A Teacher Educator’s Efforts to Develop Thoughtfully Adaptive Teachers

• In Event: Scholars of Studying Teaching Collaborative: A Cross-Disciplinary Initiative to Improve Our Practice as University Instructors

Abstract

Objectives
It is widely recognized that effective elementary school teachers are thoughtfully adaptive (Corno, 2008; Darling-Hammond & Bransford, 2005). However, classroom-based research has demonstrated that teacher adaptability varies substantially among teachers (Author, 2010). As a teacher educator who works closely with preservice teachers, I ponder what I can do in my work to help preservice teachers become thoughtfully adaptive. Therefore, the purpose of this self-study project was to systematically examine my own efforts at developing thoughtfully adaptive teachers and was guided by the following research question:
- Through the preservice preparation courses I teach, how can I facilitate teachers’ development as thoughtfully adaptive practitioners?

Theoretical Framework
Research and theory on teacher visioning informed this research. Fairbanks and her colleagues characterized vision as “a teacher’s personal commitment to go beyond curricular requirements” that is “rooted in belief or personal theories about what teachers envisage for their students” (p. 163). This theory suggests that teachers with a vision for their teaching are more likely to thoughtfully adapt their instruction (Duffy, 2002; Fairbanks et al., 2010; Hammerness, 2003, 2006). However, little research has explicitly studied the impact between vision development and thoughtfully adaptive teaching.

Methods
In the methods courses I teach, students write vision statements at the beginning and end of the course, which serve as a data source. Then I follow volunteers into their student teaching and their subsequent teaching positions. I observe and interview teachers once a year and they also complete a questionnaire annually. In addition to these data sources, I also analyze my participation in the self-study collaboration (SOSTC). This participation includes recording my personal reflections regarding the research question and interaction with other SOSTC members, particularly the two other members who comprise my critical friends group.

Results
This project is a longitudinal project in its second year. Initial results indicate that preservice teachers articulate clear visions, but these visions become more focused and more practical as they move from coursework to teaching. There is also evidence that teachers use their visions to make adaptations to their teaching. Also, based upon my participation in SOSTC, I have expanded my efforts in developing thoughtfully adaptive teachers. In addition to the visioning assignment, I recently added another assignment that might help teachers become more thoughtfully adaptive. I had students write Op-Ed pieces. The idea of this assignment is to get teachers thinking about the larger educational context in which they will be teaching and thinking more deeply about what they, as teachers, want to accomplish.


Significance
This research is significant because the systematic analysis of my own teaching is informing my work as a teacher educator. This research has the potential to inform other teacher educators interested in developing effective teachers who are thoughtfully adaptive.

Author

• Seth A. Parsons, George Mason University