A Case Study Examining Second Grade Teachers and Their Students in Texas Sensemaking of Instruction

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 9:45 am - Gold 2
  In Roundtable Session: Teacher Education and Professional Development

Abstract

How early elementary teachers instruct their students new information matters. However early elementary school classrooms are becoming more regulated and standardized, which leaves little room for teachers to engage in instructional activities that offer their students choice and voice in their learning. Two key groups absent from these conversations about what types of learning experiences should be occurring in school are the classroom teachers themselves and their students. We attend to this issue by presenting findings from a case study that examined how two classrooms of second graders and their teachers in Texas made sense of how students should be taught new information in school. Such a study reveals several opportunities to imagine new futures for early elementary classrooms.

Authors

• Christopher P. Brown, University at Buffalo - SUNY

• Lauren C. McKenzie, University of Texas at Austin