The composition of decomposition: unpacking reading in teacher education

ABSTRACT

As teacher education aims to prepare thoughtfully adaptive teachers, programs have begun to examine a practice-focused approach. One movement focuses on the pedagogy of teacher education, including how practice is unpacked, decomposed, for teacher candidates. This paper examines the pedagogy of decomposition in a U.S. based practice-focused reading course. This paper presents the Framework for Decomposition in Teacher Education. Using this tool, findings indicate decomposition is much more nuanced and complex than previously reported. Implications of this expanded view include an analytic tool for researchers and supports for teacher educators in understanding the different types of complex practice to unpack in preparing teachers.

KEYWORDS:

• Literacy education
• teacher educator pedagogy
• teacher education

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to Ted Kesler for generous feedback on multiple versions of this article. Morva McDonald and Sheila Valencia, thank you for engaging in discussions around the ideas presented here. I want to thank the participants in the study for making their practice public so that others can learn from their experiences and efforts.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Notes on contributors

Katie A. Danielson

Katie A. Danielson is an assistant professor in the school of education at the University of Portland. Her work focuses on early childhood language and literacy, literacy instruction, and the pedagogy of teacher education.