“Changing the Way I Teach”

Abstract

In this article, the authors examine the effect of a National Writing Project professional development model on a group of middle school writing teachers. The authors examine how contact with other professionals in intensive week-long sessions as well as mentoring from the professional development coach affected the teachers’ concept of themselves as professionals, as writers, and as colleagues, as well as how this attitudinal change affected their classrooms and students. The authors begin with an overview of recent scholarship on teacher “empowerment,” efficacy, and the National Writing Project. The authors then explicate their methodology and findings from this 2-year study, including how advanced knowledge builds confidence, how autonomy sustains empowerment, and how support can strengthen teachers, whereas other disempowering forces can negatively affect teacher actions. Implications for other professional development models as well as for future National Writing Project endeavors are included.

Skill development in experimental courses

“…To reach the objectves of the European convergence process, a fundamental strategic queston arises: how can a teacher atain the pedagogical knowledge necessary to provide efectve and high-quality instructon (Dierking & Fox, 2012;Gibbs, 2001;Michalsky, 2012;Miguel Díaz, 2003;Vázquez-Bernal, Mellado, Jiménez-Pérez & Leñero, 2012)? According to Cruz, today, quality university teaching is impossible without specifc training that provides the knowledge, skills, attudes, values, and virtues needed by university-level teachers (De la Cruz Tomé, 2003).…”

Take Care When Cutting

“…The concentric rings we envision might overlap in some locations. Still, scholars who sample entirely in rural settings distinguish among communities based on proximities to metropolitan areas (Dierking & Fox, 2013;Irvin et al, 2011;Petrin et al, 2014). We endorse our proximity and fully nuanced approaches because they enable quantitative analysts to emphasize rurality and remoteness jointly and separately while recognizing inherent complexities about schools and their communities.…”

Supporting Teacher Candidates' Development of Critical Thinking Skills Through Dialogue and Reflection

“…These standardized curricula (Au, 2011;Goldstein;2014) inhibit teachers' efforts to design and implement instruction that is differentiated to respond to the needs and interests of students (Stewart, 2012). Standardized classrooms in which teacher autonomy is curtailed (Dierking & Fox, 2012;Fecho, Mallozzi, & Schultz, 2007;Ravitch, 2013;Stewart & Boggs, 2016) can be particularly problematic contexts for TCs who are attempting to apply the student-centered pedagogical approaches they study during teacher preparation programs (Barnes & Smagorinsky, 2016;Smagorinsky, Jakubiak & Moore, 2008).…”

“…Rapidly evolving demands related to participation in a democratic society are transforming all aspects of the personal, civic, and economic lives of students in the 21 st century. Economic rationales for education reforms are changing the landscape of teaching and learning (Boggs, Stewart, & Jansky, 2018) as classrooms become increasingly standardized (Cuban, 2009;Dierking & Fox, 2012;Ravitch, 2013;Stewart & Boggs, 2016). Changes in the workplace make the capacity for critical thought and creative thinking a fundamental attribute for success (Resnick, 2017).…”