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 (UNESCO, unpublished)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“an evolving set of skills” (UNESCO, unpublished)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.