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Professional Literacies with Mathematics, English
Language Arts, and Science teacher candidates
Jamie S. Pyper, Ph.D., OCT.
Jane Chin, Ph.D.
Richard Reeve, Ph. D.
Faculty of Education, Queen’s University
For CSSE (CATE) University of Ottawa, June 2015
Introduction
Basic Literacy
“learning to read and write (text and numbers), reading and
writing to learn, and developing these skills and using them
effectively for meeting basic needs” (UNESCO, 2003)
Functional Literacy
“true literacy encompasses much more than just these basic
skills. It includes the ability to analyse things, understand general
ideas or terms, use symbols in complex ways, apply theories, and
perform other necessary life skills―including the ability to
engage in the social and economic life of the community”
(Canadian Council on Learning, 2007)
Introduction
Plural Literacy
“A plural view of literacy recognizes that there are many literacy
practices that are embedded in social, political, and cultural
processes, personal circumstances and socio-economic
structures.” (UNESCO, unpublished)
Multiple literacies (Ahmed, 2011)
“an evolving set of skills” (UNESCO, unpublished)
Changing literacies, the classroom context (Selmer & Graham, 2010)
Introduction
…learning to teach is less about absorbing particular bits of
information and more about acquiring specific literacies that will
endure this evolution in communication practices (Pilgrim & Bledsoe, 2011)
Therefore…
Professional Literacies
Various literacies from subject content, assessment and
evaluation, leadership, safe school and mental health, learning
disabilities, technology in education, and pedagogy, to name a
few, provide support for, and a foundation to the professional
teacher discourse.
The study…
Topic
Preservice teachers’ acquisition of teacher discourse.
Problem
An apparent lack of knowledge of the various literacies used by
teachers in their teacher discourse, and how they acquire, think
about, and understand these literacies.
Purpose
Unpack preservice teachers’ acquisition of teacher discourse
through an inquiry into their knowledge of, understanding, and
use of its particular literacies in the context of teacher
preparation courses.
The study…
Methodology a phenomenological stance
Method
Four questionnaires gauging level of knowledge of these literacies,
and where they perceive they acquired this knowledge of these
literacies. Sept 1, Dec. 1, Jan. 29, April 24
Instructor journal and observational insight.
Focus group exploring understanding of these literacies as they
pertain to teachers’ professional practice (using a classroom
scenario case study for discussion). Mid April.
Three-step thematic coding (i.e., Corbin & Strauss, 2015)
The study…
Results: Overview
Note: This presentation will focus on the questionnaire and focus group data and analysis.
The six professional literacies studied (content, technology, assessment,
communication, pedagogy, and ethics) showed a quantitative vocabulary
increase over time, and a change in emphasis and sense of importance of the
terms used, relevant to the teaching and learning of a subject area.
The teacher discourse during the focus group was representative of the
teaching field (basic literacy) and preservice teachers described, explained,
and conversed with words and terms in a meaningful (functional) manner.
However, the focus group results also show this awareness of professional
literacies may not have progressed far from ‘buzz words’ for some preservice
teachers.
A particular example…Results with mathematics preservice teachers
September
teacher-centred
December & January
what it can involve
April
its intent, and who it’s for
Communication
A particular example…Results with mathematics preservice teachers
Content
September
� what content (subject
matter) is perceived to be, from
personal experience, the math
they know
�
it becomes what is to be learned
and taught, curriculum
expectations, mathematical
thinking, and how it can be
experienced; mathematics
processes, Achievement
Categories, rich learning tasks
April
A particular example…Results with mathematics preservice teachers
Assessment
September
� popular words, expected words,
measurement words, words just heard
in the first week, words from past
experience
April
� a focus on student learning, lots of emphases,
rubrics, Achievement Categories, types of
assessment (formative, summative)
A particular example…Results with English language arts preservice teachers
Teacher candidates were often thinking from the perspective of their own learning experiences and their practicum classrooms.
They were thinking inside the box in relation to the learning contexts with which they were familiar and applying the buzz words.
Teacher candidates also attached many of these buzz words to particular instances or audiences
…indicating a potential Apprenticeship of Observation
A particular example…Results with English language arts preservice teachers
Classroom discussions focussed on the need for
teachers to think on their feet in ways that
allow them to pull relevant and appropriate
literacies ‘on the fly’
…indicating a beginning of a changing mindset
The study…
Discussion
Preservice teachers are ‘literate’ (can read and write) and have
a conversational sense of functional literacy (terms are used
appropriately for the immediate context).
However, meta-cognition of the application of these literacies
when responding to classroom scenarios is still at a stage of
focusing on the practice of teaching rather than the impact on
learning.
�One explanation… this indicates initial stages of teacher
concern coinciding with their developing sense of teacher
efficacy. (Pyper, 2014)
The study…
Discussion
� Another explanation… they may not value these literacies, they
may not perceive these literacies as helping them keep up with
the learning demands of today’s learners (e.g., 21st century
learning skills). (Bissaker, Davies, & Heath, 2011)
� Finally, we (as researchers and instructors) could think about making
explicit the changing nature of learning in ways that guide
preservice teachers to think beyond the ways that they were
taught.
For example, we could conceptualized classroom learning by
changing mindsets -- the 21st Century classroom using new
thinking about the nature of learning. Lankshear and Knobel (2011)
Selected References
• Ahmed, M. (2011). Defining and measuring literacy: Facing the reality. International Review of Education, 57(1),
179-195.
• Bissaker, K., Davies, J. & Heath, J. (2011). The Way Up, Down Under. Journal of Staff Development, 32(2), 32-6.
• Canadian Council on Learning, State of Learning in Canada: No Time for Complacency (Ottawa: January 2007), p.
86. Available at: www.ccl-cca.ca.
• Corbin, J., & Strauss, A. (2015). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded
theory (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• Lankshear, C., & Knobel, M. (2011). New literacies: Everyday practices and social learning. New York, NY: Open
University Press.
• Pilgrim, J., & Bledsoe, C. (2011). Engaging preservice teachers in learning through social networking. Journal of
Literacy and Technology, 12(1), 2-25.
• Pyper, J. S. (2014). Pre-service mathematics teacher efficacy: Its nature and relationship to teacher concerns and
orientation. Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 60(1), 81-97.
• Selmer, S., & Graham, M. (2010). Developing preservice teachers' professional identities and establishing
collaborative understandings about teacher education. The International Journal of Learning, 17(3), 189-200.
• UNESCO. (2003). International Council for Adult Education, Agenda for the Future: Six Years Later, a presentation
to CONFINTEA+6, a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) conference on adult
education and literacy held in Bangkok Thailand, Sept. 8–11, 2003.
• United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Literacy: Multiple Meanings and
Dimensions, education-sector position paper (unpublished), pp. 2–3.