Curricular Sensemaking and Peer Observation to Enact Critical Discussions of Colonial Exploration in Fifth Grade

• In Event: Representations of Practice to Scaffold Teacher Learning to Enact Equitable and Disciplinary Classroom Discussions

Abstract

Objectives. In this paper, we explore classroom and collegial discourse during a cycle of teacher learning among three practicing 5th grade teachers to better understand the structures and supports necessary to enact equitable discussions in social studies. Specifically, we examine how a lack of attention to disciplinary curricula in a discourse-focused teacher learning protocol prevented teachers from attending to equity in classroom discussion about colonial exploration.
Theoretical Framework. We draw upon critical dialogic education (CDE: Authors, 2021) in foregrounding equity as a primary objective in classroom discourse, and in arguing that critical perspectives on power and privilege in classroom materials and instructional practices are necessary to realize the potential of dialogic teaching in linguistically and culturally diverse classrooms. We also draw on research about teacher sensemaking (Allen & Penuel, 2015; Coburn, 2001) to examine how a team of fifth-grade teachers in Hawaii grapple with ambiguity and manage uncertainty–to examine inequity with their students when the curriculum does not support this.
Methods. An intrinsic case study (Stake, 2005) was used to explore three teachers’ participation in a teacher learning cycle using the Instructional Conversations for Equitable Participation (ICEP) protocol, with a focus on Domain 1 (“Contextualized Discourse”), which is defined as having “teachers and students connect classroom topics and ideas with students’ everyday experiences (such as routines, interests, relationships, perspectives, expertise, values, and traditions), including issues of fairness, bias, and justice.” Data were analyzed inductively for the presence of any classroom or collegial dialogue related to “fairness, bias, and justice” in the context of this lesson and learning cycle and teacher sensemaking about its presence or absence.
Data sources. Data included lesson-related documents (state and disciplinary standards, ICEP protocols, lesson plans, teachers’ written observations of each others’ lessons), videos of teachers’ lessons, and transcriptions of their ICEP debriefing sessions and a researcher member-checking meeting.
Results. We found that despite explicit guidance in the the ICEP to “examine inequities,” a curricular topic (colonial exploration) with clear connections to issues of power and privilege, and disciplinary standards that emphasize perspective-taking, teachers did not proactively address inequities created through colonial exploration in their dialogue with students. State standards and available materials presented the topic in an uncritical way, which teachers employed by asking students to connect to rather than critique explorers’ motivations. Teachers varied in how they explained this phenomena in retrospect, understanding equitable dialogue as either dependent on critically-oriented materials, not developmentally appropriate for younger learners, or irrelevant to some content standards.
Significance. This case study suggests that teacher learning protocols that focus on the “form” of equitable classroom discourse without attention to the disciplinary content being taught are insufficient in supporting teachers in enacting equitable discourse practices. Relatedly, supporting teachers in deeply understanding and taking critical perspectives on their content and their own beliefs is paramount in order to adequately foreground equity in dialogic teaching.

Authors

• Amanda Kibler, Oregon State University

• Bryant Jensen, Brigham Young University