Learning Teaching as an Interpretive Process: A Theory of Teacher Education for the 21st Century

• In Event: The Way Education Is Can't Be How You Teach: Learning Urban Teaching as Interpretative Process

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this poster is to articulate the conceptualization of learning teaching as an interpretive process (L-TIP), differentiate it from dominant models of learning teaching, and establish its affordances for meeting the needs of BIPOC P–12 learners in order to break consistent cycles of educational inequity.

Perspective: L-TIP employs a mediated learning modality based on a social-constructivist theoretical perspective. L-TIP is predicated on a vision of teaching that involves planning learning experiences based upon deep knowledge of students, contexts, and disciplinary structures; enacting those experiences and documenting student responses; interpreting patterns in student responses; and translating students’ responses to learning experiences for subsequent planning that improves learning outcomes. In contrast, traditional models of learning teaching as representation and approximation view learning teaching as a kind of cognitive apprenticeship where teacher candidates are expected to faithfully replicate the existing practice of mentor teachers.

The theory of learning teaching as an interpretive process was systematically developed based upon decades of participant observation and leadership in P-12 schools and preservice teacher preparation programs, and careful study of the scholarly literature in teacher education. It subsumes and builds upon the professional knowledge base of the field of teacher education, including the the InTASC Model Core Teaching Standards and Learning Progressions for Teachers (CCSO, 2013) and the standards of the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (2013).
Learning Teaching as an Interpretive Process. Learning teaching as an interpretive process is a holistic, practice-based framework for developing candidate knowledge, skills, and habits of mind necessary to meet the needs of racially, ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse P–12 learners. This approach is supported by epistemic practices that involve epistemic practices in a sequence of focused inquiry, directed observation, and guided practice that foster the habits of mind characterized by the process of observation, documentation, analysis, translation, and application of new insights to practice. Candidates engage in focused inquiry in their courses where they develop the professional knowledge for teaching. Early clinical experiences provide opportunities for directed observation linking academic professional knowledge to classroom and school practices. Guided practice in clinical experiences provides opportunities for candidates to translate declarative knowledge from coursework to procedural knowledge for classroom teaching.
Significance. Data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) (2015), commonly referred to as the Nation’s Report Card, indicate that the majority of students graduating from U.S. schools are not proficient in either reading or mathematics. Percentages are even lower for traditionally underserved students. Research is clear that the quality of teaching and learning experiences provided to students is directly related to students’ academic achievement (Darling-Hammond, 2013). Teacher preparation programs based upon a new conceptualization of learning teaching, L-TIP, can ensure that new teachers enter the profession with the training they need to help their students succeed and to break this cycle of educational inequity.

Author

• Etta R. Hollins, University of Missouri - Kansas City