Preparing Preservice Teachers for Emergent Bilinguals: Rationale and Methods for Faculty Development

• In Event: 49.088 - Roundtable Session 17
  In Roundtable Session: 49.088-11 - Preparing Classroom Teachers to Succeed With Second Language Learners: Research From a Faculty Learning Community

Abstract

Paper objective: This paper: 1) provides the rationale, context, and nature of our project as a foundation for all the papers that will follow; 2) explains the underlying theoretical models for our work to help others adapt the kinds of outcomes, theoretical approach, and specific activities we used to other contexts.

Rationale: See the introduction to this proposal.

Context: Data were collected in one public state university’s two teacher education programs: the three-year integrated Bachelor’s and Master’s program, which typically certifies 120-145 elementary, secondary, and special education teachers each year; and a program which certifies 70 secondary teachers who enter already holding a BA in a subject area, and complete this MA-degree program during one summer plus school year. Core faculty in both programs—a total 18 tenure-line and clinical professors—participated in our community, which began in spring 2010, and has built on a book club begun in 2006. Notes and recordings of meetings, memos from participants, and interviews with participants help us document what we did and suggest what mattered to participants, setting context for the following papers exploring preservice teachers’ experiences.

Theoretical framework: Building on the National Academy of Education’s “Framework for Teacher Learning” (Hammerness, Darling-Hammond & Bransford, 2005), we posit that that effective teachers must develop specific understandings, practices, dispositions, and an underlying vision of the possible to inspire their practice (Figure 1). We also develop a community of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998) conceptualization of how preservice teacher learning results in the ability to enact practice.

This framework is used in subsequent papers’ data analysis and discussion.

Results and data sources: We use this framework to suggest how four activities we engaged in as part of the project were well aligned with promoting the outcomes specified for K-12 teachers (figure 1) and teacher educators in our project: peer coaching; reading group/book club; presentations and workshops by outside experts; and protocol-guided discussion (McDonald, Mohr, Dichter, & McDonald, 2003) to promote learning from our own practice and student work. For each element of faculty development, we describe what we did, and then use quotes from teacher educator interviews, journals, and our group meetings to define tensions or dilemmas as well as the advantages of the approach.

Conclusions: This paper introduces information needed for the rest of our conversation. It sketches a model—the faculty learning community—which others could adapt to their own context. Finally, it offers other theoretical definitions and models to help others develop research and practice to improve teacher preparation for work with emergent bilinguals.

Authors

• Thomas H. Levine, University of Connecticut

• Elizabeth R. Howard, University of Connecticut