Habit(at)s of “Knowing”: Wrestling With Language in Content Classrooms

• In Event: Poster Session 2
  In Poster Session: Division G Section 3 Poster Session: Social Context of Multiple Languages and Literacies

Abstract

We draw on M.A.K. Halliday’s notion of language as the essential condition of knowing to investigate the complexities of growth and change in content teachers’ knowledge and practices as they participate in a blended professional learning program about implementing revised standards for social studies, science, English language arts, math and associated English Language Proficiency (ELP) standards, Kindergarten through grade 12. The context of this study is significant as the majority of teachers and students are Samoan speakers teaching and learning content, in this case, English, for them another language. In an analysis of preliminary data, questions of identity as a content teacher arose and as did agency for teachers in their role as teacher leaders within a community of practice.

Authors

• Alice K. Holt Taum, Pacific Resources for Education and Learning

• Emily Lam, Pacific Resources for Education and Learning

• Margo H. Gottlieb, Illinois Resource Center

• Marylin G. Low, Pacific Resources for Education and Learning