Patsy Vinogradov TESOL, March 2013

Dallas, Texas

Adult Basic Education, Adult ESL, LESLLA Classrooms and Teachers

Collaborative Inquiry as Professional Development for Teachers

Crossing Contexts- Adult Ed meets K-2

Case Study: Our Study Circle

Findings

Implications for Teachers

ABE: Adult Basic Education ESL: English as a Second Language

PD: Professional Development

LESLLA: Low-educated Second Language and Literacy Acquisition

Photo: Danielle Boon

-Differ greatly, but can meet 2-5/days per week for 2-5 hours -Groups of 4-30 learners -Are generally free for students -Have limited resources

Knowledge Base for LESLLA Teachers

Early Literacy

Instruction

Teaching

Immigrant & Refugee Experience

Language & Language

Acquisition

Adult Learning

Often part-time employees or volunteers

May not be licensed teachers

May lack specific training in adult learning and/or early literacy instruction

Are often isolated from other LESLLA teachers

May not be supported to attend professional development activities

Have limited research and materials specifically for LESLLA to draw from

Often turn to materials used with children who have similar reading level

What can happen when we gather a group of smart, thoughtful teachers in the same room, give them something important to talk about, and provide the tools and time to investigate?

Regardless of age, in order for a person to become literate in an alphabetic language, he or she must have a certain set of pre-reading skills and concepts (i.e., print awareness, phonological concepts, alphabet knowledge, and narrative skills).

K-2 teachers are experts at developing these skills in their learners. Why not tap into this rich source of literacy know-how?

1. What knowledge and practices do LESLLA teachers identify as transferable to their own teaching contexts after participating in a professional development study circle designed to expose them to early literacy practices with early elementary learners? 2. Of those practices that they identify, how do LESLLA teachers transform and apply the practices for their contexts? 3. As they reflect on the PD and how they have applied early elementary practices, what do they articulate as key insights?

Qualitative Case Study: 4 adult ESL teachers in a study circle around early literacy instruction in K-2 settings

Theoretical Framework: Communities of Practice

Data sources: interviews, observations, transcriptions of our study circle PD sessions, teacher journals and sharing in online private website

Analysis: collaborative, cyclical coding, Dedoose

“There is a ceiling effect to how much we can learn if we keep to ourselves…Personal mastery and group mastery feed on each other in learning organizations.

People need one another to learn and to accomplish things.” -Fullan, 1995, p.257

“Learning cannot be designed: it can only be designed for – that is, facilitated or frustrated.” (Wenger, 1998)

1. Setting the Scene

2. Observation of kindergarten and

first grade classrooms

3. Unpacking our observations

Outside Task 1:

Try out 1-2 new practices, report

back 4. Working with young new

readers

5. Debrief and Planning Session

Outside Task 2: Individual school

visits

6. Putting it all together

Overview of Study

Circle Meetings

To the untrained eye, it looked like a very colorful garage sale, but as we looked a little closer we found that the space was divided into distinct areas of math, reading, motor-activity, group space. For me, the garage sale analogy isn't a negative one. It makes me want to dig through things to find treasure. (Mike, Wiggio post, 9/23/2012)

Morning messages and sign-ins

Routines

Student jobs (adult version of “Star of the Day”)

Math activities woven into literacy block

Reading aloud to students

Text connections (text-text, text-self)

Classroom library and independent reading time

Offering choices

Naming activities

Reflecting on learning

Organization of Literacy Instruction

Morning messages and sign-ins

Routines

Student jobs

Integrating Math: Expanded Definition of Literacy

Response to Literature

Reading aloud to students

Text connections

Fostering Independent Learning

Classroom library and independent reading time

Offering choices

Naming activities

Reflecting on learning

Organization of Literacy Instruction

Morning messages and sign-ins

Routines

Student jobs

Integrating Math: Expanded Definition of Literacy

Response to Literature

Reading aloud to students

Text connections

Fostering Independent Learning

Classroom library and independent reading time

Offering choices

Naming activities

Reflecting on learning

For the last couple of

days I’ve done a morning

message. Just like she did,

like “Good morning!

Happy Friday. Today we

are going to read, write,

ask questions. Mr. Jim will

come and talk to us at 10:30.”

I do that and then I do a little question. ….It’s a nice way to get into our topic and to talk about what we’re going to do today, and also focus everyone’s attention. (Audrey, Meeting 3, 9/28/2012)

The K-2 people are masters of routine, and I think we can learn a lot from that. We just have to persist, and learners will develop those target habits. It’s easy to give up, to say “oh that didn’t work,” but you just have to persist and persist.

(Mike, Interview, 11/12/2012)

Another thing that really translates [across contexts] is that we’re not just teaching them literacy, we’re teaching them how to behave in a community, and in a specific setting. So some of these things, even if they’re not directly connected to literacy, they are directly connected to being in a learning environment. Like, how to “do school.” (Sophia, Meeting 3, 9/28/2012)

Audrey: I’ve never wanted to do numeracy until I saw this. Ohhh, that’s how you can teach it! They had a number of the day, did you see that? [She shows her drawing of it. The number of the day was 32, and they had to find different ways of reaching it, like addition, subtraction, with coins, multiplication, etc.] That was SO awesome!!

Mike: They had six ways to get to the same number.

Sophia: They must have known; that must be a regular routine. (Meeting 2, 9/27/2012)

I think what it all comes down to is that I am struck by the fact that the children are encouraged to learn for learning sake, in their own way, at their own pace. They learn through activities that are relevant and immediate and engaging.

(Sophia, Wiggio post, 9/20/2012)

Mike: But it’s part of that labeling too. This is “us” time and then comes the “ya’ll” time. Or whatever.

Patsy: Choice time. Maybe it’s whole ‘group’ time and ‘choice’ time. It keeps coming back to that structure.

Claire: Like if we build a different structure.

Patsy: If we have a structure, that’s more clear about when it’s “us” time and when it’s “groups” and when it’s “read to self”, if we have language for these activities, then that provides structure which allows us to foster the independence which allows us to give individual students what they need] [my italics] … Ooo!!! [laughter]

What are

the big

ideas?

If our overall purpose is to assist our learners to become full participants in their communities outside of the classroom, then our classes need to be a place where independence and problem solving are nurtured. We can do this by establishing strong classroom routines and common language for tasks, by providing choices for learners in the classroom, by making our teaching more transparent, and by designing instruction that values independent and peer-learning.

LESLLA Learners as Problem-Solvers

Routines & Common Language

Choices for

Learners

Independent & Peer Learning

Transparent Instruction

Reflecting on

Learning

RQ 3: Our Key Learnings

We can branch out beyond our professional territories. We can move in and out of different communities, bringing our tools for investigation with us (Tarone, 2012).

PD that is intellectually challenging, that moves us into new spaces, and that brings us together with other dedicated professionals, can be transformational.

We need more of this kind of teacher development.

1. Establish strong routines and common language for regular classroom activities.

2. Offer a regular literacy-work period where learners choose from various literacy activities.

3. Begin a classroom library and make time for independent and peer reading.

4. Increase students’ comprehension and engagement with texts by eliciting and pointing out text connections.

5. Find ways to integrate numeracy instruction into literacy focused time.

6. Get literacy off the page.

7. Explain WHY you are doing what you are doing in the classroom.

8. One step at a time.

9. Reach out to colleagues.

Patsy Vinogradov

patsy@multilingualminnesota.org