A systematic approach to professional learning: developing teachers' pedagogical content knowledge in literacy

Walpole, Sharon C.This portfolio represents a needs-based comprehensive professional learning (PL) initiative developed for a small independent school, serving a special population of students in grades 1-8. The faculty invited me to assess the school's current literacy materials and practices for alignment with Common Core State Standards (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010). The results revealed significant gaps in alignment among literacy-related materials, current classroom literacy instruction, and CCSS (2010) requirements. This misalignment was problematic, because the school serves struggling readers who require grade-level instruction and research-based interventions to remediate gaps in achievement. Also, pre-service candidates from the local university are placed at the school to observe and learn literacy content and pedagogy, and the results suggested a potential disconnect between research-based best practices learned at the university and literacy instruction in the field. Although independent schools are not required to follow CCSS (2010), I identified multiple issues that suggest changes in literacy instruction and literacy-related materials are warranted. ☐ To address these concerns, my improvement goal was to facilitate PL to strengthen reading-related teacher pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) by introducing a systematic approach to research-based reading instruction, aligned to CCSS (2010), emphasizing required instructional shifts. To achieve the goal, I identified several PL objectives (e.g., determine school PL needs, develop matching PL, implement PL), multiple approaches to achieve the objectives (e.g., knowledge-building sessions, coaching, teaching tools), and I designed and implemented the initiative. ☐ I customized PL to meet school needs using information provided by faculty, collected during classroom observations, and observed through examination of instructional materials. I considered the school’s unique organizational needs (e.g., university affiliation, independent school norms, placement of student teachers), range of grades (1-8), student needs, and teacher characteristics. I researched best practices in reading instruction and PL for teachers. Taken together, these data informed a comprehensive approach constructed around the principles that PL: 1) should reflect school needs, 2) should build teachers’ content knowledge, 3) should include modeling of evidence-based pedagogy for the teaching of reading, and 4) should provide opportunities and tools for teachers to try out ideas, receive supportive feedback, and reflect on content and pedagogy. ☐ Knowing that change in teacher practice requires time and support, I recommend the school seek ongoing literacy PL and develop a school-wide plan for literacy instruction that considers aligning literacy materials and instructional approaches to CCSS (2010), a school-wide approach to grade-level literacy instruction, targeted interventions, evidence-based strategy instruction, and utilizing CCSS (2010) Anchor Standards to guide planning. If CCSS (2010) are not adopted, I suggest creating a clear scope and sequence in literacy instruction school-wide by establishing vertically aligned grade-level expectations. I recommend the school examine current accountability policies and develop a systematic school-wide approach to: 1) student assessment, aligned with best practices in collecting and organizing data to provide evidence of student growth, inform classroom instruction, target interventions, and monitor progress, and 2) teacher evaluation, implementing classroom observation protocols to ensure quality instruction and provide evidence of teacher effectiveness.University of Delaware, School of EducationD.Ed