NSF Awards: 1316834
We share an intervention that was developed and carried out in collaboration with university researchers and science teacher educators across teacher preparation programs in Arizona, California, and Texas. At the heart of the intervention was an instructional framework (Secondary Science Teaching with English Language and Literacy Acquisition [SSTELLA] that emphasized the contextualized integration of language/literacy with scientific sense-making and discourse. Key aspects of the intervention included: Restructured science method courses at each participating university and workshops for pre-service teacher mentors. In the method course, multi-day anchor learning segments were developed and then modeled for the pre-service teachers to experience how science lessons look that embody the SSTELLA Framework. Pre-service teachers would also watch and discuss videoclips developed in collaboration with local science teachers in classrooms with English Learners to deconstruct the SSTELLA instructional practices. Finally, pre-service teachers were given opportunities to approximate these practices.The intervention was researched to understand its impact on preservice teacher knowledge, beliefs, and practice. The video will showcase how this intervention was carried out, which will serve as a useful models for others wishing to adapt to their own preparation program. We will also share research results from the quasi-experimental study comparing participants to a baseline control group.
NSF Awards: 1316834
We share an intervention that was developed and carried out in collaboration with university researchers and science teacher educators across teacher preparation programs in Arizona, California, and Texas. At the heart of the intervention was an instructional framework (Secondary Science Teaching with English Language and Literacy Acquisition [SSTELLA] that emphasized the contextualized integration of language/literacy with scientific sense-making and discourse. Key aspects of the intervention included: Restructured science method courses at each participating university and workshops for pre-service teacher mentors. In the method course, multi-day anchor learning segments were developed and then modeled for the pre-service teachers to experience how science lessons look that embody the SSTELLA Framework. Pre-service teachers would also watch and discuss videoclips developed in collaboration with local science teachers in classrooms with English Learners to deconstruct the SSTELLA instructional practices. Finally, pre-service teachers were given opportunities to approximate these practices.The intervention was researched to understand its impact on preservice teacher knowledge, beliefs, and practice. The video will showcase how this intervention was carried out, which will serve as a useful models for others wishing to adapt to their own preparation program. We will also share research results from the quasi-experimental study comparing participants to a baseline control group.
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Catherine McCulloch
Edward,
Thank you for sharing your video about this program. I wish that I had experienced this kind of professional development when I was in a pre-service program. I am especially interested in the opportunity to "watch and discuss video clips developed in collaboration with local science teachers in classrooms with English Learners to deconstruct the SSTELLA instructional practices." Are you developing a video bank of clips that other pre-service programs and teachers can access? Or do you try and use locally developed clips that represent the communities and classrooms in which the pre-service teachers will be placed.
Edward Lyon
Assistant Professor
Thank you for your comment Catherine - we actually developed video clips that were purposely situated within the local schools in which our pre-service teachers would be placed (including mentors of our candidates). Each clip targeted a specific instructional practice, such as contextualizing science activity. We hope to be upload these clips along with tools for using them in the upcoming year. Here's the website to our larger research group with more info.
https://teel.sites.ucsc.edu
Cheers,
Ed
Mac Cannady
Research Group Director
Hi,
This looks like great and very important work. Thank you for sharing your videos.
We are about to start similar work in elementary math classrooms, so I am wondering what tools and methods you used in the classrooms to measure and assess teacher performance and impacts on classrooms. Can you share some of those resources here?
Thanks!
Edward Lyon
Assistant Professor
Thanks for the comment Mac.
We engaged in mixed method research. Our project is actually part of a larger research group that has done similar work for elementary science teacher preparation and elementary teacher preparation across math, science, and social studies. You can find more info about the elementary projects at https://teel.sites.ucsc.edu . The website also has some video clips and list of publications where we discuss instruments. We developed an observation protocol aligned with our instructional framework to measure classroom practice (as well as method instructor practice). We also adapted an assessment from GEMS as a assessment of student learning outcomes and developed a reading/writing task for this SSTELLA project to assess student learning outcomes. We're in the process of publishing the validation of the observation protocol - so we're holding off to make the actual instrument available to all until we publish.
Edward Lyon
Assistant Professor
Thanks for the comment Mac.
We engaged in mixed method research. Our project is actually part of a larger research group that has done similar work for elementary science teacher preparation and elementary teacher preparation across math, science, and social studies. You can find more info about the elementary projects at https://teel.sites.ucsc.edu . The website also has some video clips and list of publications where we discuss instruments. We developed an observation protocol aligned with our instructional framework to measure classroom practice (as well as method instructor practice). We also adapted an assessment from GEMS as a assessment of student learning outcomes and developed a reading/writing task for this SSTELLA project to assess student learning outcomes. We're in the process of publishing the validation of the observation protocol - so we're holding off to make the actual instrument available to all until we publish.
Susan McKenney
Professor
Thank you for sharing your work! It sounds both urgency needed and highly promising. We are currently working to develop and refine video coaching routines for early career teachers. In search of inspiration for our coaching routines, looked at the website (thanks for sharing the link!). I am guessing/hoping that there is something for each of the four instructional practices as described in the video. Is that the case? If so, could you please provide links to the information that could help us focus/improve the routines we use during video coaching?
Thanks!
Susan
Edward Lyon
Assistant Professor
Hi Susan,
Yes - we have focused clips for the 4 instructional practices. We are working to upload these specific clips with tools for discussing the videos this summer. In the meantime, we have developed the following website with a longer video focusing on language/literacy development that identifies key practices within it.
https://sites.google.com/view/whiptaillizardcasestudy/home
Cheers,
Ed
Susan McKenney
K. Renae Pullen
Elementary Science Specialist
I'm familiar with SSTELLA and appreciate the work. Thanks for the informative video. Having a cohesive instructional framework is so critical in helping educators improve student outcomes. How do you address implicit bias when preparing novice educators?
Edward Lyon
Assistant Professor
That's a great question - something I would admit we don't have the perfect answer to, but from interviews from candidates at the start of the program, realize is also critical to teacher preparation. In the courses, we convey the message over and over again - that ELs ARE capable (and do engage in) complex thinking and that complex thinking, such as done by engaging in science practices is exactly what supports language development (when scaffolded and contextualized). Seeing it in action tends to work the best - when they watch videos or better observe in practice a mentor teaching the same content to a sheltered learning class and a mainstream class, and notice the critical and creative thinking of students that are still developing written or oral language proficiency (again, when given the supports, structures, and resources). So, seeing is believing. But we are open to ideas if you have any.
K. Renae Pullen
K. Renae Pullen
Elementary Science Specialist
Ha. The best I have is have an asset-based view of ALL kids and "show them the money"! When teachers see the pay off they think isn't there, it helps to change their minds. If I ever find the magic cure, I'll definitely share.
Peter Tierney-Fife
Ed,
I am excited about your important work and I'm glad you will be sharing your videos this summer. How important do you feel it is that the videos are situated within the local schools in which your pre-service teachers are placed? Do you have any thoughts or information related to effects or impact of such local videos compared to similar (or the same videos in a different context) that lack such a local connection, and/or about the implications of this for scale?
I am also interested in your work on the related ELLISA project and appreciate you sharing your "Strategies for Integrating Language and Literacy in Mathematics Instruction" document. (I'm delighted to see that it includes supporting students who are English learners in mathematics with visual representations and models!). Any other information or thoughts you can share quickly related to that work, especially with regards to mathematics and connections between mathematics and science, would also be appreciated.
Edward Lyon
Assistant Professor
Thats a great question Peter. We haven't thought about researching the particular use of videos. Since we work across multiple states, candidates actually get to see videos from their own context as well as completely different contexts, and we discuss how what works for some students doesn't work for others. It also brings up assumptions and stereotypes (like if you live in Arizona, you "of course" have visited the grand canyon). I've been learning a lot thinking about parallels between math and science, especially in regard to ELs. From trying to develop a framework and observation instruction that works across math and science, it is "easier" to address the important of classroom talk and discourse. But I've have found it harder to address how to frame instruction in meaningful contexts. NGSS is so big into storylines - we can help science candidates develop a unit storyline that is connect to students' lived experiences and local/ecological context. However, math curriculum isn't set up to talk about these storylines as readily, so that's a harder connection to make for math. If teachers use math in support of exploring and explaining a phenomena - then there is greater chance for a connection. I haven't been as involved in our ELLISA project though, and Dr. Trish Stoddart (ELLISA Project PI) might have additional thoughts.
Doug Ward
I realize that your focus is on K-12 teachers, but are you learning things about pedagogy that might help instructors in higher ed?
Edward Lyon
Assistant Professor
Yes, absolutely! One of our research questions was around the relationship of science method instructor practices and teacher practice. We collaborated with science method instructors with a range of expertise in teaching ELs and pedagogical philosophies (and geographic contexts). We found that all were able to learn about and model the SSTELLA instructional practices in the method course (e.g., through demo lessons), although there was more variability in how the instructors promoted pedagogical development of the practices (some did more in the way of analyzing exemplar videos, unpacking readings and more metatalk around how practices would support ELs). We also learned about the importance of balancing between a core framework in which all instructors can agree to address in the method course AND allowing for adaptation to the particular institutional and geographic context. Through the work, we arrived upon the importance of helping pre-service teachers experience, analyze, and then approximate the practices being promoted (similar to work on high leverage, or core teaching practices)
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