BEST PRACTICES IN TEACHER PREPARATION

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http//ctell.uconn.edu

• BEST PRACTICES IN TEACHER PREPARATION
• AND TECHNOLOGY
• CONNECTIONS THAT ENHANCE CHILDRENS LITERACY
  ACQUISITION AND READING ACHIEVEMENT
• An Interagency Educational Research Initiative
• National Science Foundation Grant No. REC-0089221
• AERA 2004
• Kinzer, C. K. (Teachers College, Columbia
  University), Labbo, L. D. (University of
  Georgia), Teale, W. (University of Illinois,
  Chicago), Leu, D. J. (University of Connecticut),
  Cammack, D. W. (Teachers College, Columbia
  University)
• This material is based upon work supported by the
  National Science Foundation under Grant No.
  0089221. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions
  or
• recommendations expressed in this material are
  those of the author(s) and do not necessarily
  reflect the views of the National Science
  Foundation

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Overview What Is CTELL?
Case Technologies to Enhance Literacy Learning is
a collaborative, federally funded, 5-year project
that uses interactive multimedia cases of
effective literacy instruction (including the use
of computer-related technologies) in K-3
classrooms to

• raise pre-service teachers understanding of
  effective early literacy education principles
  and practices
• increase teachers use of effective practices in
  the classroom when they first begin teaching
• significantly raise young childrens reading
  achievement

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A Brief Rationale For Our Approach

• 2 million teachers are needed in the next 10
  years in the USA (Teale, Leu, Labbo, Kinzer,
  2002 USDOE)
• Teacher quality, or the ability of a teacher to
  act as an expert decision-maker, is the most
  important factor in student achievement. However,
  pre-service teacher education programs have
  difficulty teaching complex problem solving to
  meet student needs (Preventing Reading
  Difficulties in Young Children, Snow, Burns,
  Griffin, 1998)
• Less than 1/2 of new teachers feel well prepared
  to meet the challenges of school classrooms
  (Teacher Survey on Professional Development,
  Lewis et al, 1999)
• Pre-service teachers do not have enough occasions
  to understand how to contextualize textbook
  literacy instruction procedures in urban,
  suburban, rural, and diverse classrooms
• Traditional field placements do not provide
  enough exposure to effective computer-related
  literacy instruction

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Theoretical Frameworks That Inform This Research

• Case-based instruction
• e.g., Kinzer Risko, 1997 Lundeberg, 1999
  Merseth, 1991 Shulman, 1995 Silverman Welty,
  1995
• Anchored instruction
• e.g., Bransford, Brown Cocking, 1999 Cognition
  and Technology Group, 1990 Hughes, Packard,
  Pearson, 1999
• Technology in preservice education
• e.g., Kinzer Leander, in press Lemke, 1998
  Leu, 2000 Leu Kinzer, 2000
• Social constructivist notions of teaching and
  learning
• e.g., Alvermann,1990 Reinking, Mealey, and
  Ridgeway.1993 Rowe, 1994 Vygotsky, 1978

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• Case-Based Instruction
• A Promising Approach
• Student literacy learning cases and case-inquiry
  protocols based on print/video combination in
  professional staff development for in-service
  teachers (Greenleaf Schoenbach, 2001)
• Multimedia, case-based instruction for
  pre-service teachers (Kinzer Risko, 1998)
• Videos of specific instructional routines serve
  as a springboard for Internet-based education
  (California Learning Exchange, University of
  California-Irvine the Reading Classroom Explorer
  project, Michigan State)
• CTELL Principled Literacy Instruction Cases are
  based on anchored instruction (Cognition
  Technology Group at Vanderbilt)
• Random access capabilities of Internet and/or CD
  technologies allow for levels of interactivity
  denied in conventional videotape scenarios

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Identifying Principles of Beginning Literacy
Instruction That Improve Learning

• The notion of principles
• Moves beyond just describing procedures because
  things dont always work like textbook
  procedures
• Contextualizes teachers orchestration of
  instruction to address needs of the diverse
  students
• Serves as the content of the cases and the focus
  of pre-service literacy education courses
• Emerged from a comprehensive review of research,
  national reports, and is supported/enhanced by
  findings from project-related interviews and a
  national survey (Teale, Kinzer, Labbo, Leu,
  2002)

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12 Principles of Beginning Literacy Instruction
That Improve Learning

1. Teacher knowledge and orchestration
2. Language, culture, home background, and reading
   instruction
3. Literacy dispositions
4. Phonemic awareness instruction
5. Decoding instruction
6. Comprehension instruction

• Independent reading
• Fluency instruction
• Integrating writing and reading
• Technology and early literacy development
• Early assessment and instructional intervention
• Enthusiasm for reading and writing

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5 Year Project Outline(Currently in Year 4)

• Years 1 and 2 - Developmental Formative Phase
• First - Identify principles of effective literacy
  practice (including use of computer-related
  technologies)
• Second - Develop 12 interactive, multimedia K-3
  classroom video anchor cases of principled,
  effective literacy practices
• Third - Conduct formative experiments of
  effective use of the anchor cases in
  pre-service classrooms

• Years 3 - 5 - Experimental Phase
• Experimental studies in pre-service methods
  courses
• Experimental studies of former pre-service
  teachers in their first year of K-3 teaching and
  their students reading achievement

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Research Design and Analyses

• IHE instructors knowledge and use of multimedia,
  case-based instruction following a summer
  training session vs.IHE
  instructors knowledge and use of multimedia,
  case-based instruction following Internet-based
  training
• Case-trained pre-service teachers content
  knowledge of and implementation of effective
  literacy instructional practices
  vs.
• Non-case-trained pre-service teachers knowledge
  and implementation

• Pre-post gain scores observation of hands-on
  instruction
• Pre and post-test comparisons classroom
  observations and interviews (randomly-selected
  sample)

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Research Design and Analyses, Contd

• IHE instructors fidelity of implementation of
  multimedia, case based methods in their
  pre-service, methods classes
• Multimedia case-trained first- and second-year
  teachers implementation of effective reading
  instructional practices in their classrooms
• vs.
• Non- multimedia case-trained trained first- and
  second-year teachers
• Reading achievement of K-3 children in multimedia
  case-trained first- and second-year teachers
  classes
• vs.
• Reading achievement of K-3 children in
  non-trained first- and second-year teachers
  classes

• Coding and analysis of observations, videotapes,
  syllabi
• In-person teaching observations
  (randomly-selected sample) videotaped
  observations of teaching (randomly-selected
  sample) analysis of lesson plans
  (randomly-selected sample)
• Comparison of current standardized reading
  achievement test scores with scores from the
  prior 5-year period

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The Web Interface Front Page
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The Web Interface Menu
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Preparing the Cases

• 5,000 hours of video in 12 K-3 classrooms (4
  demonstrating effective computer-related
  instruction)
• Pre-service teachers (virtually) step into the
  complex world of K-3 classrooms through
  Principled Literacy Instruction Cases
• Case components and functional tools prepare
  pre-service teachers to think like expert
  teachers and apply principles of effective
  decision making

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Content of Cases
ANCHOR CASE 15 minute video captures spirit,
philosophy and activities representative of
literacy instruction contextualize principles of
effective practices that occur in various
classroom settings.
Teacher interviews and reflections explain unique
classroom contexts and implementation of
effective instructional principles.
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Principled Literacy Instruction Case Components
Anchor video Teacher voiceover Instructional
segments related to principles School
demographics Student profiles of 3 target
children Class work samples assessment Intervi
ews Teacher Principal Parents Expert
commentary