended to give a semi-structured format for the interviews, as I tried to obtain information from the students. Overall, the goal for the interviews was to be conversational, where the students would feel free to respond in an open format and rot feel that their responses will be evaluated or critiqued (Merriam, 1998) In writing the questions, I took care to insure that the language was simple and that it was clear to understand (Henk & McKenna, 2004). I showed the questions to my husband, who is a non-educator, to see if he was able to understand what each question was asking. He did explain that he was not sure why I was asking some of the questions, but we discussed how they relate more to someone interested in secondary education than ’9 66 business/finance (his field). These terms included “adolescents, comprehension,” “multiple texts,” “literacy,” and “standardized testing.” He did admit that he knew what the terms meant in general, so he felt that a student in education courses should have a stronger connection. He did make a few suggestions on deleting one question 61 hmaritiizcxl figipllflfil 31 After orients enrol usrst near ths‘ my to unde chemistry). Ill tile to help it questions for student would an seeking. ambiguous ph could result in int I needed 1 unease. Datatnalysis Ideas 1 Boone. 2004; Will; \lerrtun “3.15 of desert Ethnographic t observational (standardized testing, since it only relates to the last night of the class and not to all disciplines) and making some questions more open-ended. After a few adjustments, I then practiced the interview questions with two students enrolled in the course in Fall 2004, when each of them came to my office to assist near the end of the semester. What we looked for first was that the questions were easy to understand. Since both students were future science teachers (biology and chemistry), they felt that they had a strong knowledge about inquiry and, therefore, were able to help with some of the question stems. Based on their suggestions, I evaluated the questions for consistency and made appropriate changes. Then, we considered how a student would answer each question to see if it would provide the type of information I was seeking. This resulted in changing some questions to aVoid difficult and/or ambiguous phrasing. For some questions, I was also able to see how further probing could result in more details based on a possible response. With other questions, I realized that I needed to expand the depth of the question, which resulted in multiple questions in one case. Data Analysis Ideas for analysis were derived from a variety of case study (Merriam, 1998; Barone, 2004; Yin, 1994) and ethnographic (Purcell- Gates, 2004; LeCompte & Schensul, 1999; Merriam, 1998; Spradley, 1980) sources. Analyses of data were useful to constant ways of describing themes and comparing participants’ conceptions of those themes. The ethnographic sources contributed ideas about sorting and categorizing data, especially observational data. 62 lused the kinds Old 3). The Chill prmarily onc mructor notr chapter on p nteryie‘rt's an its :rizmgula resemher‘s ‘ reorient strc Determinin0 Theo Clan for det- deteloped fr lll the class meninges: observations sessions in: Adolescents, l he most 52 descriptor. I used different kinds of analyses and different levels of analyses depending on the kinds of data (observation, interview, artifacts) and the pertinent chapter (see Table 3). The chapter on course themes and patterns of interaction, for example, draws primarily on observational data, with further data coming from the instructor interviews, instructor notes, and written dialogues between the instructor and the participants. The chapter on participants’ conceptions of the themes draws on data from participant interviews and course artifacts from written assignments. The overall guiding principal was triangulation of data, both in the sense of obtaining the participants’ views and the researcher’s views, and in the sense of combining different types of data to make an argument stronger and more valid. Determining Themes Throughout the Class Sessions The observational data from the eight class sessions were my primary sources of data for developing class themes. From the narratives of the sessions, which were developed from a combination of my field notes and the transcriptions of the audiotapes of the class sessions, I discerned several recurring patterns of interaction. These recurring events developed into the class session themes. Content. First, I analyzed the content (the main ideas of the sessions) of the eight observations by rereading the narratives and establishing a logical way in which the sessions were organized. There was continual emphasis on the course themes of adolescents, teaching for understanding, and literacy within content areas. I then selected the most salient events and ideas from the narratives for each session, while providing descriptions of the participants’ involvement in brief narrative form. 63 ("tsp ter 4: Ch: illsert‘ttionul ' hsnuctor lnter lzitrrcts lnstruc Comer Prntcrpant lnt .- .lnttets Literat \lultir \‘v'rittn lulon' Classr Slllllt‘; Final TABLE 3 CATEGORIES OF ANALYSIS Chapter 4: Class Themes and Patterns of Interaction Observational Data Instructor Interview Data Artifacts Instructor’s Notes Conversation Calendars C_hapter 5: Course Themes Participant Interview Data Artifacts Literacy Autobiography Multiple Texts Assignment Writing Ideas Assignments Tutoring Jom'nals Classroom Observation Reflection Strategies Collection Final Reflection 64 hortledge of t rrt’t the instrut do mulyred t the patterns thr students throus ii the course r dialogues. l C8 he narratit es me the insttt position of th lecture l‘onnut .l ' tress session ‘ wig ugemenl t ntrtcipants' t participants u and the merit interaction. ": ‘tere tn the cl ll! lllstfim lit Structure. To establish the common interaction patterns, I drew upon my existing knowledge of the agenda for each class session, along with the planning that was done with the instructor. I used categories and labeled the observational data accordingly. I also analyzed the instructor’s notes for her planning ideas to see if her thoughts matched the patterns that were displayed. Finally, I examined the dialogue between instrmtor and students through the Conversation Calendars, looking to see if participants mentioned any of the course content and/or interactions. Through analysis of the narratives, notes, and dialogues, I came to understand how the interactions were quite dynamic. Lectures. To understand the patterns of the lectures, I read through all of the narratives several times and listened to the audiotapes, making note of the amount of time the instructor was speaking in relation to other interactions.‘ I also observed the position of the instructor while speaking, the pace of each session, and the effect the lecture format had on both the instructor and the participants. Activities. 1 read through the transcripts, noting how much time in each class session was devoted to activities. I looked for frequency of these behaviors and the engagement of the participants. 1 also looked for mention of these activities in the Participants’ dialogue with the instructor. Dialogue. Transcriptions of class sessions revealed numerous times when Participants worked with a partner or a larger group. I noted the purpose of each dialogue and the members that made up the pair or group. This is where I saw a pattern in the interaction. The instructor’s notes were an additioml source of data to see what her plans Were in the class session for having students work together. From my analysis, I was able to discern five different types of dialogue that occurred during the class sessions: (1) 65 panes; (3) l mutt stud: mites. diff instructor‘s \ The in' 22mes of 3th mid take dc Nah: our hilltop agai rereadthc nan 23.290“ Shit lama yzed all (ourseTht-n The c tamcipant inl 1’16! always n hith'iew qua i'semcs than c ”merging fmr Mime count-t 0 ,L_ .. Mh-smc to e partners; (2) proximal groups; (3) andom groups; (4) content area groups; and (5) instructor/student. Each formation served a different purpose, and from analysis of the narratives, differences in the content of the interactions was noted. Instructor’s View The instructor and I met on several occasions to discuss her view on the course themes of adolescents, teaching for understanding, and literacy within content areas. I would take detailed notes and audiotape the discussions. After each meeting, I would transcribe our conversations in order to enhance my notes. I developed this section as a backdrop against which to compare the participants’ responses to the course themes. I reread the narratives several times, highlighting key phrases and ideas that stood out. The category system was developed by organizing all of the recurring phrases into categories. I analyzed all interview data that was relevant to her perspective on the course themes and selected particular passages to use in this section. gout-5e Themes The cases of the participants’ perceptions of the course themes drew from Participant interview data and analysis of the course artifacts. While the participants did not always respond specifically to a prompt that asked about the themes, there were intel‘view questions and couse assignments that lent themselves more specifically to the theI'nes than others. Other responses were analyzed more deeply to see if themes were emerging from the responses. I looked for patterns in responses that stood out to signify some connection to each theme. Then, I looked at responses for the potential of a Subtheme to emerge. 66 Data ferries FO' adsrsundm geclfic phr: :fzzmation "Ali for lead Alia “*2 looking Elghnalion. :l spccmc p m 2'33 “118 h: mlhnml sleet qumc rzsphnscs th ill-others ar New ls. lllCillCii' COU' Data was read three different times for the purpose of analyzing the course themes. For each review, a different theme was the focus (adolescents, teaching for understanding, literacy within content areas) as the information was read. As I noticed Specific phrases or words that related to the corresponding theme, I would underline the information and label it accordingly. Black ink was the color used for adolescents, blue was for teaching for understanding, and green was for literacy within content areas. Afier each theme analysis, the underlined responses would be read again, this time looking for patterns in the responses to emerge and ascertaining themes from the information. I kept a chart where I wrote down the patterns and looked for reoccurrence 0f Specific patterns over others. There was further analysis of the patterns, particularly if an area was seen as having too many responses and needing more specific breakdown of the information. From this, more patterns emerged. After the categorization of the data, select quotes from participants were chosen to exemplify the pattern. I also looked for reslbonses that diverged from the themes, or took a varying perspective from the majority of Others’ answers. Next, ll will present the chapters that discuss what I Ieamed from the content area literacy course and the participants in the study. 67 In this terse. Beeai ‘l’lk’ffi certain hieeines. ex research ques 1. How center 2. How during 3. lion areas This chapter stature of mMClor‘g ' alias lseeT llimlll‘e 0f limes and stricture of thlmcIUr‘s ”ll-mm ll 5 mung CHAPTER 4 CLASS THEMES AND PATTERNS OF INTERACTION In this chapter, I set the larger context for the cases of the participants within the course. Because the students were part of this particular course in Content Area Literacy, where certain norms of interaction prevailed and the course syllabus outlined particular objectives, exploring the course themes throughout the class sessions is essential. The research questions related to the course themes: 1. How do preservice content area teachers come to understand adolescents during a content area literacy course? 2. How do preservice content area teachers conceptualize teaching for understanding during a content area literacy course? 3. How do preservice content area teachers conceptualize literacy within content areas during a content area literacy course? This chapter describes the course around two central concepts: (1) the content and the Structure of the class sessions in relationship to the research questions, and (2) the instructor’s view of adolescents, teaching for understanding, and literacy across content areas (see Table 4). I have chosen these concepts because the first one provides both a narrative of the course sessions I observed, along with their relationships to the course thfillies and the research questions and a means of understanding the organizational Sn‘ucture of the classroom. The second concept allows us to understand how the instructor’s views of the course may have influenced student learning. The class is irnDortant, because it creates a context for the messages the students received throughout the course. In the following section, I will describe the content of the class sessions in r . . elation to the course themes, along wrth comments from students about 68 lantent ktmgthe St hdapk Lhet Start of Strate 0t. he Edge l ldmgaDee laeSamegi 3n2nnglt.t .hsessment .‘ Structure of lectures lattities Dialogue Pann Ptttxi Rand Cont lnstn Instructor‘s TABLE 4 CONTENT AND STRUCTURE OF CLASS SESSIONS Content Setting the Stage (January 18) Multiple Literacies (February 1) Start of Strategies (February 15) On the Edge (March 1) Taking a Deep Breath (March 15) More Strategies (March 29) Bringing It All Together (April 12) Assessment Night (April 26) Structure of Class Sessions Lectures Activities Dialogue Partners Proximal Groups Random Groups Content Area Groups Instructor/ Student Interactions I“Structor’s View of Adolescents, Teaching for Understanding, and Literacy 69 extrema“ [intent and 5 The \\'t name of 1h its proposed ":2: presen'ict are throur. tail place thr 2rd he instru he students. intents lean secondary sc shamans in t he course tl course inthrr till describe chaise sessrt' la . n ent Cont lat)“ if] as m H] -.r . Llluhmg d interaction; Presented at their experiences during the course. Content and Structure of Class Sessions The work of O’Brien, Stewart, & Moje (1995) strongly influenced the content and structure of the course when the instructional team met before the course began to set up the proposed course outline. For instance, O’Brien, Stewart, & Moje (1995) advocate that preservice teachers should reflect on their lived experiences, which happened in this course through a Literacy Autobiography. They also propose dialogic teaching, which took place through the form of Conversation Calendars (Tovani, 2004) between students and the instructor and in the forms of discussions as a whole class and in groups among the students. O’Brien, Stewart, & Moje (1995) also suggest that teaching cases “can help Sttldents Ieam about using content literacy strategies with regard to the complexities of secondary schools” (456). In this course, students were given scenarios of teaching Situations in various content areas and asked to reflect on their own thoughts in relation to the course themes. Also, students conducted a classroom observation to $e how the Conrse information would play out (or not) in an authentic teaching situation. Below, I Will describe the content of each course session and then discuss the structure of the COUrse sessions. ._Content Content of courses in content area literacy with preservice secondary teachers Vary in as many ways as the courses are taught (Gehrke, Shaefer, & Schlick, 1982). The f0"owing descriptions describe the content of the course in the study, including Interactions between participants, the role of the instructor, and the information that was DreSented and/or discussed, as it relates to the course themes of adolescents, teaching for 70 niersrandin mar COUC reatzans. 4,“..3‘“ Fl“ Lehman: iral i J “‘5‘ IS aflh tsung the Ass-arcane: reading an We intrr understanding, and literacy within content areas. These narratives provide a rich background for understanding the ways in which the participants came to conceptualize areas related to the research questions. Each class session will be described as to how it related to each area of concentration — adolescents, teaching for understanding, and literacy within content areas. Setting the Stage (January 18). When the course began and it came to helping the students in the class start to think about adolescents, Jacqui asked participants to share initial conceptions about adolescents and adolescent literacy, asking for other students’ reactions. This was interesting in that many of the participants had misconceptions about adolescents (hormones, difficult personalities) without considering how complex this age level is and how it will have an effect on their own teaching. Students worked in groups, using the jigsaw method (Aronson et al., 1978), to read the International Reading Association Adolescent Literacy Position Statement (Moore et. al, 1999), with each group 1‘ eading and synthesizing a section of the text. This was the first time that adolescents Were introduced, and the reading brought a strong argument for the importance of Secondary teachers to understand this age group and their literacy needs. Plus, the inStr'uctor encouraged the students to think about how this information would connect to their prior knowledge about teaching. Tutoring played a large role in understanding adolescents, since they would have a personal opportunity to work with this age group. Jacqui explained that this experience would provide the students with firsthand experience working with an adolescent or two thrOughout the course, where they could connect many of the course concepts and InfOl‘rnation. She also said that this personal time with an adolescent would be much 71 afferent tha' jig has a l ligassion n bang able tr Pcdz are course ham. 1% She explain help them talents rel treated the hear to the arderstand lltween pc latr latching , rationale fl Mam SlllCC lllt‘ c Elill-“ltd ha: ln lllllllt'llll't'd ‘ Senmg a different than when they would be teaching and have an entire classroom of students, so this was a unique opportunity to get to know an adolescent at a deeper level. The discussion of the field placement brought adolescents back to the forefront, with students being able to experience a personal connection in a tutoring situation. Pedagogical practices for teaching for understanding were also shared during the first course session. When Jacqui introduced herself to the class, she used a mind map (Buzan, 1983) with pictures of her family, her educational background, and her interests. She explained that this is a strategy that she uses with her own high school students to help them comprehend content. She showed examples of mind maps drawn by her students relating to the 19203, World War II, and the Vietnam War. Then, participants Created their own mind maps about their own backgrounds and took turns presenting them to the class. This was the first time that a strategy that helps with teaching for under‘standing was introduced, which started the overall connections that students made between pedagogy and the information in the course. Jacqui presented an overview of the State Curriculum Framework Vision and Teaching & Learning Standards. The instructor asked students to think about the r ationale for their teaching and the purpose of Ieaming their content area, which is what the State Curriculum Framework can provide. This related to teaching for understanding, Since the concept of higher-order thinking was discussed in how it helps students think beyond basic levels of information. In order to bring a stronger connection to teaching for understanding, Jacqui Introdneed the concept of Comprehension Ideas (Pearson, Roehler, Dole, & Duffy, 1992) \ Setting a Purpose, Monitoring Comprehension, Using Fix-Up Strategies, Determining 72 among]! lth'd intents get i Brehers. 104‘ hung one I ripeneneed t much care fc each other he nanple of tl lanher. Plus reading by St attall} duin Soeit‘ stung thatt titer student thinner. di he named teaching for earners ant Ments at In “that at ltsualhR 9f . 5‘" MOM Important Ideas, Making Connections, Asking Questions, Making Inferences — and had Students get in proximal groups of four or five people to play Clue (Hasbro/Parker Brothers, 1949, 1998). Each group approached it in a different way, with some groups having one person read the directions before playing, some groups relying on an experienced player to explain the game, and some groups just getting started without much care for rules and procedures. After about 15 minutes, students discussed with each other how they thought the game related to the Comprehension Ideas. This was an example of the instructor having students experience a concept in order to understand it further. Plus, the activity helped the students relate to teaching for understanding beyond reading by seeing the concepts demonstrated and enacted in an activity where they were aCtually doing something. Socioconstructivism (Vygotsky, 1987; Bean, 2000) was introduced with Jacqui Stating that this would be the main method of instruction in the course. It was not until afiel' students were asked to write their initial Definition of Literacy, and had shared with a Partner, did the instructor mention that the sharing was a type of socioconstructivism She wanted students to experience it and then make the connections. Once again, teElChing for understanding was being explained and experienced as the students talked to Partners and tried to make sense of literacy. For the first time, literacy was brought up as Smdents wrote down their own definitions of literacy within their content areas. To continue to bring literacy into the class discussion, the instructor defined the concept of Literacy Events as Reading, Writing, Listening, Speaking, Viewing, aid Visually Representing (Begoray & Sanford, 2002), emphasizing that this course would go beyond just basic forms of literacy in reading and writing, which is what usually 73 happens in a content area.‘ discipline. examples of as reading representing hrdents u'i eaneeptnns haaderrule beginning 0 Bean (1990 llltt‘lC)‘ pm teletisiun. ; multiple lit 353111 halt‘ denunstrzr understand thing to m ideas on l lllem Cllm pulping 0 happens in a course on secondary/content area reading. Students broke into groups by content areas in order to brainstorm examples of each literacy event specific to their discipline. The instructor explained that they would need to write down general examples of how each literacy event could happen in their content area classroom, such as reading the textbook, writing a lab report, listening to lectures, and visually representing by acting out a play. This broader definition of literacy would provide students with more information throughout the course as they formed their own concept'nns of literacy within their content areas. Literacy was already taking on a broader role within the first class session. Multiple Literacies (February 1). Adolescents were the main topic for the beginning of the second class. There was a class discussion about the Bean, Bean, and Bean (1999) article. Some of the main points that students discussed were the various literacy practices that were described in the article, including writing notes, watching television, and talking on the phone. New considerations of adolescents and their various multiple literacies were evident in the students’ discussions. Jacqui did stop the class about halfway during their conversation and asked them to consider how they were demonstrating socioconstructivism by doing this activity. This connected teaching for Understanding again, with the instructor making explicit her own techniques that she was “Sing to model this type of instruction for the students. It also helped students to connect ideas on pedagogy and content, since they could see how this framework would help the“! consider how working together helps with understanding content. Yet, the overall Dm'pose of the discussion was to see how students were constructing meaning about adolescents beyond the misconceptions that they shared during the first class session. 74 In re :ession. lace teacher uho :eenes to sh hat the see intentationa class. We Trey also oestrous \ ahocates. connection: class and t] tteaeher e and his use lo entire elas She ltl'ie' llll‘tSldcr E Meade Cheque" “Hittite meaning “it to h To review teaching for understanding and some of the ideas from the first class session, Jacqui introduced the first teaching scenario, which described a social studies teacher who was introducing the Vietnam War to his students through video clips of war scenes to show to the high school students. Jacqui asked students to discuss how they felt that the scenario related to the State Curriculum Framework and the ideas from the International Reading Association Adolescent Literacy Position Statement. As a whole class, students pointed out the use of video clips as an alternative to reading the textbook. They also mentioned that the teacher asked questions. Yet, they realized that the questions were not a a higher level, which is what the State Curriculum Framework advocates. Overall, the discussion was notable in that the students could make the Connections between the information about teaching for understanding from the previous class and the teaching scenario in front of them. This activity brought in a description of a teacher attempting various aspects of teaching for understanding to reach his students and his use of alternative texts to relate to the multiple literacies of adolescents. For more 'nformation on teaching for understanding, the instructor talked to the entire class about the ideas in the assigned readings from the Tovani (2000, 2004) books. She reviewed Literacy Events (Begoray & Sanford, 2002) and encouraged students to Consider all of these practices when reading the books. She reviewed the Comprehension Ideas (Pearson, Roehler, Dole, & Duffy, 1992) and gave students copies of “Ordeal by Cheque” (Crue, 1932; Vacca & Vacca, 2005), a “story” written in bank checks instead of narrative text, and asked them to use the Comprehension Ideas in order to construct meaning out of it. They were also told that writing their ideas in the margins would be a Way to hold their thinking. This was a way for students to experience teaching for 75 rderstandir pages. Pl nderstandr In 0 themes A .tatohiogra] college. be: reading to reaps. T become ap rodents. Stur 'r'tut’lt in to Benchmark all them i llll‘d'dlc am" Slldaee uh reli‘dllng ( music. and ltt‘r‘u lhtt's benchmarl: U"tiftall. r} lllltitjr‘ih lll understanding as they attempted to decipher the information from the symbols on the pages. Plus, they could connect how this pedagogical practice would assist in understanding content. In order to begin a discussion about literacy, students were required to write a Literacy Autobiography for the class session. Jacqui modeled her own Literacy Autobiography by sharing her experiences as a student in middle school, high school, and college, being in a book club with colleagues at the school where she teaches, arrl reading to her own children. Participants shared their Literacy Autobiographies in groups. This personal experience with literacy, and the different ways literacy can become a part of people’s lives, gave students direct information to connect to their own students. Students were asked to take out their State Curriculum Framework Standards and work in content area groups. Jacqui asked students to look through the Standards and Benchmarks and find where they think any of the information related to literacy. She told them to concentrate on verbs in the language and tasks that were being asked of middle and high school students. This was an explicit activity to bring literacy to the surface when considering state guidelines for content teaching. The rrusic group had a revealing discussion about the performance skills and thinking skills that are required in music, and they talked about how this related to literacy. The rmth group talked about how they saw literacy in every benchmark. The science group said that the verbs in the benchmarks required students to think on higher levels, which they linked to literacy. Overall, the literacy ideas from the course were very relevant when students looked th . . rough the documents. Since all of the students had prevrous exposure to the state 76 zincMUnL new ideas 2 To heunonn rnémg fll when [car Imonng. ~’ A mmnng. meannr trauma! gfi‘ F0 jhlllat impUmnC larconc students. Ehhfi~h amchs,\ amonnn asgnmcl bqumn (lpmum stuhom milillplc [I curriculum, this activity helped them connect their prior knowledge in this area to their new ideas about literacy. To connect all of the ideas presented thus far, Jacqui went over the structure for the tutoring sessions, following the ITIP instructional model (Hunter, 1979) to teach reading strategies. She said that this was an approach that could function efficiently when teaching for understanding of strategies, so it would be the main approach for tutoring. She also explained that ten journals were required about their experiences in tutoring, focusing on the lesson, the strategy, and their overall Ieaming about adolescents. The attention to teaching for understanding, adolescents, and literacy within each tutoring journal gave an opportunity for students to reflect on the course themes. For the Multiple Texts assignment (Bean, 2002; Walker & Bean, 2003; Tovani, 2004), Jacqui referred back to the Bean, Bean, and Bean (1999) article and stressed the importance of multiple lteracies with adolescents. She encouraged students to expand their conception of “text” by thinking of all the ways that content could be presented to students. She modeled this by sharing several “texts” that she uses with a unit she teaches with her high school students on Vietnam. She described and passed around articles, videos, poems, a draft registration, photographs, and song lyrics in order to demonstrate the various ways that she uses multiple texts with her students. This assignment blended 'nformation on adolescents, literacy, and teaching for understanding by re(Wiring students to put together “texts” to teach a concept. It also gave students the Opportunity to make a direct application of the course information to a potential teaching Situation, plUS, they could connect their own knowledge on content to this new idea of multiple texts. 77 it: third t evening. concepts It mdaskin; answered Concept ( mancctio Ideas. Fr Here list demonsm ftldcnce W haw menu. and film for the ) Chi dren‘ {Onl't‘rsa dfiiilllcd 1 [Milling undi'hnr “Pressed Start of Strategies (February 15). A review of teaching for understanding began the third class session, and it would continue to be the main theme throughout the evening. The teaching scenario described an art teacher who was introducing new concepts to high school students at the beginning of a new unit, saying a vocabulary term, and asking if any student knew what it meant. In this case, there was one student who answered every time (no one else raised their hands) by getting up and demonstrating the concept (shading, defining, etc.). In class, the participants were asked to consider connections within the scenario for evidence of the Literacy Events arr! Comprehension Ideas. For Literacy Events, students said that the teacher was speaking, the art students were listening, and the student who participated was visually representing by demonstrating his answer. For Comprehension Ideas, students said that there was evidence of Asking Questions and no evidence of Setting a Purpose, since students did not have any connections to the entire unit through the concepts. This scenario gave students an opportunity to make connections to the ideas of teaching for mderstanding and literacy by examining this description of teaching. In content area groups, students shared the “texts” that they had gathered together for the Multiple Texts assignment. Students brought in videos, ideas from websites, children’s books, artifacts, and many other ways that they could represent content. The conversations in the various groups went beyond reporting on the items to include detailed descriptions of how this relates to the literacy needs of adolescents. Groups also mentioned how this type of activity could function as support for teaching for Understanding by allowing students to Ieam content with various sources. They all e - . . . . . . . xPressed interest in dorng this when they are teaching, smce It bnngs the content to 78 rudenfi I“ mire. For mm It are expert in: it is fora new Men dc :nncnt. cemprchc rumor SMART . slow dun renned Strategies tnnfnsm; nngkly r are: ldcd 3533. pl! student in}; th *lidcnn students in a different way than just following a traditional textbook or listening to a lecture. For the next activity related to teaching for understanding, Jacqui encouraged the students to remember that they are experts in their content areas and that their students are experiencing much of it for the first time. She said that teachers need to remember what it is like to Ieam this information for the first time, considering what can be difficult for a new learner. Then, she explained the concept of chunking, where the information is broken down into smaller, manageable parts. She said that teachers should do this with content, so teachers and students can stop intermittently and monitor their comprehension. This was a direct connection to teaching for understanding, with the instructor stating the rationale for this type of instruction. Jacqui also explained the SMART (Vaughan & Estes, 1986) strategy for reading text, which encourages students to slow down, stop periodically, and isolate confusion. She pointed out that this is a required strategy to teach in tutoring. Then, Jacqui asked students to consider fix- up strategies and ways to use them in their content areas, when information is difficult or confusing. She showed several examples in various content areas, and she had students quickly move to their content area groups to brainstorm ideas. The discussions in groups provided immediate reinforcement of teaching for understanding in the respective content areas, plus students were connecting their ideas on content to the strategies. For another direct experience with teaching for understanding, Jacqui gave Students a difficult excerpt from Moby Dick (Melville, 1851) and asked them to chunk it, apply the SMART strategy, and use fix— up strategies when they got stuck. She told tudents to thrnk about the processes gomg on m therr heads while reading, and to wnte 79 (an 3““ in)“ “5‘ new em flint C135 an rth Egughl pl gnntfnl m wink)“ bk quail! mm n’a: teachers n also Sires: ‘rnnnkd‘g: Aswan Sn Jacqui tall ntontcnt me am nerds ant tnnnrtant studies Ct Rh} m pgi ,._. , 'AII‘I‘YI“ ‘ ,._ «:3; M down anything they notice that they do. Students shared ideas on rereading, slowing down, visualizing, focusing on vocabulary words, and skipping parts to keep reading. Jacqui encouraged them to consider what a similar situation would look like in their future classrooms, and how they, as the teachers, could help their students navigate their way through difficult content. She stressed the importance of teachers modeling their thought processes for students, so they know what a “good” reader and thinker of the content would do with difficult information. She made the analogy that if a person does not know how to cook, he or she would go to a cook or a chef — an expert in that area — to ask questions and learn from them how to cook. It is the same with learning content. Jacqui was making explicit the ideas for teaching for understanding, in that content area teachers need to take responsibility fir helping their students construct meaning. She also stressed that they needed to connect their knowledge of content to their new knowledge of teaching for understanding, since that type of pedagogy would be necessary to help their future students Ieam new information. Since vocabulary instruction plays a key role in teaching for understanding, Jacqui talked about the importance of Ieaming vocabulary words in contexts, particularly in content area classrooms, and giving students a rationale for Ieaming words. Students Were encouraged to think beyond their own memories of being asked to memorize lists of words and write down definitions on texts. Jacqui said that the word “alien” has many connotations for her students, and she tries to help them understand its use in a social Studies context. This connection to teaching for understanding provided rationale for Why vocabulary can be a determining factor in comprehension of content. This type of pedagogical practice was new for many participants, whose only knowledge of 80 attannla menu. mm iascussr manner. raced m panics gilt Si 5mg; {0ng students "lt'llh he “Under Would 5 Slidtnn Extend vocabulary instruction was based on their own experiences as middle and high school students. Jacqui asked students to discuss the variety of ways that they have seen socioconstructivism enacted in the class sessions. Students talked with each other about discussion groups, partners, content area groups, class discussions, and strategies. In this manner, they were using socioconstructivist principles to discuss the concept, which aided in their understanding of its use in teaching for understanding. For literacy within content areas, students discussed the assigned readings from the two Tovani (2000, 2004) books. Jacqui introduced the strategy of Previewing/Surveying (Cunningham & Shablak, 1975) to demonstrate how it can help students have a purpose for Ieaming. She gave students magazines and asked them to practice teaching this to each other, since it was a required strategy for tutoring. This gave students an opportunity to experience teaching for understanding by using the strategy to read the magazine. She also introduced SQ3R (Robinson, 1961) and KWL (Ogle, 1986; Carr & Ogle, 1987), showing examples in many content areas, and had Students practice KWL with an article on tongue piercing. Jacqui also mentioned that With her high school students, she changes the middle column of KWL to be “What I Wonder” instead of “What I Want to Know,” since she said that most of her students Would say “nothing” if asked what they wanted to know. She also talked about having Students do some further research after they had filled out the entire chart, which would extend their learning. Finally, Jacqui introduced the Anticipation/Reaction Guide (Dumemeyer, Baum, & Merkley, 1987; Dufflemeyer & Baum, 1992; Dufflemeyer, 1994), Showing examples in many content areas, and had students practice this with an 81 male on eating a but [his ninety o the ideas 3,3311 C0 n idols: insider unfair for teat Connect 39116 ( ‘Buc‘nl article on computers. Jacqui reminded the class that all of these strategies work well in setting a purpose for students when Ieaming content. For each strategy, discussions on how this helps with teaching for understanding stressed the importance of each one. The variety of examples in various content areas provided students with ideas on how to apply the ideas to literacy within their own content areas. Plus, they had more ideas to consider when connecting this information to their ideas on pedagogy and content. Throughout the class session, Jacqui stressed principles to support literacy growth in adolescents and encouraged students to think beyond traditional reading and writing to consider multiple ways that adolescents use literacy. This provided an immediate reinforcement of the course themes of adolescents and literacy. Plus, the many activities for teaching for understanding gave participants many things to consider as they connected fleas for their own classrooms. On the Edge (March 1). Adolescents need to be encouraged to make connections to the content that they are Ieaming. Jacqui explained the Analogy Graphic Organizer (Buehl & Hein, 1990) and the Sequential Roundtable Alphabet (Ricci & Wahlgren, 1998) and shared examples in various content areas. For the Analogy Graphic Organizer, Students practiced by comparing painting techniques in art with food. For the Sequential Roundtable Alphabet, students brainstormed ideas on 19803 popular culture in groups of f0“? or five. Students discussed content area applications, with many of them saying either Strategy could work to make adolescents more engaged in content by seeing how it 1"dates to their lives or the world around them. The conversations related specifically to the importance of connections for student understanding and the role the teacher must 82 pumm ins-king c In teaching. content. on gm'c cnmmcrc neaningl for undei content i lmPOIIilnt Pointed ( Upcoming rePresent Wants Plflureg 50mm“ all mid! play in making this happen. Ironically, throughout the course, the participants were also making connections between their knowled; on content, pedagogy, and students. Jacqui explained that Making Connections is the main idea behind much of her teaching, since she constantly encourages her students to relate to the social studies content. She wants her students to see how historical events connect to each other, how our government connects to our own lives, and how economics is a part of our world commerce. She stressed that these connections make the Ieaming so much more meaningful and powerful for students. Her explicit thoughts on this related to teaching for understanding, since she sees her own students becoming more interested in the content when she focuses on connections. Plus, it related to adolescents and the importance of making Ieaming relevant to their lives. In order to review teaching for understanding, the teaching scenario provided a description of a high school science teacher who listed vocabulary words on the board, defined each one, and gave a graphic illustration of each one. Then, it was stated that all Of the words were related to an upcoming unit. In the class discussion, participants POinted out that the teacher set a purpose by relating the vocabulary words to the uPCOming unit. Also, the definition with a graphic illustration was an effective way to represent meaning. Students wished that the teacher would have involved the high school Students more with the words, such as having them find definitions or try to draw picml‘es. The discussion, overall, was productive in that the students were making strong ConnCetions to the information on vocabulary from the previous class session. They had an understanding that words that do not make sense can go against teaching for 83 tidetsunt tin learnt Dr tnn-centm content at tn: they They satt the comet \\ ‘tnting it used asa 50“ to it 50“ l0 \I helped I} teem- dummy inform ale-33. ar Slrgn g h 0“ Pith; idlllng‘ Dal-Ilium understanding. They also related the need for adolescents to be more involved with their own Ieaming. Double-Entry Diaries became the focus for teaching for understanding, with a concentration on content area applications. Jacqui shared several examples in various content areas and students practiced the strategy with a short story. Students commented that they enjoyed this strategy, since it helped them make connections to the content. They saw how it can help with teaching for understanding by helping adolescents relate the content to other concepts, including their own lives. Writing became the focus for literacy within content areas. Jacqui explained that writing in a content area class (besides English) most likely means that writing is being used as a tool for Ieaming. Most content area teachers are not expected to teach students how to write. Yet, writing can be extremely important, if the teacher is showing students how to write like a historian, a scientist, an artist, or even an athlete. This explanation helped them consider how writing can happen in different disciplinary areas. Jacqui described different ideas for writing that could be done quickly in content area classrooms such as journals, where students could react to something, summarize infOl‘rnation, or explain steps in a process. This connection to literacy within content ”938, and also using writing as a way to teach for understanding, was stressed very Strongly with the participants. This was another way for participants to add to their ideas on Pedagogical practices that assist adolescents in understanding content. Jacqui explained the phases of the writing process (prewriting, drafting, revising, Editing, and publishing), saying that not all writing goes through each phase. She Particularly stressed the difference between revising and editing, saying that focusing on 84 necnan 33:: Mt :nthin said tlt . ‘ A h an .‘trltifl b titted She s .tssi; inure Winn finder tnnn l0 den. mint c‘v:\ mechanics is the least to be concerned with, if students don’t have the required content in the writing assignment. Jacqui introduced the RAFT writing strategy (Santa, 1988), explaining each letter of the acronym (R — role; A — audience; F — format; T — topic). She said that this strategy is one that she uses ofien with her high school students because it brings in creativity and allows students to take on other perspectives. Jacqui shared several examples in various content areas and stressed that the format must be taught, if it is a specialized type of writing, like a lab report, a telegram, or a how-to brochure, since it cannot be assumed that students will know how to do that format. Participants were given time to write two different RAFT prompts in their content areas for immediate practice on how this aspect of literacy could relate to the disciplines. To continue the direct application of literacy within content areas, Jacqui introduced preliminary information for the Great Writing Assignment (Collins, 1993). She said that she would follow the same format in assigning the Great Writing Assignment that they should follow in creating a Great Writing Assignment for their fuml‘e students. This enabled her to model this type of assignment, including the steps in PUtting it together, which would then relate to how participants could have their own Students put together a writing assignment. Jacqui explained that this was a bigger Writing assignment than most ways that they would most likely use writing, so they had to deSign something for their students that went through the entire writing process. She indiGated that this would be the type of assignment that might happen once during a sem(Stet in middle school or high school, unless they were teaching English Language A118. She also said that parts of it would be usefirl in the future when they put together aSSignments, since they could use different parts to help students with projects, labs, etc. 85 the beg ‘lntin inert tn-d it from ”'1'?" Jtillu. aela: CHE: int Old C0} C0 These explanations put a strong focus on literacy within content areas, with the explanation that the entire writing process does not have to happen every time students write in content areas. lagging a Deep Breath (March 15). Teaching for understanding was the focus at the beginning of the class session as students shared their preliminary ideas for the Great Writing Assignment. Students offered suggestions to each other for improvement or a different approach to the ideas. Jacqui stopped them midway through their discussions and reminded them that this was socioconstructivism at its best, where they were Ieaming from each other. This experience of teaching for understanding, with the instructor utilizing the strength of the students to give feedback, modeled how this could happen in a classroom. Jacqui talked to students about assessment for writing, explaining the difference between a rubric and criteria with point values. She told students that they should use criteria with point values for the sake of simplicity on the Great Writing Assignment. She showed them examples from a model Great Writing Assignment on how to write criteria, focusing on content. She gave students time to write down their ideas, encouraging them to share with people around them. She then did a similar activity in order to help students create a graphic organizer. She showed them examples, and then asked them to attempt to sketch one out, keeping the content criteria in mind. This pedagogical modeling, with each part of the assignment being broken down, demonstrated teaching for understanding in an authentic context. Plus, participants could cmmeet how this teaching practice could help in their own teaching to help their students comprehend content. 86 tlte-citlts nttlt lat‘t intess ' intents n a me itecltli: 'tnting tits t tartan: literati cute I: inn: Sten. 3‘00!“ for 5 The last three required items for the Great Writing Assignment — Revision Checklist, Editing Checklist, and Self- Assessment — were all handled in similar manners, with Jacqui modeling and students practicing. Jacqui continually stressed throughout the process that a Great Writing Assignment with high school students mist be modeled for students during every phase of the writing process, which is exactly what she was doing as a model for the participants. She talked to students about using graphic organizers, checklists, and self-assessment tools with students for other assignments beyond formal writing. She shared examples of projects that she does with her high school students and ways that graphic organizers and checklists work to assist students in accomplishing various requirements. This was information that linked teaching for understanding and literacy within content areas, with Jacqui’s own experiences lending credibility to the concepts. The teaching scenario provided a context for literacy within content areas through writing. It told the story of a math teacher who decided to assign a writing assignment to high school students by giving them the topic one day and making the assignment due three days later. After it was completed, the teacher was frustrated, because the students did not do very well. In the class, participants were asked to consider elements of the scenario that related to effective writing instruction. They immediately began talking about the writing process, and they noticed that the teacher did not have any checkpoints for students to revise and edit before the paper was due. This connected with all of the mOdeling that had happened in the course as Jacqui broke down the steps of the Great Writing Assignment to assist with teaching for understanding. Students were not particularly impressed with the writing topic, and they talked about giving students 87 teices it neir neet tinting i‘ Students nennnnc t’igciplin: listen ar tntes lo: Mints 3th hon Getter; littahu “l .1 L ,imkm choices when they were asked to write. This recalled conversations about adolescents and their need to have choice in their learning. They did like that the teacher was using writing in math, even though they felt that the overall assignment did not go well. Students were connecting the importance of literacy within a content area, and they mentioned several possibilities of how a similar situation would play out in other disciplines. Graduate students (participants in the study - Adam, Trey, Marisa, Liz, Kim, Chief, Phil, Rachel, Gene) did a fishbowl discussion of the Fisher & Frey (2004) text that they had been required to read outside of class. Overall, there were eleven graduate studerts who sat in a circle to talk while the rest of the class gathered around them to listen and take notes. The rest of the class was given a blank two-column outline for notes (on one side — What I Heard, and on the other side — What I Think). The graduate students went systematically through each chapter of the book and discussed the ideas and how it related to their content areas. The areas discussed in detail were Attention Getters, Read Alouds and Shared Readings, Questions, Notes, Graphic Organizers, Vocabulary, and Writing to Learn. Each graduate student offered his or her opinion on the idea and the feasibility of it being implemented in their fiiture content area classroom. This was another activity to model teaching for understanding, but it specifically related to applying literacy within content areas. The examples were powerful, and the graduate students had strong conversations on what they were considering while reading. The rest 0f the students took detailed notes on the ideas for their own classrooms. This type of activity modeled another pedagogical practice that connected ideas on pedagogy and content with new ideas on teaching for understanding. 88 la membd guest 5F 7573mm mitt) 3‘ along “I mgpS K platen tt'lti'idl but” COUCC Jacqui introduced a guest speaker as one of her favorite people and someone she remembered coming to speak years previously when she was a student in the class. The guest speaker talked about mapping (Heimlich & Pittelman, 1986) as a graphic representation to take notes, summarize ideas, and visually lay out ideas. She shared many examples from her own experience as a high school English and Reading teacher, along with examples from various content areas. Students practiced creating a variety of maps for different purposes (narrative text, procedural text, informational text). This was a strong connection to a strategy for teaching for understanding, and the content area examples provided more information to consider for literacy within content areas. More Strategies (March 29). Adolescents and the challenges within the tutoring placements began the sixth class session. Students talked about how they were enjoying working with adolescents and they were Ieaming how it was not easy to jump in and become “fi'iends” with a middle or high school student. Many students expressed concerns that tiny were not able to teach all of the required reading strategies. They talked about how they were beginning to see that plans may not always go the way they originally intend and that adolescents can be unpredictable in behaviors and attitudes. These authentic experiences were providing insight for participants to consider in how they were conceptualizing adolescents. Plus, their previous ideas on adolescents and classroom management were now being connected to their experiences in tutoring, with many new surprises and realizations. Teaching for understanding came into focus as Jacqui described text structures (Berber, 1978) or text patterns. She detailed six different patterns (sequential, comPare/contrast, main ideas/details, problem/solution, position/support, cause/effect) 89 :ndctst nerntn item it 3531198 31.00] ; the DU Tod tn an M let 5m tt‘tn. ' 513mg. it: her tn t‘ln Danni teal ci and gave an example for each one. She said that this is not an easy framework for students to independently determine, and it is something that teachers should work on with students continuously to aid in their comprehension. This related to teaching for understanding, by explaining how this instructional support could help students construct meaning. Then, Jacqui gave students a handout with five different paragraphs and asked them to determine the text structures so they could lave practice identifying each one themselves. Jacqui referred to a concept in Tovani (2004) that emphasized holding thinking as a tool for teaching for understanding. She described her first few years of teaching when she outlined chapters on the overhead and students would copy down the “notes”. She said that she now realizes that students were not required to do any thinking on their own, and instead, her students were letting her do all of the work. While she admitted that this can work in situations when the text is difficult and the teacher needs to model thinking for students, it should not happen all the time or students will not do any thinking on their own. Now she always has her students hold their own thinking through the use of margin notes, sticky notes, double-entry diaries, and maps. She said that this puts responsibility on her high school students to do the reading and to think about it in order to participate .in class the next day. Jacqui also mentioned that holding thinking was what the participants were doing when they tried the different strategies. This explanation gave real examples of how Jacqui used teaching for understanding with her own students by encouraging them to go beyond basic memorization of text, plus, it connected the Participants’ experiences with the strategies to understanding the rationale behind each teaching practice. 90 Jacqui introduced Two-Column notes (Palmatier, 1973), which she admitted looked like a Double-Entry Diary, but served a different purpose for teaching for understanding. Two-Column notes were a way for students to use Determining Important Ideas while reading, listening, or viewing, by pulling out key ideas and details. She showed several examples across various content areas. Then, she handed out an article on struggling readers and asked the students to practice the strategy. They were able to experience how this strategy could help them construct meaning fiom text and also teach for understanding with their own students. Jacqui described Asking Questions as a tool to encourage students to interact with text and make connections to what they are reading. She stressed that this does not mean that students only ask questions when they are confused. In fact, she emphasized that questions show that students are thinking about what they are Ieaming and want to know more. She said that this is difficult for adolescents, since they might be worried that questions make them seem unintelligent or that they did not do the reading. She described different purposes for questions (finding an answer, wanting to know more, indicating confusion, requiring further research) and said that students need to know all of these to know how to ask questions. She also pointed out that questions can indicate whether or not someone actually did the reading by what they ask. Jacqui provided further information by offering a suggestion of using sticky notes to write down questions. She was making connections as to how this could help with teaching for understanding by involving students in their Ieaming. Students remarked that they had minimal knowledge on how to write good questions and how to structure assessments to go beyond a literal level. 91 Answering assigned questions through Question-Answer Relationship (QAR) (Raphael, 1982, 1986) was a strategy that was introduced to help students determine the types of questions that are asked. Jacqui described each type of question (Right There, Think and Search, Author and Me, On My Own) from the strategy and gave an example of each type. Then, she passed out a short reading with questions and had students work with partners to determine the QAR for each question. This practice gave students an opportunity to see how this would aid in their understanding of questions and assessments. Students remarked that certain question types asked for higher levels of thinking. They were noticing how literacy could play out in the types of questions that they could potentially ask of their own students. Jacqui revisited socioconstructivism. She asked students to discuss ways that they can see socioconstructivism being enacted in their future content area classrooms. Students shared ideas for collaboration with colleagues, having students work with partners or small groups, and interacting with students themselves. The basic tenets of the theory were coming out in the students’ responses. They seemed to be connecting with what it meant and could look like in their roles as teachers, which brought to light their previous ideas on teaching and content. Jacqui referred to the Pyramid Diagram (Solon, 1980) as another method for students to pull out key information from a text. Plus, she said that the hands-on approach with this strategy was engaging for adolescents and worked as a literacy tool within content areas. She modeled with an example in social studies and then had students practice the strategy. Students immediately began sharing ideas about different ways to use this strategy and how this could be a precursor to a writing assignment. They 92 ll]: iii" (in were making connections to content Ieaming previously in the course and conceptualizing literacy within content areas by making the applications to their own disciplines and their knowledge of content. The teaching scenario described a physical education teacher who required his students to read a fiction story about a hockey player. Jacqui asked participants to relate it to the overall concepts they had Ieamed so far. In the class, the students said that it was good that the teacher was requiring reading in physical education. Yet, they questioned why the teacher had chosen only fiction and only hockey. They wondered if there were many fiction books available that told stories of hockey players. While the idea was good, the students said that it would have been better if the teacher had brought in many different books for students to choose from related to hockey, both narrative and informational. Students made connections to adolescents and their need for choice, teaching for understanding by using multiple texts, and literacy within content areas by using reading in physical education. Plus, they reached into their ideas on content by considering the other areas that reading could play a role in a physical education class. Bringing It All Together (April 12). For the seventh class session, Making Inferences gave the focus for a discussion about adolescents. Jacqui started by explaining that an inference is a combination of what students know and what information is available through content, encouraging students to think on higher levels since they are going beyond surface level information. The instructor admitted that this is difficult for most adolescents, since they do not want to risk being wrong in front of their peers. Yet, adolescents make inferences all the time when they observe other students behaving in a 93 .CD V {0' dt’St She tent Patti certain way and they make assumptions at to what is going on in the situation. This was a strong connection to the needs of adolescents when attempting to understand content. In order to encourage connections to teaching for understanding, the teaching scenario described a middle school Language Arts classroom where the teacher was introducing Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare by stating that it was her favorite play and that the middle school students needed to read the first act and answer study guide questions by the next day. Participants shared that they thought it was effective that the teacher shared her own interest in the play. This related to the importance of making connections with adolescents. Yet, they said that she should have activated her own students’ prior knowledge about Shakespeare, plays, love, and anything else that could get them ready for reading. Also, they thought that reading a whole act and answering questions in one night, especially when they were just getting started, was too much work. Someone suggested that the play should be read in class, with costumes and props, and/or the teacher should show clips from various versions on film. These last comments showed that students were seeing the need to teach for understanding and use multiple texts with adolescents. A strategy was introduced to encourage students to make inferences — Save the Last Word for Me (Burke & Harste, described by Vaughan & Estes, 1986). Jacqui described this as a strategy that promotes discussion and encourages group interaction. She explained the steps for doing the strategy, and showed a few examples in various content areas, including her own use with her high school students. Jacqui then asked participants to practice the strategy and then engage in a discussion about content area 94 L11. Di nix in den applications. They attempted to conceptualize the ideas for their own use as tools for teaching for understanding. The instructor explained the State Curriculum Framework Assessment Standards. She stressed that these standards provide guidelines for what every teacher’s assessments should look like, so teachers need to consider them when designing assessment tasks for their students. Jacqui made connections to her own teaching, describing various assessments in social studies that she gives to her high school students. She explained that assessment is a way for her to see how her own students construct meaning from what tley read and what she has taught them. All of this was intended as a preview for the last class session, where participants would spend the evening Ieaming about state assessments and pedagogical techniques. She also encouraged them to consider their current ideas on assessment and to relate it to the new information on assessment that they will encounter in the final class. As a direct application to literacy within content areas, Jacqui introduced the Discussion Web (Alvermann, 1991) as a strategy that helps students infer meaning and participate in a socioconstructivist activity, promoting debate and discussion in a structured format. The instructor shared many examples from various content areas, including one from her own high school givemment classroom concerning juveniles and death penalty cases. Participants practiced the strategy and then began discussing various topics that lent themselves to debate (cloning, stem cell research, fast food meal portions, ethics in business, cultural issues). They applied the information to their disciplines in order to see how this literacy strategy could potentially fit in various situations. 95 4m In groups, students shared their notes from the required Classroom Observation, making connections to the Literacy Events and Comprehension Ideas. Overall, students mentioned that they saw many things happening, but they did not think that the teachers they observed were aware that they were actually doing anything relating to literacy. This was not surprising to most, since they wondered if the teachers had ever Ieamed about Literacy Events and Comprehension Ideas. This showed that the students were making some strong connections to the course themes, and they were seeing the importance in their own teaching. Assessment Nigh_t (April 26). The eighth class session began with Jacqui introducing a keynote speaker, a literacy consultant in a local school district, who was her instructor when she took the content area reading class several years ago. The speaker spent forty minutes talking to the entire class (plus about twenty other students from other education classes at the college) about the state assessment program. She explained the rationale behind it, the link to state standards, the pressures from the federal govemment, and the concerns of school districts across the state. She also explained how teaching for understanding was critical in all content areas to prepare students for the state assessment. During two forty-five minute breakout sessions, students heard speakers talk about state assessments in their content areas, classroom assessments that relate to state standards, and effective pedagogical practices that support instruction. The speakers were curriculum consultants, classroom teachers, reading specialists, and special education teachers who are invited to speak to the class every semester. Every session related to teaching for understanding, bringing in specific content area examples to demonstrate how this could work. Since many of the topics were areas that the students 96 (V tea tilt :tllj Ute; had encountered in some way in previous classes, it was interesting that the information was being presented now in the context of literacy, encouraging students to make connections amongst all of the knowledge. To bring literacy within content areas to the forefront as the course concluded, Jacqui handed back the Definition of Literacy papers that students wrote during the first class session. She asked students to turn to a partner and discuss what they think is different now about how they would define literacy compared to what they thought at the beginning of the class. The instructor told them that it was not a matter of embarrassment, but instead, they should reflect on the Ieaming that took place. This provided students with a structure for reflection on their conceptualizations of literacy, particularly within their disciplines. Many participants shared that they Ieamed so much about literacy and they were shocked that they had written such a narrow definition at the start of the course. At the end, Jacqui stressed that the students need to use literacy every day in their future classrooms, since it will be the main focus that helps their students comprehend and Ieam the content that they are teaching. She used her own experience as a classroom teacher to make the connections to the importance of the course information. She also said that having an understanding of adolescents will enable each of them to create lessons that connect to their lives. Finally, she concluded that teaching for understanding should be the main goal of all of their instruction, so that students actually construct meaning from the content instead of memorizing it for the sake of a test or quiz. The next section describes the structures that were established throughout the course. These were seen recurring over the semester. The section is organized according 97 to the three types of activities during the class sessions. It is important to describe these structures in order to demonstrate the various types of instructional methods that were utilized for students to Ieam about the course themes. In every class session, Jacqui modeled techniques that would work for adolescents, teaching for understanding, and literacy within content areas. She also continually stressed the need to connect all of the information together to formulate their roles as teachers. Structure of Class Sessions The instructor engaged students in three types of instructional methods during the course sessions: (1) lectures; (2) activities; and (3) dialogue, including (a) partners; (b) proximal groups; (c) random groups; ((1) content area groups; and (e) instructor/student. All of the methods occurred during each class session, with varying proportions of each happening during a given night. Each method demonstrated a different way that the participants could consider for their own pedagogical methods in teaching for understanding, since it was happening to them and they were able to experience it. Plus, every method was one that related to working with adolescents and using the same practices. Lectures. The first instructional method in the course was lectures. Yet, these did not last for more than ten minutes at a time. This ofien occurred when Jacqui was explaining a new concept, course requirements, and/or sharing examples of a strategy. For the most part, students were attentive while she was talking. In fact, many students took notes when she was talking as to keep track of key information that was said. The instructor stood at the front of the room while lecturing. She was in close proximity to the computer cart, so she could advance PowerPoint slides with each talking 98 point. Students sat at the tables in the room, in self-selected locations. (Ironically, they chose the same spots for each course session.) Jacqui seemed to really enjoy the lectures. It was during this time that she was able to share stories about her own teaching, discuss happenings at her school with her colleagues, and talk about her own knowledge of adolescents, teaching for understanding, and literacy. Marie commented on this when she wrote in her Conversation Calendar after the seventh class session, “I just wanted to let you know that I love your enthusiasm!” She was relaxed and demonstrated a personable and approachable manner. At times, she even shared stories about her own children (3rd grade and 1st grade), talking about how she saw literacy happening with them. Activities. The second instructional method in the cOurse sessions was the activities. These would occur when Jacqui would get the whole class engaged in doing something that related to a concept or idea. Since this was the main way that students were learning about how to do similar activities with their own students, the majority of time in each course session was devoted to this. It was during the activities that students seemed the most interested, since they were able to actually do something. Marie even wrote in her Conversation Calendar after the fourth class session, “I love the fact that we discuss and practice the strategies. It makes it much easier to make a connection with music and think of ideas!” This varied from playing games (Clue), practicing strategies, and drawing pictures (mind maps) to putting sticky notes on chart paper and working together to decode a difficult reading (“Ordeal by Cheque”). Since every class was different in the activities that happened, students were willing to participate completely. The novelty effect definitely played out 99 by having various things for people to do. Dzanna wrote in her Conversation Calendar, “1 love the fact that you let us practice different strategies you first teach and show many examples.” Dialogge. The third instructional method in the course sessions was the dialoguing. I define “dialogue” as any assemblage of two or more people. Dialogue took the form of five configurations: (1) partners (usually sitting near each other); (2) proximal groups (three or more people sitting near each other); (3) random groups (three or more people who were numbered off or divided in a similar fashion); (4) content area groups (people who are together because of their affiliation with a particular discipline); and (5) Conversation Calendars (written interactions between students and the instructor). Each type of dialogue happened for various reasons, but the underlying principal was to demonstrate socioconstructivism (Vygotsky, 1987; Bean, 2000) in practice. The instructor intended for students to construct meaning from the course as opposed to her conveying meaning upon them. This was also supposed to serve as a model for their own future content area classrooms, so they could see how Ieaming could occur without the teacher being the only person who was doing the work. Partners. Several times throughout a course session, Jacqui would ask students to discuss something with a partner. In every case, this happened with the person sitting closest to someone else. Students were not seated according to content areas, so ofien they were talking to someone outside of their discipline. While the conversations usually related to discussing an article related to a strategy, the content did not delve too deeply into application of ideas. 100 Proximal Groups. There would be times throughout course sessions when Jacqui would ask students to form groups and discuss something. This functioned in the same manner as the partners, but it gave students more perspectives on an issue or concept by working with more people. Students were not seated according to content areas, so often they were talking to groups of people outside of their discipline. It gave students a non-biased resource to try out ideas about content area applications, with people who did not have the deep knowledge of others’ disciplines. Also, students often helped with new ideas without actually factoring in content area information. After the first class session, Mackenzie wrote in her Conversation Calendar to Jacqui, “I really enjoyed all of the group work that we did today. It was good to get to know people in class.” Random Groups. Occasionally, Jacqui would break students into groups using numbering systems or some other random method. This would give students an opportunity to work with people in the class who they normally did not sit by, which would expand their social network and also give them more information on others’ conceptualizations on course content. The random groups happened during activities, when students were trying out a strategy. These groups functioned in a practical manner, and gave a different perspective than the usual people who were sitting near each other. Marisa wrote in her Conversation Calendar after the seventh class session, “Our group work has been awesome — people take the assignment seriously and good info is shared!” Content Area Groups. Probably one of the most critical dialogue situations were the content area groups, where students self-selected a disciplinary area to affiliate with for the entire course. These groups served the purpose of allowing students 101 to consider more deeply the connections of the course content to their content areas by working with others who are also well- versed in the field. Through these conversations, students were able to consider direct application of the ideas to their discipline. Victoria wrote in her Conversation Calendar after the sixth class session, “I really liked talking with my peers about my Strategies Collection ideas. Thanks for giving up time to do that.” Yet, the danger of such a homogenous group is that, if the group does not agree with a concept and does not want to consider it, there is no outside perspective to offer new insight. Also, there is no one who can offer an unbiased opinion on whether or not something can help with unfamiliar content. Instructor/Student Interactions. Personal interactions between the students and the instructor happened at the end of each course session when students would write their thoughts on a Conversation Calendar (Tovani 2004). At the beginning of each subsequent course session, the instructor would return the Conversation Calendar to the student with her responses to the students. This written dialogue enabled each student to have a personal connection with the instructor, discussing course readings, activities, and concepts. Jacqui often commented that this was one of her favorite activities, since she was able to get immediate feedback from the students about their feelings, anxieties, questions, and concerns. The next section will describe Jacqui’s view of the course themes — adolescents, teaching for understanding, and literacy within content areas —— that came through in her interviews and in her interactions with students in class. This image provides a backdrop Upon which we may view the participants’ understandings of the course themes as manifested through their interviews, course assignments, and discussions. It also 102 pl £0 to ttm provides the components of the implicit and explicit messages that the instructor provided to the students throughout the course. Instructor’s View Through discussions with Jacqui and through the observations in the class sessions, it became apparent that Jacqui had specific ideas about the course themes. While these views are in direct line with the intentions of the course, they are not being reported here in order to present a dichotomy or dilemma. Instead, this will add further information to the richness of the course, the class sessions, and the role of the instructor. Adolescents In terms of adolescents, Jacqui considers this a phase of life that begins at middle school. This could be around the age of 11 or 12, depending on'whether middle school starts at 6”1 or 7‘h grade. Adolescence continues through high school, and it is a time when students change classes, face many different teachers, and have to learn a variety of content areas all at once. Before middle school, there was an emphasis on Ieaming to read in elementary school. Yet, once middle school begins, the focus is on Ieaming content. She thinks that most adolescents Ieamed reading strategies in elementary school, but if there is no push to use them in middle school and high school, they will forget how to do them. If an adolescent is struggling with reading, this is a particularly difficult time, since the help is so limited. Jacqui believes that adolescents have many things they face in their lives. Many of them work and/or play sports or belong to clubs, so time outside of school is limited. Some students have to care for younger siblings afier school, including feeding, bathing, and helping with homework. School may not be a top priority for some adolescents, 103 especially if their parents are not emphasizing school. Yet, for those who are focused on school and would like to go to college, they have to work hard to accomplish many goals at once. She worries that some adolescents do not have a quiet place at home to read and study. Therefore, Jacqui tries to provide that place for her students in her classes by giving them time to read and to start working on homework. She does not think that adolescents find much of their assigned reading to be interesting, so she makes connections to their lives and to the world to make the content come alive. Plus, she strongly believes that her own passion for the subject matter brings motivation to her students to Ieam the content. Teaching for Understanding Comprehension is the main focus in Jacqui’s classes. She believes that understanding takes precedence over content. Her students deserve the quality of Ieaming over the quantity of content, so she slows her pace down to emphasize understanding. She teaches her students different reading strategies, and she models for them what she does as a reader. She believes that it is her role to show them what an expert reader of the content does and then to give them time to practice reading. Also, she wants to provide them with the skills that they need for life, instead of forcing them to memorize content that they may never need to know agtin. She uses the main tenets of comprehension instruction in her teaching. She talks to students about activating prior knowledge, monitoring comprehension, using fix- up strategies, making connections, determining important ideas, asking questions, and making inferences. These make up every lesson in her classroom, since she continually 104 focuses on students understanding the content. Her students must work to construct meaning, since she does not stand at an overhead and “spoon feed” them the content through prepared notes. She designs a variety of activities, so her students are able to apply the comprehension strategies and make their own connections to the content. She believes that the work that students do is very unique, since they are all holding their own thinking. Jacqui worries that other teachers are not keeping understanding and comprehension as the main focus. She sees such pressure to “cover” content, with little regard to student learning. Many teachers do not have their students read at all, but instead resort to notes, videos, and/or PowerPoint presentations. Jacqui believes that understanding can happen in those situations too, if the teachers Would put the emphasis on the students constructing the meaning and learning information fom the video or PowerPoint. Literacy Within Content Areas Jacqui sees every content area as relating to literacy. The literacy events of reading, writing, listening, speaking, viewing, and visually representing take place in every discipline in every class. She continually gives her students opportunities to strengthen their abilities in these areas through reading strategies, writing assignments, presentations, and projects. She thinks that every content area teacher should embrace this concept and keep it at the focus of their teaching. Her desire would be for every teacher in a middle school or high school to talk about the skills of good thinkers in their disciplines. They should model and make explicit what “experts” do when working with the content. Plus, since every content area 105 is unique, the content area teacher is truly the only person who can teach students how to become literate in that discipline. Jacqui is a strong believer of the use of multiple texts. She thinks that students deserve to be given a variety of materials to learn content and that teachers should work to find interesting information. Plus, teachers should make it very open for students to ask questions, infer meaning, and make connections to the content, whether they 3'8 reading, listening, or viewing. Jacqui wants teachers to know that literacy is everywhere, in everything they do, and that by focusing on it directly, their students will enjoy the content more, they will learn information deeply, and they will Ieam skills that will carry them throughout their adult lives. The information presented in the class sessions and the instructor’s own views provide a rich background for the students in the course to consider adolescents, teaching for understanding, and literacy within content areas. In the next chapter, consisting of the stories and viewpoints of the students, we will see how the course themes influenced what students internalized. 106 CHAPTER 5 COURSE THEMES This chapter presents stories and ideas from the participants’ perspectives in relation to the research questions and the three major course themes. It will show how the participants came to understand adolescents, conceptualize teaching for understanding, and conceptualize literacy within content areas. Plus, there will be information shared in how the participants made connections to content and pedagogy. The research questions were the main focus of the study, and therefore, related to the course themes. 1. How do preservice content area teachers come to understand adolescents during a content area literacy course? 2. How do preservice content area teachers conceptualize teaching for understanding within content areas during a content area literacy course? 3. How do preservice content area teachers conceptualize literacy within content areas during a content area literacy course? All of the participants commented on and reflected upon the three themes in their work completed for course requirements and throughout the research interviews. Many of the responses also showed how participants connected their ideas to content and pedagogy. Within each theme, there were areas that showed patterns from participants’ responses. Each pattern will be described in detail and related to the information. The data will slow that when it came to understanding adolescents, the participants’ experiences in tutoring played an important part. While the course content (readings, discussions) helped to bring certain issues to the forefront, it was the direct contact, while working with adolescents through tutoring, that made the largest impact on 107 the participants’ thoughts. Overall, the complexities of working with adolescents was made evident and presented challenges in building relationships and motivating them to care about school. Gaining an understanding of multiple literacies early on in the course was extremely helpfirl in coming to appreciate adolescents. In terms of teaching for understanding, the course content related to this in every class session. Participants came to conceptualize comprehension as playing a key role in their pedagogical practices. Also, strategies were continually referenced as tools to help students comprehend content. Socioconstructivism, as the overall theoretical framework of the study and the course, translated into many of the participants’ ideas about their own teaching philosophies. Participants certainly connected what they knew about pedagogical knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge to this new information about teaching for understanding. The most growth was demonstrated when it came to literacy within content areas, since there was baseline data of participants’ initial definitions of literacy to compare to their final definitions at the end of the course. Also, participants were honest about their initial uncertainty about the requirement to take a course in content area literacy, particularly when they did not see any direct relationship to their discipline. They started out with strong content knowledge, but did not consider low literacy would connect to that. Throughout the course, the data reveals that these perceptions and feelings changed and expanded, which provided intriguing data at the end of the course to show new conceptualizations of literacy. Plus, their ideas about content became expanded as they considered how literacy played a role in how to Ieam. 108 r? What makes this study different from other studies with preservice secondary teachers is that it allowed the preservice secondary teachers to share their experiences, beyond resistance and disdain, and talk about what happened throughout the course to inform their understandings. Those experiences, related to the course themes and including examples, will be described below. It will also be argued that this course played a significant role in helping the participants come to their new understandings and conceptualizations through connections throughout the course, which brings up a critical discussion about the role this course plays in the teacher preparation experience. Adolescents The first research question asked: 1. How do preservice content area teachers come to understand adolescents during a content area literacy course? This was an important question, because it is important to discover what Ieaming takes place throughout the course in terms of adolescents beyond what they already might know or think. Advocates of adolescent literacy argue that it needs special attention, even to the exclusion of school. Yet, this study, here presented, kept adolescents in the context of school, for the most part, and examined the ways in which the preservice teachers came to understand this age group through course readings and tutoring. Focusing on adolescents was one of the main themes in the course. It was important for the participants to think about this age group as they also thought about how they would teach them in the future. The course theme on adolescents and the tutoring in middle schools and/or high schools brought the issue to the forefront for many of the thoughts that participants reflected on during the study. This actually made up the 109 main content at the beginning of the course, and then remained as a focus as the students worked with adolescents in the tutoring placements. Participants had a variety of experiences related to adolescents, which will briefly be described below and then related to the participants’ understandings from their course work and interview responses. First, there were readings that had adolescents as the focus. The International Reading Association Adolescent Literacy Position Statement (Moore et. al, 1999) brought issues facing adolescents to the forefront. Bean, Bean, and Bean (1999) offered perspectives on adolescents’ multiple literacies and connections (or not) to school. The Tovani books (2000; 2004) provided detailed stories about adolescents in school and the challenges that exist in teaching them, particularly when it comes to comprehension instruction Finally, the tutoring placements were the most authentic experiences with adolescents, as each participant spent 1-2 hours per week working with adolescents in various settings (high school, middle school, GED completion program), helping them with their school work, but also developing relationships with some students and brilding up confidence for the adolescents they encountered and themselves. Plus, they were able to learn about adolescents more than any other course in their teacher preparation program due to the personal nature of the tutoring. The following sections will describe what participants Ieamed about building relationships with adolescents, motivation with adolescents, and adolescents’ multiple literacies. When analyzing the data, subcategories came about when looking at the bigger categories and seeing what patterns were evident (see Table 5). In terms of relationships, subcategories emerged relating to honesty, compromise, trust, respect, 110 TABLE 5 ADOLESCENTS Building Relationships with Adolescents Honesty — Perception vs. Reality Compromise — Something’s Got to Give Trust — Getting to Know You Respect — Mutual Understandings Support — Complexity in Systems Peers — Influencing Behavior Discipline - Need for Order Motivation with Adolescents Apathy - I Just Don’t Care Relevancy — Making Connections to Adolescents’ Lives Purpose — Providing a Rationale Struggling — More Beneath the Surface Adolescents’ Multiple Literacies Literacy Practices - Expanding Definitions Multiple Texts — Beyond the Textbook K-12 Variations with Adolescents lll support, peers, and discipline. For motivation, subcategories emerged relating to apathy, relevancy, purpose, and struggling. Multiple literacies broke down into literacy practices and multiple texts. Building Relationships with Adolescents Participants came to understand adolescents by considering the impact that relationships have on working with this age group. Building relationships was an area that continually surfaced when talking with each of the participants, whether it was concerns about establishing connections or things that have been learned by working with someone in this age group. Questions arose about the support (or lack thereof) that adolescents seem to receive from parents, school, and the community. Also, written tutoring journals provided honest reflections on what was happening during the tutoring sessions, when adolescents were struggling with school, feeling unsure of themselves, and reaching out for someone to help. Victoria had a vision of this relationship early on, particularly the age group. “I just love working with kids, pretty much any age, but I want to be in high school because I just feel like I connect better with them. It’s more, it’s more, I don’t know, adult-like. I like that environment best.” She was viewing her relationship with adolescents to be peer-oriented, adult, and on a mature level. She felt that this level would provide the best situation for her to make a connection to her students. At the end of the tutoring sessions, however, Victoria wrote, “I have learned a lot from my tutoring experience, but probably the most startling thing that I have learned is how much work it takes to reach a student. I am extremely scared that I will not be able to reach all of my students when I have a class of 30.” She began to realize that 112 connections do not just happen due to age or maturity level. There is so much more beyond simply having an environment that is conducive to older students. Her perceived view of adolescents was in contrast to the reality of her experience. The complexity that exists when working with adolescents reaches beyond that, and it is one that many participants mentioned when considering this age group. Many were interested in the relationships that they were building and reflected on how complicated this is to actually accomplish. It went deeper than anything else they had experienced while assisting in a classroom full of adolescents. Honestv— Perception vs. Reality Participants mentioned honesty as being an important characteristic when attempting to build relationships while working with adolescents, particularly in tutoring. They wanted to encourage students to try their best to work on difficult school work, which became an important part of the tutoring sessions. Watchdog said, “I was just telling him, like, good job and, like, that’s right and everything, you’re doing good and stuff; so he was appreciative of that.” Watchdog was able to see that the student was responding to this positive praise and honesty in commenting on his efforts. It was also important to be honest about matters that adolescents needed to work on to improve their reading abilities, or else the relationship would be seen as one that was built on falsehoods. Chief discussed this with a student when he was teaching her how to use text features to aid in understanding. “The simple concept of the index in the back of the book was foreign to her. None of her teachers had ever explained what was in the back of the book or how she could use the index to help her locate information in the textbook for review or help. This is one area that all students should be familiar with 113 and all teachers should ensure that the students know.” Chief was expressing his fi'ustration about something that he was unable to control but would possibly change with his own teaching. Marisa experienced a similar situation when working with a student in tutoring. “I had to explain background knowledge to him. This surprised me, because I can’t believe another teacher has not mentioned this connection to him in the past (he’s a 9h 99 grader) or maybe he has just forgotten. Her subsequent discussion with the student did not reveal the answer to her question of why he did not know it; again, this is something that she cannot impact now but can certainly change when she has her own classroom and can focus on the relationships she is building. She was connecting what she thought teachers would do and what she realized was not happening. Many participants were faced with the realities of honesty when adobscents would respond to them with direct answers and frankness, leaving them feeling like the relationship was in jeopardy. This direct contrast to their perceptions of what would happen in tutoring was jarring to some. Phil described one tutoring sess'nn where a male student “...was working on Civics and his reading strategies were terrible. He wasn’t reading, so I thought, hey - this is a great chance. I told him that I had a great strategy that would help him get his reading done and I asked if I could show it to him. He said no, that he wanted to get his homework done and get out of there.” Phil saw an opportunity to connect a reading strategy with an authentic situation, but the student rebuffed him and felt that rushing through his homework would be a better stance to take. Phil had never experienced something like this during any other field placement experience. 114 Mackenzie encountered a similar situation in tutoring. Mackenzie said, “She didn’t want any of my comments. I would say something and she would, she would say, ‘I really don’t think that 1 want to use that in my paper,’ and I’m like, ‘Well, that’s fine, I was just trying to give you an example.’ I don’t know how to tactfully tell her that there’s something that she might need to change in her paper, because it’s not grammatically correct, but she doesn’t want anything to do with it. So, I had to go about that in a different way, and it kinda took me off guard about how forceful she was being ‘cause she was kinda being a bit snobby...I found out later that what she actually does is she’ll listen to what you have to say and she says, ‘I like my own ideas,’ but then she’ll go back and make the changes when you’re not there.” This rebuttal by a student was startling to Mackenzie, since she had not expected to be turned down when offering help. She worried about how this attitude would impact her ability to build a relationship with the student. Chief often encountered this honesty when he talked with students at the end of each tutoring session. He would ask about the reading strategy that had just been taught and inquire about the likelihood that students would actually use it. “Joe seemed to consider this strategy to be redundant in some elements...He was able to complete the independent practice successfully but stated that he probably would not use this strategy.” The honesty of the student became frustrating to Chief, especially when he would explain the benefits of a strategy and attempt to argue against speed reading versus reading for comprehension. “They were afraid that it would slow them down. We talked about the perceived problem, and I explained that it could slow them down initially, but if they understood the subject matter better, they actually were ahead.” Of course, the honesty 115 from the students was certainly more authenic than having the students be dishonest and say that they would use the strategy and then never do it. Chief remarked that he thought this showed the strength of the relationship he had with the studerts, since they were comfortable in being honest with him. From the two Tovani books (2000; 2004), participants mentioned their appreciation for the author’s honesty in describing encounters with adolescents, since she wrote so candidly about her actual experiences that happened when attempting to work with this age group. Boris said, “I liked the modeling, just to be human in front of your students. You don’t have to be this perfect, all—knowing teacher. You can be up there and say, ‘Oh yeah, this doesn’t quite make sense,’ and show your thinking and model it for them.” Boris was beginning to see that his role as a teacher did not need to include mastery of all information, which is what he had thought all along as he took courses that related to his content. In fact, his ability to model his thought processes for students, including when he encountered a challenge, would be more beneficial to them than acting as the “all-knowing” instructor. He believed that this would make for a stronger relationship with his students, since he would bring in his own thoughts and show that even experts in the content can struggle. He was able to connect his knowledge about content with his new knowledge about adolescents. Rachel also appreciated how Tovani did not sugarcoat the challenges that occur when using tools for comprehension strategies and teaching adolescents how to use those tools. “I like how she brings up problems she had in class, like with the sticky notes. I remember talking about people at first put ting ‘kick me’ on people and using the sticky notes for the wrong reasons and things that I don’t normally think about.” This helped 116 Rachel to problematize some of the actual realities of what could happen besides the hope of having an effective lesson where students are engaged in content. She had never considered this, since in her teacher education courses, lessons had been taught in front of other classmates instead of actual students. In addition, Marisa found that Tovani’s writing style lent itself to authentic descriptions of lessons Ieamed from adolescents. “I love the way she ends up thinking it through and trying it on the students, what worked, what didn’t work, and where you, she ends up going. She learns from students and I think that’s what I’m getting the most from that.” Marisa was concluding that teachers need to know their students and Ieam from them, as much as they want the students to learn the content. Participants often mentioned how much they appreciated Ieaming information from Tovani, a “real” classroom teacher in the field. This honest portrayal of teaching, from someone who was immersed in it daily, seemed more credible to them than just reading it from a textbook. Dzanna said, “You can see that she’s coming from the real world so nothing, she doesn’t exaggerate too much, she doesn’t make things up.” This is interesting, since it raises considerations of whether textbook Ieaming and theory would be considered “made up” and falsified. Plus, it calls in to question whether college textbooks can be seen as dealing with authentic issues relating to adolescents and the complexities of relating to them. In other courses, participants mentioned that they had read textbooks which did not seem as authentic as the Tovani books. Personal honesty was another area where participants made some confessions about the realities of working with and relating to adolescents. Situations that were challenging in tutoring came up as sources of frustration. Phil said, “It changes each 117 week ‘cause sometimes I have really good weeks and then this week, I had a really crappy week. I guess that’s probably going to be the same way as in teaching — sometimes you have good times and others. . This admission that even the best planned lessons could go awry showed Phil’s willingness to accept those times that do not go well. He added, “You can’t ever lose your patience. What do I need to try differently to reach a student like this? How can I, what different things can I do? You can’t, as frustrated as you get, you can’t lose hope on the kids. There’s got to be someone or some way that you can get through to them. That caused me to do a lot of reevaluation last night.” Phil felt that his ability to build relationships would need to remain at tln forefront in order to give him any motivation to continue. He had not considered this as he had previously Ieamed about content and pedagogy. Along those lines, Liz said, “I tried to do my lesson and I got overwhelmed ‘cause I guess I wasn’t organized enough...l need to do less talking and more asking questions 9’ so that the students put new information in their own words and not in mine. She was able to see what did not go well in the tutoring session, yet, she also considered what she could do to improve it during the next session instead of just accepting defeat that sometimes lessons go bad. She focused on the positive of the tutoring session, where she was able to talk with the students and start a foundation for a relationship. Participants were also honest with themselves when they realized how difficult it was to enact much change during the structure of tutoring sessions. They were seeing that their perceptions of what would happen and the realities of what did happen were quite different. Phil wrote, “This is frustrating for me, because I can’t help this young man solve his problems in the very short period of time that I have with him.” This 118 demonstrates that Phil was realizing that the tutoring sessions can serve as a minor help, at best, when students are really struggling and need more continuous assistance with their Ieaming. Many participants thought about how their roles as teachers could be more important in helping students who struggle. Often participants found that they themselves were Ieaming from the tutoring sessions. Marie said, “I like tutoring. It’s a lot of fun. And it is helping me as a reader too, because I realize stuff that I’m not good at.” Marie was able to use some of the strategies in her own reading, which enabled her to honestly explain to students what worked and how the strategies benefited her. Phil also found that his own confidence improved with tutoring. “This particular student helped build my confidence, because I was able to guide him through his own knowledge to build new knowledge without actually knowing the subject myself.” He saw how his ability to lead the student through the material using the student’s knowledge was as powerful as being a content expert of the material. His honesty in revealing this showed that he was able to go beyond his own limitations in knowing content. He realized that content knowledge is not the only thing that a teacher needs to know in order to reach students. Trey, who was unsure about his preference of grade level due to his future K-12 certification, was honest about his feelings about adolescents, both initially and at the end of the study. “I’ve come to realize that you can’t take it personally. My views have changed, have changed for the better, because I didn’t want to work at the middle school level or high school. It was really not an option for me. I didn’t want to study adolescents, not willing to do it at all.” From the readings and tutoring sessions, Trey became much more confident in working with this age group. His previous experience in 119 teacher education had only related to working with elementary students, and with his K- 12 certification, he was glad that he had a chance to work with older students. The relationships that he built with students nude him feel much stronger in his ability to teach adolescents. Compromise — Something’s Got to Give Relationships with adolescents often entail situations when someone has to give a little and compromise in order to keep things working in a productive manner, which is what participants experienced throughout their experiences in tutoring. This was a challenge for participants, who were given a set of criteria for what they were required to attempt to accomplish during the tutoring sessions. Also, they lad not considered that teachers might have to adapt their lesson plans, especially if things were not going as planned. Ofien participants would describe situations where they had to compromise, while working with adolescents, in order to make the situation go smoother or to accomplish a requirement for the course. Victoria found that “disguising” the reading strategy was one way to accomplish her agenda. “1 did not tell my tutee that this was a lesson. I told him that this was a study strategy that I used to help me read my chemistry books.” She was able to get away from calling it a “reading” strategy and immediately begin explaining the benefits and applications. She felt that this subtle approach to reaching her goal did not jeopardize the relationship in any manner. Participants also found themselves persuading students to try things before giving up and seeing it as useless. Chief wrote, “I asked her to try this strategy with several of her classes for a couple of weeks to see if it helped her with comprehending the text. She agreed to try.” Chief was able to convince the student that it 120 was worth trying to see if it helped. His relationship with the student was an instrumental part of the student being willing to even try. Plus, Chief came t) realize that he would need to encourage his own students to not give up when faced with new challenges. At times, participants would find themselves having to compromise on their own course requirements, because the students wanted to discuss something else. Watchdog said, “It was more important for me ‘cause she’s a senior and she had questions about college and stuff, so it was better for me to talk to her about college and answer her questions about that. I thought that was more beneficial.” Watchdog was finding that it was of little use to attempt to teach reading strategies, especially if the student had other needs. He felt that it was valuable to answer the immediate questions, which related to the student’s personal goals. This showed his knowledge of the complexity of relationships with adolescents, and his acknowledgement that her other interests were equally important to his agenda. He also thought about what this would look like in a classroom, and he wondered if he could be able to veer away from content in order to meet the needs of his students, while also meeting the requirements of his curriculum. Trust - Gettingjo Know You Establishing relationships with adolescents was a pervasive issue, and trust issues seemed to underlie the concerns and questions. The trust factor was regarded as a way to actually help adolescents more, if the relationship seemed safe and comfortable. Participants were initially surprised at how much work this would actually take. Marisa said, “The student I’m working with now is 14 and in high school and he is very, very withdrawn. He has a hard time coming up with ideas, so I’m not used to that, I’m used to my own kids, they’re extremely talkative in class. This is a good person to actually put 121 me with, pair me with because I have to work a lot harder to reach him and connect.” Marisa was open to working with this student, especially for her own learning. In addition, Trey found that simply reaching out to meet someone was not enough. “When I introduced myself to her and said, ‘Hi. My name is Trey’ and I shook her hand, she didn’t give me her name. She said, ‘I’m not a very good reader.’ I thought, great, what’s your name?” Trey found that the student was identifying with her reading ability, which would make sense, since she was about to go work with a tutor. Yet, he wanted to establish trust with her by sharing names. This was an issue that made him worry about how strong of a relationship he would be able to build with her in subsequent sessions. Making connections with students was seen as a way to establish trust, resulting in stronger relationships. Dzanna wrote about her first tutoring session, working with a student from another country, “The first thing I did was I shared my Mind Map. I not'ced that the tutee liked the fact that I was a refugee myself, since he has the same background. Right away I knew that we will have a great time working together, and that a connection was established.” She was able to see that this personal touch was meaningful to the student and helped her gain his trust and some access to the student’s life. This goes far beyond just knowing content or even knowing how to teach content. Gene also found this effective when talking to a student. “He’s a very, very shy kid, and so I spent most of the first time that I met with him more just like, ‘Hey, how’s it going?’ and ‘Do you like hunting, fishing?’ just trying to get him to open up to me a little bit, and that seemed to kinda help break the ice a little bit, just tried to make it real loose.” Gene was finding that trust was something that needed to be built, and he was not going to get anywhere by ignoring personal interests and jumping right into reading strategies. On 122 anoth hcfor want pcrhz the f befo who SUPP she l in Ih boo] €115" mail that Phil con' me “‘35 ha] gOl Phi. that another day, Gene tried a similar approach with a different stuient. “I talked to her before I started the lesson to Ieam more about M as a person. She seems dedicated and wants to be a better student. She mentioned that she wants to go to college next year and perhaps pursue a career in physical therapy.” Gene was able to build up trust by putting the focus on the adolescent first. Both participants found that these personal connections, before bringing in content, made establishing a relationship much more possible. Phil encountered a situation when he was asked to work with a female student who had earlier expressed to a counselor her dislike of male teachers. (This was supposedly not based on any specific incident from her life but more of a generalization she had made against a certain gender.) “1 introduced myself to K and asked if I could sit in the chair across from her. She agreed, then promptly excused herself to get her math book. I found out later that she went to her counselor and said something like, ‘He’s a guy!’ Fortunately, the counselor replied something like, ‘He’s a really nice guy and will really help you.’ She returned afier just a few minutes...I was pleased to find out later that she told the counselor that I was a nice person and that I had been able to help her.” Phil found that relationships can sometimes be difficult without anything that he can control, and her lack of trust issues was working against him. “This week, K approached me on her own at the beginning of the tutoring session. She seemed in good spirits and was not at all hesitant about asking me to help her. This pleased me, based on the background information about her fear of male teachers. We sat down together and she got out her homework and showed me specifically what she was having trouble with.” Phil found out that this student was able to trust him afier working with him and seeing that he was truly there to help her, not intimidate her, or make her feel unintelligent. 123 Respect — Mutual Understandings Many participants revealed a new appreciation for adolescents from the readings and from the tutoring sessions. This respect for the challenges of being an adolescent was revealed through interviews and tutoring journals and resulted in relationships being more authentic and genuine. Oprah described this when talking about working with adolescents in tutoring. “You talk to them like a student, at their level, so I think that definitely helps. When you don’t act like ‘I’m a big smart college student, I’m going to help you, and blah, blah, blah.’ The first thing I do when I sit down with a student is ask about their day and kind-of talk to the student, make them feel comfortable with me.” She felt that taking on a superior air to the student was mt going to be beneficial to their relationship. Plus, she could see how her content knowledge would not be enough to assist her in working with students. Victoria found herself in a similar situation when working with a student in the GED completion program. “I was nervous about how it was gonna go, the interaction, because we’re not that different in age, way different in schooling and stuff like that, but I didn’t want it to ever come across like I’m overpowering or intimidating, because I want to just connect with her more. . .I’m helping her and she’s helping me and it’s kind of, it’s easier to be just on level terms with her because she’s very mature and she’s a young adult.” Victoria realized that she respected her student as a person first, and she did not want to demonstrate any behavior that would indicate that she felt she was superior in their relationship. On the contrary, Chief was not finding much when it came to thinking abilities of adolescents. “They’re not global thinkers. Their world is this hall, this tiny, little sphere, 124 yet they’re not giving something. They’re good kids, but they lack the thought process to say, do this and then expand beyond what I’m trying to.” He was not seeing beyond the surface of the students and did not believe that they were capable of deeper thought processes, which called into question his respect for their varying literacies and complex worlds. He was struggling with the proposed view of adolescents in the course readings and his own perceptions in contrast with the realities of an authentic experience trying to motivate adolescents to use reading strategies to assist in their school work. Yet, he did not see this as an issue in his ability to build a relationship. He continued to try despite the challenges in his tutoring situation. He was just starting to realize that his content knowledge was not enough, yet he struggled with how to reach the students. Support -— Complexity in Systems Several of the participants remarked on the amount of support that adolescents receive from relationships in their lives — their parents, their school, and their community. This was made particularly evident when discussing the International Reading Association Adolescent Literacy Position Statement (Moore et. a1, 1999) after reading it in class. Marie remarked on how some of the information was new to her. “What might be some reasons why they can’t read, like their economic status, you wouldn’t really think that would influence it, but it does. It kind of opened my eyes as to how some kids don’t get the availability that a lot of other kids do.” She questioned why there is such disparity in adolescents’ lives — not so much why it happened, but wondering about the influence it has on their literacy abilities. She also felt that this discrepancy would impact the relationships that certain students had to give them support over others. This helped 125 her make a connection to what she thought she knew about adolescents and her new ideas about students’ backgrounds and support systems. Parental participation was another area that factored in for adolescents. Victoria said, “Government, like government help for outside of school and more parent participation and more governmental funding for after school programs that promote, like, reading clinics and stuff like that...there’s kinda this circle that there’s not enough, like some families can’t help their kids, or some parents can’t help their students in school because maybe they’re not literate, they can’t go to school or get help or pay for help.” She was remarking on the lack of resources available, and suggested that more government funding towards programs could provide some assistance. This was not something that had come up in any of her teacher education courSes in the past. She felt that the parents’ relationships with adolescents could build up a stronger support system, yet she had not even considered parental factors up to this point. Dzanna described a similar situation based on the challenges that families face that she encountered in her job as a paraprofessional “Some of these families, parents don’t have time to spend with their children and to work with them because they work, especially English Language learners, they work two jobs, and then they wonder how can we help the kid to understand what’s homewo rk...We have dictionaries in our house and my daughter was doing something in science. We looked something up on the internet because we couldn’t find it in the dictionary. I was thinking that not all parents have access to the internet or they would even think to do that, to help use the computer.” This discrepancy on the availability of resources in homes provided another dimension to support, since some assistance is virtually impossible, particularly if the resources are not 126 din Zfii 01 ci there. Yet, even taking the time to discuss homework with an adolescent can add to the dimensions of the relationship. Chief remarked about the lack of skills that he saw in students, which he directly associated with lack of support in Ieaming how to do certain tasks. “I can see where a lot of kids need notes when they go start reviewing for stuff. They don’t even pull notes out, they don’t have notes. I don’t know why. Either the teachers are not requiring them to take notes, which is probably the case, or the kids never Ieamed, which is probably also the case.” He immediately assumed that support from the teachers was lacking, resulting in students not having the materials and skills they need to study. This brought into question the depth of relationships that teachers lave with students, if there is little to no focus on study skills, note taking strategies, or other tools to assist them with their success in school. He considered how this connected with his ideas about teaching content, since he did not think that note taking was something that he would need to teach in business/computer science. Phil tutored in a drop-by after school program at a local high school. . .any kids that need help with their homework can come in there and get help. Then, the teachers also talk to certain students that need help and recommend that they go there.” He found this immediate support from the school to be enlightening for the adolescents who were struggling in classes. Yet, when working with a student, he realized that the support in “ classrooms was not always evident. ...it provides an example of how a teacher can put a roadblock in fi'ont of a students’ ability to Ieam. I thought it was irresponsible to mark questions wrong without providing the correct answers.” He was frustrated that a student was asked to correct answers on a test, but the student did not know what he did wrong 127 and [slat did smd hm 01 :6 [ix \‘ic Sch. 5(er and the teacher did not provide assistance. He found this to be a confrontational relationship that was structured to bring about anxiety and stress. He also realized that he did not want this to happen when he was the teacher, since he never wanted his own students to feel such frustration. Finding support was difficult, as Marie remarked when talking about adolescents’ homes. “Adolescents want one-on-one time that sometimes I don’t think many of them get, whether it is because their parents aren’t their favorite people at this stage in their lives, or the home doesn’t offer that opportunity...We, as educators, need to try to give them that extra time because, if they aren’t getting it at home, then where else can they turn? Tutors are huge for these students. I think that more schools should hook up with colleges that are offering tutors and get them in the classrooms. I’ve seen a huge change in some of the attitudes of the students who really showed no interest at first, so that makes me feel like we really are making a difference.” She was able to see that her own support for students was beneficial and that the relationships she had been able to foster were valuable, and she was advocating for this to happen in more situations. This went far beyond what she had considered her role as a teacher, since it now brought in the need to make connections to support systems for students. Peers - Influencing Behavior The influence of peers on adolescents’ behavior was displayed in various tutoring situations when other students were around to have an impact. This gave participants a view into the realities of the power of social relationships on behavior, both in and out of school. Trey experienced this on this first day of tutoring. “One thing I noticed is that some kids have reputations that they want to uphold and when they’re in a classroom, 128 they h 5mm from hat I Sllltl: hon SOY the \l‘: of OTC \0‘ Pk they have a reputation of being kind-of, don’t want to come across as being somewhat smart and can read...I was just surprised that when he was alone, when he was away from his peers, he knew how to read, he was a good reader, he was reading.” He found that taking an adolescent away from his peers was one way to actually see what the student was capable of doing with reading. This personal situation was very different from his own experience working with an entire classroom of students. Participants observed encounters in classrooms when peers had an effect on how some adolescents behaved. Liz wrote, “When you think they comprehend something, they may not. They may just pretend that they know what you’re talking about, so they won’t look stupid. Some students aren’t confident enough to ask questions and aren’t comfortable enough to admit that they don’t know the answer.” Kim found a similar experience. “No one responded to the teacher when she asked for questions. The students didn’t want to look ‘stupid’ in front of their friends.” In addition, Boris said, “A student will never admit, in front of other students, that they need help. A student will never ask for clarification, so be certain to always have the specifics laid out so that anyone could understand.” These three participants were all convinced that students were worried about their peers’ perceptions of them when responding in class. Yet, none of them remarked on the role of the teacher in establishing the classroom relationships in order to ensure that students feel safe in responding. This connection was just beginning to happen for them, as they put together the role of the teacher with the environment of the classroom and the needs of the students. Victoria found her student to be strongly influenced by relationships with his peers, which was impacting his work in school. “The student that I’m tutoring is at a 129 sthu lhlm wot h‘hj school where the social aspect is huge and maybe being a smart nerd is not the coolest thing, or focusing on school is not the coolest thing...they’re always putting their school work at the bottom of the priority list.” She was making some inferences as to how and why the social influences would have an impact. Yet, she did not really know if it was “cool” or not to study and get good grades. She wondered how she could counteract this when she was teaching, since she wanted her own students to work hard to Ieam the content. Yet, she knew that she would need to go beyond teaching her content in order to accomplish this. On the contrary, Dzanna found that her student saw school and his peers as being safe and comforting. “He loves school because this is a place where he gets to be with all of his friends. He spends most of the time after school at home on his own. This is because his older brothers and a sister either have to work or go to college.” She saw him viewing school as a place where he could have relationships and grow socially, especially if he was alone at home each night while his family was working. In addition, Marie found that working with peers could be beneficial. “One thing that I Ieamed during this session is that if you pair a student up with someone that they don’t know really well, they tend to do a much better job on a project for fear of upsetting their partner.” She saw that as long as the partner was not a close friend, the work with someone else could actually provide some motivation .to do well. This type of relationship, while not going deep into personal issues, could also serve as a factor for students to try more in school when dealing with peers who they want to impress. She considered how her role as a teacher would play out in structuring these types of supportive relationships. 130 Discipline — Need for Order In some situations, participants found themselves having to take on a disciplinary role when working with an adolescent. This was uncomfortable at first, since it forced the participant to assume an authoritarian role within the relationship. In other situations, misbehavior was observed and commented upon, even though the participant did not directly address the issue with the adolescents. This went far beyond what they had already Ieamed in other courses about classroom management, since they now had direct experiences with what worked and what did not. Adam experienced this during his first tutoring session. “I had to start using my stern, deep voice ‘cause they were not listening and they were disrupting all these people taking tests in the hallway...unlike with high schoolers who were like, this guy is kinda cool for whatever reason, I can’t use that to my advantage with the middle school kids ‘cause they don’t think that.” He found it frustrating that the students were not acting appropriately, and he found himself having to jump into a disciplinary role. On a different day, Adam tried a new technique while working with the students. “I brought in these, they’re gel balls, but I called them ‘focus balls’ and it worked for about forty- five minutes and then they started throwing them at each other’s heads and we had to say goodbye to the focus balls.” This trial-and-error with management techniques showed Adam’s willingness to try to keep the students focused, even if it backfired in some situations. He also felt that it laid some boundaries in their relationships from the start, which made Adam a bit uneasy, since he did not imagine his tutoring experience to function in this manner. He admitted that it would be much more challenging with a classroom of students, where his strategies would have to work in large groups. 131 0.0M hem than louu the fill cl: :7 In another circumstance, Sara was at her tutoring placement when the teacher was gone and a substitute teacher was attempting to control the class. “I was getting upset, because they’re very rude. They do a lot of talking, more so, obviously, when the sub’s there than when their teacher’s there. She wouldn’t let them, put up with that...they are loud, obnoxious, immature. They have to get attention in class.” She was frustrated with the fact that the behavior was disruptive and that she was powerless to do anything to change it. She did not feel that her relationships with the students were established enough for her to have an impact on their behavior, and her role as an adult in the classroom was not enough. She also wondered how this would look if she was the teaclBr, since she wanted her own students to behave when she was not there, but did not see that happening in this circumstance. Motivation with Adolescents Participants came to understand adolescents by considering the role that motivation played in their lives. This was a common theme when discussing adolescents with participants. Often they would mention the importance of motivation in learning, and then express concerns about how to accomplish this when teaching content. They also noticed factors that related to motivation, building on their concerns on how to make it happen. Phil worried about motivation when thinking about his role as a future teacher. “...they were talking about the activities that they’re doing in class and are the students doing activities just to get a grade or are they doing the activities to actually learn? That made me question, as a teacher, what can I do to motive my students not to do things just to get a grade and then forget it, but how can I actually get the wheels to spin?” He was 132 asking a larger question about the purpose of Ieaming, which can be motivated by grades in a sense but also for the sake of new knowledge for a bigger cause. His question validates his observations that grades seem to be the stronger influence on adolescents. He was finding that he did not want content learning to become the only thing that mattered in his classroom, particularly if it was attached to a grade. Victoria tried to bring in personal motivation for the student she tutored. She wanted him to see that what motivates someone in sports can be similar to motivation in school, even if grades become the key goal. “Knowing that my tutee plays tennis for the high school, I asked him what motivates him to play tennis. He said to win. I then asked him if he considered getting good grades to be a form of winning and he had no reply. I explained to him that I felt like I got more satisfaction from doing well in school than winning in soccer, and that I know everyone is different, but I really think that he might have the same feeling, if he tried.” Victoria made this analogy to motivate the student to see that school can be a form of winning. Boris saw the power of motivation to keep students focused, particularly with the GED student he was tutoring. “B was motivated. What he lacked in core knowledge, he made up for in sheer determination. . .The GED is for students who, at one point in their lives, made a mistake, bad judgment, or were handed a raw deal in life and now have the motivation to actually succeed at something.” He remarked that motivation can be the factor that makes the difference between those who succeed and those who struggle. A big realization for Liz was when she reflected on her learning on adolescents throughout the course. “I thought adolescents were a lot less like sponges like younger kids are, but they really are. They are ready to Ieam and willing, if you inspire them or 133 motivate them. Well, you can’t really motivate a student; they have to have that on their own, but if you make it interesting and worth their while, they’re there.” She felt that her role as a teacher would play a key part in the motivation of her students, but she revealed that it can only happen if the students have it within themselves. Apathv— I Just Don’t Care It was discouraging for participants when they noticed apathetic behaviors from the adolescents with whom they worked, which then resulted in little to no motivation When working with students in tutoring, Marie noticed, “Reading fir school is the last thing that students usually want to do, because it is something that they have to do and they want choices... I now realize how non-active students are when it comes to reading, like they need to be pried to read every time.” She saw that the adolescents were more interested in doing anything other than reading. Kim saw a similar situation in her tutoring placement, which was in a remedial reading class at a high school. “The students that are in there, some of them are kind-of just dragging their feet. They don’t really care about it anyway, so you’re kind-of working past those attitudes...There are only a few students who really seem to want to try.” Kim was seeing the apathetic behaviors through body language, which translated into the effort they put forth in the class. Both participants felt that the motivation for reading was nonexistent. They also wondered if this type of apathy would carry over in to content classrooms, which would impact their roles as teachers. This became fi'ustrating for Victoria as she worked with her student. “Just getting them to have some inspiration and desire to do a little bit of work is difficult. I’m sitting there spoon feeding him answers to his homework questions and showing him exactly 134 where Ir: can find it in his textbook and he’s still sitting there, yawning, and like, ‘When is this going to be over?’ and I’m like, ‘Man, you know, what do you want me to do?” Her challenge in motivating this student translated into her own concerns about her effectiveness as a teacher. “I am Ieaming that my tutee does struggle with reading, but what I think he is struggling with more is being seventeen and finding motivation to do school work. I am hoping that by showing him ways to make Ieaming chemistry easier, it will give him motivation to work on it more. I am also Ieaming that my job is going to be extremely tough when I have thirty students.” She was envisioning a room full of students like him, which made it impossible for her to imagine trying to engage all of them and motivate them to learn the content. She felt helpless in what she currently knew about pedagogy, since motivation was not something she had considered. Gene experienced this when working with his student in tutoring. “I found that I had to work harder at keeping Mark on task and focused. I noticed that his eyes wandered a lot more and he seemed a little more anxious than usual.” Gene was able to pick up on these nonverbal signals immediately. He knew that this lack of motivation meart that he needed to work harder to keep interest. Yet, he questioned how this would be possible in a classroom when he had twenty five students to motivate. Often, inferences were made to try to determine rationale for this carefree attitude and lack of motivation When working with a struggling high school student, Phil remarked, “He just doesn’t care. I think the issue is that probably in middle school he was able to be successful just by being bright and not having to do anything else, but I think that now that he’s in high school, it’s more demanding and it’s requiring him actually to do some of the work, to do some studying, to be organized so he can do some 135 scheduling. He’s doing none of those things and he doesn’t really care to, or certainly not demonstrating that he cares to, so that’s kind of frustrating. When he’s there, seeming to want help and you try to help him, he doesn’t really want that.” Phil felt that this apathetic behavior was a result of lacking accountability in middle school, which is now catching up in high school. Phil could not recall any discussions in his teacher education courses about accountability in middle school, such as credits, homework, or attendance. Victoria also struggled with questioning accountability it her student’s past. “I am really beginning to see a little more enthusiasm out of my tutee, but I still think that a lot of his troubles are related to motivation. Sometimes when we are working together it’s like I have to force him to write something down...I think that is his adolescent disposition to lack motivation towards the end of the school year, but I also think that he has never been made extremely accountable for his Ieaming and has gotten away with barely understanding his subjects. Now it '5 his junior year and his parents are realizing that he may not be able to get into college by just getting by.” She mentioned that this student had parents who were concerned about their son, which could have an influence on the motivation that takes place. She thought that lack of accountability could certainly relate to apathetic behavior about school. Outside influences were also seen as causing apathy. Watchdog said, “Those last two weeks, they were definitely ready for their spring break ‘cause tl'ey were not just bored, but they just didn’t want to do anything. . .some kid got upset when somebody was yelling at him; the tension’s high ‘cause they’re ready for spring break.” Watchdog felt that an upcoming vacation was enough to cause a lack of motivation. Of course, this 136 provided a realistic perspective for Watchdog, since he could see how these types of situations can make it challenging for a classroom teacher to engage students. Relevancy— MakingLonnections to Adolescents’ Lives Participants continually mentioned the importance of making Ieaming relevant to students’ lives in order to increase motivation. Liz saw this in her tutoring placement when attempting a strategy. “Having interesting materials for them to read makes them more interested in doing the strategy you’re asking them to do. If I brought in boring articles that had no relevance to their lives, then they would have a hard time getting through the strategy.” She saw that the materials she chose were relevant, which caused the stuients to be motivated to try strategies while reading. In a similar situation, Dzanna found that relevancy worked well for her. “The titles I chose were surely interesting, and we had a lot of fun. If we were doing a chapter in history, I doubt that we would have 9, had the same success. What is striking is Dzanna’s own attitude that the textbook and content from school would have an opposite effect on the motivation of the student. This made her think about how she should bring in other interesting, relevant materials when she has her own classroom in order to motivate students. Many participants remarked that it was new for them to consider relevancy in content teaching, since this was not something that was mentioned or had often happened in their cortent courses. Marie was able to observe a teacher using real-world issues while doing a research project with students in a high school reading support class. “I realized how doing such a fun activity can intrigue even the lowest level of readers...I just have to make projects that have the potential to reach more students, and more than likely I will touch more than I thought I would.” She saw the positive impact relevancy had on 137 students who struggle with literacy issues the most and are least likely to be motivated, so she pondered what this could look like in her future classroom. This makes a strong connection between content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge, since she needs to be aware of the impact the content will have on the students. lack of relevant, updated instructional materials was another area of concern for motivation and engagement. Phil wrote, “Tom’s grammar textbook was terribly outdated — copyright 1982. Some of the examples were meaningless to Tom, such as references to typewriters and typewriter ribbon. I talked to Tom about this, and he had no idea what these things were. Needless to say, he was trying to Ieam grammar without comprehending the words in the sentences. I think this would be very demotivating, would make grammar seem old- fashioned and not applicable to today’s world, since the examples had no meaning or context to these students.” Phil immediately picked up that the items mentioned in the grammar book were so outdated that a typical adolescent in today’s society would not know the context or the meaning. He reasoned that this could definitely cause the student to lose interest. He was realizing that content knowledge needed to be updated continuously in order to keep students’ interests high. Of course, Sara seemed to realize how powerful relevancy is, but she took it a further step by associating it with age levels. “One thing I have to look forward to in my teaching and can count on is the ability that I have to relate with my students. Being someone who is close in age to these students is highly beneficial, as students in junior high tend to really separate themselves from adults. Older teachers sometimes have difficulty keeping up-to-date with what is considered ‘cool’ in today’s society. Studerts love it, though, if a teacher knows what they are talking about when discussing a popular 138 movie or song.” Ironically, Sara thought that her age translated into being “up-to-date” and motivating for students, despite the fact that she used the terms “junior high” instead of “middle school” when she talked about this particular age group, which is how the schools are configured in the area. She did demonstrate a grasp of what she thinks it takes to be “up-to-date” and relevant by making references to popular culture. This was new to her, since she had previously considered her content knowledge to be sufficient to teach students. Purpose — Providing a Rationale Providing a purpose to adolescents when presenting information seemed to be a critical issue when discussing motivation. Textbooks did not seem to serve the point of having a strong purpose, resulting in students who were not interested in reading. Marie said, “Adolescents don’t get enough reading these days. It’s not something that is fun for them. They see it as a textbook, so they’re not getting anything out of it anyways, so why do it?” Yet, the role of the teacher was not questioned in setting a purpose for students and increasing motivation, irregrdless of the reading material. This called into question her knowledge of pedagogy, and whether or not setting a purpose was part of what she considered to be the teacher’s role. Oprah started to pick up on this when she said, “Trying to be a teacher and motivate the students, how can you make the text that they’re reading compare to real- life situations by saying just read this? Why am I? When am I going to use this? Why do I need to know it? If you can make the text or whatever you’re doing in your class interesting to the students and comparable to life situation that they’re faced with every day, it is the best thing that you can do.” She saw the importance of setting a purpose, as 139 the teacher, for students so they can engage in the content, even if it is a textbook. She made a connection to pedagogical practices, which was something that she found to be important for her teaching. Participants stressed the need to establish a rationale for activities and to make the Ieaming relevant in order to motivate students for learning Gene noticed this when talking to a student about the reading he does. “He indicated that he enjoys suspense books, war books, and books by Stephen King. He indicated that these types of books keep him interested; therefore, the books are much easier to read. The books make sense to him. He says that he doesn’t like his textbooks because they are generally boring to read. He said that texts are boring and often difficult to read. These texts don’t hold his attention very well.” Again, Gene noticed that without a purpose, the reading is seen as meaningless and uninteresting. In Tovani (2000), participants read about the importance of setting a purpose to provide motivation for students, or else “fake reading” would result. Phil remarked on this in relation to his own children. “The whole fake reading thing I thought was amazing, but after I read about that, I could think of students when I was going through school or even now, I can see fake reading is happening. I have two kids in first grade and I go to their classes and help them with their reading and I can see kids there even trying not to read but pretend that they are. It’s pretty powerful to understand.” Even with young children, Phil was able to see how students pick up certain reading habits that can cany over into their teenage and adult years, resulting in a lack of motivation for reading, and instead develop motivation for doing whatever it takes to not read. He wondered how he could counteract this in his role as a teacher. 140 Providing a purpose for students can have a tremendous influence on their motivation. Marie noticed this when working with a student in tutoring. “I realized that something so simple as giving a struggling reader one little fix—up strategy can make all the difference. Already, I could tell that my student was more eager to read, because it 9 had finally given her a purpose outside of ‘just reading’.’ This increase in motivation showed the power of purpose, and Marie was able to see it firsthand with the student. Overcoming factors that take away from motivation can also happen when a purpose is provided. Adam noticed this when he worked with two students on the day before spring break. By explicitly giving a purpose for the tutoring session, he experienced tremendous success. “I expected them to be more distracted than ever, but it was probably the most productive session we’ve had since our first couple meetings.” Adam found that giving a purpose to the session provided a focus to the students and took their mind off their upcoming vacation. He also considered his own role as a teacher and the need to set a purpose, since this would help to motivate his students. Struggling — More Beneath the Surface Adolescents who struggle and are unmotivated, in a variety of ways, became a common theme in the interviews and tutoring journals. In tutoring, participants encountered students who struggled with reading, content, and study skills. This dilemma was perplexing to many, since this was an area that they had not even considered when thinking about becoming a teacher during their teacher education courses. The fact that there were students who were challenged, in terms of their learning needs and the degree of additional assistance required, was a revelation to several 141 participants. This showed that their preconceived notions about adolescents differed in great degrees by the reality they experienced during the course. Victoria found it frustrating as to why the student she was tutoring was struggling, since she saw it as a motivational factor. “Adolescents right now have so much other stuff going on like sports and extracurricular activities that they always have an excuse for why they’re not reading their assigned reading or not doing their homework...My specific tutee is lazy. He needs help, he needs guidance to make him do the homework and to show him study strategies. He needs a lot more one-on-one attention to refocus him. He was saying, ‘Well, I have tennis and I have this so when I get home I’m tired,’ which is very true.” This lack of focus on school was causing this student to fall behind and to have his grades slip. Victoria was struggling with honOring the athletic abilities, which motivated him, while not discounting the academic needs. This dilemma was not something that she had considered up to this point in her conceptions of teaching. Oprah went a step further and revealed her initial reaction to working with a student who struggled. “Just because a student struggles with reading or school in general doesn’t always mean that they have a Ieaming disability. When I began working with her and found out that she was failing almost all of her classes, I thought there must be something more there, she must have some kind of Ieaming disability, but she doesn’t.” This showed Oprah’s lack of experience working with struggling readers, since she immediately jumped to the conclusion that there was a Ieaming disability to overcome. She did not even consider that the struggle could result in a lack of motivation for learning. Later on, she mentioned, “Struggling readers do not become great readers overnight. It’s a tough transition to make. Trying to break old habits is a painstaking 142 process, but with perseverance, motivation, and application, it can be done.” She came to see that persistence and hard work can make a tremendous difference for a struggling reader. She also realized that her previous thoughts on struggling students were changed from working with the adolescent. Marie was surprised to see low many adolescents were struggling with reading. “I hadn’t realized how many students are struggling. My brother is Ieaming disabled, so I’ve grown up with the fact that he has a 3rd grade reading level. But I didn’t realize how many students in a normal classroom that there are who can’t read.” Her own experience with her brother semed so remote when in actuality, there are many students who struggle, not necessarily because of a Ieaming disability, but due to factors of engagement and interest Issues of speed while reading impacted participants’ views of struggling readers. After working with a student in tutoring, Marie wrote, “During this session, I realized that each student is at a different level. The student I worked with this time comprehended really well, but read pretty slow. I guess I realized that just because a student is a slow reader doesn’t necessarily mean that they are a struggling reader.” Marie was seeing that having the motivation to read and actually taking time to do it can have a strong influence on comprehension. Gene saw something similar with his student. “The only real problem that I see immediately with Mark’s ability to read is his inability to read faster. He is a very slow reader. He seems to have problems decoding words. I think he would be a much better reader if he would just practice reading more often.” Gene figured that practice with reading would improve the speed, similar to practice 143 while playing a musical instrument or a sport, even though the latter might be seen as more engaging and interesting Marisa found it challenging to find reading materials to use with her student while tutoring. “I had a newspaper article and he’s a big hunter/fisherman, so it had to do with that. He struggled quite a bit with the words, so I’m going to have to be really careful that doesn’t get in the way of what I’m trying to teach him, but I don’t feel it’s hard to find text without it being babyish.” Marisa realized the need to find high interest, motivating reading materials while avoiding information and/or text layouts that would be demeaning to the student due to the age level it might be geared towards, such as cartoon pictures and big print. This whole notion of using various texts was new to her, since she had not thought that it would be important when teaching content. Liz revealed her initial bias in tutoring. “I thought that once they got to high school, if they didn’t know how to read, there’s no hope for them, there’s not much to do. But in doing this tutoring, they were improving. You could see improvements.” She was able to see firsthand how powerful the assistance was to struggling readers. Even though they are older and the issues seem more serious, there is still potential for Ieaming. She continually looked for ways to motivate the students to want to Ieam the strategies and improve their reading. Also, Marisa tried some of the strategies with her own adolescent son, who was struggling with an assignment in school. “I tried chunking with my son and I can’t believe how well he did on this last writing assignment he had. I was so excited ‘cause when I looked at where he just was last year versus this year, it’s incredible because he’s always struggled. He has good ideas but getting them on paper is something different.” 144 Seeing her own son’s improvement through using one of the strategies gave her authentic proof that this can be helpful to students, particularly those who struggle. Plus, the reward of doing well in school can be a motivating factor. She looked forward to implementing some of the ideas with her own students, which made a connection for her to her knowledge of pedagogy. Adolescents’ Multiple Literacies Participants came to understand adolescents by acknowledging the multiple literacies that are possible. Reading about and encountering the multiple literacies that adolescents use to navigate their worlds was a new concept for many of the participants, who had previously displayed traditional notions of content knowledge. Going beyond the traditional school textbook reading and essay writing and allowing for other literacies to be demonstrated was very different than how some first thought about adolescents. Yet, these multiple literacies are not something that can be ignored, since they represent the realities of working with adolescents on a daily basis. Chief discussed what he had observed with the students he worked with every day in his role as a technology teacher in a K—8 building. “Where I’m at, the students I work with in some ways are so far ahead of, in certain aspects, in literacy, but in other areas, they are so far behind from where I think they should be...They’re so technologically- oriented now. They love coming to computer class, starting in lSt grade. Then, as they get bored with typing and they start getting it, I’m not sure how to resolve it. They need to learn the keyboarding skills, but it’s hard to make that constantly fun.” Chief can see how technological literacy is having an impact on the students with whom he works. He can see that when they are young children they have a desire to be on the computer, 145 Ieaming more than just keyboarding skills. Yet, he needed more than his existing pedagogical knowledge to know how to reach them as they got older. The opening of the International Reading Association Adolescent Literacy Position Statement (Moore et. al, 1999) portrays two adolescents as they use multiple literacies in their lives. Phil noticed, “...it was a brother and sister, and they’re both literate in different ways. They both do a lot of reading, but it’s not necessarily enough from a school teacher’s standpoint. They won’t necessarily see the kids succeed in a classroom, and they really weren’t literate in textbooks, but things the kids were interested in, like where they can apply themselves.” He noticed that the literacies that the two adolescents demonstrated were not essentially the same literacies that are deemed appropriate for school. He also noticed that teachers could be missing out on students’ abilities, if they are not aware of the multiple literacies that adolescents possess. He was connecting his ideas on teaching to this new information about his future students. After reading Bean, Bean, and Bean (1999), Liz said, “It was interesting to see how two girls growing up in the same family could see things so differently and how their, their types of literacy were vastly different from school...l didn’t realize that there are so many types of literacy. It’s not just the textbook in the classroom. That was kind- of my narrow-minded thinking that literacy in the classroom is the textbook and not videos that you show, activities that you do.” Liz was beginning to expand her conceptions of literacy in school to other activities such as videos, activities, etc. SIB was beginning to understand how multiple literacies can play a role in a classroom, which built on her existing knowledge of teaching Plus, she reflected on her own thinking that the textbook would be the only source of information. 146 Literacy Practices — Expanding Definitions Reading and writing are just a few of many literacy practices that adolescents use in their lives, both in and out of school. Participants revealed some honest surprises at various ways of expression as acceptable literacy practices, especially in school contexts. This was further reinforced when they worked with adolescents in tutoring, since they were able to discover the many ways that the students desired to Ieam and express themselves. Bean, Bean, and Bean (1999) gave participants their first viewpoint on literacy practices, even before they began tutoring. Phil remarked, “I was surprised at what are some of the types of literacy. It’s not just reading a book; it’s the conversations they have with their fiiends on the phone, it’s what they get from watching movies, reading magazines, those types of things.” He was able to see how far-reaching literacy can be, and that the two adolescent girls in the article had many literacy practices that tley demonstrated through keeping track of their actions in and out of school. Victoria also observed this. “There’s different literacies outside of school and inside school...Even if they’re writing notes to their friends or joumaling or something like that, it’s still literacy.” She was able to expand her perception of what “counts” as a literacy practice and what adolescents are actually doing. Boris also found this intriguing. “It was interesting what he considered to be different types of reading and literacy, the computer use, talking on the telephone or video games, the amount of time wasn’t too surprising, it might be a little overdone, but if you consider those types of reading or what he calls functionality and literacy.” Literacy practices were becoming wider in definition for 147 many participants. They were all connecting this information to what they currently knew about teaching and Ieaming. However, it was a bit shocking for a few participants regarding the literacy practices of the girls in Bean, Bean, and Bean (1999), particularly considering the socioeconomic and education status of the families. Chief said, “I was surprised that the parents, particularly for parents who are educators, were not emphasizing reading. I kind-of felt that they spent too much time on the phone...All the outside activities are great, get them to do all that stuff which is useful to take their minds off other things. The kids never read...l know they need to spend time on the phone, but 22 hours in a week? They spert more time on the phone than they did on the TV, which isn’t that bad. At least they’re not watching the boob tube.” In addition, Victoria said, “It seemed like they had a lot of computer time and a lot of phone time and maybe he was just letting them (b their normal thing...I was kinda surprised that as an educator and this type of researcher that he let the girls have that much time on the phone or on the computer.” Both Chief and Victoria did not consider these “acceptable” literacy practices, but instead saw them as typical adolescent behaviors that detracted from school work. Issues of equity arose when talking about access to materials for literacy practices. Oprah questioned, “They’re going to spend a lot of time on the computer because they have that. But what about kids who don’t have those things? What are they doing instead? Are they on the streets?” She raised a valid point about students who don’t have computers, video cameras, telephones, etc. Yet, the article did not go beyond upper- middle class literacy practices, so Oprah did not have an understanding of the out- of-school literacy practices that are seen with inner-city adolescents (Moje, 2000). Oprah 148 also raised a good issue when she talked about boys. “What if this article was about two boys instead of two girls? Or what if it was a girl and a boy? Wouldn’t the boy, the brother, do different things?” Oprah was seeing gender differences in the literacy practices that the article described and considering what could be happening with adolescent males. She has Ieamed about gender issues in a previous course, so she was connecting that knowledge with the information in the article. Participants gained new insight into the literacy practices of students who they tutored by finding out their interests and their activities. Phil wrote, “Throughout our work together, I got to know K better by asking her about her interests outside of school. I Ieamed that she is active in 4-H and that she shows horses. I also learned that her father volunteers her for leadership roles and activities within 4-H and that these responsibilities are sometimes overwhelming for her. Even so, she seems to enjoy this activity and the involvement with the horses and other teens.” Phil was able to see that K’s interaction with horses and her leadership in 4-H were other ways that she could demonstrate literacy practices. In addition, Gene saw a way to connect his student’s out-of-school literacy practices with reading. “I understand M is very interested in music and playing his trumpet. I introduced the topic by telling him that reading his textbook is very similar to how he reads sheet music.” This connection of literacy practices made a strong link for both the participants and the students being tutoring in order to see how the two behaviors can work together. Plus, participants were continually connecting this information with their conceptions of teachers and classrooms. They wondered how they could bring these out-of-school practices into their own classrooms, by keeping the Ieaming relevant and interesting. 149 Multiple Texts — Beyond the Textbook Not only was the participants’ conceptiom of being literacy expanded, but their notion of acceptable texts to use in school was another area of intrigue. Beyond the textbook, many participants had not considered other ways for adolescents to Ieam information. This new definition of “text” provided an innovative view and understanding when working with adolescents. This content knowledge had been limited, but the new information was expanding it to include varied sources of information. After reading Bean, Bean, and Bean (1999), Phil explained how he was now thinking about the role of “texts” in his future classroom. “. . .the daughters had no choice in the things that they were having to read for school and I thought, as a teacher someday, I need to be careful and provide, make sure that I provide choices for the students, even if it is a limited selection...I still think that being able to make decisions about what they Ieam will encourage them more than if they have no decisions. I thought that was good and the whole in-school versus out-of-school literacy.” Echoing this, Gene said, “Today’s teachers need to have a better understanding of the multiple Exts-type literacy and how not every student learns exactly the same. You can’t just stand up there with a blackboard and lecture and write on the board to reach all the students.” Both participants were seeing how critical it is to move beyond the textbook in order to reach adolescents. This connection to their current knowledge on teaching was being built up by their new ideas from the course. They began thinking about the variety of texts that they could bring into their future classrooms to have stuients use as other sources to learn content. 150 K-12 Variations with Adolescents Participants came to understand adolescents in varying ways, especially if their future teaching goal went beyond this age group. Since some of the participants were working towards K- 12 certification in an area (art, music, or physical alucation) and one participant had recently switched from elementary to secondary education, there were some comments made during interviews about teaching adolescents compared to younger children. Even more intriguing was how some participants differentiated adolescents even further to being middle school or high school students, showing awareness of the differences of these two school groups. Having just recently switched from elementary to secondary education, Rachel remarked, “I haven’t really had a chance just to work with this age group before and it just seems like it fits more, you know, the elementary I could tell it wasn’t, it wasn’t quite right. This seems more of what I want to do.” Up to this point, she had no experience with adolescents, but she did feel that the fit was better. Rachel went on to explain that she wanted to teach at the secondary level because she felt a deeper connection to her content, which she was not feeling it an elementary setting. Yet, after the course was over, she realized that content was not the only thing that mattered to become a teacher. She now knew that she had to know her students as well, and knowing how to teach adolescents was much different than teaching children. Attention to content was obvious with Adam, but in a different way from Rachel. “All my classes have been focused on secondary. I would love elementary, too. There are ups and downs, I think, to either side. Elementary — I just love working with little kids. I was a preschool teacher for awhile. So, I don’t know, the younger kids are firn, 151 middle school I’m leery of, but it might be a challenge. Then high school, you at least have usually a couple kids who are really interested in art, which would be nice. I don’t know.” Adam was questioning which level he wanted to teach, especially middle school, even though he considered high school as the area where he could connect his content the most. By the end of the course, however, Adam was rethinking his doubts about middle school students after his tutoring experience in a middle school. “I used to think that there was no way that I would work in middle school. I don’t think I will ever be able to completely figure out middle school students, but they have become more human to me.” Adam expanded his view of this age group and was much more open to working with adolescents — at middle school and high school. He also went beyond thinking that content was the most important factor for teaching, since he now realized that knowing his students was very important, also. Summary Overall, participants demonstrated multifaceted understandings of adolescents throughout the study. Building relationships with adolescents was a major theme within this section. Participants mentioned that honesty and trust were essential in order to establish connections with this age group. Victoria mentioned that “The most startling thing that I have learned is how much work it takes to reach a student.” She wonied about how she would be able to build relationships as a classroom teacher with thirty students in a class. Many participants were taken back by the straightforward honesty of adolescents. Phil said, “I told him that I had a great strategy that would help him get his reading done and I asked if I could show it to him. He said no, that he wanted to get his homework done and get out of there.” This demonstrated a stark contrast to participants’ 152 commitment to education when they encountered adolescents who were uninterested in the value of Ieaming. Motivation was another broad theme that participants found to be challenging when working with adolescents. This proved to be a stark contrast to the committed attitudes of the participants towards education. Phil found it frustrating to work with an apathetic high school student. “I think the issue is that probably in middle school he was able to be successful just by being bright and not having to do anything else, but I think that now that he’s in high school, it’s more demanding and it’s requiring him actually to do some of the work, to do some studying, to be organized... He’s doing none of those things and he doesn’t really care to...” As a dedicated student himself, Phil was confronted by the complexities of working with adolescents. Tutoring played a critical role in the participants’ understandings of adolescents. This brings to the forefront the need for field-based courses in content area literacy (Conley, Kemer, & Reynolds, 2005), since course readings and activities alone are not sufficient to provide the rich context that authentic experiences allow for preservice secondary teachers. Liz described how tutoring helped her grow in her understanding of struggling adolescents. “I thought that once they got to high school, if they didn’t know how to read, there’s no hope for them, there’s not much to do. But in doing this tutoring, they were improving.” The understandings in this study that came about via tutoring contribute to the field of adolescent literacy by demonstrating the complexities that exist and that are new and intriguing to future teachers. These field experiences are needed in order to help them develop a deeper understanding of their future students. Plus, the personal experiences in tutoring go beyond previous experiences in classrooms as student 153 assistants, and participants were appreciative that they had an opportunity to work closely with adolescents in this manner. Marie remarked on the impact she felt that she was making. ‘I think that more schools should hook up with colleges that are offering tutors and get them in the classrooms. I’ve seen a huge change in some of the attitudes of the students who really showed no interest at first, so that makes me feel like we really are making a difference.” Her reaction is illustrative of the power of the tutoring field experience within the course. In the next section, I will present the participants’ views on the second course theme — teaching for understanding — as demonstrated through the course work and the interview responses. Teaching for Understanding The second research question asked: 2. How do preservice content area teachers conceptualize teaching for understanding within content areas during a content area literacy course? This question was important, because it provided information on how participants were able to connect their pedagogical knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge to information in the course. Throughout teacher education courses, particularly those that focus on pedagogical methods, preservice teachers are presented with many techniques, but there needs to be a connection to the students and their understanding of the content through those techniques. This study reveals the participants’ conceptualizations about teaching for understanding and their connections to their views on pedagogical knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge. 154 Teaching for understanding was another main theme of the course. It was not a theme that was directly mentioned in every course session or in every reading, but it related to the participants Ieaming about comprehension, strategies, and how to help their students actually understand what they would be attempting to teach them about content. Many of the participants were able to practice this immediately during their work in tutoring middle and high school students, so they could see what worked and what did not. This theme was an overall concept throughout the entire course, with students putting together a collection of different strategies at the end of the course that they could see themselves using as a teacher in their respective content areas. This built on their knowledge of pedagogy and gave them more ideas on teaching and Ieaming. The work of Pearson, Roehler, Dole, & Duffy (1992) Was the overall framework for information on comprehension for the instructor and the course syllabus. The participants were able to Ieam more about comprehension by reading the Tovani books (2002; 2004), which contained detailed stories about how the author taught adolescents to comprehend more directly while reading, especially in various content areas. In the majority of the course sessions, there were strategies that were taught and/or practiced to give participants more ideas on how to help students understand content. The resource book by Buehl (2001) contained information on many strategies, along with examples in different content areas, in order for participants to learn more new ideas beyond what was taught in the course sessions. Socioconstructivism, as a teaching method in the course sessions and as the overall theoretical framework for the course information, became a major factor to consider for teaching for understanding. Participants made many 155 connections to what they already knew about pedagogy and brought in the new ideas to make their ideas even broader. The following section will describe what participants Ieamed about teaching for understanding in regards to comprehension, strategies, modeling for studerts, making connectiom, breaking down information, socioconstructivism, and thoughts on time to fit this in with all of the pressures to teach content. When analyzing the data, subcategories came about when looking at the bigger categories and seeing what patterns were evident (see Table 6). In terms of comprehension, subcategories emerged relating to rationale for why it is important, ways to help students construct meaning, and the effect that comprehension has on students’ understanding. For strategies, subcategories emerged relating to the rationale for why strategies should be used, how they work with students, applications to content areas, participants’ own experiences in trying out strategies, and the need for more things to happen in classrooms t) help students understand content. For modeling, participants shared information that emerged into subcategories that related to examples that they tried and also ideas for their content areas. For connections, subcategories emerged that related to helping students relate information to their own lives, events in the world, and other content areas. Participants talked about breaking down information, and subcategories emerged relating to giving clear explanations, teaching content step-by-step, and monitoring students’ Ieaming. Socioconstructivism was a major theme, and subcategories emerged relating to the rationale for its importance, ideas to have students participate in class, and having students work in groups. Finally, time became an issue, and subcategories emerged relating to incorporating teaching for understanding into the curriculum and having to compete with 156 TABLE 6 TEACHING FOR UNDERSTANDING Comprehension for Understanding Rationale - Why it is Necessary Constructing Meaning — Trying to Make Sense Effect — How It Works Strategies as Tools for Understanding Rationale - Why they are Necessary Students - Trying it Out Students - Applications to Content Areas Personalization — Own Use of Strategies More - Beyond Strategies Modeling to Demonstrate Understanding Examples — Trying it Out Examples — Applications to Content Areas Connections to Build Understanding Self — Personal Links World — Global Links Text — Content Links Breaking Down to Foster Understanding Explanations — Making Things Clear Step-by—Step — Taking One Part at a Time Monitoring — Checking for Understanding Socioconstructivism to Construct Understanding Rationale - Why it is Necessary Participation — Being a Part of the Learning Groups — Working Together for Learning Time Concerns for Understanding Competing — So Much to Do Incorporate — Making it a Natural Process 157 content demands. Qanprehension for Understanding Participants learned about teaching for understanding mainly through listening during course sessions, reading the Tovani books, and talking about comprehension amongst each other. For most participants, this was something that they had not really thought about beyond a reading context, and they had not really considered it beyond the pedagogical methods that they had learned in other courses. Yet, as the course continued throughout the semester, participants mentioned more and more how comprehension could be what they considered to be the most important thing to teach students when trying to help them understand content. As Boris mentioned, ‘Building comprehension allows students to think out problems and think their way through to solutions.” He was able to see how comprehension could play a role in his ability as a teacher to help his students understand. Participants also considered how comprehension helps students construct meaning, and its effect would make teaching for understanding possible. Rationale — Why it is Necessary Throughout the study, participants were told in the course sessions, and also while reading, that it was important for them to teach students how to comprehend what they were Ieaming while accessing content. By the end of the course, Phil said, “I need to continue helping the students Ieam to read, Ieam to teach them reading strategies, fix up strategies that they can use in my class and others. I think the fact that, as students get into high school, the demand on them for new vocabulary for the amount of reading that they have to do, the depth of this, and the number of subjects they have to go into is extremely great, and so it’s really important to help to make sure that they can be 158 involved in a class, if they’re Ieaming, the way we construct knowledge, that their Ieaming skills help them learn the content.” He certainly thought that he would have to make this a priority in his teaching to help his students with Ieaming. Plus, he was going beyond content and basic pedagogy to reach his students, so they would understand what he was teaching. Along the same lines, Dzanna decided that comprehension was the way to help her students in life. ‘My job is about teaching kids how to read and think about text in meaningful ways that help them better understand people around them. As a teacher, I want to assure that all of my students receive meaningful and effective instruction that will improve their reading comprehension of different content areas. Only like this, they would be able to figure out the world around them, and also, understand people in their surrounding areas. This is only possible if they are constantly exposed to different comprehension ideas. These comprehension ideas improve thinking and understanding. Setting a purpose, monitoring comprehension, using fix- up strategies, making connections, determining important ideas, asking questions, and making inferences are these ideas that will help my students Ieam more from the reading, but also from these strategies alone. These ideas are something we all use daily and thereby, my students will be provided with pols for life.” The fact that she named each of the comprehension ideas that had been discussed in the course showed that she thought that all of them were extremely important. It also became apparent that comprehension would help students Ieam content and get more involved in their own Ieaming. Liz said, ‘We’re not just teaching kids. We’re inspiring them to Ieam. I’ve been looking at it a lot more that way instead of like, ‘Okay, 159 I gotta go through all this stuff and say it to them so that they get it,’ like a lecture kind of thing. It’s more like how am I going to express it to them so that they understand it, and how am I going to get them involved in the Ieaming process?” She was realizing that she had to go beyond lecturing students about cortent and giving them time to interact with the information. Her pedagogical knowledge was expanding to consider the effect her teaching would have on her students. Even as a future art teacher, Trey realized that comprehension would play a role in his instruction in order to help his students Ieam the content. “Teachers need to expand on their content areas and provide reading comprehension strategies to help the students understand the material better. I agree with this idea, because how am I going to expect my students to understand a challenging art history text, if I myself have a difficult time comprehending the text? Therefore, I need to teach them reading comprehension strategies to clarify their understanding of the material.” He found it critical that this would become a part of his teaching so his students could work with challenging information. His ideas on content and pedagogy were being broadened to include his consideration that his students would understand what he was teaching. Constrmting Meaning — Trying to Make Sense One of the main facets of comprehension is that it helps students construct meaning from the information about the content. This means that they need to make sense of what they are learning, whether it is through reading, listening, or viewing. It was brought up many times throughout the course, and participants were given challenging texts in order to practice constructing meaning themselves. Adam came to realize this when he said, “I’m realizing how important it is to make sure kids know how 160 to do something before you, I mean, there are things I think we all assume now, read this question, answer it, we all think they’ll understand the question in the first place, or how to find the information, all that stuff.” His first thoughts were that this would happen automatically, but by the end of the course, he understood that his pedagogy needed to include activities to help the students understand the information. Participants begn to express the idea that helping students construct meaning was an important facet of being a teacher. Phil explained, “There’s importance to what you have to do as a teacher, like setting a purpose and involving the students in constructing their own knowledge, both individually and in groups of people. There’s a ton of things that, as a teacher, you need to do, but I think that the thing that’s turned the light on for me recently is that you have to teach the students how to become involved in their own text, in their own teaching of themselves, how to ask questions, how to identify what the author’s purpose is when they’re reading, how to identify things like what the text format is, those types of things. That’s teaching kids how to ask questions, so that the answers aren’t so important, but getting them to interact by asking questions, and then to identify where do I find the answers to the questions, such as are they in the text, are they in my head, or do I have to go to another source? And making connections to the text, I think is important, too, just like having kids read something, setting up beforehand, and examples of how things, that they might have in background knowledge or things that might be important to them, compliment the text.” He was arguing that this would make a difference in how the students were able to construct meaning by relating to all of the comprehension ideas. He also was connecting his ideas about teaching content to now include his new ideas on teaching his students to comprehend. 161 Many participants came to understand that lecturing in front of a class of adolescents would not be the most effective way to help them Ieam content, which went beyond many of their basic ideas on pedagogy. Watchdog said, ‘It is important to be interactive in the classroom and jrst encompass everything that I’ve been taught to actually teach the students better. I just don’t want to be the teacher that stands in front and lectures all the time, and I definitely don’t want the students to be bored. I want to give them hands on activities and get them involved in the community and get them involved in the content of the material that they’re learning, so they comprehend it better and everything.” He was able to see that the interaction of students, with the content that they were Ieaming, would be the best way to help them construct meaning of the information. As a future teacher of students with Ieaming disabilities, Kim came to see constructing meaning as something that needed to be reinforced beyond decoding words. “When students with LD are in an inclusive classroom, mini lessons are great for using strategies to check comprehension, reinforce skills, or help students organize their thoughts. Students with learning disabilities spend so much energy and time simply trying to decode words, that they lose sight of the comprehension aspect. I need to use strategies to help them increase their fluency with reading, vocabulary usage, and decode words, yet also help them make connections to what they are learning.” She was finding it critical to do more than just help students with word recognition in order to have the most impact on their construction of meaning. This also went beyond some of her early ideas on pedagogical content knowledge for students with Ieaming disabilities. I62 Trey also gave two specific examples for how he would help his fiiture art students construct meaning while looking at artwork. “A way I could introduce questioning is to have the students analyze a famous work of art. I would display a painting of Theodore Gericault’s Raft of the Medusa. This painting depicts despair, cannibalism, and the hope of being rescued. The passengers are survivors, after a mutiny on the ship called Medusa. I chose this painting because I think it would stir up a lot of questions from the students and is also a big part of European art history. Some examples of questions the students might ask about this specific painting are: Did this really happen? Why did these people end up on the raft? How long were they at sea on this raft? How did they stay alive? What are they waving at? What did the artist do to prepare for this painting? The students would then write doWn five questions that the painting generated. After the students have finished writing their questions, I would ask them to share their thoughts with the rest of the class. I think a good way to determine the importance of light in a painting could be where I would show slides of paintings that have utilized light well and paintings that don’t use light well. I would display such works from artists like Rembrandt who is considered to be the master of light, Pablo Picasso, who didn’t focus on light during his cubistic period, and William Blake, who was not only a poet, but also an artist who focused on subject matter rather than light. The students will be asked to write down what paintings utilized light well and why light is important. The importance of light is to give the painting detail, depth, and the illusion of being 3dimensional.” He was able to take this aspect of comprehension beyond reading of text and apply it to viewing of artwork, which still showed a strong example of 163 how students could construct meaning. Also, he expanded his thoughts on teaching content to now include ideas on teaching for understanding. Effect — How It Worl_<_s Many participants shared thoughts on how tiny thought comprehension would affect students’ understanding. Adam said, “Comprehension can take place without reading, without writing. I could talk about how Van Gogh painted, and then the students could paint like Van Gogh, and depending on how they’re doing it, I could understand if they comprehended what we saw.” He was able to go beyond reading and see that it would still be important to assess if students understood a painting technique through their own work. Plus, his knowledge of teaching content was reaching beyond his students’ ability to paint to now monitoring that they understoOd what they were doing. For some participants, this was a new concept to think about, as they considered their futures as teachers. Phil explained, “I would never have envisioned myself teaching reading and comprehension and these type of things before this class, but now I can see how that not only is an important topic to teach, but can be fun and bring a lot of neat and exciting and fun things to do in class.” He believed in the effect that comprehension could have on the engagement of his students, which is something that had changed over the duration of the course, from his initial ideas about teaching content. Oprah also argued that comprehension would affect students’ understanding of assignments. “The more you can introduce an article or an assignment and go over its objectives, the more likely students will comprehend what it is you want them to learn, as well as what the article or text is telling them they should know.” She saw that this would impact how 164 students would understand what a teacher assigns, so teaching content and even basic pedagogical methods were not sufficient for students’ understanding. In tutoring, participants saw the effect of comprehension on how students understood the information. Watchdog wrote, ‘With the help of my assistance, both N and P developed their reading comprehension by reading a few paragraphs and then talking between themselves about what was going on in the story to help them gain an understanding of the story as well as answering their required questions. I think this was beneficial for both of them, as they acknowledged how to get a greater grasp of what was going on in the material that they were reading and how to use this process for future readings.” He found that asking the students to pick out important details from a story and interacting with each other helped them to comprehend what they were reading. This pedagogical practice was one that he had not considered in the past. Several participants saw the effect of comprehension during their classroom observations. Phil was able to pick this out when observing a math class. “It was interesting to me to see the interaction between the students and how they helped each other’s comprehension by answering each other’s questions. They were also very free about expressing their fi'ustration as they struggled to Ieam the material. By the end of class, however, most all seemed to have gotten it and weren’t afraid to express that either. The teacher’s intention was to help the students understand the material. He did not have a specific motive to help the students improve their literacy or comprehension, but his methods were right out of the book.” He saw that even though the teacher did not directly attempt to work on comprehension, the activities in class had that effect Many participants mentioned that, even though the teacher they observed did not put 165 comprehension at the forefront of the lesson, if they were teaching for understanding through activities in class, the comprehension aspect of the lesson came through. They were able to connect what they knew about content and pedagogy to their new thoughts on teaching for understanding. Strategies as Tools for Understanding A major part of the course sessions and the readings was for participants to Ieam a variety of strategies that would help with teaching for understanding. This was something that every participant mentioned as information that was Ieamed throughout the course. For some, it was new and interesting to think about strategies. Kim said, “The whole experience of literacy strategies was new to me. I haven’t been in school for a really long time, so going back to school, that stuff was never even touched upon in any of my classes in high school or in my undergraduate work. So, it was really, I was really excited the first night of class to find out what this was all about and to Ieam all of the literacy strategies.” Kim showed a strong interest in learning about the strategies. A breakdown of participants’ understandings showed that they thought about why strategies were important, what happened when they taught strategies through tutoring, how they could apply strategies to their respective content areas, their own use of strategies, and the need to do more in a classroom than just lecture and have students read. This built strongly on their ideas about teaching content. Rationale — Why they are Necessag Many of the participants commented on why they thought that strategies were important to students’ understanding. Marie explained, “Strategies are meant to give the students a different perspective on new material, not just taking notes on a lecture.” She 166 was finding that the use of strategies would bring in more engagement than just listening to a lecture. This interaction with content was something that was mentioned by most participants as the main reason why strategies made a difference. They connected their thoughts on content to include a variety of ways to make Ieaming content possible. Reflection paid a key role as to why a strategy would work, since students had a chance to consider the content more specifically, and they could think about their Ieaming. Watchdog wrote, “Using such methods as writing in the margins and sticky notes are ways to demonstrate the achievement of understanding. Performing these tasks helps the students grasp their thoughts as they are reading the content in the classroom. This is effective, since they can go back to these documentations to reflect on what they thought about the story, instead of trying to do it at the very end.” He believed that various strategies could function as ways for students to work with information and display their understandings. Marisa mentioned something similar when considering all of the options on different strategies. “There is not just one type, one questioning technique, but multiple, not just one note-taking, not just one way to hold thoughts. There are just so many different ways to change it up, ways to keep students interested, ways to get them to think deeper about what they’re reading and what they’re doing in class.” This was important to many participants, since they found it important to have choices on which strategies to use, different options to give students, and various ways to engage students in class with content. This was building on the many pedagogical methods that they knew to now include different strategies for understanding. Gene reflected on his own experience as a high school student. “It amazed me to see some of the teachers that used just the textbook, when you are able to teach more than 167 just the textbook. The textbook is just a tool in the toolbox, and that’s about it. Put more emphasis on other activities than the textbook in the class. This is where the strategies come in.” While he was not arguing to get rid of the textbook, and in fact he valued its role as a resource in the classroom, he saw that strategies could play a role in going beyond the textbook to help with understanding. Strategies that could fit into the curriculum were seen as most effective, since many participants wanted a smooth ransition between content and strategies. Victoria mentioned, “You can do it even when you’re not going to just lecture. You don’t have to have them read an article everyday or, even if they’re just doing a firn lab where they’re making things explode, they still have to write and observe and be able to work with others. I could use strategies, and it’s possible.” She was considering that the strategies would become a part of what she did as a teacher, along with teaching content, and she felt that strategies could work in many situations, as students interacted with the content. Students — Trying it Out Strategies can sound interesting when reading about them in a book, or they can look engaging when practicing them in a scenario-type of situation. Yet, what is most critical is the consideration about how strategies would function when actually working with students. This was something that participants mentioned in a general format, or specifically, when talking about work with students in tutoring. There were so many strategies shared in the course. Participants found a variety of ideas. In terms of working with students, Phil realized that you could use a strategy, but not necessarily tell your students that the lesson was about reading, but instead, about content. “There are so many strategies that I see, that you could just pick one and work 168 with your students, and maybe they wouldn’t even know you were teaching a reading strategy.” He was finding that it would work out well to use a strategy to help students understand the content instead of just teaching a strategy. Of course, he did still consider it important, in his role as a teacher, to teach the strategies. “Students in the content areas need to be able to read in order to Ieam. But the process of Ieaming to read never ends, and as a content teacher, I need to be aware that I must teach reading strategies, as well as the content.” He realized that strategies and content need to work together. Yet, in tutoring, Phil found that studerts do need to be taught how to read their textbooks, which relates to different strategies. “There was one student that I worked with that was passing his Civics class, but he wasn’t doing any reading at all, and his example just amazed me. The teacher lad made study guides that would go through the sections, like fill in the blanks — a ‘so and so type of government means...’ —- and then it would have a blank. And the kid would just look through the books until he found the matching sentence, and then he’d just finish the sentence. So, he wasn’t reading any of the text. When he was done filling out the sheet, he didn’t know what he had done, he had just identified and copied, so here’s a kid who’s doing the work, but is in a sense, illiterate. And I thought, this is amazing. It’s those type of examples that brought it home to me, that it’s so important to teach kids how to read, because you think that by the time they get in high school, that they’re done Ieaming how to read, and now they’re just reading to Ieam, but no, that’s not the case. They need to continue Ieaming new skills and get more sophisticated in their reading strategies, so that they can continue to Ieam more and more complicated things.” He found that the student had Ieamed to “fake read” .1 69 (Tovani, 2000) instead of actually reading the text. Strategies could stop that from happening, and it would make Ieaming content much more possible. During tutoring, Victoria found herself teaching a strategy to help the student hold her thinking before the next tutoring session. “I’m definitely getting ideas about how to incorporate small things, and in my tutoring, I told her to maybe try the sticky note thing in her math book or even when she’s taking lecture notes. I thought that, if she has a question, then she could put the idea on a sticky note, but if she didn’t have sticky notes, that’s okay, and just write in the margin of your paper, like I don’t get this example, so we could go over those questions when I tutor her.” This could also be a way for all students to write down their thoughts before the next time their class meets, so they could share their thinking with their teacher and their classmates. VictOria was connecting her knowledge of content to this new idea on holding thinking about content. Using a strategy to teach vocabulary was found to work very well for the students who Oprah tutored. “The student I tutor had to study vocab, so I was like, ‘Okay, what vocab do you already know, put those in there, now go back to the book, we’ll use a different color pen, and then put the ones that you don’t know, so now when you study you don’t need to study the ones you know,’ and that was a great reference for him, and it was alphabetical, and he had the visual, it was fabulous. So that was great, and then I was like ‘Now, take the ones that you don’t know that are in this color, and put those on 3 x 55, and study those tonight,’ and he only had two wrong on his vocab test, I was like so impressed.” Taking the vocabulary words and actually pulling out the ones that the student needed to study was a strategy that worked well in this situation. Plus, 170 vocabulary can play a strong role in how content is Ieamed by students, so it needs to be brought to the forefront of what the teacher considers to be important. Oprah also found herself using another strategy to help students write down information that they already knew. “After using the Sequential Roundtable Alphabet in a lesson, I have found that, when working with struggling readers, this strategy may give them a confidence boost, especially when they realize that they know far more than they think they do. The task may seem daunting or a waste of time to students at first, but if you guide them through a few of the terms/categories, they will most likely be able to pull more from their memory. Also, when they realize their study time will be cut in half, because they are familiar with what they already know, students will most likely appreciate this strategy and find it usefirl.” The brainstorming activity assisted the students with finding that they did not have to study as much as they thought, since there was already so much that they already knew about the topic. Plus, Oprah’s ideas on content were connected to the fact that students did not need to memorize every fact and detail to be successful. Gene utilized a picture to demonstrate the use of a strategy on thinking processes. “I tried to illustrate how the same thought process is happening in his mind when he’s interpreting pictures, as he would if he’s reading text, and I think that, I think that worked out pretty well. I was pretty happy with it, actually, it was kind of a nice connection with the text. He liked it, and there was the one picture, with the surfer paddling out into the ocean. It looks like this giant shark in the wave, it was on an e-mail that I got, but he was going, ‘Oh my gosh, the guy must be scared and everything.’ It’s good, because he was questioning like this couldn’t be in the Great Lakes, because it’s too big of a fish, and so 171 he’s drawing on prior kmwledge. He was saying he thought it was a shark, but I said that it is actually a bottlenose dolphin. So, it was a good way for me to tell him that you don’t always immediately assume things whenever you read or look at pictures or anything.” The use of a visualization strategy was effective in helping Gene make an analogy to the thinking behind reading. He was also able to see how this type of pedagogical method could work with students. Mackenzie worked on a strategy with a student in order to get to know him better. While working, other students in the class became interested, which then gave her a chance to talk to everyone about why it was an effective strategy to use in school. “I did the mind rmp with him and we were coloring with colored pencils, and he thought it was really cool. It was their block time to do anything they wanted, so it really works out well that everyone else in the class is like, ‘What are you guys doing over there?’ and they’re like, ‘They’re coloring. That’s so cool.’ and so I told them that this is a mind map, and it’s a good way to get to know each other, and you know you should do this with other people, and he just thought that was a cool idea too.” The adolescents did not find the coloring to be too elementary in focus, but instead found it to be interesting and something that many of those who were watching wanted to do. Plus, Mackenzie Ieamed that this was a pedagogical method that could work well with her own students. Of course, some of the strategies worked well during the course, but participants found that they needed to adapt certain things to have it work in reality with students. Boris commented, “Writing in the textbook is a big ‘no no.’ I like to do it in college so I don’t know how I’ll handle that, because some of these ideas or practices, that you can’t do for your students, unless you take a c0py of what they’re reading and allow them to 172 write on the side. It’s really not possible for them to write in the texts, but I like the idea of writing in next to the text our thoughts and ideas.” He found that, if he changed the strategy to adapt to the students’ needs, it would still work as well. He was willing to consider a new possibility in order to keep his rationale for the strategy in the forefront. Students — Applications to Content Areas Learning about strategies is one thing, but actually considering how to use them within a content area was something that participants were required to do for the course and that most of them mentioned how they were thinking about it during the study. This application of the strategy ideas showed that they were contemplating if and how the information that they were Ieaming would look like in their future classrooms. Finding ways to link the strategies to the content areas would certainly make it more likely that participants would actually attempt to use the strategies when they actually started teaching. Plus, they could see how their ideas on pedagogical content knowledge connected to the new information on strategies. For students with Ieaming disabilities, Kim realized that she needed to change some things around for the strategies to work for her future students. “I started thinking about how I would adapt some of these activities, as I was looking at them, especially the double-entry diary-type stuff, those types of things. I think I would need to adapt that and give them more examples and more ideas of what to put in the left column and how to respond to it in the right column. But one thing I really liked was the modeling and the think-alouds.” She did not want to forget about the strategy, but she thought that providing examples and modeling for students would work well. 173 Boris related strategies to his content area of mathematics. ‘As far as math is concerned, it’s always very logical as to the steps that need to be followed, whether it’s writing it out in a double-entry journal format or writing out questions as you’re going along, reading the book. I think those are great techniques that can be used, even when not just reading a novel, but in math. I think a lot of those techniques, I can just put them into my own thoughts as to how to study for math and how to read the chapters before I do an assignment, that sort of thing.” He decided that the strategies could work in math, and students would Ieam about how to read the math textbook and to figure out math problems. He was connecting his knowledge of math content to the use of strategies. In music, Marie stated that strategies would bring something new and different to her teaching. ‘Sometimes you just minimize it into this little box of things you’ve Ieamed in college, or they’ve just been pounding into you tons of times. Learning all the strategies and all this new stuff gave me an understanding of so many others ways I can teach my kids. It doesn’t have to be the way I was taught here in college, or it doesn’t have to be how I Ieamed in high school. But, I can reach my students through writing exercises too, and they can Ieam just as much as they would Ieam with a sheet of music that day in class. It will help me a lot in the firture, because I have so many more tools that I can use. And as a teacher, that is one of the best things you can have is to whip out something that is new and exciting for the kids.” She did not want to forget the strategies, since they would help her music students in the future and keep their interests high. Plus, her ability to teach content would be strengthened through the use of various strategies as pedagogical methods. 174 Oprah contemplated the use of strategies within her listory classroom. “While lecture is pertinent in any history classroom, discussion is perhaps the most useful tool. Having the ability to ask your students the ‘right’ questions is an important characteristic of any great teacher, but getting your students to ask the ‘right’ questions is a truly powerful Ieaming tool. Asking the ‘right’ questions allows students and teachers to clarify understanding, focus comprehension, search for answers, and, most importantly, to think on a profound level.” She found discussion strategies to be particularly helpful when considering how to help students construct meaning and for her to be effective in teaching for understanding. In addition, all that she had already Ieamed in her previous teacher education courses was now connected to strategies to help students comprehend the content. For art, Trey made many connections to ideas on how to use strategies. “Give them a visual and write on the board what it is, have them write down notes. Yet, I know that they’re not going to want to come to art class and have to write notes on slides, so I need to pick and choose where I want to implement that. I’ve realized I just can’t give a kid a canvas and a paintbrush and tell him to paint, without teaching him strategies on how to do it, same with print making, I can’t just give him a copper plate and tell him to start etching. I realized that I have to teach them strategies to know how to do each technique. Famous artworks are a form of text, and they need Strategies to understand Expressionism, whatever. The strategies have stood out for me, especially questioning and determining importance. It’s really big, because I can see what the students are thinking, and what they’re thinking about the artists’ intentions and so, the same with determining importance, what’s important in this work of art, what’s important about the 175 artist.” He came to recognize tlat strategies could play a role in teaching for understanding, when he presented different techniques and art processes, as well as helping students Ieam about various artists and artwork, making teaching content even stronger. In tutoring, Trey was given a chance to use his art background to introduce a questioning strategy for reading. “I used, I brought in some artwork, it was just old copies, to teach questioning, and even though they still had to read a text, it wasn’t very long, it was just skimming a description of the painting, the artist’s intentions, and the history of it. I asked, they just loved it, and they generated questions, and then they wanted to know if these questions that they thought of were, would be answered in the text, and it was just amazing to see them read through it, and some of them were answered. It was great.” He was able to connect art and reading in a way that engaged students with the content and also helped them see the purpose of asking questions for understanding. From another perspective on art, Adam also considered the use of strategies. “Note taking is important for my art classroom. I don’t just want students to know what the elements and principles of design are; I want them to understand what they are. This means going further than writing down definitions. It means talking about our own interpretations of the vocabulary and using the words in discussions about art. An easy way to do this is to look at famous art works, for example, and to talk about what elements and principles may be seen in the work and why.” Adam was processing ways to go beyond reading and connect strategies to discussions and viewings of artwork. He I76 demonstrated an understanding of how this could benefit his students in their understanding of the content. Adam also mentioned his desire to replicate a practice utilized in the course — Conversation Calendars (Tovani, 2004) — with his fixture art students. “Another way to keep a rapport with students as individuals is with conversation calendars. It’s a constant written dialogue between teacher and student. The kids will be able to write whatever they want to me, and I’ll write a response back to them individually. This will help me to stay connected with each student, and also be aware of concerns they have, what they think is fun, and what they’d like to Ieam about. It will also mean they’re writing every week in art class, no matter what we’re working on.” He saw this strategy as being helpful for him to get to know students personally and to get an understanding of their thought processes. This does not specifically relate to teaching content (art), but it is a way to foster the relationships between teacher and students irregardless of the content area. Personalization —— Own Use of Strategies Ironically, as participants were learning about strategies in the course, many of them were also starting to use the strategies themselves. Of course, some of the use was required for course assignments, but it was interesting that there were participants who went beyond the course and used the strategies for their own Ieaming in other courses and while reading for pleasure. Their comments on this usage demonstrated that they found the actual use of the strategies to be beneficial. One of the course requirements was to use sticky notes to mark text and write comments. This was something that many participants found to be helpful, since it pulled 177 out their own thinking, and they found themselves not having to highlight all of the information — which was a common practice for many. Victoria remarked on the change in her techniques. “I used to highlight a lot, and I like doing the post-it notes, because it helps me to rewrite what I’m thinking, not just like highlighting it and thinking abort it. If I write it down, it helps me actually remember the thought that I had right here, not when I go back and ask why did I highlight this again? So I’ve kind of switched from highlighting to doing the post-it notes when I’m reading.” Victoria found that this new strategy was much more beneficial for her during her reading, and it was helping her learn content. The experience was similar for Trey when he considered his own use of strategies. “It helped me to discover what type of reader I am, and strategies are helping me as a reader. For example, I’ll be reading, and I’ll be visualizing what I’m reading, that’s the type of reader I am, and I’ll just go off on a tangent and I’m like, ‘oh, great, the past couple paragraphs I read, so I have to go back and reread.’ So, I do a lot of that, I visualize, and I have to go back and reread. I really like sticky notes, instead of highlighting, since they help me hold my thinking while reading, and I don’t wander off so much I highlight everything, and I think the sticky notes really help to break that down a bit, so you’re not highlighting so much, you’re just getting the main points, getting it down, plus you only have so much space to write.” He was finding that the use of sticky notes was making his reading more purposeful, and he did not have to reread so much when he was able to write thoughts while reading. Mackenzie echoed this when she talked about the use of sticky notes, but compared it to writing notes on separate sheets of paper. “I love the use of sticky notes, 178 and I can see how beneficial it can be while reading a textbook or a literature book. You can write comments on the sticky note and then place it in the margins of the book. It’s easier to recall things from the book, when you can glance at the side of your book and there are your thoughts. It doesn’t harm the books at all, and you don’t run the chance of losing sheets of paper in your folders. It was very beneficial for me, and I believe that it is a great strategy for students to me to keep their train of thoughts organized and connect with the text a little better. I like taking the little sticky notes and putting them in the margins. I like that idea and actually, for one of my other education classes, we had to read Horace ’s School, so I started doing the sticky notes in the nnrgins, so that was a cool idea.” She found that this strategy worked well to help with organization, and it preserved the books by not having students write or highlight On the pages. She also knew that no other teacher education course had taught her strategies to read the content. Overall, participants’ usage of various strategies gave them an opportunity to experience something that the course was telling them to do with their own students. More - Beyond Strategies Many participants mentioned memories of teachers lecturing and not using any strategies when teaching. As strategies were Ieamed in the course, participants argued that these techniques could have a strong effect on students’ understanding of content. Yet, beyond the use of strategies, participants found that there needed to be very many things happening in a classroom to keep students engaged and comprehending content. This was discovered during the teaching scenarios discussed in class, the required classroom observation, and through the course readings. This was a way for them to 179 connect all of their knowledge together when considering what was necessary to become a teacher. During the course sessions, participants were given teaching scenarios that presented various situations in different content areas. Through discussion, they were able to pick out strengths and weaknesses in the instruction. Liz found these activities to be beneficial for the consideration of her own teaching. “I like the scenarios, because if you first look at them, you think it might not be too bad of a lesson, but if you look at it critically and look at it through the standpoint of literacy - what’s good about it, what could be improved — that makes you realize that maybe it’s not so good, and I need to improve my thought process. If you just stand up and lecture at them, they will get bored.” She found the critical standpoint of the scenario analysis to be helpful in her knowledge of teaching for understanding and the need to do more with students than just lecture. It also helped her connect all of her knowledge about content and pedagogy. Trey made a similar comment in terms of lecture. “Those scenarios have really helped me think about how to prepare a lesson and what to do and what not to do. I have to get away from lecturing. The kids come to art class and they want to create. They don’t want to be lectured.” Trey was making an immediate connection to his own discipline, even though the teaching scenarios were presented in a variety of areas. He saw the need \0 do more with his students to help with their understanding. The required classroom observation gave participants an opportunity to use the critical standpoint of literacy and teaching for understanding to see the course ideas in action (or not in action) during a lesson in their content areas. Gene saw two contrasting teaching styles when he did his observation, split between two teachers. “You have to 180 keep things moving and keep it diverse and change things, you can’t expect the students to listen while you lecture for an hour in high school, you just can’t. I probably wouldn’t do that anyway, but, it’s good to know. You have to compete with MTV and video games and everything else, so you must change things up to keep them interested. This teacher said that he has to keep things moving, because he can’t lecture for the whole hour. He would do some read alouds, he would do some videos, he had newspaper articles for the students to review, so he had a variety of things, all within the same class period. A different teacher I observed gave out a packet of information at the beginning of the chapter, or unit, and had the students just work on that packet, worksheet packet, it had vocabulary and concepts throughout the course of the chapter, and he didn’t explain real well, I didn’t think.” He found that the teacher who was doing more, through the use of various texts and activities, was able to engage the students to a higher level and in effect, teach meaningfully for understanding. Gene was connecting his knowledge on pedagogy to the new information on teaching for understanding and reaching students. A similar situation was seen by Marisa when she observed a special education teacher. “This teacher efficiently implements things, keeps things moving and exciting. He moves around the room, so the kids are constantly alert, engaged. He’s talking to them, he’s putting their names in his scenarios, and he’s putting them in a situation, so they have to turn around and think it through that way. He lectured, it was interactive, he demonstrated things on the board, so they could view it, he said things in a different way, he constantly motivated them, and I was very impressed with the lesson, particularly in a special education classroom. I was impressed with their knowledge.” She was able to see that even students who typically struggle with content can reach to higher levels of 181 understanding and Ieaming with effective teaching techniques, building on her knowledge of pedagogy. During tutoring, participants were often given the opportunity to observe the classroom teacher working with students. Trey remarked, “At my tutoring sessions, I observed the teacher using a variety of strategies 9 help her students become better readers. She had them reading on their own power. She taught students strategies on how to read and write technical texts, fiction and nonfiction texts, and science fiction texts. On top of all this, she made it fun for the entire class.” Trey was able to see that the use of strategies did more than just help the students with reading; he connected the pedagogical practices to how they made the class more interesting and engaging. His experiences in tutoring helped him see how this could work so well once he had his own classroom of students. When reading Fisher & Frey (2004) as part of a course requirement, Liz noticed that the strategies in the book went beyond teaching for understanding and made the learning fun for students. “The teacher dressed up as a person they’re interviewing and videotaped themselves and then did a mock interview. Now, that’s just so or! there, but so cool. They just had a whole bunch of cool ideas that could be adapted to whichever content area. The one I also liked was how they had a crime scene, and it was an opening for mystery novels, but you could use that for a forensic unit and just, it’s kind of expressing, be creative, don’t just be boring and talk all day. Inspire them to be excited about what you’re teaching.” She connected her knowledge of pedagogy and felt that this inspiration would carry over to the students’ Ieaming and understanding of the CODICl'lt. 182 Modeling to Demonstrate Understanding A major part of teaching for understanding is showing students how to think, question, and use strategies. Participants mentioned the importance of modeling for students, both during their experiences in tutoring and in their futures as classroom teachers. Examples were given in general formats, or specifically relating to content areas, connecting to their overall knowledge on pedagogy and content. Examples — Trying it Out Many participants saw teachers modeling for students during their classroom observatiors. Also, modeling was a required part of tutoring, so this was practiced during tutoring sessions. Overall, as a pedagogical practice, modeling was seen as critical to help with students’ understanding. Participants questioned their own abilities as readers when considering modeling. Victoria said, “It helps to be practicing some of the stuff, like when I was reading my novel for my other class, practicing it, and actually seeing that it’s helping me, or it is helping me or is it not helping me, and seeing if I would be able to model it. They talk about modeling and showing your students what you do. I get nervous, that maybe I’m not a very good example of a good perfect reader in my class, but I think I’m going to get there.” She was nervous about modeling and not being able to do everything perfectly, but over time, she realized that her own struggles with content would be extremely helpful for her own students, when they could see how she navigated her way through the information, resulting in their own understanding while reading. During tutoring, Phil saw a teacher model his reading processes for students while going through a chapter in a book. “I was really surprised when he called his class to 183 attention and had them pull out their books and turn to a page, and he started reading to them out of the book, and he st0pped after one paragraph, and he said ‘Okay, what’s the topic sentence in the paragraph?’ He started asking them questions like, ‘What is it that you expect we’re going to be reading about? What does this paragraph tell you? How do you find it? Okay let’s go on, ’ and I never expected this to happen. He probably spent half the class working on modeling reading and how to understand the text, and the other half on the material. So I thought that was pretty cool, because I never expected I would see that.” Phil’s surprise illustrates that he had not thought of modeling before as part of his pedagogical knowledge, but he found it interesting that the teacher modeled for students and helped them understand the information. Chief was able to experience the effects of modeling during a tutoring session. “When I read the first question I modeled, I asked her to write on a sheet of paper what she thought the question was asking for. I then proceeded to complete the protocol. At the end of the list of questions, I asked her to compare what she thought the questions were asking for and what the protocol determined the answers should be. They were quite different. After modeling several more questions, Jill tried the protocol After two or three trials, Jill was completing the procedure easily. I then had her try several on her own, without assistance. She appeared comfortable with the procedure.” He saw that the student was struggling at first, but with Chief’s modeling abort the questions and answers, the student was able to do much better with the information and understand it more. He found modeling to be an effective pedagogical practice for the student’s understanding. Examples — Applications to Content Areas 184 Beyond modeling in general, many participants were able to consider it in the context of their own teaching and their respective content areas. This happened through classroom observations, tutoring, and in thinking about content applications. Continually, it was mentioned that modeling is important, so students are able to see how to do something and possibly what an “expert” in the content area would do when faced with difficult content. This would then help with teaching for understanding as students were able to navigate through the material in a stronger fashion. Participants shared thoughts on how reading would be different, depending on the material being read, which would relate to the importance of different teachers showing students how to read within a content area. Phil said, “A math teacher might read text differently than an English teacher would read text. You might use those different techniques in order to read and understand, comprehend those different types of texts better. I’ve been amazed tlat being a naturally good reader is making assumptions that everyone reads the way that I do, and Ieaming there are people that don’t so when you’re teaching kids how to read, how to improve their reading, you have to really, can’t assume anything. You med to model for them and show them different techniques and strategies and be very overt in how you teach them to do things.” In his future as a math teacher, Phil was realizing that his textbook would vary from other textbooks, which would make it critical for him to teach his students how to read the information, in order to understand it. He was reaching beyond content and bringing in ideas to help his students understand the content. Gene wondered about the fact that he was an expert at reading in his content area, since he would know what to do, and he had to remember to model the steps for his 185 students. “Experienced readers in their content areas often have to slow down and really think about how they solve complex problems or comprehend complex text in their content area. Often times, an expert in their content area will have difficulty explaining to a student how to solve a problem or comprehend a complex topic, because it is so entrenched in their life. I found this happening to me today. When I was trying to help M answer some of the questions of his biology homework, it was sometimes difficult for me, because I knew exactly how and where to look for the answer in his textbook. I had to consciously stop myself and look at the problem from his perspective.” This reminder, to keep the students in mind and consider their own thoughts on the information, was important to Gene, since it removed him from being just the expert and deliverer of content and put him in the role of the teacher who was attempting to help his students understand the content. During a classroom observation in a biology class, Gene saw a teacher modeling different processes for students during a laboratory project. “He has taught the students how to read the lab procedures and implement them in his classroom. He has also spent a lot of time with the students, helping them to Ieam how to properly write in their laboratory notebooks, which they submit for a grade. He models for the students exactly what he is looking for in their lab notebooks, so the students know what to expect.” This exact connection to his content area was helpful for Gene, not only in that modeling is helpful in science, but also that modeling can work with other activities beyond reading. Gene experienced the importance of modeling during a tutoring session in his content area. “During the continued practice of the sticky note strategy, I would write down my own thoughts on sticky notes right along with M. We would share our 186 comments and questions about the text with one another to model this strategy. When I introduced the idea of Mind Maps with M today, I drew a picture of what I saw in my mind, as I read the section of text on enzymes. M watched me draw my picture for a few minutes, and then he said, ‘Oh, now I get it.’ I don't think he would have understood the concept, if I wouldn't have modeled what to do.” This helped Gene connect directly how modeling would work with his own students by helping them “get it” when he showed them how to do something or how to construct meaning from content. Victoria was able to model the organizational techniques that she uses during her chemistry classes, when she noticed that the student she was tutoring was struggling to make sense of all of the information in his science class, which was also her teaching area. “He was really surprised about the amount of work that was going into my chemistry folder. Granted, my folder was for P-Chem, a course that he would not have unless he was a chemistry major in college, but I really just wanted him to focus on the organization of it. I explained to him that it really helps me study, because I know that I have everything in order, the way we Ieamed it, and that my folder was an easy reference to study from. I asked him to at least try out using a binder, and he said that he would. He said that he was glad that I brought my folder in to show him.” Victoria found that having a model to show students is an important pedagogical technique in teaching for understanding, since they can see directly what is required, how to do something and/or how to work their way through information. Connections to Build Understanding Making connections to content information was something that participants found to be very important for teaching for understanding. They discussed helping students 187 relate the material to their own lives, connecting to the events in the world and bigger themes, and linking information to content already Ieamed or content in other content areas. This was an area that was continually mentioned as being critical for students to not only comprehend the content but also make it meaningful by connecting it to something familiar. Ironically, participants were continually, and possibly unconsciously, making connections throughout the study between their own knowledge of content and pedagogy to the new information it the course. Self — Personal Links Connections to personal information can make content extremely memorable, since it will link to students’ lives, including their interests. Boris found that this could help when he teaches math, since students can find this to be a difficult and less- motivational subject area. “Personalizing a subject for a learner can solidify the new knowledge they gain in the classroom. If a student can see that mathematics has always played at least a small role in their life, they may begin to appreciate the subject more and find validity in its purpose.” He found this type of connection to be critical to help his students want to Ieam math and see why it this content would be relevant to their lives. Plus, this relevancy would help them understand the math concepts more deeply. During tutoring, Victoria brought in humor as a way to make a personal connection for the student with the content, since he liked jokes and he was struggling with chemistry. “I decided to tell him a fimny chemistry joke to start off our session. ‘Two atoms walk into a bar and one of them seemed extra sad. The other atom asked him what was the matter and the sad atom said that he lost an electron today. The worried friend didn’t know what to say so he said, ‘Are you sure?’ The sad atom said, 188 ‘Yes, I am positive.’ It’s my favorite! The student laughed, and I think he was relieved that I didn’t just start pounding him with information.” Victoria felt that this type of connection -— using a joke related to chemistry — would help her student feel more at ease and be able to see how his interest in humor could relate to the content area. This would help him understand the information, if he could make more connections like this, and she saw how content alone would not work in this situation. Trey tried to think of a personal connection that could be made in an art lesson. “I think a famous work of art could be used to make meaningful connections. I would bring in a poster to the class of Van Gogh’s Café Terrace on the Place du Forum, so the students can get an up close and personal look at the masterpiece. It is a painting of a local establishment in Arles, France, that was around the corner fi'om Van Gogh’s yellow house, that he frequented daily. Then, I would ask them to write down at least three meaningful connections that they can make to the painting. An example of a personal connection could be that 't reminds the student of going out for dinner on Friday nights with their parents or it reminds them of a place in their town. Then, I will have them paint one of the connections they made in the style of Vincent Van Gogh.” Trey was attempting to use personal connections as a way to help students come up with ideas for subjects to paint, and it also helps them understand the perspective of the artist by knowing the background of the painting. This brought the content information to a much deeper level through the use of connections. World — Global Links Making connections to world events and universal themes was another way that participants found could be useful in teaching for understanding. They saw the 189 importance of not just presenting content but relating it to larger issues in order to make the Ieaming more meaningful. Liz said, “If you give them boring things to do, they’ll be bored. Try to make it interesting. I want to try to bring in articles that relate to things going on in the world, something that might be interesting to them.” Without the connections, she felt that students would be disengaged and bored when learning the content. She was reaching beyond her content knowledge to bring in new information to connect the Ieaming for students. During a classroom observation, Liz saw the teacher making connections to world events when he used a PowerPoint presentation to present content to the students. ‘He had pictures from the Weather Channel and everything, and they were really engaged. This one girl just raised her hand every five seconds and asked, ‘Is that like this? Is that like this?’ She was just making so many connections and it was great.” By seeing connections in action, Liz found that this was a way to help students be engaged and to be involved in the Ieaming, resulting in stronger understandings of the content. During a tutoring session, Sara found that making connections to world events was helpful for a student to take notes and organize information in order to write a paper. “T needed some help organizing the information he gathered, in a way that would help explain what TV and radio were like years ago, as compared to the technology we have today. Therefore, I asked lim to recall what he had Ieamed in class about the listory of the TV and radio and apply that to the account that his mother had given him of her experience with technology while growing up. The best way I saw to make this comparison was to fill out a Two-Column Note chart. One the left side, he wrote what TV and radio were like for his mom thirty or more years ago, and then in the right 190 column, T listed what TV and radio are like in today's society, based on what he learned in class, from his own experiences, and during his research” Making connections in this format was helpful to Sara, when working with the student, since he was able to set up a strong outline of a paper that would compare and contrast the two time periods. Plus, he was able to understand the information more clearly by seeing how it could be organized. Sara was able to connect the strategy to the content information, which resulted in the student being able to complete his assignment. Text — Content Links When considering connections to content, Mackenzie mentioned that she was interested in relating information in physical education to other content areas. “I really like cross curricular assignments, having them pick something about one of the sports, maybe like a bump in volleyball or something like that, and then have them relate that to math and the different angles that you have to use.” She felt that this type of integration would help her students understand the content in physical education in a deeper manner, along with building their knowledge of mathematics. She had learned some of this information in a previous course, but she now had a stronger rationale for why it was important for her students and their comprehension of content. Breaking Down to Foster Understanding When considering the manner in which one would teach for understanding, overall participants felt that it was critical for teachers to break down information for students. This could happen when presenting information and overwhelming students with too much content at once. It also meant that participants found this helpful when 191 working with students in tutoring. Overall, this is a strong way to help students understand the content by keeping the amount of information limited and manageable. Explanations — Making Things Clear Gene could remember his own experience as a high school student and how frustrated he was when a teacher did not break down an assignment. “I know when I did a research paper in high school health class, actually, he said ‘Okay, we’re going to do a research paper,’ and then he just turned us loose and didn’t really give us much of any kind of format to follow or any type of research method. I’m going to definitely use some strategies that I’ve actually Ieamed in this class to not (1) that to my students. I guess what the biggest thing that I’ve found is explaining every detail to students, or they don’t get it and become angry and frustrated.” He was able to Connect his own previous situation to the information that he was Ieaming in the course, stating that breaking down information would help to prevent students from becoming frustrated. Otherwise, their understanding is complicated, and they are unable to work with the content. In her role as a future music teacher, Marie envisioned how breaking down information could help her dudents. “When I give them a lesson and I hand out instructions, they have to read it at home. I’m going to make sure that they know how to read it and that it will be simple instructions with steps on what needs to be accomplished. We will take it one step at a time and I will make sure that everyone understands the assignment, before they have to work at home.” Her plan for carefirl explanation of information would result in more students understanding the task at hand and being able to accomplish what was required of them, plus she would go beyond teaching content to assist her students with comprehension. 192 During tutoring, Phil found it very helpful to show the student how to break down steps, while doing a math problem. “I showed N how to take small steps and to write each step down. This strategy prevents the student from making mistakes or forgetting part of the solution process. It takes longer and can be viewed as a lot of work, but it prevents mistakes from being made.” He felt that the extra work and time in breaking down the process was going to work well in the end by preventing mistakes and careless skipping of steps. During a classroom observation, Trey observed a teacher breaking down information to explain content and safety while using tools. “The students were creating a 36-foot long mural and it was 3-D, and the teacher had them working with wood tools. He gave directions on how to use the tools, and they needed strategies on how to, how to carve the wood. He gave the students routers and reciprocating saws, sanders. Every step of the directions was explained in detail, which showed that he really wanted the students to understand, especially for safety reasons.” This was an example of how breaking down information could help students understand the content but also keep them safe by ensuring that they know what is expected when using tools that could harm them, if used carelessly. Marisa observed similar techniques during a classroom observation. “He likes to preview new areas of study by talking about them as a group to give all of the students equal background knowledge or a good base of understanding. Their topics are studied in the same way to give consistency to their Ieaming and the information is broken down into small chunks. He also focuses on key information for Ieaming at a slower pace to ensure the students learn what they need for curriculum requirements.” She saw the 193 teacher breaking down the information, in order to assist the students in their understanding and their required coursework, which went beyond the teacher’s role in teaching content. Step-by-Step - Taking One Part at a Time While breaking down information, participants often mentioned that information should be presented a step at a time, which could result in stronger comprehension. Victoria said, “You need to focus on pulling out the important chunks and giving the students smaller things to focus on, because I know for me even right now, that’s hard. Read a chapter and it’s 40 pages and you’re like how the heck am I supposed to know all of this?” She found from her own experience that neglecting to take the information step-by-step resulted in her forgetting information and feeling overwhelmed by the amount of content. During tutoring, Dzanna found that taking a reading selection step-by-step was a helpful way to assist the student with understanding the information. “One thing that I particularly liked is that we had text and questions broken into paragraphs. I think that this is the best way to introduce content and teach LD and ESL students. The reading and quest'nns are broken down into sections, and a step-by—step approach can be applied to it. I would definitely consider following this example when introducing content and teaching my own students.” She felt that step-by-step teaching would work well with her students, making their understanding stronger through the process. She wanted to do more than teach content, which would happen if she kept the students in mind. Boris had a similar experience in tutoring when working with a student in math. “We went through the math test, and it was all story problems and he’s reading it, but 194 he’s not comprehending it. He’s just reading the problems, so I’m just like, let’s take this step-by-step. He bamed to take apart reading selections or math problems into their main points and supporting details and use that information to organize how he would approach the answer.” This breakdown of the content was helpful for the student to see that the idea behind understanding was not to read quickly but to extract necessary information in order to complete the problem. A counterexample of step-by—step happened during Dzanna’s classroom observation. “This one teacher I observed this morning, he really went 00 fast over everything. He just didn’t give them enough time to copy everything that he was providing. When he was explaining, he would just give the general explanation or an exercise. The students didn’t get a chance to copy what this person was explaining. It does not need to be just lecture that teachers use to cover a whole class. Someone has to go back and help them out, and it’s the teacher’s fault, like they don’t have enough time. I always think about task analysis, breaking things down.” She was able to experience firsthand how the lack of step-by-step explanations resulted in students being unable to keep up with the information and needing additional assistance to catch up. Dzanna put the blame on the teacher, feeling that he did not consider teaching for understanding to be an important part of his lecture, but instead felt that content was the priority in teaching. Monitoring— Checking for Understanding Participants shared that monitoring students’ understanding was another goal while breaking down information. They thought that teachers who stopped to check for understanding were able to reach more students. Kim felt strongly about this, particularly since she had observed a teacher who neglected to monitor the students. “After a strategy 195 is modeled, students need many opportunities to practice. This experience is beneficial for students and teachers. While students acquire skills, I would monitor and assess where further instruction may be needed. It is important for me to observe students as they practice. Recently, I observed a teacher looking through e-mail while seated at her desk. She missed an opportunity to informally assess and support struggling readers. Once students have practiced with my supervision, it is very important to allow them to practice independently, without help from me. This would give me a true assessment of students’ abilities.” She viewed monitoring as an informal assessment technique for teachers to consistently gauge students’ progress and understanding. She had Ieamed some assessment techniques in other courses, but she felt stronger in her knowledge of the rationale for this type of monitoring. Adam saw a teacher continually monitor students’ understanding during a classroom observation. “These strategies are all around. She was checking for comprehension just by looking at the kids and seeing what they had out on their desks, or what questions they were asking, what they didn’t have out on their desks, checking for understanding afterwards.” He was impressed by the way that the teacher seamlessly integrated the monitoring into her teaching, which made teaching for understanding a natural part of her instruction. Liz observed a teacher monitoring students’ understanding while teaching a note taking technique. “The goal is to Ieam how to take notes correctly and he paused every once in a while to make sure important ideas were included. He encourages them to use highlighters or colored pencils to make notes more visual. He himself has learning difficulties and he uses his knowledge of the way students struggle as a way to teach so 196 that they could understand.” She believed that the teacher’s empathy for students who struggled enabled him to be more aware of students’ comprehension and need for strategies to construct meaning from the content information. Plus, she saw that the content — note taking — was still put aside where students’ understanding was concerned. The teaching scenarios presented during the course also provided situations where teachers may or may not have utilized monitoring as a method to teach for understanding. After reading about a teacher who assigned a writing assignment with few guidelines, Sara said, “We would have spent more time on it and made sure the students understood what they were Ieaming, and then set up proper guidelines as to what he wanted and maybe even have shown an example of a paper that, an A paper that a student did, to show that this is what I’m looking for. Plus, there would have been checkpoints fir students to turn in work, so I could see that they were getting it.” She immediately saw the need for the assignment to be broken down, with the teacher setting up monitoring points to assess students’ progress and understanding. Confronting students with content demands would not be effective in assisting them to accomplish the assigned task. Socioconstructivism to Construct Understand—ing Basic tenets of socioconstructivist theory (Vygotsky, 1987) were threaded throughout the course sessions. When discussing teaching for understanding, participants mentioned their own perspectives on its value in their future classrooms. Many argued for its importance in helping students participate in the disciplinary learning, while others found it to be an effective framework to consider when having students work in groups. Rationale — Why it is Necessagl 197 Participants shared their views on the rationale behind socioconstructivism and their ideas on its importance in the classroom. Gene connected it to helping strrlents learn a valuable life skill. “I believe socioconstructivism, or learning through the interaction with other people, is very important in today’s classrooms. No matter what profession or career a student chooses after high school or college, they will need to Ieam how to work with and c00perate with other people. The sooner students understand this concept, the better prepared they will be in any future career that they chose.” He saw the socioconstructivist principles helping students to work well with and learn from others. As a result, his effectiveness as a teacher would result in students understanding more from their classmates. He connected his ideas on having students work together to the bigger idea of socioconstructivist theory. Marisa felt that her own experience with socioconstructivism was helpful for her own Ieaming. “It’s not just one person’s idea and one person’s knowledge. It’s a collection of people’s knowledge, perspectives, understandings, and from that you’re building or constructing more knowledge and understanding. We come to class with knowledge and background and thoughts, and then we get together with other people in class and come up with new understandings, new thoughts, new ways of looking at things, perspectives and so it’s the socio part — the community part - and the building the knowledge together part.” She could relate the community aspect of the theory to building her own understandings throughout the course. Boris also made connections to the community aspect of socioconstructivism. “Working with other education students and developing ideas and practicing, whether it’s other math majors or anybody else that I’ve worked with, makes it gathering ideas to 198 think. A lot of times, when a teacher teaches the classroom, it’s not something that they can necessarily grasp at that level. If they have other students explaining it to them or they get in groups, they kind of each put in their own little ideas. They can start to develop their own understandings of it. It is community-based Ieaming, whether your community is a student in your classroom, or your community is the fellow students and the teacher or the teachers, when you talk in class or in education classes like this or choose to attend conferences, and they talk about these things with other teachers or parents. Socioconstructivism, in my understanding, is the ability to heighten your Ieaming experience through the use of communal Ieaming, through bouncing ideas back and forth off each other, having open dialogue and open discussion with people, developing your knowledge base that way.” He felt that his own experiences as a student were helpful in his understanding of the concept and its purpose. He found his own understandings expand from Ieaming with others, and he was building on his ideas of classroom communities. Phil considered socioconstructivist principles to be instrumental in the teacher’s role as a guide for students’ Ieaming. “As a teacher, it’s about providing opportunities for that process to work. I don’t think, as a teacher, you want to do group activities all the time, 100 % of the time, I think you have to mix it up, but not using the idea of socioconstructivism would be a big mistake. I think it involves students, it gets them, gives them an opportunity to participate and bring their ideas and their questions to the process, and if they’re doing those things, then they’re using their brains and they’re thinking and they’re Ieaming too. Students are not vessels to be filled with knowledge. The idea of socioconstructivism is that as a teacher, I need to lead and facilitate a 199 classroom where the students can interact with each other and with me. The students need activities that allow them to think about, question, explore, discuss, and write about the content we are covering in our curriculum.” He saw that the theoretical foundation took the major responsibility off the teacher to do all of the instruction, which is how he initially envisioned his role as a teacher, and instead had students Ieaming from several sources, including the teacher, their classmates, the textbook, and even themselves. This type of teaching for understanding expands the role of the “teacher.” Oprah saw socioconstructivism functioning within her own teaching philosophy of being a guide for students’ learning. “When you do activities, on the first day of class or throughout the semester, of who are, getting to know your students, you can better teach them, and I think that has a lot to do with socioconstructivism, because how kids Ieam and what they Ieam and what they already know is a huge part of the environment that they come fi'om, and you know where they are going, you know what their family situation is like, what their homework situation is like, why they aren’t getting concepts. I’m the guide, students are teaching themselves, Ieaming from each other. With history, discussion will always be a huge component in my classroom, and I think that a great way with socioconstructivism is students feeding off of each other, ideally, and Ieaming from each other in a discussion format.” The principles of socioconstructivism would enable Oprah to teach for understanding by guiding students to Ieam from each other, connecting her initial ideas to the rat'nnale for the theoretical framework. Participation— Beinga Part of the Learning A main aspect of participants’ understandings of socioconstructivism had to do with getting students involved with their Ieaming. Phil said, “It looks like a lot less of me 200 lecturing and a lot more of the students constructing knowledge in small groups. When I went to school, it was ‘teacher lectures and the students take notes,’ so that’s always how I visualized teaching, but ever since I started the program, it has been reinforced in every class, and especially with socioconstructivism, that’s not the best way that students Ieam. Students Ieam best when they have a chance to feel, touch, and see what it is they’re doing, when they can talk about what they’re doing, when they can work with the other students and do, you know, whether its in pairs or small groups, so I think that it’s going to be really important to use the idea of socioconstructivism and have the students construct their knowledge. I think it will be more exciting for me as a teacher, too, to have the students more actively involved in the class, be a part of it, bring their ideas, their thoughts and their questions, I think it will be a more riCh Ieaming environment.” He envisioned this theory to play out with active Ieaming and strong participation among his students, resulting in their deeper understanding of the content. He also connected what he had Ieamed in his teacher education courses to this new information on getting students engaged in the content. Oprah could see socioconstructivism becoming a major part of her instruction, with students expanding their learning community. “I did a unit where I’m really into oral histories, and that’s a great way for socioconstructivism where students are collaborating with a group, you’re interviewing people, just even senior citizens or anybody really, just Ieaming about them and their history, compiling that together. Is there any greater example of socioconstructivism where you’re working, you’re interviewing some of the community? That’s something that I would completely use and that’s kind of how I would see my class.” She found the community aspect of the theory 201 to connect strongly to her vision of her own teaching and her ability to help students understand the content. In art, Trey considered socioconstructivism to play out in his students’ creation of artwork and their feedback to each other. “It’s discussing things and solving problems, maybe through conversing with one another, talking things out. That’s what I think about it. I do think that working in groups and, and thinking, and solving problems really are beneficial, it really helps me out a lot when we work in groups, and hearing my peers’ opinions really helps me. They could look at each other’s preliminary sketches and converse with one another. I think it will definitely come in play in my at classroom, especially while we are doing critiques, not, not just at the end but in the middle, so you can give the person feedback, you can give them feedback on what they doing, like doing a mural and being on the same page.” He saw it as a problem-solving technique to assist students who are struggling and unsure of how to understand the content, which is demonstrated by the work they produce (or not). Groups — WorkinLTogether for Learning In terms of group work, many participants related putting students in groups to the idea of socioconstructivism. This would be a technique that a teacher could use in order to teach for understanding and build in support from students’ classmates. Liz said, “It is creating meaning in a group. I was raised Montessori, and that makes me think of the Montessori way, getting in groups and talking about it. We did a lot of group work where you created meaning in a group, and even in high school, we worked in groups, talking about how you understand it, and hearing other people’s perceptions creates your own idea. I find that to be very beneficial because you think you know something and 202 you talk to somebody else about it, and you get a little different perception of it or a stronger enhancement of what you were originally thinking, and Ithink that’s really effective. Working in groups helps students work together to create meaning and Ieam from each other. The higher achieving students can explain concepts to the lower achieving students and, thereby, understand the material better themselves.” She thought that putting students in groups, which was something that she already knew about from previous courses and experiences, was a strong way to help them understand the content material. Sara also connected the concept to her ideas about working in groups. “I think of coming together as a group to create meaning. You get in a group of mixed people, different types, people see it in different ways. Each student 'can Ieam from all of the people in the group and understand more than they did before. I know I did that a lot in high school. Also, if you are the teacher, if you know more, even explaining it to another student helps you understand it more.” She was seeing that even the teacher belonged in a socioconstructivist setting, Ieaming from the students as much as they Ieamed from the teacher. Victoria believed that the group work would help the students understand the content by listening to others’ perspectives. “It’s a good way for students to check each other, and another student may totally understand a concept, and if he’s working, he or she is working in a group with another student who might not understand it as well, and they’re helping each other. It’s kind of like a system, if you have students working in groups and on something, and you know everybody’s going to benefit, the student who understands it is going to benefit because they’re helping other students, which just 203 reiterates it in their minds.” This built-in “peer tutoring” was a different take on socioconstructivism, with Victoria’s idea to expand the role of the “teacher” to include the other students in the class. The construction of knowledge in a group could be built upon hearing what others have to say about the information. Phil said, “It’s all about students constructing knowledge in a social setting. It means they’re not constructing knowledge by themselves but with their peers, through interactions with their peers, and interactions with their teachers. They’re doing something, some activity, that causes them to make connections with the reading topic that they’re studying, so that they build knowledge, things that they already know, things that they want to know by working or studying with their peers. They’re having opportunities to hear what their peers said and that may trigger thoughts in them, so basically it is doing some sort of activity with your peers in a social way to construct knowledge.” He was emphasizing the social aspect of the group, beyond the teaching and Ieaming possibilities, which went far beyond any notion that content was the only thing to teach to students. Yet, Phil agreed that socioconstrmtivism and group work would be helpful for students’ understanding of content. Since socioconstructivism was a main pedagogical technique during the course, participants commented on how that helped them Ieam the course information. Chief said, “In the class we get in little groups, and we talk over things, and everyone has their own unique experiences, and you can Ieam from each other. So, I think that’s more or less what it is, and that can follow down into the students. Put them into small groups, they can learn from each other.” He found his classmates to be helpful in his Ieaming. In addition, Watchdog felt the same way about his experiences in the course. “It’s definitely 204 what we’re doing in class, by communicating with each other, and we’re talking in groups and developing and expressing our own experiences with students. It’s been a very constructive and social gathering of the classroom, just listening and speaking with the other groups.” By modeling the work in groups during the course, participants were able to see how this aspect of socioconstructivism could aid in teaching for understanding with their own students. Plus, they connected their experiences within a course to their views on teaching and Ieaming. In terms of direct classroom application, Gene considered what the group work would look like in his future science classroom. “Probably it will come in the form of lab activities, probably getting students in groups of two, three, four, whatever the activity requires, and having them work through a project together, frOm interpreting what I am requiring in the activity, all the way to putting together a group final written report, so they have to work together to break up the work load between the group and how they’re going to organize it, and who’s going to do what, and just general work on interpersonal skills.” He wanted to use an entire inquiry model to have the students work through a task and construct meaning together on what to do, which was his way to connect his knowledge on inquiry in science to ideas on socioconstructivism. For a music application, Marie compared it to her own experience. “In a lot of choirs I’ve been in, one of the most beneficial things is socioconstructivism, because if you have a concert, the choir would give their comments on what we did well, what we didn’t do well. It was huge - it made a huge difference on how we performed. So, in that way, I’ll use it all the time. A lot of times you’re doing little group work - quartets and stuff like that — in choir.” She could see that the socioconstructivist groups that she had 205 participated in had helped her comprehend the information in a deeper manner, which is something that she wants to replicate with her own students. Time Concerns for Understandigg Several participants mentioned their concerns about teaching for understanding when they also had to teach content. This showed how their ideas on teaching content were very strong and stayed at the forefront when Ieaming the new information in the course. They wondered how they would be able to use strategies and socioconstructivist techniques with all of the pressures to teach the curriculum. This made many participants wonder how they would manage the competing agendas. Competigg— So Much to Do Oprah asked some critical questions that were going through her mind as she considered her role as a teacher who puts students’ understanding at the forefi'ont. “Are secondary students going to take the time to do these things and do you have time? When you’re teaching your content area, you have so much content to cover anyway, so how do you have time to implement these strategies and make sure everyone is on the same page and everyone’s doing them correctly, they’re being used right and they’re getting something out of it? I think that the time thing was a huge issue with everyone at the table, how they were going to be able to do that. I’m teaching history and I have to teach, I have to lecture, I have to have days when I’m just lecturing, and how can I think about these strategies within that and do those things?” She was contemplating the pressures she will face when the amount of content information builds up every day, particularly in Oprah’s teaching area of history, and she wants to “cover” it all in a 206 quality manner with the students understanding the information. Her views on content knowledge were overpowering any ideas she was Ieaming on teaching for understanding. This dilemma was echoed by Adam, who was contemplating the fit between teaching for understanding and art. “A lot of this stuff seems incredibly helpful, but at the same time, there’s that whole issue of time. How am I going to do this? All teachers are supposed to help with literacy, which is true, yet at the same time, I’m worried that when I’m a new teacher, there’s gonna be this push, like get through this and that with the curriculum. I’m worried about that.” His concerns demonstrated that he was really thinking about how all of the information could play out in his art classroom without interfering with or taking over the content, which he considered to be most important. Incorporate — Making it a Natural Process The main solution that several participants thought of by themselves was the integration of the teaching for understanding ideas with the content. Victoria said, “You can do some of the simplest little things, and as long as you’re doing it from the beginning, I think your students will participate willingly. I’m Ieaming all this stuff, as a brand new teacher, somebody who’s not even a teacher quite yet. You don’t have to do some huge big show — you can incorporate it pretty subtly and easily, and you are helping them in numerous aspects of their education and not just your content area. I didn’t even know that we were supposed to do that, besides knowing what chemistry is and stuff like that.” She was open to the idea of making the teaching for understanding practices a natural part of her daily teaching, which blended into the demands for content knowledge. 207 Liz was honest about the time requirements for strategy instruction. “It may take time to teach the strategies. We have to model it and go over it and keep doing it over and over, but it seems that doing that really gets them to comprehend. I agree with these ideas, because although we as teachers may feel overwhelmed with all the material that we have to teach, taking time to teach reading comprehension strategies will improve students’ understanding of the material.” She was able to see that the push to cover content would be rendered meaningless if the students were not comprehending the information. Trey echoed this by admitting, “I noticed it’s okay to get away from the curriculum, if need be, to teach these strategies, so the kids can have a better understanding of the concepts.” He was willing to take the time to help his students comprehend instead of pushing curriculum content ahead of their understandings. Coming to a new conclusion, Oprah demonstrated a change in her initial fears. “It is the educator's job to find what strategies work for their students and implement them on a regular basis in the classroom. It's more important that students understand the material than it is for the amount of material to be covered.” She was willing to compete with the curriculum pressures and put her students’ understanding at the forefront. Teaching for understanding would become a main facet of her instructional practice, and she would connect it to her knowledge of content in order to help her students with comprehension. Summagy Overall, participants demonstrated a variety of perspectives in teaching for understanding throughout the study. Comprehension was seen as a main goal when considering students’ own Ieaming of content. Watchdog found that focusing on 208 comprehension would aid him in reaching his students. I just don’t want to be the teacher that stands in front and lectures all the time, and I definitely don’t want the students to be bored. I want to give tlem hands on activities...and get them involved in the content of the material that they’re Ieaming, so they comprehend it better and everything.” He saw that a variety of activities would assist in students’ comprehension of content. Trey also found that he could focus on comprehension by expanding his concept of what he considered to be a text. ‘A way I could introduce questioning is to have the students analyze a famous work of art.” He realized that his future art students needed to comprehend art just as well as other classes would focus on reading comprehension. Strategies were also a major tenet when considering teaching for understanding. Participants were taught a variety of strategies and asked to praCtice the strategies in their own reading and Ieaming of course content. Kim found that strategies were new ideas 6 for her. ‘...that stuff was never even touched upon in any of my classes in high school or in my undergraduate work. So...I was really excited the first night of class to find out what this was all about and to learn all of the literacy strategies.” Participants also considered how important it was to apply the strategies to their own content areas. Boris commented, “As far as math is concerned, it’s always very logical as to the steps that need to be followed, whether it’s writing it out in a double-entry journal format or writing out questions as you’re going along, reading the book. I think those are great techniques that can be used, even when not just reading a novel, but in math.” He reached beyond the basic ideas on the strategies and made connections to this own disciplinary field. Socioconstructivism as a pedagogical theory became paramount for participants when they considered their own roles as teachers. Phil stated, “The idea of 209 socioconstructivism is that as a teacher, I need to lead and facilitate a classroom where the students can interact with each other and with me.” He saw the importance of student involvement in learning. Marie made connections to music. “In a lot of choirs I’ve been in, one of the most beneficial things is socioconstructivism, because if you have a concert, the choir would give their comments on what we did well, what we didn’t do well. It was huge - it made a huge difference on how we performed. So, in that way, I’ll use it all the time.” She saw the benefits from her own experience and looked forward to applying it to her own teaching. The comments of the participants tell their stories on how they came to conceptualize teaching for understanding, what they questioned, and how this will have an impact on their roles as teachers who utilize teaching for understanding pedagogical practices. This study provides key information about participants’ views on connecting pedagogical knowledge and teaching for understanding as paramount in order to be effective. Participants went beyond Ieaming a variety of strategies, and instead they came to understand the rationale and purpose for using strategies as tools for Ieaming. There was also a change in participants’ teaching philosophies when they discussed the significance of socioconstructivism in their own future classrooms. The course was instrumental in encouraging the participants to consider a connection between their teaching education methods courses and the needs of their future students. In the next section, I will present the participants’ views on the third course theme — literacy within content areas — as demonstrated through the course work and the interview responses. 210 Literacy within Content Areas The third research question asked: 3. How do preservice content area teachers conceptualize literacy within content areas during a content area literacy course? This question was important because it went beyond the current research base in this area that describes resistance (O'Brien, 1988; Stewart & O’Brien, 1989; O'Brien & Stewart, 1990) and sought to discover what the preservice teachers come to understand about literacy. It is interesting to consider that a course could be seen as unappealing before it even begins. This study wanted to reach beyond the animosity and see how participants conceptualized the information on literacy, particularly in the realm of their disciplines. This would encourage participants to connect what they knew about content knowledge to their new ideas on literacy. Since the title of the course was “Content Area Literacy,” it certainly made sense that literacy within content areas would be a main theme of the course. In fact, the course is required of all secondary teacher candidates, who consider themselves as teachers of a specific discipline. There were several discussions and assignments throughout the semester that asked participants to consider their thoughts on literacy as it related to their respective content areas. Traditional research with preservice secondary teachers in a similar course has shown their resistance to the idea of literacy (O'Brien, 1988; Stewart & O’Brien, 1989; O'Brien & Stewart, 1990). While the studies have shown typical attitudes that are demonstrated by secondary teacher candidates, what has been missing is research that tells stories of what is actually Ieamed throughout the course and how this information is 211 connected to the field of teacher education. What makes this study unique and different is that it goes beyond the resistance and examines the understandings of the participants as they conceptualize literacy within their disciplines. The following section will describe what participants revealed during interviews, course sessions, and through course work in regards to beginning impressions, unknown concepts, preliminary conceptualizations, discoveries, thoughts on writing, final conceptualizations, and overall impressions. When analyzing the data, subcategories came about when looking at the bigger categories and seeing what patterns were evident (see Table 7). For beginning impressions, patterns emerged that demonstrated knowledge of reading and knowledge of a broader view of literacy. For preliminary conceptions, disciplinary connections emerged. For discoveries, new ideas and broad realizations emerged. For writing, ideas on rationale and implementation emerged. Final conceptualizations emerged through disciplinary areas. Throughout the data, growth is evident as participants considered the course information and reached beyond resistance to come to new understandings about literacy within their content areas. Beginning Thoughts on Literacy At the beginning of the course, participants were asked to write a definition of what they considered literacy to be, particularly within their disciplines. This was completed during the first class session, intentionally without any instruction or information provided in advance in order to gain a baseline of their initial thoughts. Participants were told to not worry about their responses being evaluated for correct or incorrect information, since this was a preliminary assessment of their initial knowledge that would be used for data collection and their own self-reflection purposes at the end of 212 the course. When analyzing the data, two themes emerged — either most participants had a narrow definition of literacy as reading and/or writing or a few had a broader view of what literacy meant to them. Overall, there were not many disciplinary connections made during this initial inquiry. For the sake of comparative information, all participants’ definitions (in their entirety) will be included in this section. Reading— Limited Focus Most participants (12 out of 17) wrote definitions of literacy that related to the task of reading, with a few mentions of writing. This demonstrated traditional understandings that did not take into account other forms of literacy. Plus, there were no specific references to content area applications, illustrating a lack of knowledge in this area. Defining literacy as one’s ability to read (and comprehend) was a main theme among the definitions. This was illustrated through the following statements (emphasis added by the researcher): Adam — “Being able to read and understand what is written. Different techniques in enabling comprehension.” Mackenzie — “Being able to read to one’s self and out loud to others and also able to understand and comprehend the context.” Trey — “Being able to read words completely and comprehend what you read.” Liz — “Being able to read and understand written material.” Rachel — “The ability to read, comprehend, and synthesize information.” 213 TABLE 7 LITERACY WITHIN CONTENT AREAS Beginning Thoughts on Literacy Reading — Limited Focus More — Bringing in Other Ideas Unknown Ideas on Literacy Preliminary Conceptions about Literacy Math Physical Education Social Studies Science English Art Music Business/Computer Science Learning Disabilities/English as a Second Language A-Ha! Moments about Literacy Seeing - It is Making Sense Broad — Expansions of Definitions Writing as a Tool for Literacy Rationale -— Why it is Necessary How — Applications to Content Areas Ending Thoughts on Literacy Math Art English Physical Education Science Social Studies Business/Computer Science Music Learning Disabilities/English as a Second Language Overall Comments on Literacy 214 Oprah - “Literacy is the knowledge and comprehension of the written word, i.e. reading and writing not just from memorization. When one is able to use words and sentences to form ideas, written and orally, they are literate.” Chief - “The ability to read and comprehend material that the reader/student needs to complete the assigned task.” Victoria — “Literacy is a person’s ability or inability to read and write in all areas of education. I think that along with being able to read and write, literacy is also understanding what one is reading and writing.” Marisa — “Ability to understand language, read, express oneself verbally/physically/written communication, draw meaning from languagef’ Phil — “Literacy is the ability to read the written language in many contexts, comprehend the meaning of what is written, and subsequently use the written information to convey the idea to others or use the information in a meaningful way.” Gene — “The ability of an individual to read and write in their own language. Literacy should also involve complete comprehension of material presented to them.” Sara — “The ability to read and comprehend written language. Understanding the English language in terms of writing and 215 ‘4.- comprehension. Those who are not literate or ‘illiterate’ usually have trouble reading words and possibly understanding content.” Throughout every definition, participants referred to reading as the main elemert of literacy. It is interesting to note that many also referred to comprehension, which was a main theme of the course (and this study) through teaching for understanding. As demonstrated in the findings from the previous section, participants demonstrated broad applications of teaching for understanding throughout the course that went far beyond reading tasks as the course progressed. More - Bringi_ng in Other Ideas There were a few participants (5 out of 17) who wrote initial definitions of literacy that went beyond reading and incorporated more complex interpretations. While it was difficult to discern where these expanded interpretations could have initiated, it was interesting to see that they began the course with a slightly different view than the others. Marie related literacy to comprehension. “My definition of literacy is an understanding of competency in a subject area.” This was echoed by Kim, who defined literacy as “An understanding or comprehension of material that is presented.” Both participants stated that understanding needed to take place for literacy to occur, even though neither one mentioned that reading was the activity taking place for this to happen. Dzanna was the only participant who mentioned speaking as an aspect of literacy. “Literacy is the ability to speak, read, write, and comprehend a language. The completely literate person has fluency in all four areas. Literacy is the key to survival.” Her 216 reference to survival could possibly relate to her experiences in Bosnia and her strong beliefs that her education played a key role in her success. In terms of content area applications, Watchdog mentioned disciplinary content but did not provide a specific example in his definition. “Literacy is the aspect of reading, writing, and thinking about the appropriate content for your subject area. Incorporating these aspects into your subject enables the students to embrace the knowledge in various methods.” His idea on multiple methods demonstrates an initial appreciation for presenting information in several ways, which could connect his pedagogical content knowledge at the beginning of the course. Boris was the only participant to mention his content area specifically and make a connection beyond reading. “To me, literacy is reading, interpreting, and comprehending written statements. In general, this applies to many activities in life, from basic communication, to enjoying different novels, journals, textbooks, to impressing others as to your skills acquired from Ieaming something new. In mathematics, literacy is the ability to read, interpret, and comprehend problems solved with logic and math.” His definition brought thinking skills to the forefront as a main component of literacy as he connected it to content, even tho ugh he did not mention any sort of demonstration of knowledge to be a part of literacy. Unknown Ideas on Literacy During the initial interview (after the first class), participants were asked about their initial conceptions of the course. Many participants admitted that they were unsure about the meaning of literacy to their content areas. Yet, no one demonstrated resistance 217 and an unwillingness to Ieam about the possibilities of connecting literacy with their disciplines. Marie was honest in her revelation about her initial reaction to the course. “Literacy in regards to music? That’s what I’m worried about. When I started this class, I’m like, ‘What does it really even have to do with music?”’ She was questioning how literacy could play a role in music, and she admitted her concern. For math, Boris acknowledged the fact that he had not considered literacy to play a role in math. “Seeing myself as a math teacher, I never really thought of literacy prior to this time, so taking a literacy class is interesting. Prior to reading any of this, I never really thought there was an importance to literacy in math. And it’s not just story problems, it’s all around. That’s something that I never thought about until this class.” Even after the first class, he was already showing that his droughts were changing on how he could connect literacy in math. For physical education, Mackenzie talked about information that was new to her from the first class session. “I wasn’t really aware that a lot of teachers didn’t want to teach reading. I can understand that, like in health and PE class, it’s kinda difficult to come up with a book, unless you’re in health class, and you have a specific textbook, a lot of times there isn’t one. That was one of the things that I was surprised about that a lot of teachers are like, ‘that’s the English person’s job’ or ‘I don’t really want to do that.”’ While she admitted her surprise to teachers’ resistance to literacy, she openly revealed that she was unsure, herself, how she could fit literacy it beyond using the textbook in health class. 218 Adam wondered about the role of literacy in art. “Being aware of how literacy affects all the areas, kinda like I said before has to do with art, so I’m curious as to how it will all fit in.” He understood that literacy played a role in other areas, but he was not sure how to make the connection to art. His attitude was open and willing to consider the possibilities, which did not demonstrate any resistance. Phil also admitted that he was unsure how to connect literacy to math and physics, but he was very willing to make an attempt. “My largest concern would be creating the time for reading, in what I expect will be a very full curriculum in the courses I will teach — math and physics. I believe it’s worth a try, however. One cannot succeed if one never ,9, takes a risk to try something new Like Adam, Phil was not demonstrating resistance to literacy or the course. Preliminagy Conceptions about Literacy During the initial interview (after the first class), participants were asked to give their thoughts on specific content area information for their conceptualizations of literacy within their disciplines. While every participant gave a response, each answer varied greatly in depth and content. Therefore, the responses will be presented by disciplinary areas rather than patterns. My}; Phil explained that he was thinking of literacy in a much broader sense after the beginning of the course. “Already my ideas about literacy in math have begun to change, and that literacy can apply, you can be literate in different ways, and literacy can apply to subject literacy or reading literacy or whatever. There’s different ways, or you can be able to read or understand some things and communicate, understarrl and comprehend 219 but not all of the words. And so, I guess my idea of literacy is slowly starting to change. It’s much broader than I had originally thought.” He was expanding his ideas to include literacy beyond reading tasks. While he was not yet able to explain what exactly he meant, he admitted that his views were changing and he was attempting to connect it to his knowledge of content. Boris started to see literacy in math as something that would help students understand math problems and make connections to real life. “In math, literacy is being able to comprehend deeply what the question is asking. I saw that firsthand this week that a lot of people in math can take problems and just look at the numbers and not deeply understand what it means. In real world applications, there are some very important uses for statistics — being able to calculate numbers, engineering — all of that’s very useful, and I think literacy in math can help develop meaning within the subject, not just number crunching.” He wanted literacy to connect number calculation in math and deeper understandings of mathematical computations and purposes. Physical Education For physical education, Mackenzie was quite willing to bring reading into her classes. “PE doesn’t have a lot of reading like a textbook, unless it is health — which we would have a textbook for that, but I think it’s important for kids to learn that reading is important at all levels, and what you can incorporate reading in with PE Bringing them a piece of paper that they have to read, and say we’re doing a softball unit or something like that, reading the rules, reading how it was started and stuff like that, so they are still getting the reading and they’re learning history about it. You can possibly test them too so there’s ways to incorporate reading, because I do think it is important, but it is just 220 hard, at little bit harder in PE, because there isn’t really a textbook, but there are ways to incorporate that. I can do that when I am teaching ‘cause I think it is important, too, for kids to learn the history of different sports and how things were started and the rules and all that stuff too.” While her views of literacy had not expanded yet beyond reading, she was considering a variety of ways to connect reading with physical education. Her willingness to try ideas demonstrated an open mind to the concept of literacy. Social Studies In social studies, Rachel’s initial views on literacy were grounded in reading. “It’s not just reading but it’s going to the higher levels you can relate to it, like Political science or history, relating it to the specific content, instead of just reading and writing about specific areas, but also understanding what that means.” She went beyond simply reading by bringing in higher levels and comprehension. Yet, she was not thinking beyond reading to consider other ways that literacy could be incorporated into her discipline. Oprah was also considering reading to be the main activity within her history class where literacy could play a role. “Literacy in regards to history? Literacy as a plain out definition would be ability to read information. But obviously, literacy is so much more than that. It’s comprehending the information, it’s getting new ideas from the information, so if I was in a history class, for me to look at a student and see if he or she was literate in the subject would be if they could read the text, understand the text, and then evaluate the text, comparing it to a real life situation or comparing it with something we already did or just having your own Opinion on that and your own idea that makes sense.” While narrow in scope, Oprah’s initial ideas do bring the reading tasks beyond 221 memorization, since she actually considers it important for students to do something with the information. Watchdog provided specific examples of ideas he was having for literacy. “For history, it would definitely be a lot of writing and joumaling about what they view as a theory, and then a situation if they were a soldier in Iraq right now or even Vietnam or the Civil War, how would they feel going across the battlefield, reading various documents throughout history, like the Declaration of Independence, Gettysburg Address, and all those ones that are incorporated into our country like the Constitution even. Then, they could be thinking about individual Ieaming like watching videos, or just thinking about how our country’s developed and the historical aspect.” Watchdog brought in ideas on writing, viewing, and thinking about historical concepts. He was certainly reaching beyond reading a listory textbook when considering literacy and connecting it to content knowledge. Sc_ien$ For science, reading played a major role in conceptualization of literacy at the beginning of the course. Liz acknowledged that it was challenging for her to make the connection. “In biology, it’s such a different type of literacy. You just can’t expect them to know how to do that if it’s their first experience with that type of situation. Literacy, to me, in biology, would be being able to read the different types of texts that I give them, understand and apply the concepts. It seems like it’s going to be harder than I thought it was.” She wanted her students to read a variety of texts, but she was unsure how she could build upon her students’ literacy abilities and connect it to content. 222 Victoria focused mainly on comprehension when considering literacy in science. “Literacy would involve comprehending when students are reading a problem. In chemistry, there are problems that can be a paragraph long. Reading those and being able to decipher those and understand what the problem’s asking that if somebody’s not very literate, they can be very difficult. It’s more of an understanding thing, understanding what you read and deciphering what you read.” She was expanding her ideas to go beyond textbook reading and connecting the intricacies of reading a chemistry problem. Gene revealed that his ideas of literacy were expanding when he considered the connection to science. “I see science as Ieaming a different language in some respects. So the text, although is not always very interesting, it’s helpful in conveying concepts. It’s a tool that I would use. I wouldn’t say go ahead and read, and tlen tell my students to read this and then we’ll talk about it later. I’d probably start with a lesson and then say, ‘Okay, now to follow up, I need you to read these pages in the text.’ Literacy means taking more technology and visuals and stimulations, hands-on activities. I think that more or less defines scientific literacy.” Gene was bringing in a variety of literacy representations in order to explain his intentions to help his students become scientifically literate. LIEU—8h As an English major, Sara had a strong focus on reading. “Literacy is more than just reading words in English. It has to do with comprehending what you read. In this I mean that one should not merely be able to read words, but must really make sure you are comprehending the text. Literacy means understanding and being able to make connections with what is being Ieamed to prior knowledge or some aspect of life.” She 223 saw literacy in English to mean comprehending the information, along with making connections to life. While limited, she was concerned with the students’ ability to delve deeply into literary works and connect the content with comprehension. M While acknowledging that his view of literacy had changed in a broad sense, Adam still struggled to make a connection to art. “In regards to art, I’ve been kind of trying to figure that out. I don’t really know. I don’t know what it means to art, which is why this class might help, because I have no clue. I mean, since the first day of class, my view of literacy changed. I didn’t realize how broad it is.” He realized that literacy was more than reading, but he still was unsure about how literacy and art could connect together. Trey had a few ideas on incorporating literacy into his art classes. “I’m still thinking lpw I’m going to be able to enforce - well, not enforce, but have reading in my art class. I don’t know how I’m going to go about doing that. For secondary students, it will be a little bit easier. I mean, I can hand out handouts and have them read what the homework or assignment is about. Also, I could have them write paragraphs or essays about some of their work that means a lot to them, and things like that. That’s as far as I can think of how I’m going to incorporate literacy in my classroom.” While he was not sure how to connect literacy with art closely, he did have some thoughts on reading and writing activities that he would consider trying. Misjg In nnsic, Marie considered reading to play a major part in connecting to literacy. “Other than directions and reading the words to pieces, theory would have a lot to do 224 with it, because you need to, theory’s got a lot of big words to pick apart and stuff like that, so you’d have to be able to concentrate and do that. Actually, on the first night of class, this is embarrassing to say, but I didn’t honestly know exactly what literacy was but I do now, other than I mean, you don’t really need it t) read music per se, but for theory purposes, it would be, high literacy is a good thing.” She was willing to consider reading about music theory to be a literacy activity, which connected some of her knowledge of music content to the ideas in the course. It is interesting that she is so honest about her own lack of knowledge in this area from the first night of class. Yet, it is reasonable to understand why she did not know, since she had never been asked before to consider literacy in any of her content or teacher education courses. Business/Computer Science Chief focused strongly on vocabulary needs within brsiness and computer science. “Terminology changes constantly. In business and in computer science, it’s the ability to absorb these new terminologies, new terms, definitions, and then apply them. You may get it from reading, and you may get it from an (ral presentation, or from a variety of methods. Part of it is reading, being able to comprehend what they read and others is being able to comprehend, to look back on what they’ve done and try to make some analogies.” His ideas were broad for how students would access the information, which shows his expanded view of literacy beyond reading and his connections to the needs of his content area. LeamingDisabilities/English as a Second Language When considering her role as a Ieaming disabilities teacher, Kim began to see beyond solely ensuring that the students could read. “I just thought it meant the ability to 225 read and understand what you were reading. But now I understand, it’s a lot more than just understanding what you’re reading. It’s kind of being involved with what you’re reading, that’s kind of the way I look at it, interacting with it, relying on previous knowledge that you’ve had, and asking a lot of questions while you’re reading, that might lead to you reading another source. So, it’s more interacting, as opposed to just understanding.” While she had not yet considered literacy in a broader context, her views on reading had changed to incorporate comprehension and interaction. Marisa’s views of literacy were expanding to incorporate communication skills. “Literacy means communication, listening, written and verbal expression, even non- verbal, being able to listen effectively and deeply in making meaning. In terms of LD, I think my most important job is to determine where they’re at, what heir needs are, because everybody’s literacy needs are so complex and finding ways to reach those.” She admitted that the complexity of each student’s needs will make her role challenging, as she attempts to help them in improving their literacy abilities, connecting her knowledge of working with students who have learning disabilities. Dzanna’s role was unique in that she considered literacy within Ieaming disabilities for English as a Second Language students. “It means the ability not just to read but to read, speak, and to understand and the ability to apply that in your everyday life. I always get these phone calls from different companies and they want to sell you stuff, and I think that if you know how to stand up for yourself and respond to them, that’s literacy. Daily life skills, how can you even work without all the kinds of jobs, factories, if you’re not literate. You can hurt yourself and hurt others. It’s a life skill. It’s not just being able to read and write, it’s the most important thing you know.” She 226 continually focused on the purposes for literacy, since she viewed it as a life skill for students to have in order to communicate through reading, writing, and speaking, and she considered this more critical than content knowledge. A-Ha! Moments about Literacy Throughout the course, participants revealed moments when they started to think differently about literacy within their disciplines, including ideas on how to connect it together with content knowledge. These stories display how participants began to use information from the course to define literacy in new and different manners. These revelations related to what they were starting to realize and specific thoughts on how broad literacy was becoming for their conceptualizations. Seeirg— It is MakinLSense In math, Boris began to consider the importance of literacy. He also felt that writing would be a tool for him to incorporate some of the ideas from the course. “Before I started, I didn’t really realize the importance of literacy in a math class, and now I’m starting to see the importance and also devising some ideas of placing that in my own classroom. Maybe not, I like the idea of dialogue journals, and maybe not every day but definitely putting it into some of the lessons for sure it would help solidify a lot of the common math practices. So yeah, I see the importance of literacy in my own subject.” While not stating specifically how it is important, Boris did admit that his views had changed from the start of the course and be connected it with his thoughts on what it meant in a math class. Mackenzie began to consider how she could expand the role of reading in her physical education classes. “I’m seeing how I can incorporate literacy in physical 227 education and health, because that’s my major and there’s not a whole lot of reading that goes along with those classes. I’m just starting to understand there are certain things that I can incorporate in class to get them to still read in the class. I know a lot of kids just take physical education for an elective, because they don’t think it’s a lot of reading and different work like that, just more of the physical thing, so learning to incorporate that in my classroom is, is key for me.” She acknowledged that reading was not an activity that students typically consider when thinking about physical education, but she was willing to change that and expand her views on what it meant to teach physical education. For chemistry and nnth, Victoria found the strategies to be the most helpful in her understanding of literacy in her classes. “I’ve never really thought about or realized that literacy was a problem. I think that’s the most that I’m taking out of it right now is the strategies for improving a student’s understanding and reading of a science text or math. I feel like I have a lot more ideas now, than 'n the beginning. I was like, ‘How am I going to do that?’ but now I feel like I can incorporate things easier.” She admitted her initial skepticism about literacy, but she felt that her understandings were much stronger, after several weeks in the course, and connecting with her ideas on teaching within her disciplines. Marie also admitted skepticism about the course, even though her ideas had changed. “When I started this class, I had no clue why I should be in it because of music, but my understanding now is that in any content area, you can incorporate writing and all these cool things that I would never have really explored before. It’s given me a heads up as to not just deleting it from my content area. I’m going to make sure that they’re writing now, and doing fun exercises like that, and the strategies are wonderful.” Her 228 main interest was using writing in music as a way to bring in literacy, and she connected this with her vision of being a music teacher. Broad - Expansions of Definitions Participants revealed their new understandings about literacy in the context of how broad they came to realize it was overall. This was interesting, since it gave them various perspectives within their disciplines to consider, when thinking about literacy. The information in the course, on literacy events and the readings on multiple literacies, played a part in their deeper conceptualizations. It was common for participants to state that their views of literacy had changed in a broad sense. Adam said, “Well, originally, I guess I just didn’t understand, I thought literacy was reading and writing and that was it, how well you did it. I thought I was taking an English class when I signed up for this course. I didn’t know it’s so broad and it’s kind of like common sense, but it just makes you so aware of how important it is.” He went from thinking that literacy related to English to realizing that it was much broader than that, and he saw the connection to his content area. Oprah described a similar viewpoint. “When I took this course, I didn’t know what to expect. I thought it was just reading and writing, like teaching these kids how to read. It’s so much broader than that arrl I love it.” Her idea of literacy was expanded beyond teaching reading and writing, to incorporating it within all instruction and within her discipline. Similarly, Phil’s ideas were changed, but he admitted that he was still unsure of many things. “I’ve come a long way since before the class started, like I understand how much more there is to literacy than what I thought there was, and how much yet I don’t 229 know, which is a big step. I think the types of literacy that people need to have or don’t have is much broader than I thought. Literacy occurs while reading textbooks, novels, magazines, and computer websites, as well as during phone conversations and while watching television and movies. Literacy occurs in multiple contexts, and in order for our students to be effective functioning citizens in our society, we need to insure that they are literate in a wide variety of contexts.” His ideas on literacy had gone beyond traditional views of reading and writing, and now including multiple forms of litdacy and representation. Liz admitted that her view had changed in a positive manner. “I remember that before having the class, I had a really narrow view of what literacy was, and I thought they should know how to read by now, and if they don’t, then they’re way behind, and they’re never going to catch up. That was my attitude. So far, I’ve Ieamed a lot more about what literacy is all about, and how to get the students involved in the places that they’re more literate, they’re more interested in. And so that is exciting to me, that there’s more, there’s so many needs to focus on, and it’s important and interesting.” She now considered literacy as a way to build upon students’ strengths, instead of just focusing on the areas where they struggled. Writir_rg as a Tool for Literacy A main component of the course was using writing for disciplinary learning. Participants discussed it in many class sessions, plus they developed several ideas for using writing in their content area classrooms. This was an area of literacy that most of the participants embraced, as being a concrete way to integrate literacy practices into 230 their teaching and their content, while also using writing as a vehicle to assess students’ understanding of the content. Rationale - Why it is Necessary Participants discussed rationales for using writing in their content area classrooms. Boris found it to be useful in reinforcing concepts and helping students feel safe to express ideas. “Writing in mathematics can broaden a student’s outlook on the subject. Too many people have gone through their K—12 education only to be left thinking that mathematics is nothing but the study of computation. This, realistically, makes up only a very small percentage of the field of mathematics. Through ir-depth writing, some of the more beautifirl aspects of basic math can be solidified and appreciated by the student. So many times, students are afraid to just ask questions, especially in math. They feel intimidated by asking questions, so having that availability of just a one-on—one conversation, through writing that nobody else can read, would help out a lot.” He felt that writing would be a way for him to expand his own students’ views of mathematics beyond computation, which brought in new pedagogical considerations for teaching content. Liz described her understanding of the difference in how writing is used in science. “I think writing is really important in biology. The scientific method is completely different, just different research, materials they do. I think that’s a big part of it. It is something they need to get a handle on, since when I got to college, the writing was way different. You know what you want to say, but it has to be learned.” She connected her knowledge of content to helping her students understand how to use 231 writing a report in science and preparing them for other situations where they might be required to write. Victoria wanted to use writing to help her students understand the symbolic system in chemistry. “1 think that is really important for students to be able to understand what’s going on, and be able to reproduce that understanding instead of just memorizing these symbols. If they can write a sentence about it, they’re going to be able to remember it and hold to it longer. Students are going to understand it better if they can put it into words, so I think that’s the main use of writing in chemistry. You can hold on to things longer, rather than there are so many symbols and letters and numbers, so that’s easily confusable. If you can write a sentence about it and be specific, I think that will help you retain.” Her ideas on writing included connecting content with assisting students with information by writing something on paper in order to remember it. Dzanna wanted to use writing as a way to prepare her students for the workforce. “It’s really important to teach ESL students or all students to know how to write, express themselves. It’s just an important area, especially with the internet. Developing English language writing competence presents a major challenge to students, and therefore, it has to be emphasized the most. Writing serves to enhance overall language Ieaming. Besides teaching my students to only communicate in English, I have to prepare them for the future, and to teach them this most essential survival skill. Writing is vital to all forms of employability. So many professions require written reports or correspondence. Even in different content areas of study, I will make sure to provide my students with opportunities to write about topics tint are relevant to their lives.” Once again, she was 232 making a connection to literacy practices and survival, since she believed that this was a way to empower her students. Adam expressed some initial hesitation about the use of writing within his art curriculum. “I guess just that whole idea of writing across the curriculum and how it’s important, I like writing in general, so I think I would have naturally incorporated it into art in some ways. On the other hand, I think art class is art class, and while it should incorporate that stuff, if the math teacher said I needed to start using more math in art, I’d probably say no. Art class kids have enough stress. My art classes, they’ll never be considered blow-off classes, but they’re not going to be trigonometry. It goes along with the whole idea that we’re all responsible for literacy, and I can agree with that. I know it’s important, and I’ll use writing, but my main focus is going to be creating art, so it’ll be in there.” He was willing to admit that there are some disciplinary areas that he did not see as possible connections, and he wanted to keep his content area in the forefront. He was willing to use writing, but his main goal was to emphasize art. How — Applications to Content Areas Many of the responses about writing in content areas related to ways to use writing in specific ways. In physical education, Mackenzie wanted to use writing in a cross-curricular manner. “It means making sure that they understand the rules and the history of the game, before we even start, and then having them do different writing projects throughout the year. Maybe my classroom and a Language Arts classroom can do the same project, and I can grade the physical education part, and then I can hand it to the Language Arts teacher, and they can grade it on structure and grammar. But obviously, the main thing is making sure that I’m incorporating writing into physical 233 education, because I think that kind of gets bst along the way. A lot of teachers don’t incorporate that, except for maybe doing an exercise log so you’re getting exercise outside the classroom, but that’s not really writing. That’s listing.” It is interesting to note that Mackenzie was not only considering writing for her physical education classes, but she was also contemplated working with another discipline on a writing assignment. This was connecting information that she had previously Ieamed in another course (she shared that information) to the new information in this course as it related to writing. Sara wanted to use writing as a way for students to practice their writing skills in English. “I think that you can incorporate writing into anything, and that it’s really important that you do, because that’s the best way to get students to exercise and practice their writing skills. I plan to do journals with my students everyday, just have some kind of a random question, something that they have an opinion about or something, and they can wite a paragraph about it, just so that they’re writing freely without having to. It doesn’t have to be so structured. They don’t have to worry about the grammatical aspect of it, but more just getting them writing is important.” She wanted to make writing an open-ended activity, where students could feel released from the responsibility of worrying about mechanical conventions, in order to express their ideas, which puts content as the main focus. Rachel considered a variety of activities to use writing in social studies. “I plan to use writing in my classroom in several ways. First, I will include essays on every test. When used in conjunction with other test formats, I feel that essays create a more balanced form of assessment. I also plan to assign daily or weekly journals on assigned readings or other instruction materials. I feel that journals are a great way to assess 234 comprehension levels, and they also give students a chance to make connections between units. I may use conversation calendars to assess student progress and determine strong/weak points in my teaching. Overall, I see writing as a necessary and invaluable part of the learning process.” Her main purpose for writing was to assess students’ knowledge, which demonstrated her understanding of writing as a tool for learning. Plus, it incorporated the importance of content knowledge by using writing as a tool to express that information. Oprah also had ideas on writing in social studies. “Writing will be used in many ways in my content area, which is history. For example, ahnost every day I will have students write a journal either at the beginning or at the end of class. Also, I will periodically have students construct essays individually and as a group (depending on the unit). Furthermore, there will be many times when I will ask students to write ‘Letters to the Editor’ of the local paper. In any history class, writing should be used on a regular basis. The best Historians not only study, analyze, and interpret history, but they also write it, and I want to guide my students to be the best Historians possible. You have research papers, essays, opinion papers, debating, writing speeches, all those things” While she did not mention writing as an assessment tool, Oprah’s ideas about writing showed that she wants to make it as authentic and purposeful as possible, going beyond a content requirement and functioning as a way for students to express that content. For computer science, Chief talked about the challenges of technical writing. “They do word processing, that’s one of the main things, but it’s also PowerPoint. With PowerPoint, you’re doing bullets. Bullets are there for the speaker to enhance, but bullets don’t make sense. They should be short, concise, and that’s not easy. People write five 235 lines to say what could be said in one.” He found this type of writing to be difficult for students, due to the requirement to synthesize the information when preparing a presentation. His connection to the basic content knowledge required for this type of writing would enable him to share this information with his students in order for them to be successful. Gene found writing useful in sience for his students to write up laboratory reports. “Using writing probably would be more writing in a scientific format, like writing up lab activities and trying to have them write it up with, trying to generally follow the way a researcher might be doing research. I would probably give it to them as an introduction to the lab, and then erqalain writing up their methods. I want to see how observant they were in the lab, so I want to have them write up a detailed methods section, and then the results and discussion, and kind of reflect on what they observed. It reinforces some of the concepts I’m trying to teach, and then by using writing, my opinion of wanting to use writing in science would be more for laboratories and maybe doing a research paper in my class.” He considered writing to be a vehicle for him to gain a sense of the students’ behavior and understandings during the activity through their written report, plus it connects the content demands that are required when writing in science. Phil wanted to use writing as a way to engage students in Ieaming physics. “1 was uncertain how writing could be implemented as part of a high school physics class. One of my initial hang— ups was that any scientific writing assignment I ever had was difficult, long, and time consuming. I recall lab reports, scientific investigations, and theses. I never had any experience writing something ‘fun’ with regards to physics. Now I think 236 that writing could be fun for students and help them with their writing skills. I also think it would be good for activating background knowledge or for summarizing and reinforcing what they’ve Ieamed. I can see using writing at the beginning of a unit, at the end of the unit, or on a quiz or test.” His own memories of writing as a physics student made him feel resistant to using writing in his own classes, but he mw understood that there were ways to make it interesting and relevant for students. He could reach beyond the content demands and incorporate various techniques to make it engaging and interesting. In art, Trey connected his views on writing as playing a factor in students’ understanding of the content. “I think writing plays an important role in at. It is an art form. Art history is reading, essay exams, at least that’s how it Was for me, presentations, so writing will be a part of my classroom. In art, you don’t have all visual learners. There’s an array of students who have all sorts of needs, and they’re going to need to write down what the artist’s intentions were, the history of a work of art, in order to get a visual of what I want them to do.” He was willing to acknowledge that some students need writing as a way to make sense of the requirements in art. Adam also had ideas for using writing in art. “Writing is so important in the outside world, that I would use writing quite a bit in my at classes. Writing will be incorporated when appropriate, and it will be useful in many ways, such as journals to promote creative drinking and some research for art history courses. Writing is also a great way to start art students out with critiquing, which is something that many students find difficult to do aloud. Writing will never overshadow art in my classes, because art, I think, should always remain the focus, but good writing will be emphasized, encouraged, 237 and commended.” As stated previously, Adam wanted to keep an emphasis on teaching his content, but he was willing to use writing as a tool in his classroom. In music, Marie considered writing an activity that she had never been required to do as a student. “There is so much history in music that it’s fun to see what students think about historical figures. Writing offers the perfect way for students to reflect on past composers, and even composers of today. I will use writing often in my classes. I can see myself using it in the area of students researching composers and researching for periods of music, because for them to go and delve into a bunch of different resources isn’t something that I think a lot of teachers do in a music classroom, so I will use that big time. But other than that, I don’t think teachers use that enough. I never wrote a paper, I don’t think, ever in a music class and journals? No, nothing. We didn’t do any writing. It was strictly music. We didn’t even go into theory, so I’m going to make sure. This is a good class for me, because it makes me realize how important using writing is, in even music. A lot of students use music to express themselves, and it’s always fun to see what they think through their writing.” She was open to the use of writing in music, and her attitude was very positive in how it can be incorporated seamlessly within her views of music education. Ending Thoughts on Literacy After the course was over, participants were asked again in the final interview about their thoughts on literacy within their respective content areas. The purpose was to find out how they were conceptualizing literacy after all of the course sessions, the readings, tutoring, and the assignments. While every participant gave a response, each 238 answer varied greatly in depth and content. Therefore, the responses will be presented by disciplinary areas rather than patterns. Mgflr Boris had expanded his view of literacy in math to incorporate all of the literacy events that were discussed and practiced in the course. “Literacy in math, to me, is the student’s capability of reading, comprehending, interpreting, and dissecting problems presented in several different ways. Math problems can be presented visually with graphs, symbols, real world representations, or textually as in a book, magazine, article. A student’s ability to decipher various mathematical problems, however they are presented, involves their ability to practice skills in literacy. Students of mathematics need to be able to not only decipher and interpret complicated text, they need to be able to express the main ideas enough to convey understanding. Speaking and listening involve a student’s ability to interact with classmates and the instructor actively about a specific topic. Through discussion and debate about mathematical concepts, students develop a deeper understanding of the subject. When students can represent a topic visually, a concrete or real-world aspect is portrayed for common understanding of its physical nature. From the viewing of an abstract idea, students can recall examples that allow for complete comprehension of the subject. The idea that literacy need only be practiced on reading skills has changed through the course.” His ideas had expanded beyond reading and understanding math problems to larger ideas about communication and expression, while also connecting his knowledge of mathematical content. In her dial considerations of teaching chemistry and nath, Victoria’s view of literacy was much different from the beginning of the course. “In chemistry and math, 239 you have to not only be able to read and write what you’re Ieaming, and write problems, and read the textbook, but also know how to make a graph or chart, or understand a graph or a chart, use visual representations, and I: able to explain what you know. It’s so important to bring the whole visual aspect and be able to read the charts, the graphs, the observations, and labs. The definition has become a lot more complex and there’s a lot more to it than just reading and vuiting, which is generally what you see in a definition in a dictionary.” Her response brings in larger concepts of literacy through the visual representations of information in graphs and charts. This displays her new understanding that literacy reaches beyond reading, and also connects to her understandings of the various demands that each content area brings to Ieaming. Phil also considered literacy within both nath and physics. “1 think my definition has grown. I used to think it was just reading and understanding and being able to use, being able to read, understand it, and communicate back the information, but I think it means a lot more now to me. In math and physics, it means that students need to be able to, as they look at their textbooks, tley not only have to be able to read the words, but they have to be able to read, and interpret graphs and pictures, they need to be able to write in plain English about what it is that they understand, they need to be able to draw pictures to describe what it is that they’re understanding, or learning, or trying to communicate. So, it’s more than just reading a book. And I think because nath uses a different symbol language, that’s another type of literacy, not just the English words but the math symbols as well. The part that’s changed is everything beyond reading — graphs, pictures, being able to write and draw, whatever, those types of things, as well as verbally communicating. All those things are literacy skills that students need to be able 240 to see and understand, as well as do, in order to communicate.” His idea that the symbolic nature of math as a language, where literacy can play a role, shows that his conceptualizations of literacy have expanded beyond traditional conceptions of print, and his knowledge of content connected to this idea of literacy. & In art, Adam found that he could incorporate literacy into his teaching. “There are so many amazing things to teach, and time is of the essence. That’s why it’s so great that literacy and art can be combined very easily. Thinking back to when I was an adolescent, I now realize that art and literacy went hand in hand. I read a lot of comic books. Initially, it was the artwork that attracted me to these comics, but the stories are what really engaged me. The art and the text played off of each other in comic books. I know that only a handful of kids are really into comics, but there are several art and text combinations that will be used in my class.” He was able to recall his own experiences, in order to consider new possibilities for his firture students, and he connected this vision to his conceptions of being an art teacher. Trey also had an expanded definition of literacy within at. “Literacy to me, in art, means everything —- viewing, reading, visually representing. When I first started out in the class, I’m like, I don’t know how I’ll incorporate literacy in my class, but now going through it, I realized I have to do it, and if I want the students to succeed, it’s a very important part. It’s just not drawing or painting. There’s history to it. I was very ignorant starting out. Literacy meant to me being able to read and write. It’s totally changed, being able to use all the different tools, being able to mold clay and use the specific tools for molding clay, being able to use a wheel, a pottery wheel. It was an eye- 241 opener.” He was enthusiastic about this new view of literacy as being a part of the activities that It will do regularly within his art classes, which connected strongly to his content knowledge. Plus, he was willing to acknowledge that his initial views have changed tremendously throughout the course. Egan—sh In English, Sara was able to relate literacy to understanding and explanation. “I think that you can tell if a person is literate in English class, just from what they know, and how they can explain it, and how they can break it down for someone to understand. I think that’s important. Literacy means truly understanding a concept, therefore not just what a term means, but what characteristics make up the concept, and what the idea can be related to, so especially being able to relate something tosomething else is very significant.” While her ideas do not reach broadly into the uses of literacy, she is able to think beyond reading and writing and think more globally about the purposes for those activities and connecting it to English. Physical Education Mackenzie expressed a strong sense of how she would incorporate literacy into physical education. “A lot of people think that PE is just roll the balls out and let the kids play the whole time. I’ve Ieamed a lot about different things you can incorporate into PE. Obviously, in health you can incorporate a little more of that, but if you’re only teaching a PE class, there are not a whole lot of things. My main focus, when I become a teacher, is having them read things about the history of different sports, having them write reflections on that to incorporate writing. The visual part of it will be a little bit easier because they’ll be watching demonstrations, incorporating some videos, having them do 242 posters, and stuff like that. I’ve Ieamed a lot throughout the class about the different parts of literacy, and that’s how I can help my teaching. Just like any skill, they need to keep on practicing all these different things to get better. The more that I can incorporate writing in my PE class, the better it will be. That’s the goal.” She wanted to connect her content knowledge and do more in her classes than play sports and games, instead going in more depth with her students to learn concepts, background, and rationale. Scam Liz’s ideas on literacy in science reached far beyond her initial views of reading and writing. “Literacy to me, what I first thought was that it was the ability of somebody to read and write, and what I’ve come to understand is that it is so much more than that. It’s not just reading the text, also it’s reading all different kinds of materials and giving them a chance to see modern things as well as history, and it’s a different kind of reading, different kind of writing, specific to science. And so, teaching them how to be literate in science is different than from history. They have to be able to read tables, and graphs, and understand experiments, and be able to make punnett squares, for instance, and all kinds of different things that are science-specific. “Ell, graphs and things are not necessarily, but things that they need to Ieam and understand to be scientifically literate. Being able to use a microscope, that’s a form of literacy that I never would have, it wouldn’t have occurred to me, but it’s something they need to know how to do in my class, so it’s just broadened mentally. So, I would say it’s not just reading and writing, but it’s also doing. Doing is a form of literacy.” She found that literacy could also include activities and thinking skills, which expanded her view even more, and strengthened her connections to her discipline. 243 For Gene, literacy became critical to his views of instruction. “I’d say literacy is probably one of the most important things in a classroom. Learning to read, write, just overall comprehension of what they’re learning, is probably the primary channel for how they’re going to Ieam in the future, too. At the beginning, I really wasn’t sure how it was defined. I guess I didn’t realize that literacy is more than just reading and writing. It’s all fomrs of media that a student can take in and produce, so that’s why, over the course of the semester, I’ve grown to feel that it’s probably the most important thing in the classroom, because it takes into account more than just reading and writing. So I went from basically not knowing much about literacy to feeling it’s the most important thing.” His thoughts on its importance shows that he considered it to be equally as important as his content, and something that was imperative to be included inhis teaching, building on his views of pedagogy. Social Studies Watchdog found literacy to be irnbedded in his ideas about instructional practices. “In listory, its maps and charts, journals, documentations that they can read, and then write small summaries about how they thought their experience would be if they were in that situation. So with history, besides just reading the textbook, they can take turns reading it or you can have oral presentations about certain projects that they did. Before I took the class, I knew literacy was the reading and theiwriting stuff, all the content and everything, but then taking the class, and doing all these experiences, just showed how in depth it was, all the different activities you can do, gave me more basic knowledge about how to portray and foster my students’ literacy.” He was beginning to consider specific examples of what it could look like, which connected to his knowledge of his content. 244 He also was willing to acknowledge that his views had changed since the beginning of the course. Rachel wanted to use literacy as a way to help students access the content information. “To define literacy as the ability to read and write is much too simplistic. For most students, reading history involves flipping through pages in a chapter as quickly as possible, in order to report to their teacher the next morning that they did, in fact, read the chapter. These students have good intentions—they complete the reading as assigned and feel adequately prepared for class. However, they cannot recall a single piece of information on any of the pages they read the night before. Students who are engaged in the learning process, through synthesis, are also more likely to comprehend and retain the material being presented. In sum, literacy is not the result of education, but one of its essential elements.” Her concerns about typical student behavior in classes made her even more interested in using literacy to combat those issues and make her teaching much more meaningful. To Oprah, literacy became a fundamental part of what she saw as her role as a teacher. “Basically, literacy means power, which is maybe a deep way of thinking about it, because it’s so powerful. In history, it’s looking at the visual word, it’s reading a textbook, it’s listening to a speech, it’s doing all those things, and then understanding it, and being able to take those ideas, and to express them in a way. It’s drawing a picture, it’s any type of creative way of expressing an idea. I will always remind my students that literacy is power. I will remind them that they own their education and no one can ever take that away from them.” Her views on literacy incorporated all of the literacy events 245 discussed in class, while also bringing in the larger, social purposes of literacy for students’ lives. Business/Computer Science Chief found literacy to be a practical tool that was important in communication. “Literacy is the ability to communicate. For the input method, you have to read, you have to visualize, and do stuff, and look at a map for a simple explanation, and how to read it and be able to talk, describe, communicate to someone orally and written.” While he did not make any specific disciplinary connections, he did consider a wider span of literacy than previously expressed. M Marie was very enthusiastic about the idea of literacy being incorporated into her music classes. “There are two types in music. We could do stuff like what literacy means in a reading classroom, where they read something on Beethoven or Bach, and they write a paper on it. But also it means being able to read notes and read music, and sight reading, in competitions that you have to go to, is huge in reading music. So it incorporates both of them, but largely in music, it’s really about reading the notes and reading the dynamic markings, all that kind of stuff. It’s a whole other language, music is, but literacy is definitely involved.” She acknowledged that the unique symbolic language in music could play a part in students’ literacy development, while also considering more typical uses of literacy through reading music history. This disciplinary connection enabled her to consider how literacy could play a role in her content. Learning Disabilities/English as a Second Langu_ag§ 246 In her role as a learning disabilities teacher, Kim saw a larger purpose in literacy than just doing work in school. “I believe literacy involves the ability to obtain, process, and understand information. This definition goes beyond simply decoding words and understanding text. It includes the integration of skills to help students move beyond textbooks and classrooms to create independent lifelong learners.” Her view was to use literacy practices as ways to prepare students for their adult roles. Marisa looked at literacy as a way for her students to develop their language skills. “I think it’s a huge key, especially for LD students because, traditionally, the large majority of them have deficiencies in language. Anytime you touch upon any of those areas, it impacts upon everything, in every academic area that they work in. I think as an LD teacher, I have to be really in tune with what’s happening’with each student, with research and updates and strategies.” She expressed a need for her to continue her learning in this area in order to have current and relevant information to help her students. As before, Dzanna viewed literacy as the foundation of students’ life skills, and abilities to be productive members of society for both LD and ESL students. ‘Being literate is the only true way to freedom in every aspect of our lives. It is tl'B ignorance of freedom that is changed by literacy overall. Our society needs responsible and literate individuals who are going to make changes and win over the ignorance in the world. Only the literate persons are supreme persons. Literacy is a life skill. It helps us stay current with developing innovations and knowledge. This skill is what all of us need and use in our everyday life situations. To educate truly means to produce literate generations. This is why, as a teacher, I support and promote literacy as the steering 247 wheel of my instruction.” She was looking beyond the uses of literacy in school, and arguing that literacy would play a role in the future of her students and their adult lives. Overall Comments on Literacy Many of the participants made overall comments about the course and literacy, along with the impact on their teacher preparation. Gene found the course to be meaningful in his conceptions of teaching. “I guess I didn’t really realize low much there is to literacy before, and some of the things, I guess I didn’t realize were literacy strategies when I was being taught them in high school or even in college, like those were actual strategies for learning. Now I’m realizing, kind of popping the hood under the car and looking under, and seeing what teachers try to do to get kids to Ieam. That’s been kind of interesting and very relevant too, probably one of the most relevant courses I’ve had so far.” It was interesting that he could now remember teachers from his own days in school using literacy strategies, and he now saw the relevance to his own teaching. Liz saw literacy as being integral to her instruction. “Literacy is everywhere. I Ieamed that you don’t have to worry so much about the curriculum, or content, but the way you Each it is more important than what you’re teaching, ‘cause if they’re not getting it, it doesn’t matter if you’re ‘teaching’ it. That’s kind of exciting, because then you can bring your own personality and your own creativity.” She was able to go beyond seeing her role as a teacher of content to a new role of a teacher of adolescents, who must keep their understanding of content at the forefront. Marisa found the ideas from the course to be integral to her role as a teacher. “If they become good at literacy, that’ll help improve everything, not just in school but later. It really has a broad scope, and it’s going to make me be a better teacher, because I can 248 engage them so many more ways than before this class.” She found the information to be useful and meaningful to her conceptions of what effective teaching would look like to her, which built upon her views on pedagogy and Ieaming. Oprah was very strong in her beliefs about the importance of literacy in her future teaching. “I have a new understanding of what literacy is, how powerful it is, how it’s so important, and how it’s lacking everywhere — in students, in adolescents, in adults, and in children. I’m the spokesman for literacy now. It was a powerful class, and I’m really glad I took it. It’s probably one of the most important classes I’ve taken, that I’ve got the most out of that. It’s new ideas of something that isn’t talked about in other classes.” She felt satisfied that the course had given her a new outlook on teaching that had not been discussed in her other courses. Plus, she considered literacyto be as integral to her instruction as her disciplinary content. Summagy Overall, participants demonstrated a variety of perspectives on literacy within content areas throughout the study. At the beginning of the course, reading was considered to be the main aspect of what was considered literacy. Mackenzie defined literacy as “Being able to read to one’s self and out loud to others and also able to understand and comprehend the context.” She focused solely on reading, with some understanding of how comprehension could play a role in literacy. This was typical of many responses, as participants initially contemplated their understandings of literacy. Boris admitted hesitancy in taking the course. “Seeing myself as a math teacher, I never really thought of literacy prior to this time, so taking a literacy class is interesting. ...I never really thought there was an importance to literacy in math.” He questioned how the 249 course would assist in his Ieaming of what it meant to teach mathematics, along with views on literacy. Throughout the course, participants began to expand their ideas on literacy. Oprah commented, “When I took this course, I didn’t know what to expect. I thought it was just reading and writing, like teaching these kids how to read. It’s so much broader than that and I love it.” She was enthusiastic about her Ieaming and her ideas on literacy. Trey also admitted that he had broadened his view on literacy in art. “Whenl first started out in the class, I’m like, I don’t know how I’ll incorporate literacy in my class, but now going through it, I realized I have to do it, and if I want the students to succeed, it’s a very important part.” He could see that literacy-would play a strong role in his instruction. The comments of the participants tell their stories on how they came to know this, what they questioned, and how this will have an impact on their roles as teachers who utilize literacy within their respective content areas. The findings in the study go far beyond initial feelings of uncertainty or resistance, and describe rich understandings about literacy and its role in content teaching. It also shows how the course can help preservice teachers make connections among content, pedagogy, and adolescents. This makes a strong case for the importance of a course in content area literacy, since participants demonstrated so much grth in their conceptualizations about literacy throughout the course. The expansions on definitions of literacy and connections to various disciplines demonstrate the impact of the course, and should open up dialogue in the field to discuss the implications for what this type of course will have for making connections between teacher educatio n and adolescent literacy. 250 CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS Summary and Discussion The purpose of this study was to determine how preservice secondary teachers’ experiences in a content literacy course shaped their understandings about what it means to be a teacher. Specifically, it examined how they came to understand adolescents, to conceptualize teaching for understanding, and to conceptualize literacy within content areas. It also related to how they would connect their previous knowledge on content, pedagogy, and adolescents to the new information in the course. There were seventeen preservice secondary content area teachers who participated in the study throughout their enrollment in a content area literacy course during one semester. Interviews with the participants were held four times throughout the semester to record their thoughts on what they were learning. Observations of the class sessions provided a view into their experiences during the course through the course information. Coursework gave further perspectives on how the participants were understanding and conceptualizing the information on adolescents, teaching for understanding, and literacy within content areas and connecting it to their previous knowledge. This chapter summarizes and discusses the importance of the course content, sessions, and themes, implications for practice and theory, limitations of the current study, and suggestions for future research based on the results of this study. First, the course themes (Adolescents, Teaching for Understanding, Literacy within Content Areas) related to the findings that the participants came to understand from their experiences in the course. Next, the course content provided a strong context for the knowledge that the participants were able to construct throughout the study. These included: (a) 251 autobiography; (b) dialogue; (c) readings; ((1) teaching cases; (e) field experiences; and (f) ethnographic writing. Finally, the structure of the class sessions enabled participants to engage in instructional practices that mirrored the types that were being advocated in the course. These included: (a) lectures; (b) activities; and (c) dialogue, which broke down into (i) partners; (ii) proximal groups; (iii) random groups; (iv) content area groups; and (v) instructor/student interactions. Overall, it provides a strong framework for how courses in content area literacy could be structured in the future to help preservice secondary teachers connect their courses together and consider their roles as future teachers. The study can serve as an invitation for those in the fields of teacher education and adolescent literacy to consider the role this course could play in secondary teacher preparation. Course Themes The course themes of adolescents, teaching for understanding, and literacy within content areas made up the overall framework for the course information and the three research questions of this study. Everything that participants were asked to read, participate in, and create connected in some manner to one or more of the themes. This was extremely important, since the themes made up the framework of how the participants’ reported knowledge was analyzed. Participants’ knowledge about adolescents grew from one that related to age levels and fear of the unknown to a rich array of complexities. Participants expressed initial views on adolescents, but many admitted that their views changed in a variety of ways throughout the course. The challenges of building relationships became a reality when participants realized that it required honesty, trust, and respect. Plus, they saw how 252 the role of peers could play a strong role in changing an adolescent’s personality within a matter of seconds, making things even more complicated. Motivation was a large factor when considering adolescents, since apathy could overpower any type of required activity and relevancy was a key factor in engaging interest. Finally, expanding definitions of literacy practices among adolescents helped participants to consider multiple methods to present content and appreciate individual strengths. Without this emphasis on adolescents throughout the course, participants may not have been able to stretch their minds so far and in so many directions when considering their future students and the uniqueness of this age group. This makes it important to consider that preservice secondary teachers have field-based courses that allow them to work directly with adolescents and experience the realities of working with this age group, particularly on a personal level, because they can get a closer understanding of one adolescent for further consideration as they contemplate their roles as teachers. Teaching for understanding provided an emphasis on pedagogical practices that reached beyond delivery of content or engagement. Participants made connections to their initial views on pedagogical knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge by considering how lecture was previous seen as the only vehicle for instruction, and that there were many other ways to reach students and help with content Ieaming. Participants found that comprehension became their main focus as teachers, even coming above the curricular requirements for content areas. The use of strategies, as tools frr understanding, became a main instructional practice that participants showed an interest in for their teaching. Also, from experiences in tutoring, participants Ieamed how important it was to break down information, model their own reading practices, and 253 monitor students’ understanding. While successful in tutoring, participants also felt that these instructional practices would work well in their own teaching, enabling them to focus on the students’ understanding. Socioconstructivism was the main tenet that occurred through class discussions and was mentioned as a strong theoretical fiamework for teaching, which then factored in when participants considered it to be critical for their own teaching. Participants saw this theory as playing a large rob in the manner in which they wanted to conduct their own classes in the future. Time became a large issue initially, as participants questioned how teaching for understanding could happen when there were so many other curricular demands. Yet, by the end of the course, confidence was expressed that teaching for understanding could be integrated seamlessly into instruction and would actually be more important than content coverage, since student understanding needed to be the main goal. Without this emphasis on teaching for understanding in the course, participants would not have been encouraged to consider their roles as teachers beyond content and more into one of understanding and comprehension. They connected their knowledge of pedagogy to the variety of strategies and methods that they Ieamed. It is critical that a course in content area literacy provides information to consider on comprehension and strategies that relate to teaching for understanding, so that preservice secondary teachers can contemplate going beyond basic pedagogical practices and using techniques to help students construct meaning about content. Finally, literacy within content areas was woven throughout the course, with participants continually being asked to consider how they “ere conceptualizing literacy within their respective disciplines, both by the instructor and by the researcher. At the 254 beginning of the course, the majority of participants considered literacy to be reading and writing practices, with no connection to anything beyond text. Yet, as the course progressed, there were moments when participants became enthused that their conceptualizations of literacy were expanding to include broader literacy practices and more activities than reading and writing. Once it was explained that participants were not expected to become writing teachers, writing became a main factor that participants considered to be important when considering literacy practices in their content areas, even though their ideas on how to use it differed by discipline. Finally, by the end of the course, almost all participants remarked how much their definition of literacy had changed, and how they could see it being a critical factor in their content areas for their roles as future teachers. Many connections were made to content knowledge and ways that literacy could play a role. In fact, some expressed that they viewed the course to be the most important one in their teacher education program. Without the emphasis on literacy within content areas in the course, participants would not have been given opportunities to expand their definitions and to consider the multiple ways that literacy could play a role in their future classrooms. This makes it important that a course in content area literacy could provide information for preservice secondary teachers to consider for expanding their ideas on content and literacy and for bringing literacy to the forefront of their instruction in their disciplines. Course Content The content of the course, based on suggestions from O’Brien, Stewart, & Moje (1995), provided a rich information source for participants to engage within the desired information. These findings should open the doors to necessary conversations about 255 content that could be considered as essential in this course across the state and possibly the nation. With the limited amount of research available in this area at the current time, and the interests of those who are willing to engage in this type of dialogue, the timing is critical to take the information, outlined below, for consideration in the development of content proposals for literacy courses for preservice secondary content area teachers. The use of autobiography enabled participants to reflect on their own literacy deveIOpment and its impact on their lives. By allowing the participants to connect the potential course information to personal literacy experiences, it gave them a chance to see firsthand how their own roles as teachers can play a key part in their students’ development. Also, it provided a backdrop for the subsequent tutoring sessions, since participants were able to spend time remembering their own experiences as adolescents, making them more empathetic towards the students with whom they worked. Dialogue played a major role in the participants’ learning in the course. They interacted with classmates to discuss course readings and other information in every class session. Also, the Conversation Calendars (Tovani, 2004) gave a structure to instructor/student interactions at the conclusion (when it was filled out) and beginning (when it was returned the next session) of every class session. Continually, participants had opportunities to interact with various people to process the course content. Required course readings gave a variety of perspectives to participants in the areas of adolescents, teaching for understanding, and literacy within content areas. Adolescent literacy: A position statement (Moore, Bean, Birdyshaw, & Rycik, 1999) set the stage for the issues confi'onting adolescents today. Bean, Bean, & Bean (1999) opened the door to a rich discussion on adolescents’ literacy practices outside of school 256 and beyond traditional connotations of literacy. The books by Tovani (2000, 2004) gave honest portrayals of one teacher’s experiences with teaching for understanding with adolescents. Participants appreciated the fact that information was presented in the form of stories that did not shy away from the realities and challenges of teaching adolescents. Strategies across various content areas were presented in Buehl (2001), which seemed to be a favorite idea among participants. The book gave direct instructions on how to use various strategies, including how to apply them to different content areas. The strategy ideas helped participants consider how to use strategies to teach for understanding, both in tutoring and in their future classrooms. Finally, Fisher & Frey (2004) was required for graduate students (nine out of seventeen participants), providing stories of strategies that have worked well with adolescents in various content areas. Again, this was a key information source for participants, both for those who read the book and for the other participants who listened to the ideas during a class discussion. While the book provided graduate students with an additional reading source of information, it did not result in significant differences in the knowledge expressed between graduate and undergraduate students. Overall, the readings gave a tremendous amount of information to consider, which participants embraced as they came to understand and conceptualize adolescents, teaching for understanding, and literacy within content areas. It should be kept in mind that there are several quality sources available that could function as well or even better than the sources mentioned above, so these references should be considered possible ideas but not the only ways to access similar information. The teaching cases enabled participants to examine a teaching situation in depth by looking at various course themes and issues. Even though participants had some 257 experiences in schools prior to the course (ranging from preliminary classroom visits to full-time classroom assistance and/or teaching), many participants remarked how this type of analysis was different, since they considered the cases through the lens of the course information. It gave them a chance to consider teaching practices within the contexts of adolescents, teaching for understanding, and/or literacy within content areas. These types of cases can be powerful in providing preservice teachers with similar experiences to discuss and analyze before encountering a variety of situations out in the field. Plus, it gave participants practice with this type of analysis before conducting their own classroom observation. The cases also provided rich opportunities for participants to connect their knowledge of content and pedagogy to the information being Ieamed in the course. The required field experiences, both in tutoring and in classroom observations, gave participants authentic situations to apply the course information and to analyze its potential in occurring with adolescents and in actual classroom settings. For tutoring, the direct experience with adolescents enabled participants to confront the challenges of working with struggling adolescents, teaching strategies for understanding, and building relationships. It went beyond any other experiences they had within their teacher education program, since the personal nature of tutoring gave them the opportunity to gain access to adolescents in a close manner. The complexities of their experiences make this something that could be integral in all literacy courses. Also, the classroom observations gave each participant the opportunity to examine an authentic teaching situation and consider it within the realm of literacy. Some of the participants remarked that this type of observation was instrumental in their consideration of how literacy could 258 be incorporated into content teaching in a seamless and natural manner and how it connected to their current views on content and pedagogy. Plus, many participants found it critical for teachers to consider their students’ understandings when they present content information, keeping this above any demands and pressures to race through curriculum requirements. Ethnographic writing provided rich narratives of the participants’ experiences throughout the course. This was displayed through written considerations of course assignments, detailed analyses of tutoring sessions, and a final reflection on the overall course content. Participants were continually asked to consider applications for their content areas, including their views on the feasibility of utilizing the ideas. This continual monitoring of the Ieaming process enabled participants to contemplate the usefulness of the course information as they encountered it, instead of waiting until the end of the course to consider possible implications. Structure of Class Sessions The class sessions were structured in a way that participants were able to experience firsthand the pedagogical practices that were advocated in the course. By modeling strong pedagogical practices, the instructor engaged the participants in he course content in a manner that they could also consider for their own future roles as classroom teachers, connecting to their existing views on pedagogy. Also, participants were able to see how these types of instructional practices could play a role in their own understanding, helping them see how a similar effect could happen with their own students. They continually mentioned how the class sessions were engaging, interesting, and that the four- hour time span went by quickly. 259 The main pedagogical methods were lectures, activities, and dialogue. The lectures were brief, but the instructor used this method to explain various ideas of course information. The activities made up the bulk of the class sessions, which gave participants a variety of ideas to experience and also to utilize with their own students. Finally, dialogue with partners and groups helped build socioconstructivist practices and methodology, enabling participants to see that this type of theory and instruction takes the majority of the responsibility for Ieaming off of the instructor and puts it within the entire classroom community. There were key participants who embraced this concept, saying that they found it to be very effective in their own Ieaming and something that they wanted to use in their own teaching. The integration of each of the methods seemed to play a role in how the students interacted with and Ieamed the content information, as opposed to experiencing each method separately. Implications for Practice and Theory This study raises questions related to current practices in adolescent literacy and teacher education and questions that relate to a theoretical nature. This section addresses issues of practice by exploring the potential risks of continuing the current format of fragmenting teacher education or even considering elimination of a required reading/literacy course for secondary teacher candidates. Implications for theory consider socioconstructivism as a main framework for both pedagogical practice and instructional philosophy. Practice The field of teacher education has historically focused on preparing secondary teachers to become strong instructors in a specified discipline. Along the way, 260 coursework in pedagogy provides adequate information on methods to convey content to students. In some teacher education programs, there might be a further emphasis on classroom management and assessment. Yet, as the research in teacher preparation has often noted, this “collection of courses” approach does not necessarily ensure that teacher candidates know how to put all of the information together to become an effective teacher (Fenstermacher & Richardson, 2005). Many in the field of adolescent literacy have taken an extreme approach, advocating for the consideration of adolescents and their literacies to the possible exclusion of school contexts (Alvermann, 1998). While this is a critical factor to understanding students, it raises concerns that such exclusivity could deter from helping preservice teachers in considering the needs and complexities of their future students. Plus, there is little emphasis on how these literacies could play out in content area classrooms, leaving a gap between literacy and disciplinary knowledge. This study set out to discover the knowledge that preservice secondary teachers develop throughout a course in content area literacy. It was proposed that this course could be a bridge between teacher education and adolescent literacy, providing participants with information to connect adolescents, teaching for understanding, and literacy within content areas to their views of what it means to become a teacher. The overall findings provide rich discourse from the participants in what they came to know and understand over the duration, and how they envision this will play out in their futures as classroom teachers. The existing research in the area of teacher preparation in content area literacy has focused on the preservice teachers’ resistance towards and misconceptions about having 261 to take a literacy course (O'Brien, 1988; Stewart & O’Brien, 1989; O'Brien & Stewart, 1990). What the current study has been able to do is go beyond the resistance, which actually did not surface further than the admission of some initial uncertainties about the necessity of the course, and instead portrayed complex understandings of the role that literacy plays when understanding adolescents, teaching for understanding, and disciplinary knowledge. The scope of the preservice secondary teachers’ understarrlings reached deep into the realm of teacher identity and student relationships, situating the course as a critical factor in the entire teacher education process. This provides strong information to advocate for this type of course, and also offers several possibilities to consider for essential course content that can have such a strong impact on the development of teachers. Leora Socioconstructivist theory provided the theoretical framework for the study and for the course. The collaborative community that existed among the students and the instructor allowed for activity systems that encouraged growth in knowledge and understanding (O’Brien, 1988). The activities throughout the course were purposeful and allowed for participants to work with others p consider their expanding definitions of adolescents and literacy. The current study took a constructivist approach in analyzing data (Vygotsky, 1987), considering the manner in which participants constructed meaning about adolescents, teaching for understanding, and literacy within content areas throughout the course. This open-ended approach to data analysis kept the information in the control of the participants, since it was their views that were being shared and their stories that were 262 being told through their experiences in the course. As the findings present, participants’ views on each area of concentration were expanded and strengthened by their opportunities to interact with others. Plus, their conversations enabled them to make connections to prior knowledge on content, adolescents, and pedagogy. This theory was instrumental in providing a framework for instruction and a framework for data analysis. Since it played such a key role in the entire study, it certainly provided strong evidence for its potential success in contributing to the development of preservice secondary teachers. It also raises the question of other theoretical frameworks that may have influenced the study and/or the course in unintentional ways, limiting the findings or at least changing the manner in which the findings were determined. A different lens would certainly transform the study and the course into an entirely new experience. Significance, Limitations, and Future Research This study contributes to both educational theory and practice. By focusing on a course in content area literacy, it provides a rich narrative about the potential for these types of courses. The study also provides data about the understandings of preservice secondary teachers towards adolescents, teaching for understanding, and literacy within content areas. The analysis of how the participants conceptualized the course information supports the importance that this course plays in the role of teacher development in terms of connecting content, adolescents, and pedagogy. This course could make a strong impact on the future of preservice teachers, and it should not be disregarded as useless, unnecessary, and unable to overcome students’ resistance. 263 Although the study described several examples of the knowledge development that occurs among preservice secondary content area teachers during a course in content area literacy, this study had a number of limitations, including the following: (a) limited number of participants; (b) limited length of study; (c) examination of only three themes; ((1) setting; and (d) researcher’s perspective. First, because of the focus on only seventeen participants, with three or less representatives from the various content areas, it is not possible to generalize to other preservice secondary content area teachers. Conducting a larger study with more participants, with larger representation in the various disciplines, would provide more generalizability of the results. Plus, there were disciplines that were not represented in the study (foreign language, vocational education, family and consumer sciences), so it would be necessary to conduct further research in those areas. Second, although much was revealed in a sixteen-week time frame about what participants conceptualized and came to understand, the study was limited to a short period of time during a semester. The structure of the academic calendar set the parameters for this time constraint. Tracing participants’ Ieaming over the course and into their student teaching and induction years of teaching could reveal longitudinal data for how the participants utilize the course information in subsequent contexts. Third, data for this study focused on the three course themes —— adolescents, teaching for understanding, and literacy within content areas. This was the intent of the course from its design, and the instructor provided the participants with a variety of experiences with these ideas. Studies with other themes might reveal that participants internalized different aspects of the course content. Further, I observed and interviewed 264 participants within one course; participants’ previous experiences in other education courses may have influenced what they conceptualized. Yet, due to the fact that the course followed the standards required by the State Department of Education, it offers suggestions for the structure of state-required secondary reading courses at other teacher preparation institutions throughout the state and possibly the nation. Fourth, since this course was taught at a small, Catholic college, the student population was unique in comparison to all students in teacher preparation programs in public colleges and universities across the nation. (Of course, the graduate students at the college tend to attend the teacher preparation program more for the quick route to teacher certification than for the religious affiliation at the college.) A study at several teacher preparation institutions could control for factors that a single setting cannot avoid. Finally, because I worked closely with the instructor in the course development, my interpretations and analyses could reflect more of the instructor’s “side” rather than the participants’ perspectives. Yet, I have been aware of this dilemma, and I have continually shared my results with the participants to ensure that my findings tell their stories and not my interpretations of their ideas. I have also periodically compared my perspective with the instructor’s to ensure that my views were unbiased and reflective. Future studies could build upon the present study by following participants over a longer period of time, such as into their student teaching experiences and their induction years in teaching. This would provide insight into the lasting effects of the course information once the course is not immediately in the forefront. Plus, it would bring in the realistic implications the participants are faced with once they encounter the realities of classroom teaching. These stories would provide firrther evidence of the potential 265 impact of a course in content area literacy, beyond the Ieaming in the course and into the classrooms with the students who the preservice teachers will encounter when they begin teaching. This study suggests the importance of a course in content area literacy in encouraging preservice secondary content area teachers to make sense of the various messages that they encounter throughout their teacher education experiences. Future studies could examine this experience and investigate the messages that are presented, resulting in varying extents of teacher identities. The research could go beyond this course and examine the entire teacher preparation experience, seeing how preservice teachers make sense of the messages and develop their identities as teachers. In conclusion, I suggest that through additional studies relating to preservice secondary content area teachers and literacy, we can build deeper understandings of individual Ieaming about becoming a teacher of content arri a teacher of adolescents. Plus, we can strengthen the effectiveness of courses in content area literacy by analyzing the content, requirements, and pedagogical practices. It would be exciting to consider that every preservice secondary teacher could complete a teacher education program with a strong understanding of adolescents, teaching for understanding, and literacy within content areas, even to the point of advocating for literacy as being more critical than their curriculum demands, while connecting their views on content and pedagogy. This study provides interesting information to ponder when contemplating this idea, and it opens the door for many future discussions in this field. 266 APPENDICES 267 APPENDIX A SYLLABUS Content Area Literacy Spring 2005 Textbooks Classroom Strategies for Interactive Learning, 2"“ Edition by Doug Buehl I Read It, But 1 Don ’t Get It by Cris Tovani (#1) Do I Really Have to Teach Reading? by Cris Tovani (#2) State Curriculum Framework Content Standards and Benchmarks Improving Adolescent Literacy: Strategies at Work by Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey — graduate ONE OTHER BOOK OF YOUR CHOICE (with Instructor approval) - graduate Course Objectives: This course follows the state Department of Education Certification Standards for the Preparation of all Secondary Teachers in Reading Instruction (see pages 6-7). Class Dates January 18, February 1, February 15, March 1, March 15, March 29, April 12, April 26 Attendance Instructor MUST be notified of absences in advance, if possible. ONLY emergencies constitute an excused absence. Communication The main method of communication outside of class will be via e-mail. Also, postings will be on the class website. You MUST be in the habit of checking your e-mail every day in order to stay in touch during this course. Grading All work submitted must be high quality and written with correct usage in the English language in order to receive full credit. Work must be typed (if appropriate), proofi'ead, and considered publishable for schools. All work is due when scheduled. Work will receive 50% off of the total point value when late. Failure to follow these guidelines WILL result in a reduction of the overall course grade. Revisions You may resubmit a revised assignment once if there is a desire to improve the grade. Revisions must be completed within one class session of the returned assignment. The old copy of the assignment must be returned with the new copy. 268 Requirements for All Students: 1. 2. Course Readings (notes, discussions, etc.) 3. Literacy Autobiography (on the class website) 4. Multiple Texts Assignment (on the class website) 5. Classroom Observation (on the class website) 6. Writing Ideas (on the class website) 7. Great Writing Assignment 8. Strategies Collection 9. Tutoring Journals (10) "MUST turn in completed Tutoring Log for credit "MU ST have signed Tutoring Evaluation for credit 10. Final Reflection TOTAL Requirements for Graduate Students: 1. All of the above requirements for All Students 2. Fisher & Frey Discussion 3. Other Book Reflection Paper (on class website) TOTAL Grading Scale: (points converted to percentages) 95-100 A 90-94 A- 88-89 B+ 85-87 B 80-84 B- 78-79 C+ 75-77 C 74-0 NC Attendance/Participation in 100% of class sessions (8) 269 80 points 40 points 15 points 30 points 35 points 25 points 50 points 75 points 50 points 25 points 425 points 425 points 25 points 50 points 500 points Content Area Literacy Spring 2005 Class #1 — Januagy 18 Introductions, Syllabus, State Curriculum Framework Vision and Teaching and Learning Standards, Socioconstructivism, Definition of Literacy, International Reading Association Adolescent Literacy Position Statement, Literacy Events, Comprehension Ideas, Tutoring Placements, Professional Organizations, Class Website, Assign Literacy Autobiography Homework DUE on F ebruar_'y 1 ALL Read Bean, Bean, and Bean article (on the class website) and write notes in the margins. Read Chapters 1 — 2 in Tovani #l and Chapter 1 in Tovani #2 and write comments for each chapter on sticky notes. Literacy Autobiography DUE (on the class website and bring to class). Download or purchase State Curriculum Framework Content Standards and Benchmarks for both your major and your minor. Acquire access to the class website (key: literacysp05). Find Tutoring Placement. Class #2 - February 1 , Adolescent Literacy, Literacy Autobiography, State Curriculum Framework Content Standards and Benchmarks, Literacy, No Easy Answers, Fake Reading, Tutoring, Assign Multiple Texts Assignment, Assign Strategies Collection Homework DUE on February 15 ALL Read Chapters 3-5 in Tovani #1 and Chapters 3-5 in Tovani #2 and write comments for each chapter using sticky notes. Multiple Texts Assignment DUE (on the class website and bring examples to class). Begin Tutoring. Bring Buehl book to the next class. Class #3 — February 15 Purposes, Text Sets, Share Multiple Texts Assignment, Monitoring Comprehension, Chunking, Fix-Up Strategies, Mental Modeling, Vocabulary, Revisit Socioconstructivism Homework DUE on March 1 ALL Read Chapter 6 in Tovani #1 and Chapter 2 in Tovani #2 and write comments for each chapter using a double-entry diary (What the Text Says/My Connection). Begin Tutoring Journals (Tutoring Journals #1 and #2 DUE by this time on the class website). Class #4 — March 1 Making Connections, Writing, Assign Great Writing Assignment, Assign Classroom Observation 270 Homework DUE on March 8 (on class website) ALL Writing Ideas DUE (on the class website and bring to class on March 15). Homework DUE on March 15 ALL DRAFT of Great Writing Assignment DUE (bring to class). Continue Tutoring Journals (Tutoring Journals #3 and #4 DUB by this time on the class website). Work on Strategies Collection. G Fisher & Frey Book Discussion (with Notes) DUE. Choose other book for reflection paper. Class #5 — March 15 Guest Speaker - Mapping, Share Writing Ideas, Review DRAFT of Great Writing Assignment, Fisher & Frey Book Discussion (by Graduate Strrlents) Homework DUE on March 22 ALL Read Chapter 7 in Tovani #l and Chapter 6 in Tovani #2 and write comments for each chapter using Mapping. Great Writing Assignment DUE. Bring in ideas for Strategies Collection. Continue Tutoring Journals (Tutoring .bumals #5 and #6 DUE by this time on the class website). Class #6 — March 2_9 Determining Important Ideas, Text Structures, Holding Thinking, Note Taking, Asking Questions, Revisit Socioconstructivism, Share ideas for Strategies Collection Homework DUE on April 12 ALL Read Chapters 8-9 in Tovani #1 and Chapters 7-9 in Tovani #2 and write comments for each chapter using two-column notes (What the Text Says/How This Connects to My Content Area). Classroom Observation DUE (on the class website). Continue Tutoring Journals (Tutoring Journals #7 and #8 DUE by this time on the class website). G Other Book Reflection Paper DUE (on class website). Be ready to discuss book in groups. Class #7 — pril 12 Making Inferences, Group Work, Discussion, Assessment, Literacy Plan State Curriculum Framework Assessment Standards, Beers Book Discussion (by Reading Minors), Other Book Sharing (by Graduate Students), Assessment Night Preview 271 Homework DUE on April 26 ALL Strategies Collection DUE. Finish Tutoring Journals (Tutoring Journals #9 and #10 DUE by this time on the class website). Tutoring Log DUE. Tutoring Evaluation DUE. RM Post complete Electronic Dialogue Journal on the class website. Class #8 — April 26 Assessment Night, Revisit Socioconstructivism, Assign Final Reflection Homework DUE on May 3 (on class website) ALL Final Reflection DUE. Celebrate — you made it! © Be sure to write a note of appreciation to your tutoring placement. *This schedule is tentative. Please be patient with possible changes/additions/deletions. 272 State Certification Standards for the Preparation of all Secondary Teachers in Reading Instruction Standards for Professionalism in Reading All secondary teacher candidates will: 1. demonstrate professional practices when they pursue knowledge of reading and Ieaming processes; and 2. know major theories and relevant research from general education, special education, psychology, and other fields. Standards for Kpowledge about Content in Reading All secondary teacher candidates will: 3. demonstrate understanding of the integrated nature of the English Language Arts across all content areas; 4. understand reading as “the process of constructing meaning through the dynamic interaction among the reader’s existing knowledge, the information suggested by the written language, and the context of the reading situation”; 5. articulate the developmental nature of literacy on a continuum of emergent, developing, and fluent levels and the experiences that support the continuum; 6. understand the symbolic system of written language; 7. understand the processes of second language acquisition and the implications for developing oral language, reading, and writing proficiency; and 8. understand the social, cultural, and dynamic nature of language. Standards for Kn_gwledge about Students All secondary teacher candidates will: 9. understand how contextual factors in the classroom influence student learning and reading; 10. describe characteristics of fluent readers; 11. know and implement practices that address the strengths and needs of all learners; 12. recognize and provide differentiated instruction for students with reading disorders; and 13. provide instruction and support for students with reading disorders. Standards for Knowledge about Assessment All secondary teacher candidates will: 14. employ assessment practices based on learning theories and aligned with literacy goals, curriculum standards, and instruction that reflect high expectations for all students; and 15. interpret and use information from both formal and informal assessments. 273 Standards for Knowledge about Readipglnstruction All secondary teacher candidates will: l6. 17 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. increase the motivation for learners to read widely and independently for information, pleasure, and personal growth; teach and model effective listening and speaking strategies within content areas; incorporate language conventions to facilitate understanding in all content areas; understand that readers need to have and use a variety of word identification approaches and strategies in reading content area materials; present and utilize a variety of strategies for learning content-area vocabulary; know and utilize a variety of ways to promote comprehension of texts within the content areas; analyze how oral, written, and visual texts convey meaning; understand the characteristics of texts and how textual aids enhance comprehension; understand the importance of having students respond in a variety of ways to texts; utilize the writing process; and know and utilize a variety of study strategies for comprehending and learning content- area information. Standards for Knowledge about Inmry All secondary teacher candidates will: 27. 28. recognize the value of Ieaming through genuine inquiry and utilize strategies for fostering student inquiry; and facilitate student use of inquiry and communication processes to convey meaning in content area subject matter. Standards for Knowledgg about Communication with Community All secondary teacher candidates will: 29. 30. communicate effectively with parents, students, and colleagues about learners’ progress and development in the content area; and implement effective strategies to include parents as partners in content literacy development. 274 Literacy Autobiography Most everyone can remember a book that has had an impact on his or her life. Often this book is connected to a pleasurable experience. It could have been the first book you Ieamed to read. It could have been a book that troubled you. An important book doesn’t necessarily have to be well loved. Think about your history as a reader. Recall a book that sticks out in your mind and complete the following: Title: Author: Give two reasons why the book is important to you: 1. 2. Literacy histories can often determine how we read and write. Past reading experiences influence our current reading and writing. List five positive or negative reading and/or writing events that affect the way you read and write today. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 15 points ' 5 points — Important Book (1 point for book, 2 points for each reason) I 10 points — Literacy History (2 points per event) 275 Multiple Texts Assignment Bring in 5 different “texts” that represent the same concept. List the State Curriculum Framework Content Standards and Benchmarks that the "texts" teach students. Before class, post a list of your 5 “texts” and an explanation for each as to how it can teach the concept, plus your Content Standards and Benchmarks. “Texts” can include written, visual, auditory, or other forms of content, such as textbooks, websites, videos, articles, cartoons, etc. Have firn with this! Post your “texts” on the class website before the due date, and then bring your “texts” to class to share with others in your content area. Be sure to also include in your posting what you have learned about using multiple texts in your content area. 30 points ' 5 points per “text” (25 points total) - Proper citation of “text” — 1 point - Detailed explanation about the “text” — 2 points ' State Curriculum Framework Content Standards and Benchmarks for each “text” — 1 point - Bringing the “text” to class and sharing with classmates — 1 point . Reflection on using multiple texts — 5 points 276 Classroom Observation Visit a classroom in your major or minor (this must be done outside of tutoring time) for one class period (about 45-55 minutes). For your visit, focus on issues of literacy. Observe and analyze the literacy events and comprehension ideas as evidenced in a complete class lesson in your content area. Literacy Events I Reading I Speaking I Writing I Viewing I Listening I Visually Representing Comprehension Ideas I Setting a Purpose I Making Connections I Monitoring Comprehension I Asking Questions I Using F ix—Up Strategies I Making Inferences Determining Important Ideas Write up your observation in a scenario format (as slam in class). Underneath the scenario, list all of the Literacy Events and Comprehension Ideas, and then provide an explanation of how each one was demonstrated (or not) in the lesson. List the school, teacher, class, date, and time that you did the observation. (You might want to use a pseudonym if the teacher did not do a great lesson, and then tell your instructor privately what the real name is for the teacher.) After the lesson (and hopefully, before the lesson too), be sure to talk to the teacher about what he/she intended for the lesson. Write up your reflection on observing this lesson undemeath your scenario, including how the teacher’s intentions matched (or did not match) the lesson. Also, you must hand in your notes in class (an outline will be given to you) on the date that this is due. 35 points I Details about observation (school, teacher, class, date, and time) — 2 points I Notes turned in — 3 points I Scenario -— 5 points I Literacy Events — 6 points I Comprehension Ideas - 14 points I Reflection on observation, including conversation with teacher —- 5 points 277 Writing Ideas List 10 RAFT S ideas that you would use in your content area class. Put a a: by the RAF TS that you intend to turn into your Great Writing Assignment. Plus, list 10 other writing ideas (journal prompts, quickwrites, etc.) that you would use in your content area class. Then, write a reflection on how you would use writing in your content area. Post all of this on the class website one week before the next class. 25 points I RAFTS ideas (10) — 10 points I Other writing ideas (10) — 10 points I Reflection on writing — 5 points 278 Great Writing Assignment Assignment Summary Your assignment is to develop a Great Writing Assignment. It has three objectives. First, it is designed to help you develop your skills as a teacher of writing across the curriculum. Second, it will provide you with a Great Writing Assignment to use with students. Third, it gives you wonderful teacher practice! Purpose Your purpose is to develop one Great Writing Assignment. This writing is practical and informative. The main intent of the writing is to provide clear information. If the assignment is written well, students will not have questions about what they are expected to do. Role You are writing as a teacher in your content area. Audience Your audience is your students in your content area class. Format The form will follow the Great Writing Assignment format. Focus Correction Areas (FCAs) — 50 points 1. Provides clear information about six of the elements (Assignment Summary, Purpose, Role, Audience, Format, and Procedures) that make up an assignment — 12 points 2. Has clear and appropriate focus correction areas — 6 points 3. Includes a graphic organizer for students to organize ideas — 10 points 4. Includes revision and editing checklists, highlighting the areas that need special attention — 10 points 5. Includes a self-assessment for students when they are finished — 5 points 6. Demonstrates professionalism I Proofread and student- fiiendly - 5 points I Includes all work (graphic organizer, checklists, etc.) — 2 points Procedures Prewriting 1. Select one RAFTS idea (from Writing Ideas) that you would like to make into a longer assignment. 2. Use the class graphic organizer (provided in class) to fill in the needed information Drafting 3. Using information generated in steps one and two, draft your assignment, using your class graphic organizer to help you. 4. After drafting the assignment with all seven elements, create a graphic organizer for students to write down information. 279 5. Write a revision checklist and an editing checklist, making sure the students check for criteria on the FCAs and for anything else that you think is important. 6. Write a self-assessment for students. Revising 7. Bring your rough draft to class. 8. Share your rough draft with your classmates. 9. Use the class revision checklist to review your assignment. 10. Based on feedback from the sharing and review in class, make any necessary changes. Editing 1 I. Use the class editing checklist to check for any last minute proofreading mistakes. l2. Double-check your assigned FCAs. Publishing 13. Turn in two copies of your Great Writing Assignment, along with all of your rough draft work. (This will be a paper copy.) 14. Post your Great Writing Assignment on the class website. 15. Fill out the class self-assessment in class to reflect on your experience. 280 Strategies Collection During the course, you will be putting together a collection of literacy strategies that you could see yourself using in your content area classroom. These will be strategies that you read about, practice in class, and/or observe teachers using. Here are the criteria: 1. There need to be 15 strategies. 2. For each strategy, you need to write about why you would use it, how you would use it, and where you Ieamed it. 3. For each strategy, you need to provide an example of what it looks like. (You will “play” student to do this.) "THIS NEEDS TO BE AN ORIGINAL EXAMPLE THAT YOU CREATE, NOT SOMETHING THAT YOU COPY FROM A RESOURCE (BUEHL, BEERS, TOVANI, ETC.). 4. For each strategy, you need to list which literacy events it can be used with and comprehension ideas it relates to for student understanding. "REMEMBER THAT THERE ARE SIX LITERACY EVENTS TO CHOOSE FROM, AND ALSO SEVEN COMPREHENSION IDEAS TO CHOOSE FROM, EVEN THOUGH THE EXAMPIE ON THE WEBSITE ONLY SHOWS THE ONES THAT RELATE TO CERTAIN LITERACY EVENTS AND COMPREHENSION IDEAS. 5. There must be at least two vocabulary strategies, at least one writing strategy, and at least one note taking/mapping strategy. These need to be clearly marked. 6. The collection should be put together in a folder/binder or be submitted in an electronic format. It should look professional for presentation. If it is not professional, it will be returned to be revised, but you will lose all professional points. 7. Have fun with this! This will really get you thinking about how you can incorporate literacy strategies as a teacher. Focus Correction Areas - 75 points 1. Explanation on why/how/where is included 15 points 2. Connection to literacy events 15 points 3. Connection to comprehension ideas 15 points 4. Example for each strategy (hi gh-achievin g secondary student) 15 points 5. Professional 15 points It will be due on the last night of class. You need to work on this ALL SEMESTER. As you Ieam different strategies, always be asking yourself if you could see yourself using it in your classroom. Then, write it up! Also, you must provide a self-addressed, stamped envelope to return your project to you. NO EXCEPTIONS! If you do not do this, and your project is not returned, you will not receive a grade in the class until this is resolved. 281 Final Reflection Directions Write a five-page paper in response to the scenario question. Your own ideas and experiences may be used in your response, but you MUST refer to information and/or examples from the books and articles read for class, Socioconstructivism, the materials and handouts presented in class, Literacy Events, Comprehension Ideas, Literacy Autobiography, Multiple Texts, Writing Ideas, Great Writing Assignment, Literacy Plan, Classroom Observation, Strategies Collection, tutoring, and Assessment Night. The paper must be typed, double-spaced, and in proper APA or MLA format for sources cited. Scenario You can hardly believe it’s true! You’re actually interviewing for the teaching position of your dreams. The interviewing team consists of two content area teachers, the principal, an assistant principal, a special education teacher, a parent, and a school board member. So far, you’ve had a great interview and you’re feeling really confident about the position. Then, the principal says, “This is our most important question. What does literacy mean to you?” You can hear a pin drop as the entire interviewing team leans forward to hear your answer. Scenario Response Write a five-page paper in response to the interview question. Keep in mind your audience and your role. (Of course, you may not talk for over three to five minutes in response to this question in an actual interview, but it never hurts to overprepare.) Use the checklist to review your response before posting it on the class website. 25 points I Content — 10 points I Organization — 5 points I Style (Audience) — 5 points I Mechanics — 5 points 282 Tutoring Requirements Requirements Field Placement I MUST be arranged to take place in a school setting I MUST take place in a secondary setting (grades 7-12+) I MUST take place in school on approved list unless there is a geographical circumstance I MUST complete twelve hours of tutoring over a MINIMUM of a ten-week period I instructor will call to verify placement and fulfilhnent of hours Tutoring Log I must be dated and signed at each tutoring session I it needs to be turned in by the last class session Field Experience Evaluation Form I to be filled out by observer while you are tutoring I this can be handed back to you to turn in or it can be mailed to your instructor I this will be given to you halfway through the course 283 Tutoring Journals Tutoring Journals You are required to write 10 journals, based on each tutoring experience, that you will post on the class website. Use a pseudonym for the student’s name. At least 5 of the journals must relate to the following strategies: I Previewing/ Surveying I SMART/Chunking/Fix-Up Strategies I Mapping I Two-Column Notes I Questions Also, journals (5 points each) must relate to the following five areas: 1. Strategy were you able to teach/practice (1 point) 2. Lesson in ITIP format (1 point) 3. Connect to literacy events (1 point) 4. Connect to comprehension ideas (1 point) 5. What have you Ieamed about adolescents/struggling readers (1 point) Tutoring Lesson When teaching a strategy, you should follow the ITIP format: 1. ANTICIPATORY SET . I focus student attention I develop readiness for instruction that follows 2. LESSON OBJECTIVE AND PURPOSE I WHAT you want the student(s) to accomplish I WHY it is important to student(s) 3. INSTRUCTIONAL INPUT I information student(s) need(s) about strategy I WHEN to use strategy I WHERE strategy would be used 4. MODELING I show student(s) HOW to do strategy by actually doing it 5. CHECKING FOR UNDERSTANDING I review WHAT, WHY, WHEN, WHERE, HOW I review information about strategy 6. GUIDED PRACTICE I guide student(s) through practicing strategy, checking for errors 7. INDEPENDENT PRACTICE I allow student(s) to independently practice strategy 8. EVALUATION I discuss with student(s) how the strategy worked or did not work I discuss use of strategy with other materials, subject areas 284 Fisher & Frey Book Discussion Graduate Students ONLY Read Improving Adolescent Literacy: Strategies at Work by Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey. While reading each chapter, take notes in a two-column format, with the following headings: What the text ms. .. What I think... Then, when the book is due, come to class ready to discuss your notes with other graduate students. You will do this in a fishbowl format, while the rest of the class takes notes on your discussion. It is extremely important that you think about how the ideas in the book can relate to your content area and your teaching. Those will be things that you should discuss, and also get some ideas from other graduate students during the discussion. 25 points I detailed notes on chapters, with connections to content areas — 15 points I participation in group discussion - 10 points 285 Other Book Reflection Graduate Students ONLY You have a choice for a book to read that relates to literacy. Here are some ideas: Struggling Adolescent Readers by David W. Moore, Donna E. Alvermann, and Kathleen A. Hinchman (Editors) ' Teaching Reading in Social Studies, Science, and Math by Laura Robb Teaching Reading in Middle School by Laura Robb Wren Kids Can ’t Read: What Teachers Can Do by Kylene Beers Weaving Through Words: Using the Arts to Teach Reading Comprehension Strategies by Roberta D. Mantione and Sabine Smead Words, Words, Words: Teaching Vocabulary in Grades 4-12 by Janet Allen Action Strategies for Deepening Comprehension: Role Plays, Text Structure T ableaux, Talking Statues, and Other Enrichment Techniques That Engage Students with Text by Jeffrey Wilhelm Subjects Matter: Every Teacher ’s Guide to Content-Area Reading by Harvey Daniels and Steven Zemelman Reading Reasons by Kelly Gallagher Deeper Reading: Comprehending Challenging Texts by Kelly Gallagher Inquiry, Literacy, and Learning in the Middle Grades by Lauren Freedman and Holly Johnson When you have chosen a book (you are not limited to the list), you need to get approval from your instructor before you start reading. After reading the book, write a 7-10 page paper, describing ways to use the ideas from the book in your classroom. Please submit the papers electronically on the class website. Papers should be typed, double-spaced, and proofread. Also, note that papers will be archived to be sure that no one will copy the same paper for credit in the future. You need to be ready to share your reflections with the class. 50 points I Details from book (synthesis, not summary)— 10 points I Application to content area — 30 points I Mechanics (proofreading, length, etc.) — 10 points 286 APPENDIX B INTERVIEW PROMPTS Interview #1 — Beginning of Course— after Class #1 1. 2. 3. 9‘3"? Tell me about your background, including why you want to become a teacher. Tell me about how you envision your role as a future (content area) teacher. Tell me about the courses you have taken in your teacher preparation program and how these have contributed to your development as a teacher. Describe your thoughts on adolescents from the IRA Adolescent Literacy Position Statement. Describe what literacy means to you in regards to (content area). Tell me about your current understandings of socioconstructivism. Interview #2— One-Third into the Course— after Class #3 NQMPP’N!‘ Tell me about your current Ieaming or understandings 1n the content area literacy course. Tell me about your thoughts on the Bean, Bean, and Bean (1999) article. Describe your understandings from writing your Literacy Autobiography. Tell me your understandings fi'om the Tovani #l and Tovani #2 readings. Describe your thoughts on multiple texts in (content area). Tell me about your tutoring placement. Tell me about your current understandings of socioconstructivism. Interview #3 — Two-Thirds into the Course — after Class #6 SP‘MPP’N?‘ Tell me about your current Ieaming or understandings in the content area literacy course. Tell me your understandings from the Tovani #1 and Tovani #2 readings. Describe your understandings from the Fisher & Frey book discussion. Tell me about your understandings of writing in (content area). Describe how the scenarios are contributing to your understanding of teaching. Describe how the tutoring is affecting your thoughts on adolescents. Tell me about your current understandings of socioconstructivism. Interview #4 — End of Course — after Class #8 l. 2. 3. 7. 8. 9. Tell me about how you envision your role as a future (content area) teacher. Describe how your thoughts on adolescents have changed through the course discussions and activities. Describe how your thoughts on adolescents have changed through working with students in tutoring. Describe what literacy means to you in regards to (content area). Describe how this description of literacy has changed through the course discussions and activities. Describe how this description of literacy has changed through working with students in tutoring. Tell me your understandings from the Tovani #l and Tovani #2 readings. Tell me what you Ieamed from the classroom observation. Tell me about the Literacy Plan that you developed with your classmates. 10. 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