Using Representations of Practice in Teacher Education

1. Using Representations of Practice in Teacher Education Pam Grossman, Stanford Anna Richert, Mills College Presentation at Michigan State University, September 2006

2. With a lot of help from our friends! • Project funded by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching & the Goldman Foundation • Quest Colleagues

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. Using multi-media representations: A multi-part assignment • Lily leads a small groups discussion on the norms Yvonne has established for discussion

9. 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

10. Learning from one’s own practice

11. 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.”

12. Using multimedia representations • Where the Quest sites fit in: One one of three “texts” in the Adolescent Development class

13. 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

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. Making the practice of teacher educators visible • Documenting the use of multi-media materials in our classrooms • Creating sites for teacher educator learning

17. 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

18. Key Questions for the future How do we design multi-media representations of practice to best support novice learning? What practices, assignments, and contexts facilitate learning from multimedia representations? What central principles and practices lend themselves to multimedia representation? Given the time-intensive nature of learning from multi-media representations, on what aspects of practice do we choose to focus students’ attention?

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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