Secondary Mathematics Teachers’ Literacy Professional Learning: An Amalgamation of Adolescent Literacy, Mathematics Teaching, and Adult Learning

Authors

Janet L. Larson, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

12-2013

Document Type

Article

Citation

Larson, J. (2013). Secondary Mathematics Teachers’ Literacy Professional Learning: An Amalgamation Of Adolescent Literacy, Mathematics Teaching, and Adult Learning. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska.

Comments

A DISSERTATION Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College at the University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Education, Major: Educational Studies (Teaching, Curriculum & Learning), Under the Supervision of Professor Kathleen Wilson. Lincoln, Nebraska: December 2013

Copyright (c) 2013 Janet L. Larson

Abstract

This study uses practitioner research to examine secondary mathematics teachers’ learning of literacy integration practices in the context of a district-wide literacy professional development series. The author, a secondary mathematics curriculum and instruction facilitator in a large, Midwestern suburban district, engaged in a two-year partnership with seventeen Mathematics Teacher Facilitators (MTFs) who taught literacy practices to their colleagues via a train-the-trainer model. This study provides an explicit rendering of professional development practices and ongoing, job-embedded learning vignettes of six MTF’s experiences in (a) teaching literacy practices to their colleagues and (b) how they learned and enacted these practices in their classrooms. Nested in calls by the Common Core State Standards for English-Language Arts (CCSS-ELA) and Response to Intervention (RTI) process, this research is a flagship for literacy integration professional development in mathematics. The MTFs’ detailed descriptions provide valuable information regarding the discipline-specific literacy practices of secondary mathematics and offer important considerations for staff developers, curriculum coordinators, including the author, literacy/instructional coaches, and administrators seeking to improve literacy integration.

Adviser: Kathleen Wilson