Teachers’ Knowledge, Knowing, and Coming to Know:

Reclaiming Professional Development

Karen E. Johnson

Penn State University

March 2008

What counts as knowledge?

Who is considered a knower?

What counts as professional development?

What is it that second language teachers need to know in order to do the work of

this profession?

How is this knowledge best learned by individuals who wish to become members

of this profession?

What teachers know about teaching is socially constructed out of experiences:

• as learners in classrooms and schools

• as participants in professional teacher education programs

• as members of the communities of practice in the schools where they work

A sociocultural view of teacher learning:

• the processes of teacher learning are socially negotiated, constructed through experiences in and with the social practices associated with teaching and learning

• how teachers use their knowledge is highly interpretive, socially negotiated and continually restructured within the settings and circumstances of their work

A sociocultural view of teacher learning:

• teachers as legitimate knowers

• teachers as creators of knowledge

• understand language teaching through the perspectives of teachers

• feature centrally teachers’ experiences as learners of teaching

Teachers as Learners of Teaching

• What teacher learning “looks like”• Teachers as legitimate knowers• Teachers as creators of knowledge• Teachers reclaiming their own professional development

Suzanne Joelie

Judy

Who is in this classroom with me?

by Suzanne House

In (2002) Johnson, K.E. & Golombek, P. (eds) Teachers’ Narrative Inquiry as Professional Development. New York: Cambridge University Press.

ESL 411 Volunteerism

Food Bank “Hunger Knows No Boundaries”

National Volunteer Week

USA Weekend “Make a Difference Day”

ESL 411 Volunteerism - Budget Activity

RentTransportationFood

ClothingInsuranceEducation

ESL 411 Volunteerism - Poster Session

When you look at your students…

What do you see?

ESL 411 Volunteerism

Who is in this classroom with me?

by Suzanne House

In (2002) Johnson, K.E. & Golombek, P. (eds) Teachers’ Narrative Inquiry as Professional Development. New York: Cambridge University Press.

“Now dash away, dash away, dash away all!”

Dialogues Around “Social Identity, Investment, and

Language Learning”

by Bonnie Norton Pierce

(1995) TESOL Quarterly, 29 (1) 9-31

Who are students allowed to be in this classroom?

How might this positioning of students affect their language

learning?

Learning About Me

Included in this section are things I have done in the MA TESL program that have helped me understand who I was before I began this program and who I am now.

Visual Depiction - Caption

“This was an exercise that asked for a visual representation of how I saw typical teachers and ideal teachers. It’s pretty scary to think about the kind of teachers I have had all my life and the kind of teacher I want to be. How I’m going to reconcile these, I don’t know yet, but at least I know the extent of the challenge before me. I think recognizing this has been a very important first step for me.”

Purposes

#1 - understand beliefs about teachers and teaching

Learning About Language

This section includes somereaction papers, activities about language and language acquisition, and examples of learning how to apply theory to the classroom.

Article Presentation - Caption

“I was assigned to do an in-class presentation of an article on instrumental and integrative motivation. These labels are helpful ways of naming what sort of motivation learners may have, but they also make motivation seem “black or white”, and I don’t think it is all that simple. I know I have felt both types of motivation, at the same time! It seems a lot of the theory we have read carves up language learning into neat little categories. But I think language learning is much more complicated than that. When I look out at my students, I know they are much more complicated than theories in second language acquisition make them out to be. I want to know what types of motivation make my students tick, but Iwon’t limit my view to simple categories.”

#6- use knowledge of theory to inform their instructional practices

Purposes

Learning About

Teaching

This section includes activities I did that helped me learn about teaching from the outside in.

“AWK” - Caption

“I’m a writing teacher right now and learning to articulate why I write (as in comments) what I write on my students’ essays was a real eye opener for me. After reading this article, I began to really monitor my own responding behavior and I realized that my written comments were pretty vague. No wonder they couldn’t figure out how I wanted them to revise their papers. Zamel's suggestions seem to be in the back of my mind every time I read and respond to a student’s paper. I try to put myself in their shoes and think about how I might react to seeing a big red “AWK” on one of my papers. This has helped me to put theory into practice but also to see my responding behaviors through my students’ eyes ”

#5 - understand subject matter content from an instructional perspective & learn to anticipate areas that may require additional instructional support

#6 - use knowledge of theory to inform their instructional practices

Purpose

Being a Teacher

I taught ESL 015 (Academic Writing II) this semester and in this section I have tried to show how I have come to think differently about my curriculum, my students, and myself as a teacher. I believe I grew along with my students, perhaps maybe even more than they did.

The American DreamNature

February 14, 2001

American Dream DebunkedBy Corie LokThe popular notion of the ‘American dream’ achieving happiness through influence and money-- may not be a recipe for contentment after all,US psychologists now report. Self-esteem, feelingcompetent, in control of your life and close topeople you care about are more important forpsychological well-being, new research suggests. KennonSheldon, of the University of Missouri at Columbia, and his colleagues asked hundreds of American universitystudents to recall their most satisfying event of the last week, month, or semester. The students rated self-esteem,relatedness (feeling connected with people), autonomy(feeling in control) and competence (feeling effective) asthe top four emotions that accompanied feeling satisfied. At the bottom of the list were popularity, influence, moneyand luxury. “These aspects of the ‘American dream’ maynot be so desirable after all,” says Sheldon’s team…

Critical Analysis - Caption

“The first assignment in this course is a critical analysis of a reading. The reading is about the “American Dream” and right away I realized that my students didn’t really know what the American Dream was all about (they thought it meant “money grows on trees”). They didn’t know the history of the Horatio Alger stories or that it’s a myth unless you are white, male, and middle class. So, I gave them several other readings that debunk the American Dream, and then asked them to write a critical analysis of the idea of the American Dream, rather than a critical analysis of a single reading. Through this set of activities, they learned how to write a critical analysis but they also learned about American history, American popular culture, and the American psyche.”

#2 - be able to reflect on, critically analyze, and evaluate your own teaching practices

#5 - understand subject matter content from an instructional perspective & learn to anticipate areas that may require additional instructional support

Purpose

Preparing for the Future

I never realized how much we take “good” teachers for granted. In this section, I have included experiences I had that helped me become the kind of teacher I want to be.

Coffee Cup - Caption

“About mid-way through the semester, we ended one of our Friday afternoon classes a bit early and headed over to Otto’s for coffee. Before I knew it, this became a Friday ritual and it was here that I really got to know my students as people with interests, talents, and rich lives outside of the classroom. They got to know me, they got to know each other, and these informal interactions, more than anything I did in the classroom, helped me know how to teach them better.”

Purposes

#1 - understand beliefs about 2LL & 2LT

#4 - come to recognize students' strengths and development as learners and language learners

Teachers’ Ways of Knowing

• Legitimate knowledge

• Emerges in and out of lived realities

• Transcends the theory-practice dichotomy

• Must be made public

• Reclaiming professional development

Teachers’ Knowledge, Knowing, and Coming to Know:

Reclaiming Professional Development

Karen E. Johnson

Penn State University

March 2008