PT3 > Team 2



		TEAM 2 "Kids can't do this!": Challenging Preservice Teachers' Assumptions about Children's Responses to Literature Through the Use of Video Examples Laura Apol The Problem: The literature written for children has come to play a central role in the elementary school curriculum, and both existing research and current standards of practice recognize the importance of children's literature response in literacy education (Marshall, 2000; NCTE Standards, 1996; New Standards, 1999). However, most preservice teachers that we encounter in children's literature classes have little sense of the range, multiplicity, and complexity of response of which children are capable. Preliminary analysis of data from a pilot study we are conducting in undergraduate children's literature classes reveals that many preservice teachers: 1) have difficulty understanding what constitutes literature response, substituting activity" or "craft" for literature response, or imagining response solely in terms of personal reaction to a text; 2) rarely recognize that children are capable of anything but the most superficial of responses, and predict that children will not understand or be interested in texts that are complicated or that call for complex responses, rejecting such texts out of hand; and 3) exhibit a limited ability to craft instruction that will facilitate children's responses to literature, and design instruction that relies almost exclusively on comprehension or extension activities that have little to do with the literature itself (Apol et. al., 2001). The Technology: The obvious corrective to the students' limited understanding of children's abilities to respond to literature is for them to observe experienced teachers engaging in dynamic literature response activities with real children. A number of barriers, including time, space, transportation issues, and the disruptive nature of large-scale classroom visits preclude real-time observation; happily, current technologies enable us to transcend those barriers through thoughtful use of classroom video. Using classroom video in preservice teacher instruction is not a new idea (groundbreaking work in this area has been done at this institution); however, classroom video has not, to our knowledge, been used (here or elsewhere) in connection with the teaching of children's literature, and also has not, to our knowledge, been used primarily to challenge the limited expectations of children's abilities held by preservice teachers and to demonstrate for TE students the remarkable sophistication of children's thinking about literature. Through other funding sources we are currently in the process of obtaining video footage of children's responses to literature as they take place in a second grade classroom. We are videotaping selected episodes (about 15 hours of videotape) in a three-week unit in which children respond to literature by comparing versions of fairy tales in order to identify literary elements and foreground issues of gender, material wealth, and power. We already have plans for this videotape to be edited and placed in an interactive electronic environment, and we expect to have a working version of the video materials at the time they will first be used in the course. These video materials will allow preservice teachers to examine the kinds of responses of which children are capable, trace individual children's thinking about a particular question or theme, and explore in detail the methods by which a master teacher guides children's interactions with literature. The Design Question: The gap between the availability of technologies and the development of thoughtful pedagogical applications is a long-recognized problem of technology adoption. Thus, having video materials portraying children engaged in literature response available in a sophisticated technological environment is only a beginning step in using this technology to enhance instruction in the teacher education classroom. The project for which we are requesting funding from the PT3 grant is the complex process of designing the instructional context for using these video materials most effectively in multiple sections of undergraduate children's literature classes. There are a number of challenges in designing instruction using these video materials. These fall into three areas: technological design, pedagogical design, and technology training and support. (Please see Appendix for sample questions in each of these areas.) The Product: This project will integrate the technology application into a thoughtful and well-tested curricular framework. This will ensure that the technology is used to support fundamental pedagogical goals, and that it is embedded in a reproducible but adaptable instructional framework that includes a network of pedagogical and technological support for both students and instructors. Because we currently offer 10 sections of undergraduate children's literature per year, we will have numerous opportunities to introduce the video materials in a variety of formats to different groups of students and to make initial judgements about integration and efficacy. The Design Team: The design team will be led by Laura Apol, who is the coordinator of the 10 sections of children's literature (TE348) that will use the technology application. The team will include a research assistant, the classroom teacher whose classroom is being videotaped, and the TAs responsible for teaching the sections of the undergraduate children's literature course during the 2001-2002 school year. We will also consult with a set of preservice teachers to help evaluate and shape the effectiveness of the format. The Impact: This project will impact at least three areas: Faculty Development: This will be the first attempt by the design team leader, Laura Apol, to use technology as a major instructional methodology. It will provide an opportunity for Laura to explore the possibilities and challenges of 1) using technology in teaching children's literature 2) supporting teacher education students in using technology to expand their learning and 3) mentoring TAs in using technology for their teaching. It will also provide an opportunity for her to collaborate with graduate students and the participating classroom teacher to shape a dynamic learning experience for the undergraduate students. Teacher Education Instruction: This project has the potential to have an exceptional impact on teacher education instruction in the College. This technology will be incorporated across the 10 sections of undergraduate children's literature which Laura Apol coordinates, impacting approximately 300 undergraduate students and 4-8 TAs the first year. After this initial design and adaptation stage, we see this technology as an entirely sustainable pedagogical application within the normal course structure. Thus the impact of this technology has the potential and expectation to continue in future years, impacting 300 undergraduate students and 4-8 TAs each year. The specific impact for teacher education students lies in both content and process: Content: The technology will enable students to: rethink assumptions about ways children are able to respond to literature. explore the complex and astonishing ways that children can respond to literature. examine the ways that a gifted teacher elicits and supports those responses. Process: The technology will allow undergraduate teacher education students to: use technology for authentic pedagogical purposes-not for technology's sake, but to expand their understandings in ways that would have been impossible without the technology. explore the affordances and limitations of the technology application itself, thus contributing to their abilities to consider design issues and imagine ways in which they might use technology in their own classrooms. The field of children's literature: Historically there has been a striking disconnect between the field of children's literature and the field of educational technology. Scholars involved with children's literature have tended to see technology as antithetical to the enrichment of literary understanding. This project has the capacity to bridge this divide by demonstrating the potential of technology to truly support and facilitate deeper understandings of literature response. Appendix Sample technological design questions: What are the affordances and limitations of the technological environment in which the video materials are presented? How well do these correspond with the pedagogical demands? What changes in the design of the pedagogical environment in which the technology is placed might increase the effectiveness of the application? Sample pedagogical design questions: How can we most effectively and seamlessly weave the technology application into the existing shape of the course? What are the benefits and costs in instructional terms for using this technology? Is it better to have undergraduate students have intensive contact with the video technology, in a concentrated section of the course, or is it more effective to spread out the technology interactions over the semester? Is it more effective to use the video in episodic clips or to provide more sustained views of the elementary students and classroom? Is it more effective to present the video technology in contexts where undergraduate students control their interactions, or in class contexts where the whole class works through the video material together? If student control seems more effective, should undergraduates work in groups with the technology or is it more effective to have individual control? Will undergraduate students be able to transfer and apply what they learn through their interactions with the video materials to their thinking about their own interactions with children? Sample technology training and support questions: What kinds and amounts of technology training and support will the TAs need in order to feel comfortable using the technology in teaching? How much instructional time will be needed to familiarize undergraduates with the technology? How will we adapt for the differences in technological expertise / comfort among the students? What kinds of tech support will be necessary for sustainable use of this technology in multiple class settings? We recognize that these questions only scratch the surface of issues that will arise. This project is an opportunity to discover what the big issues are, to experiment with ways to address them, and to turn this early work into more sustained and systematic research inquiry. References Apol, L., Rop, S., Harris, J. (2001). Preservice teachers' assumptions about children's responses to literature: Scissors and a gluestick? Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA. Marshall, J. (2000). Research on response to literature. In M. L. Kamil, P. B. Rosenthal, P. D. Pearson, & R. Barr (Eds.), Handbook of Reading Research (Vol. III). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 381-402. National Council of Teachers of English & International Reading Association. (1996). Standards for the English Language Arts. Newark, DE: International Reading Association. National Center on Education and the Economy & the University of Pittsburgh. (1999). New Standards: Reading and Writing Grade by Grade.