Sue Ann Sharma is an Assistant Professor, Director of Graduate Programs in Literacy Education in the College of Education at Madonna University, Livonia, Michigan, USA. Address: Livonia, Michigan, United States
Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice, 2015
Multimedia expands the opportunity for graduate teachers to develop a community of learners in an... more Multimedia expands the opportunity for graduate teachers to develop a community of learners in an online reading clinic as they reflect and collaborate on a variety of reading and writing experiences during an online lesson study of a comprehensive corrective reading lesson. This qualitative method study explores (a) the pedagogical shifts of teachers in an online reading clinic lesson study of their own self-selected literacy teaching. The findings reveal that the pedagogical shifts made by graduate teachers in an online lesson study resulted in changes in 1) knowledge of assessment and diagnosis as evident in metacognitive reflection and progressive of understandings; 2) teachers instructional differentiation and intervention skills refined by examination of practice as evident in their analytical reasoning; and 3) increased commitment to providing corrective reading instruction based on formal and informal data—driven decisions.
Using qualitative research design, this study investigated the instructional practices of two soc... more Using qualitative research design, this study investigated the instructional practices of two social studies elementary teachers at a suburban elementary school located in the Midwest to determine if (a) after a one year lapse, there was evidence of continued use of content literacy strategies learned from professional development training and (b) to what degree the strategies transferred into classroom practice and transformed teaching and learning. The findings from the study include the content literacy strategies that transferred into instructional practice as well as the three main indicators that literacy coaches can use to signal different stages of learning transformation: (a) common language development, (b) gradual release of responsibility to the learner, and (c) deeper understanding as witnessed in purposeful, professional conversations. This professional development coupled with coaching created a transformational learning environment, which strengthened teachers’ belie...
Using qualitative research design, this study investigated the instructional practices of two soc... more Using qualitative research design, this study investigated the instructional practices of two social studies elementary teachers at a suburban elementary school located in the Midwest to determine if (a) after a one year lapse, there was evidence of continued use of content literacy strategies learned from professional development training and (b) to what degree the strategies transferred into classroom practice and transformed teaching and learning. The findings from the study include the content literacy strategies that transferred into instructional practice as well as the three main indicators that literacy coaches can use to signal different stages of learning transformation: (a) common language development, (b) gradual release of responsibility to the learner, and (c) deeper understanding as witnessed in purposeful, professional conversations. This professional development coupled with coaching created a transformational learning environment, which strengthened teachers’ belie...
Culturally relevant text selection and pedagogy support students’ motivation, engagement, literac... more Culturally relevant text selection and pedagogy support students’ motivation, engagement, literacy outcomes, and positive identity formation. Nevertheless, there is limited research on teacher preparation that fosters these outcomes. The authors explore 17 preservice teachers’ challenges and successes with culturally relevant text selection and pedagogy for their students’ literacy instruction. Data sources include reader responses, lesson plans, and reflections. Emergent coding and constant comparative analysis yielded four categories of challenge (resistance, limited view of culture, lack of knowledge about students’ cultures and identities, and lack of opportunities for students to develop critical consciousness) and three criteria for success (knowledge about the students’ culture and identity, attention to multiple dimensions of text selection, and use of culturally relevant text selection and pedagogy in combination). Professional development should focus on supporting teacher...
Digital curation is a process that allows university professors to adapt and adopt resources from... more Digital curation is a process that allows university professors to adapt and adopt resources from multidisciplinary fields to meet the educational needs of twenty-first-century learners. Looking through the lens of new media literacy studies (Vasquez, Harste, & Albers, 2010) and new literacies studies (Gee, 2010), we propose that university professors be savvy consumers of multimedia through purposeful content curation. In this paper, we will discuss practices that university professors may use to transform teaching and learning through effective collection, categorization, critiquing, conceptualization, and circulation of resources deemed to have curricular and content standards value. University professors spend a considerable amount of time identifying, locating, downloading, categorizing, manipulating, presenting, and assessing academic materials to collect and use with their students. This process is not new. Although these types of activities have occurred for years, technolog...
Digital curation provides a way to transcend traditional academic fields of study and create inst... more Digital curation provides a way to transcend traditional academic fields of study and create instructional materials available to support adolescent and adult literacy initiatives. The instructional capabilities that Web 2.0 tools offer provide curators with the ability to reach audiences in a way that has not been possible in the past. The authors propose a digital curation framework for teachers to use as they collect, categorize, critique, conceptualize, and circulate resources. Based on this framework, the authors identify 10 valuable Web 2.0 tools that are available for effective content literacy digital curation.
Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice, 2015
Multimedia expands the opportunity for graduate teachers to develop a community of learners in an... more Multimedia expands the opportunity for graduate teachers to develop a community of learners in an online reading clinic as they reflect and collaborate on a variety of reading and writing experiences during an online lesson study of a comprehensive corrective reading lesson. This qualitative method study explores (a) the pedagogical shifts of teachers in an online reading clinic lesson study of their own self-selected literacy teaching. The findings reveal that the pedagogical shifts made by graduate teachers in an online lesson study resulted in changes in 1) knowledge of assessment and diagnosis as evident in metacognitive reflection and progressive of understandings; 2) teachers instructional differentiation and intervention skills refined by examination of practice as evident in their analytical reasoning; and 3) increased commitment to providing corrective reading instruction based on formal and informal data—driven decisions.
Using qualitative research design, this study investigated the instructional practices of two soc... more Using qualitative research design, this study investigated the instructional practices of two social studies elementary teachers at a suburban elementary school located in the Midwest to determine if (a) after a one year lapse, there was evidence of continued use of content literacy strategies learned from professional development training and (b) to what degree the strategies transferred into classroom practice and transformed teaching and learning. The findings from the study include the content literacy strategies that transferred into instructional practice as well as the three main indicators that literacy coaches can use to signal different stages of learning transformation: (a) common language development, (b) gradual release of responsibility to the learner, and (c) deeper understanding as witnessed in purposeful, professional conversations. This professional development coupled with coaching created a transformational learning environment, which strengthened teachers’ belie...
Using qualitative research design, this study investigated the instructional practices of two soc... more Using qualitative research design, this study investigated the instructional practices of two social studies elementary teachers at a suburban elementary school located in the Midwest to determine if (a) after a one year lapse, there was evidence of continued use of content literacy strategies learned from professional development training and (b) to what degree the strategies transferred into classroom practice and transformed teaching and learning. The findings from the study include the content literacy strategies that transferred into instructional practice as well as the three main indicators that literacy coaches can use to signal different stages of learning transformation: (a) common language development, (b) gradual release of responsibility to the learner, and (c) deeper understanding as witnessed in purposeful, professional conversations. This professional development coupled with coaching created a transformational learning environment, which strengthened teachers’ belie...
Culturally relevant text selection and pedagogy support students’ motivation, engagement, literac... more Culturally relevant text selection and pedagogy support students’ motivation, engagement, literacy outcomes, and positive identity formation. Nevertheless, there is limited research on teacher preparation that fosters these outcomes. The authors explore 17 preservice teachers’ challenges and successes with culturally relevant text selection and pedagogy for their students’ literacy instruction. Data sources include reader responses, lesson plans, and reflections. Emergent coding and constant comparative analysis yielded four categories of challenge (resistance, limited view of culture, lack of knowledge about students’ cultures and identities, and lack of opportunities for students to develop critical consciousness) and three criteria for success (knowledge about the students’ culture and identity, attention to multiple dimensions of text selection, and use of culturally relevant text selection and pedagogy in combination). Professional development should focus on supporting teacher...
Digital curation is a process that allows university professors to adapt and adopt resources from... more Digital curation is a process that allows university professors to adapt and adopt resources from multidisciplinary fields to meet the educational needs of twenty-first-century learners. Looking through the lens of new media literacy studies (Vasquez, Harste, & Albers, 2010) and new literacies studies (Gee, 2010), we propose that university professors be savvy consumers of multimedia through purposeful content curation. In this paper, we will discuss practices that university professors may use to transform teaching and learning through effective collection, categorization, critiquing, conceptualization, and circulation of resources deemed to have curricular and content standards value. University professors spend a considerable amount of time identifying, locating, downloading, categorizing, manipulating, presenting, and assessing academic materials to collect and use with their students. This process is not new. Although these types of activities have occurred for years, technolog...
Digital curation provides a way to transcend traditional academic fields of study and create inst... more Digital curation provides a way to transcend traditional academic fields of study and create instructional materials available to support adolescent and adult literacy initiatives. The instructional capabilities that Web 2.0 tools offer provide curators with the ability to reach audiences in a way that has not been possible in the past. The authors propose a digital curation framework for teachers to use as they collect, categorize, critique, conceptualize, and circulate resources. Based on this framework, the authors identify 10 valuable Web 2.0 tools that are available for effective content literacy digital curation.
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