Writing in inclusion classrooms : two fourth grade teachers' beliefs and approaches to writing instruction

The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the pedagogies used by two elementary teachers who taught writing within special education inclusion classrooms and how they navigated tensions in enacting approaches aligned with their beliefs. Data was collected in two fourth grade inclusion classrooms in the same school district and included classroom observations, planning conversations with the teachers, teacher and student interviews, as well as teacher and student artifacts connected to writing instruction. Data was analyzed inductively first within each individual case and then across cases. I drew from the theoretical perspectives of Disability Studies in Education (DSE) (Baglieri et al., 2011; Reid & Valle, 2004) and Dis/Ability Critical Race Studies (DisCrit) (Annamma et al., 2013) to understand the teacher’s approaches to supporting identified students. I also used thoughtfully adaptive teaching (Parsons, 2012; Vaughn & Parsons, 2013) to examine the teachers’ instructional moves for the purpose of understanding how teachers navigated tensions brought on by testing accountability pressures. Findings indicated that both teachers expressed similar values about teaching writing; however, they had very different experiences enacting writing instruction aligned with these beliefs. Analysis indicated that the teachers’ school context shaped the affordances and constraints each teacher encountered while teaching and supporting identified students. For one teacher serving on a school campus identified as high-need, test scores and performance often interfered with her ability to provide authentic writing instruction with her students. This study suggests teachers can use their professional pedagogical knowledge and knowledge of their students to meet individual students’ needs when teaching writing. It also raises questions about what more teacher education programs can do to support teachers once they leave the university and enact their practices within diverse school contexts.Curriculum and Instructio