LYST 250: Literacy Teacher as Researcher 4
Hofstra University
School of Education and Allied Human Services
Department of Literacy Studies
LYST 250: Literacy Teacher as Researcher (3 s.h.)
Spring 2002
Tuesday: 6:20 pm – 8:10 pm
Room 20 Breslin
Professor Joan Zaleski, Ph.D.
Office: 102B Mason Hall
Office Hours: Tuesday: 4pm - 5pm and Thursday: 6:30 - 8:30 pm
516-463-5372 (office/voice mail)
516-463-5949 (department fax)
516-463-5807 (department secretary, Phyllis Bosworth, 206 Mason Hall)
“If research is seen primarily as a process of discovery, then the day-to-day work of a teacher comes under the term teachers as researchers. It cannot be said too often that effective teaching depends upon the concern of every teacher for the rationale by which he or she works. Teaching consists of interactive behavior, and it is the teacher’s share in this behavior that most concerns us. In the course of interacting with individuals and classes, a teacher must make a hundred and one decisions in every session – off-the-cuff decisions that can only reliably come from inner conviction, that is to say by consistently applying an ever-developing rationale. This requires that every lesson should be for the teacher an inquiry, some further discovery, a quiet form of research, and that time to reflect, draw inferences, and plan further inquiry is also essential” James Britton, in Reclaiming the Classroom, p. 15.
This course explores classroom-based teacher inquiry in literacy education as a “quiet form of research”, as a method of professional development and responsive teaching, and as an agency for change. We will explore the philosophical underpinnings and methodological techniques for conducting and critically responding to teacher research. A ten hour field experience is required.
Objectives for this course include:
· Critically reading from a variety of teacher classroom stories.
· Discovering areas of inquiry from the tensions in your own classroom practice.
· Developing a plan for exploring these areas of inquiry using a variety of research tools.
· Analyzing and interpreting what you’ve discovered through the writing of classroom stories or narratives.
· Becoming a member of a community of inquirers.
· Reflecting on what you’ve learned from your discoveries in teacher research and classroom inquiry.
Shared Text:
Stories from the Heart: Teachers and Students Researching Their Literacy Lives. By Richard J. Meyer. 1996. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Book Clubs: (You will select one of the following books)
1. Classroom Interviews: A World of Learning. Paula Rogovin. 1998. Heinemann.
2. Kwanzaa and Me: A Teacher’s Story. Vivian Gussin Paley. 1996. Harvard University Press.
3. We Want To Be Known: Learning from Adolescent Girls. Edited by Ruth Shagoury Hubbard, Maureen Barbieri, and Brenda Miller Power. 1998. Stenhouse.
4. What Difference Does Difference Make? Anne Haas Dyson. 1997. National Council of Teachers of English.
5. In the Middle: New Understandings About Writing, Reading, and Learning. Nancie Atwell. Heinemann. Second Edition. 1998.
Other reading assignments will be distributed in class as needed.
Course requirements and assignments:
1. We will all keep a sketch book this semester as our teaching journal. In it we will record, sketch, jot, muse, wonder, document, and reflect upon classroom literacy events and practices. This journal should be brought to class each week for sharing with others in your inquiry group.
2. You will create a photographic literacy tour of your classroom. Your tour will be shared in class. A one-page short story (1” picture frame writing exercise) will be handed in. Due: 2/26.
3. You will select and read from one book of teacher research to share with others in a book club. Your group will share what they’ve learned about teacher inquiry and the telling of teacher stories with the rest of the class. Due: 4/30.
4. As a final project, you will write a longer story of your inquiry that includes your discoveries. This will be handed in along with your teaching journal.
Due: 5/14.
Grades: As teacher-researchers, we belong to a community of inquirers and learners. Therefore assignments throughout the semester will not be graded, but they will be commented upon. A final grade of A for this course will be based upon your active engagement in class discussions and group work and your completion of all assignments when they are due. Final pieces of writing should be checked for clarity, fluency, and correctness before being submitted. Anything less than the above, including unexcused absences, chronic lateness, late or incomplete assignments, and evidence of not doing the readings will result in a final grade of B.
Outline for the semester:
Date / Topic / Assignments1. 1/29 / Seeing in new ways.
Introductions to the course and to each other. / Begin your sketch journal. Notice the small details around you.
Read Ch. 1 in SFTH. What would your literacy autobiography (story) be about?
Read “Reading Response Journals: One Teacher’s Research” (hand-out)
2. 2/5 / What is Teacher Research? / Read Ch. 2 in SFTH. Write your “David” story for 2/12.
Add to your journal.
3. 2/12 / Learning through Stories. / Read Ch. 3 in SFTH. Make a list of “what motivates you, bothers you, intrigues you, arouses your curiosity, or stirs your passion” about the literacy lives of children.
Prepare your photographic tour of your classroom for sharing in class on 2/19. Submit a ‘1” picture frame’ story about these pictures.
Add to your journal.
4. 2/19 / No Class-Presidents Week
5. 2/26 / Sharing our Photographic Classroom Literacy Tours
Addressing the questions/making decisions about data collection / Read Ch. 4 in SFTH. What does it mean for you to be a writer of classroom stories?
Read “When Teachers Have Time to Talk: The Value of Curricular Conversations” (hand-out)
Add to your journal.
6. 3/5 / Finding support for our teaching and writing.
/ Read Ch. 5 in SFTH. Who or what frames the stories we tell about our teaching?
Add to your journal.
7. 3/12 /
How do we know what we know?
From note-taking to coding
/ Read Ch. 6 in SFTH. Keep writing!Add to your journal.
8. 3/19 /
How do we know what we know?
Themes and patterns
9. 4/2 / Learning from other writers.Select one book of teacher research to begin reading for next week
/ Read your book club book.Record your thoughts in your journal.
10. 4/9 / Book Clubs / Record your thoughts in your journal.
11. 4/16 / Book Clubs / Record your thoughts in your journal.
12. 4/23 /
Book Clubs
/ Record your thoughts in your journal.Prepare for your group’s presentation of your book.
13. 4/30 /
Group presentations
/ Prepare a section of your story to read aloud in class next week.14. 5/7 /
Stories from the Heart
Sharing our Teacher-Research stories.
15. 5/14 /Final Reflections: What have we learned from our stories?
Submit teaching story and sketch journal.
LYST 250: Literacy Teacher as Researcher 4
Further readings in Teacher Research:
q Ashton-Warner, S. (1963). Teacher. Simon and Schuster.
q Avery, C. (1993). …And With a Light Touch: Learning About Reading, Writing, and Teaching with First Graders. Heinemann.
q Ernst, K. (1997). A Teacher’s Sketch Journal: Observations on Learning and Teaching. Heinemann.
q Five, C.L. (1992). Special Voices. Heinemann.
q Goswami, D. and Stillman, P.R. (Eds.) (1987). Reclaiming the Classroom: Teacher Research as an Agency for Change. Heinemann.
q Henry, J. (1995). If Not Now: Developmental Readers in the College Classroom. Heinemann.
q Hindley, J. (1996). In the Company of Children. Stenhouse.
q Hubbard, R.S., & Power, B.M. (1999). Living the Questions: A Guide for Teacher-Researchers. Stenhouse.
q Jalongo, M.R. and Isenberg, J. P. (1995). Teachers’ Stories: From Personal Narrative to Professional Insight. Jossey-Bass.
q Paley, V.G. (1981). Wally’s Stories: Conversations in Kindergarten. Harvard Educational Press.
q Paley, V.G. (1984). Boys and Girls: Superheroes in the Doll Corner. University of Chicago Press.
q Paley, V.G. (1995). Kwanzaa and Me: A Teacher’s Story. Harvard University Press.
q Rogovin, P. (1998). Classroom Interviews: A World of Learning. Heinemann.
q Short, K.G., Schroeder, J., Laird, J., Kauffman, G., Ferguson, M.J., & Crawford, M.J. (1996). Learning Together Through Inquiry: From Columbus to Integrated Curriculum. Stenhouse.
q Witherell, C. and Noddings, N. (Eds.) (1991). Stories Lives Tell: Narrative and Dialogue in Education. Teachers College Press.
Interesting web sites for Teacher Researchers:
q National Writing Project
http://writingproject.org
q Center for Action Research in Professional Practice at Bath, U.K.
http://www/bath.ac.uk/~edsajw/
q Networks: An On-line Journal for Teacher Researchers
http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/~ctd/networks/
q Rethinking Schools – Online
http://www.rethinkingschools.org