Positioning and Teacher Learning in Professional Development

• In Event: 69.040 - Positionality, Agency, and Emotion in Professional Development

Abstract

This study analyzed the discourse of a PD group, to understand the ways that participants were positioned within that group, and how that positioning mediated opportunities for learning. The talk frequently positioned participants as more or less expert, and as members of varying subgroups, during which learning opportunities were constrained by limited access to practice and shallow inquiry into practice. Occasionally, the talk positioned participants as members of a single group in which all participants were both learners and potential contributors, during which learning opportunities were afforded by complex discourse that included probing questions, pushing back, providing rationales and making practices public. This study points to the importance for PD facilitators to be very mindful of positioning in PD groups.

Author

• Amy Rene Ricketts, The Pennsylvania State University