Stories of Success: Literacy Teachers Share Their Truths About "Effective" Teaching

• In Event: Fostering Teacher Voice and Education in the Pursuit of Democratic Justice

Abstract

Centering teacher voices in the conversation on teacher effectiveness is essential if we are to understand how teachers will respond to evaluation policies. In this presentation, the researcher shares findings from a series of interviews with classroom teachers working in English language arts and related content areas that asked teachers how they understand success in teaching literacy, what goals they set for their teaching, and what indicators they look to when determining how effective they have been. These interviews invited teachers to tell their own stories of success, and the researcher argues that using this as a starting point for our understandings into how we assess teachers might create better alignment between policy and practice in teacher evaluation.

Author

• Jennifer Ervin, University of Georgia
  Presenting Author