English Learner–Focused Teacher Leaders Advancing Ambitious Science Teaching Practices

• In Event: 60.047 - Developing Formal Structures to Facilitate Teacher Leadership in Job-Embedded Professional Development

Abstract

Purpose
Educators continue to grapple with providing EL students with access to rigorous, grade-level appropriate curriculum (deJong & Harper, 2005; Lucas, Villegas, & Freedson-Gonzalez, 2008), particularly in subjects such as science (Bunch, 2013; Lee, Quinn, & Valdés, 2013; Turkan, De Oliveira, Lee, & Phelps, 2014). Research-practice partnerships may help advance our understanding of 1) practices that best serve EL students in science classrooms and 2) professional development models that best support teacher and student learning. This paper examines the central roles EL-focused teacher leaders take on to build secondary science teachers’ instructional capacity in urban schools.

Theoretical framework
We draw on three key ideas from teacher leadership research: (1) Teacher leaders are instructional leaders, who guide and support ongoing teacher professional learning for “continued instructional improvement” (Mangin & Stoelinga, 2008, p.1) and improved student learning. (2) EL-focused teacher leaders are in unique positions to support teachers as they collectively engage in a sensemaking process (Coburn & Russell, 2008) for “quality” EL instruction.” (3)Teacher learning and EL instructional change occur in relation to the cultural practices and social networks in districts and schools (Coburn & Russell, 2008).


Methods and Data Sources
Our job-embedded professional development project assembles teams of secondary science teachers (thirty total) from six schools, secondary science coaches, EL facilitators, and researchers in a diverse urban school district. We meet to inquire into and support the learning and development of science practices through multiple day-long “studio days” throughout the year. All participants develop, try out, and study ambitious science teaching practices, while wrestling with EL student learning, following a modified “lesson study” model (Lewis, Perry, & Murata, 2006).
In this paper we focus on the roles and work of two instructive cases of productive EL teacher leadership—Addie , a district based EL facilitator and Mara , a site-based EL facilitator at South High School. Data come from twelve studio days throughout the year: videos of studio day work, classroom teaching and debriefing sessions, and written artifacts such as teacher leader and teacher developed tools, memos, and fieldnotes.

Results
Drawing upon specialized EL-related expertise, the EL facilitators were central to having participants recognize the needs of EL students (Hakuta, 2011). While the project identified “EL” as a focus, the EL facilitators furthered and sustained this focus by (1) supporting teacher tailoring of ambitious science practices for EL students, moving beyond simply naming generic “EL” practices; (2) embedding specific EL-related knowledge into science instructional tools; (3) helping teachers recognize and address the importance of meaningful EL participation in science classrooms.
In particular, Addie and Mara developed collaborative relationships with the secondary science coaches, fostering new dialogues regarding science teaching for EL students. The coaches created more intentional spaces for embedding EL issues both during and in-between studio days and supported science coach learning.

Scholarly significance
This paper adds to the growing body of teacher leadership research on understanding the work of teacher leaders in facilitating instructional change, particularly for growing numbers of culturally and linguistically diverse students in mainstream classrooms.

Authors

• Manka M. Varghese, University of Washington

• Kerry Soo Von Esch, Seattle University

• Jessica J. Thompson, University of Washington

• Karin Lohwasser, University of Washington

• Anna Van Windekens, University of Washington - Seattle

• Christine Chew, University of Washington