Using Representations of Practice in Teacher

Education

Pam Grossman, Stanford

Anna Richert, Mills College

Presentation at Michigan State University,

September 2006

With a lot of help from our friends!

Project funded by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching & the Goldman Foundation

Quest Colleagues

Overview of Session

Project overview Teacher educators’ use of multi-media

representations of practice Predictable dilemmas facing teacher educators Learning from the practice of others: Making

practice visible to novices Making the practice of teacher educators visible

Questions for the future

Project Overview

Making practice visible: The development of CASTL websites

Learning to use multi-media materials in teacher education: developing curriculum and pedagogy

Creating a community of teacher educators Making the practice of teacher educators visible:

Quest websites of teacher educators Making learning visible: documenting student

learning from websites

Pam’s dilemma

How do I help students learn to lead text-based, student centered discussion in an English methods class Discussion as an example of high-leverage practice in the

teaching of English Lack of strong, common examples from which students can learn

Learning to lead text-based, student centered discussion in an English

methods class

Use of Yvonne Divans Hutchinson’s website http://www.goingpublicwithteaching.org/yhutchinson/ Working to elaborate the initial website

Goals for student learning: Principles: To understand the range of

strategies related both to reading and discussion that teachers need to introduce to prepare students for discussion

Practice: To learn to enact one or two of these strategies in student teaching and to analyze their practice

Using multi-media representations:

A multi-part assignment

Investigating practice: learning to learn from the practice of others Pairs of students investigate a question about

Yvonne’s practice Students lead a small-group discussion with

peers about this question

Using multi-media representations:

A multi-part assignment

Lily leads a small groups discussion on the norms Yvonne has established for discussion

Using multi-media representations

Enacting practice: learning from one’s own practice Students identify and try out a strategy or idea

they’ve learned from Yvonne Students choose a videoclip of their practice to

share with peers

Learning from one’s own practice

Anna’s teaching dilemma

How to help students grapple with the centrality of “knowing the learner” in secondary school teaching.

How to help students think about knowing the learner as learners of particular subject matters rather than learners “in general.”

Using multimedia representations

Where the Quest sites fit in: One one of three “texts” in the Adolescent Development class

Using multi-media representations

Where the Quest sites fit in: One one of 3 “texts” in the Adolescent Development class

Students assigned sites by subject area Students are asked to:

Investigate (alone and with partners) the practice of learner responsive teachers using the Quest Sites

Explore insights and puzzles about teaching with high school partners

Enact strategies in their classrooms

Learning from Marsha

Individual and partner website investigations.

Class discussions about the teaching and learning viewed there.

Written reflections guided by 3 questions.

Conversations with high school partners.

Classroom enactment.

Learning from Yvonne with a high school partner: Step III

Individual and partner website investigations.

Class discussions about the teaching and learning viewed there.

Written reflections guided by 3 questions.

Conversations with high school partners.

Classroom enactment.

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are needed to see this picture.

Making the practice of teacher educators visible

Documenting the use of multi-media materials in our classrooms

Creating sites for teacher educator learning

Future directions

Creation of professional community around the pedagogy of teacher education Exhibitions of teacher educator sites

Development of novice teacher educators Seminar in the pedagogy of teacher education

Doctoral students investigate TE websites

Research

Key Questions for the future

What central principles and practices lend themselves to multimedia representation?

How do we design multi-media representations of practice to best support novice learning?

What practices, assignments, and contexts facilitate learning from multimedia representations?

Given the time-intensive nature of learning from multi-media representations, on what aspects of practice do we choose to focus students’ attention?

Links

To teacher educator websites: http://quest.carnegiefoundation.org/AERA2006

To K-12 websites: http://gallery.carnegiefoundation.org

To Quest site (soon to be launched)

http://www.insideteaching.org

Making student learning visible

Student discussions of Yvonne’s website Students’ written analyses of Yvonne’s website Class debrief on experimenting with strategies Reflection papers on experimenting with

strategies Videos of trying strategies out in classroom Class discussion of peer videos Videos of first and second year teachers

teaching with discussion

Evidence of student learning

Student discussions of the Quest website Students’ written analyses of the teaching Plans and reflections on trying out one of the

strategies in the student teaching setting. Questionnaires and freewrite data throughout

the term Focus group discussion three months after the

Carnegie website work Follow up with first year teachers one year later