Inviting Conflict in Literacy Professional Development: Interactions That Facilitate Learning About the Teaching of Writing

• In Event: 25.068 - Roundtable Session 8
  In Roundtable Session: 25.068-8 - Professional Literacies: College, Academic, and Scientific Writing

Abstract

This paper offers clarity in addressing an unanswered question: When are professional development facilitators most successful in supporting teachers’ ability to apply learning about the teaching of writing to their classroom contexts? Drawn from a larger three-year ethnographic study, which traced an interdisciplinary team of urban high school teachers’ literacy learning experiences across contexts, this paper analyzes representative examples of teachers’ interactions with facilitators in two different literacy professional development programs where participants sought answers to their questions about writing. Its analysis identifies how facilitation can open, rather than foreclose, opportunities for teachers to make use of and then apply their learning about the teaching of writing.

Author

• Danielle Lillge, Missouri State University