How+Teachers+Learn+&+Develop

__**Describing the Text: How would you describe the text and what the authors are trying to say?**__
One viewpoint: New teachers develop through phases starting from focusing in on themselves, heading to concerns that are related to student learning then finally to issues related to conditions of schools and schooling. Some teachers eventually develop a strong focus on student welfare, others stop at the stage of mastering techniques that usually work to get through the day.
 * **Name:** || **Pages:** || **Description of Text:** ||
 * kfoard || pp. 378-389 || The Process of Teacher Development

Beginning teachers tend to focus on what is literally happening in the classroom, while more expert teachers notice interactions and information linked to patterns of what they observe, and end up being more flexible in their abilities to respond to the demands of situation, and generally as expected would have a larger tool box upon which to draw from. While it might be said that in general teachers need 5-7 years to develop a level of competence in using specific teaching skills, it is not necessary to wait that length of time before introducing the inquiry and reflective skills leading to becoming more expert of a teacher.

Theories of Teacher Development in Communities of Practice

New teachers have a great deal of potential to practice in more sophisticated ways but it takes a focus on using peer coaching/community reflection methods, as well as using preparation programs to model the development of raising teacher consciousness in regards to racial concerns, and other cultural practices. Three developmental approaches include development of the knowledge FOR practice (knowledge of subject matter content, pedagogy, theories of development and teaching strategies), knowledge IN practice (experiential) and knowledge OF practice (observe, reflect evaluate, and put into action different plans.) One teacher’s knowledge IN practice can be another teacher’s FOR practice. Knowledge OF practice takes reflection, and inquiry and is best suited for development in communities of learners.

One comment made in the article was that teachers need to development consciousness about their own racial identity in order to support positive racial identity among their own students. Teacher education students need opportunities to develop culturally relevant practices and pedagogical approaches that can serve a diverse range of students.

A Framework For Teacher Learning

Teachers need to develop: A VISION for their practice (a vision should be possible and desirable), a set of UNDERSTANDINGS about teaching, learning and children (content, pedagogy) , DISPOSITIONS about how to use this knowledge ( habits of thought (inquiry) and persistence in working with children towards success, attitude of valuing, respecting and caring for children) , PRACTICES that allow them to act on their intentions and beliefs (how to lead discussions, debate) , and TOOLS that support their efforts (theoretical tools, or practical tools).

“Colleagues working together, bringing their perspectives to bear on inquiries into the complexities and messiness of teaching and learning || Students often know concepts or possess knowledge, but fail to use it to guide their actions. Whitehead (1929) coined the term "inert knowledge" when the knowledge is unable to be used in practice or doesn't transfer to new situations. To better prepare various professions such as medicine, law and education "case-base" and "problem-based" instruction shows promise. Teaching is organized around actual situations that could potentially be experienced in their job settings. Students work on cases, set goals for obtaining new information needed to address the problem or situation and collaborate and discuss ideas with others, gradually progressing to more challenging cases. Challenges of Enactment in Teacher Education Many candidates come with preconceived notions about teaching than other novices. Even when the candidates come with a more developed knowledge base, putting these ideas into action is problematic. Teaching is complex, and multi-faceted. Teachers must make effective decisions //in the context of practice. Teaching also involves action that is more than applying schema and acquired routines and strategies. It also requires "innovation" in which ideas and actions emerge in the course of interactions. Thus application and innovation are often learned together in the context of // **//reflection.// **Metacognition and the Problem of Complexity If we want teachers to become "adaptive experts" or to adopt an "inquiry stance" to their work, metacognition is important. Another name for reflection? Thinking about one's own thinking can be characterized as metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive regulation. Metacognitive knowledge is the ability to think about one's own thinking and to be able to develop strategies for planning, analyzing to gain more knowledge. Metacognitive regulation is the ability to define learning goals and to be able to monitor one's progress toward meeting those goals. Those who don't practice metacognition rely on others for feedback and instruction on how to improve their practice. Lampert (2001) addresses the complexity of teaching by describing 4 elements: (1) //Teaching is never routine// because students do not learn at the same pace or in the same ways. (2) //Teaching has multiple goals// that often must be addressed simultaneously such as intellectual and social development. (3) //Teaching is done in relationship to very diverse groups of students// in contrast to medicine where one deals with one patient at a time. (4) //Teaching requires multiple kinds of knowledge to be brought together in an integrated way. Additionally there are varied factors outside the classroom such as home resources, values, etc. that influence student learning. // ||
 * Karen Pletcher || pp. 366-378 || **Using Knowledge In Action
 * Data shows that teachers' initial classroom experiences particularly in the beginning years of teaching are a predictor of teacher effectiveness (Rowan Correntti and Miller, 2002) and these initial classroom experiences are much different for candidates who have had strong pre-service preparation. (DarlingpHammond, Chung, and Frelow, 2002) __Teacher preparation programs that combine supervised teaching experience and coursework enable candidates to connect theory and practice.__
 * Developing Metacognition in the Cause of Learning**
 * Christina || pp. 358-366 || How Teachers Learn and Develop

- How do teachers learn to do their job? How do they fulfill all that teaching requires? There is an enormous “job description.” - Obviously, what needs to be known cannot be fully developed in pre-service programs so re-thinking what is most important to teach is necessary. - Teacher Education programs must lay a foundation for lifelong learning – or becoming “adaptive experts.” - Three main challenges with teaching future teachers to teach: 1.) prospective teachers must think about teaching differently from what they have experienced in their 12 years 2.) learn to “think like a teacher” and put into action (problem of enactment) 3.) the problem of complexity (some routine and some decisions that are made based on students/objectives at a certain moment) - How to help prospective teachers think systematically about the com- plexity of teaching. - Teachers as lifelong learners can develop metacognitive habits of mind that will help to guide decisions and reflect on practices. - Just telling what to do or just offering routines for teachers to follow is not the answer. Teacher development is greatly influenced by the nature of their preparation - Efficiency and Innovation; efficiency as having to perform particular tasks without even thinking and innovation as having to move beyond routine and rethink practices and key ideas. - “ Disciplined innovation” is innovation with general constraints - “Adaptive experts” learn from others and seek feedback rather than avoid it. || __Key learning principles involved in helping people learn to teach and continually improve their practice__:
 * Michelle || pp. 366-378 || **Some Learning Principles for Facilitating Teacher Development**

I) Prospective teachers come to the classroom with preconceptions about how teaching works. These preconceptions condition what they learn.

A. Students’ preconceptions come from years of observing the people who taught them (“apprenticeship of observation”). They then use this information to draw inferences about what good teaching looks like and what makes it work.

B. “Apprenticeship of observation” can be a source from which students draw inspiration, but they often result in serious misconceptions because students are not privy to everything that goes on behind the scenes of teaching (knowledge, skills, planning, decision making, etc.) a. Possible misconceptions/preconceptions: 1) teaching is easy → students only see the surface of teaching and don’t understand or learn what really goes into it; 2) students think they understand certain concepts (group learning, assessment, etc.) because they have taken part in those activities → their experience does not include the work that went into planning these activities; b. Many student beliefs focus on affective qualities of teachers, teaching styles and individual children, but they do not take into account the role of social contexts, subject matter or pedagogical knowledge. c. Students also sometimes have preconceptions that learning is a simple transfer of information from text and teachers to students. This causes problems for teacher educators who want to prepare teachers in ways that are more compatible with what is known about how people learn.

II) To develop competence that allows them to “enact” what they know, teachers must have a deep factual and theoretical foundation, understand facts and ideas in a conceptual framework, and organize knowledge in ways that make it easy to retrieve and act upon.

A. It is often difficult to help preservice teachers learn to think like a teacher and can be even more complicated to help them learn to put their intentions into action. B. Learning experiences that support understanding and effective action are more effective than those that occur without understanding because they help students to understand key aspects that would otherwise be missed. //(the rest of this section is covered in Karen P's notes)//

III) A “metacognitive” approach can help teachers learn to take control of their own learning by providing tools for analysis that enable them to handle the complexities of being a teacher. ||