Teaching Writing in the Midst of Fragile Alliances: Insights from Literacy Teacher Educators

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this phenomenological narrative study was to describe what it means to be Literacy Teacher Educators (LTEs) who supported writing in the context of a research–practice partnership (RPP) in the southwestern United States and to identify elements of the RPP in which we worked that were most useful for supporting writing instruction in “underperforming” schools. Inductive analyses of five literacy teacher educators’ 12 phenomenological interviews revealed that LTEs were university-school liaisons who: a) used our intertwined identities as LTEs and as writers to understand how to provide support; (b) served as advocates for culturally and lingusitically diverse students (CLDs); (c) used our advocacy for students to determine how to leverage administrative support for writing; and (d) navigated the structural expectations of our roles across the university and schools by focusing more on encouragement than critique in supporting teachers. Elements of the RPP most useful for supporting writing instruction were: (a) LTE understanding; (b) RPP structure; (c) teacher follow-through; (d) improved writing results; and (e) the use of real-life experiences for students. Implications for teachers and administrators who support writing in schools are provided.

KEYWORDS:

• Writing
• literacy
• in-service
• teacher education
• research-practice partnership

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Underperforming Schools: The term “underperforming schools,” problematized in this study, denotes the supposed level of academic performance set by district and state mandates for CLDs in the schools to which we were assigned based on expectations suggesting an inability on the part of students to meet academic goals (see Dyson, 2015). We acknowledge the potentially dehumanizing nature of the term, as is often represented by synonymous terms such as “high-poverty schools” or “low socioeconomic [SES] schools.” We note that it was not our intention to construct the schools or CLDs in ways that presupposed that students lacked literate capacity.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the US Department of Education [U215N120013-14].

Notes on contributors

Patriann Smith

Patriann Smith is an Assistant Professor of Literacy Studies in the Department of Teaching and Learning at the University of South Florida. Patriann Smith’s work emerges at the intersection of language, culture, literacy and multicultural teacher education. Her recent publications include “How does a Black person speak English? Beyond American language norms,” by the American Educational Research Journal, “Verbal reports in the reading processes of language learners: A methodological review” by Review of Education, and “(Re)Positioning in the Englishes and (English) literacies of a Black immigrant youth: Towards a transraciolinguistic approach” by Theory into Practice.

Jessica Varner

Jessica Varner is a Literacy Teacher Development Specialist for Houston Independent School District.  Through her various roles in public education, Jessica strives to support and lead instructional transformations to better support the low socioeconomic students from her inner-city campuses.  Her goal is to utilize education as a tool for creating lifelong, passionate readers and writers.

Anita Nigam

Anita Nigam is an Instructor teaching courses in the Departments of Curriculum and Instruction and Teacher Education at Texas Tech University. Anita Nigam's research interests include teachers' beliefs and knowledge in writing, effect of assessment on writing instruction, multicultural children's literature, and literacy strategies that help linguistically diverse learners. Her research has appeared in the journals, Literacy Practice & Research and Literacy Research, Practice and Evaluation Volume 7: Writing Instruction to Support Literacy Success.

Yilan Liu

Yilan Liu is a Research Assistant at Texas Tech University. Yilan’s research interests are focused on new literacies, technology integrated teaching, and teacher professional development

Mellinee Lesley

Mellinee Lesley is a Professor of Language, Diversity & Literacy Studies in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction at Texas Tech University. As a literacy practitioner, Mellinee has been committed to fostering agentive literacy identities and academic literacy skills for marginalized adolescent and adult learners.  Her research has appeared in Language Arts, Literacy Research & Instruction, and the Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy.

Julie Smit

Julie Smit is an Assistant Professor of Language, Diversity, and Literacy Studies in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Texas Tech University. Julie Smit’s work largely centers on knowledge creation communities and collaborative efforts in which students, teachers, and families work to generate, negotiate, and build upon social, emotional, and intellectual understandings. Julie’s recent publications include “The Effect of Empathy in Guiding the Knowledge Building of Eighth-Grade Girls as They Reflect upon Their Experiences with Literature” accepted by Scientific Study of Literature and “How Language Supports Adaptive Teaching Through a Responsive Learning Culture” by Theory into Practice.

Dawn Burke

Dawn Burke is an Instructor in the Department of Teacher Education at Texas Tech University. As an instructor, Dawn Burke has worked to create service-learning opportunities for college students to mentor young children from low socioeconomic populations in the areas of early literacy.

Whitney Beach

Whitney Beach is a Research Assistant at Texas Tech University focusing on curriculum and instruction. Her MA is in Speech Communication and her BA is in English. Whitney’s research interests lie in the areas of multicultural classrooms and strategies, for both teachers and students, to increase literacy among diverse populations.