Papers by Rebecca Woodard
Literacy Research: Theory, Method, And Practice, Jul 22, 2021
Cooperating teachers are vital in the professional development of teacher candidates. Yet, little... more Cooperating teachers are vital in the professional development of teacher candidates. Yet, little research has been done to explore the generative and bidirectional nature of mentoring in the context of a student teaching-mentoring dyad—including the ways that teacher candidates are vital to the professional development of cooperating teachers. This case study addresses this gap by exploring the realized potential of adopting a transformative activist stance in relation to the mentoring of a preservice teacher candidate. The strategic partnering of a veteran teacher (Rick) and undergraduate teacher candidate (Daniel)—both committed to culturally sustaining pedagogies—created an opportunity to reimagine the student teaching experience in one English language arts classroom. Through collaborative reflection and artifact analysis, we examine our roles in contributing to bidirectional mentorship that stressed innovative collaboration rather than adaptation to existing power differentials.
Illinois Reading Council journal, Aug 1, 2022
Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education Journal, Jun 1, 2018
Connected learning is "an emerging, synthetic model of learning whose principles are consistent w... more Connected learning is "an emerging, synthetic model of learning whose principles are consistent with those of positive youth development, sociocultural learning theory, and findings from ethnographic studies of young people's interest-related interactions with digital media" (Maul et al., 2017, p. 2). It seeks to harness new media technologies and human networks to support interest-driven, production-centered learning that bridges inand out-of-school and intergenerational disconnects. As such, "It is a fundamentally different mode of learning than education centered on fixed subjects, one-to-many instruction, and standardized testing..." (Connected Learning Alliance, n.d.). Connected learning efforts were developed and are being enacted by a diverse range of practitioners (e.g., K-16 and museums and library educators); people working in popular culture/media, technology; and university researchers (see Digital Media Learning [DML] Research Hub; http://www.dmlhub.net). The theory was formally articulated by Ito et al. (2013) in their report Connected Learning: An Agenda for Research and Design. Interest in harnessing the principles in teacher education surfaced shortly thereafter, particularly in online and out-of-school contexts; for example, also in 2013, the National Writing Project (NWP) launched a "Making Learning Connected" Massive Open Online Collaboration (#CLMOOC; http://clmooc.com) for educators (see Smith, West-Puckett, Cantrill, & Zamora, 2016). The connected learning model has spread rapidly and widely; it has been taken up in the design of programs, courses, and research across interdisciplinary, international, and inand out-of-school contexts. The Ito et al. (2013) report has been cited over 550 times in the last four years, and a Connected Learning Alliance (https://clalliance.org/who-we-are/) has been formed to support connected learning across diverse educational and youthserving contexts. Many early explorations of connected learning have been shared as white papers on the DML Research Hub. Much of this research has focused on youth learning, particularly in out-of-school and digital contexts. A sampling is included here to demonstrate a range of projects and research, but exploration of the fuller set of white papers is encouraged. For example, Korobkova (2014) documented connected learning and identified work in an interest-driven digitally mediated affinity space-a One Direction fanfiction writing community. Martin (2014) similarly showcased learning in an online World Wrestling Entertainment fan community, and other reports have showcased diverse fandoms and gaming communities. Other research has moved toward using connected learning as design principles. For example, Larson et al. (2013) described the strategic development of a youth media center utilizing connected learning principles, and Grant (2014) described an exploration of the potential of designing digital badging systems to create more diverse and expansive credentialing within and beyond institutions. Building on these kinds of foundational research, a current need exists to understand how connected learning can be leveraged to support equitable, digital teaching and learning, particularly with educators in formal, school learning settings (see Garcia, 2014). Mirra (2017) argued that ...understanding the why of connected learning is easy; understanding the how is much more complicated.... In order to increase the spread and impact of connected learning, it is urgent that we begin to articulate a model of connected teaching.
Illinois Reading Council journal, Mar 1, 2023
Illinois Reading Council journal, Apr 15, 2022
Illinois Reading Council journal, Jul 5, 2021
Voices from the middle, Mar 1, 2018
IGI Global eBooks, May 20, 2022
This chapter is framed by a conceptualization of urgent writing pedagogies that support inquiry, ... more This chapter is framed by a conceptualization of urgent writing pedagogies that support inquiry, collaboration, and reading and writing about meaningful topics that are responsive to the social times. It presents portraits of practice—rich descriptions and reflections by practitioner-researchers on theoretically-driven course design and instruction—from an ELA methods course for elementary teacher candidates that is taught by the authors. They share three ways their work on the topic of water justice in this course demonstrates an urgent writing pedagogy: (1) situating the teaching of writing inside inquiry into meaningful/consequential topics; (2) knowledge-building through text-rich inquiry; and (3) immersing teacher candidates as collaborative, multimodal, informational writers. Together, these portraits of practice demonstrate multiple ways of thinking about urgency as part of teaching and learning writing in schools and in literacy teacher education.
English Journal, 2018
This article illustrates an enactment of culturally sustaining writing pedagogy through composing... more This article illustrates an enactment of culturally sustaining writing pedagogy through composing, performing, and responding to spoken word poetry.
Voices from the middle, May 1, 2019
Language arts, 2022
Joy is crucial for social change; joy is crucial for teaching. Finding joy in the midst of pain a... more Joy is crucial for social change; joy is crucial for teaching. Finding joy in the midst of pain and trauma is the fight to be fully human. A revolutionary spirit that embraces joy, self-care, and love is moving towards wholeness. Acknowledging joy is to make yourself aware of your humanity, creativity, self-determination, power, and ability to love abundantly. Freedom dreams are brought to life through joy and love of dark people's light.
Language arts, Sep 1, 2022
Illinois Reading Council journal, Mar 15, 2021
Literacy Research: Theory, Method, And Practice, Aug 19, 2019
This case study explores how a research-practice partnership worked to crosspollinate culturally ... more This case study explores how a research-practice partnership worked to crosspollinate culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP) and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) over the course of a 9-week spoken word poetry unit in a seventh-grade classroom. The unit reflected CSP's commitment to linguistic, literate, and cultural pluralism (e.g., centering culture-and identity-focused writing) while also intentionally embedding principles of UDL (e.g., multiple means of representation, action, expression, and engagement). The analysis examines how and why some students in this classroom centered dis/ability in their poetry writing and how the design and implementation of the unit invited more complex understandings of cultures and identities. Findings suggest that CSP supported students in making their identities more visible in the classroom, while the integration of UDL principles eliminated barriers for participation. Both were integral in focal students' engagements with aspects of their identities throughout the unit. Ultimately, the unit's design facilitated
Literacy Research: Theory, Method, And Practice, Aug 21, 2017
We examine how culturally sustaining pedagogy that fosters linguistic and cultural pluralism migh... more We examine how culturally sustaining pedagogy that fosters linguistic and cultural pluralism might be taken up in writing instruction. Using data collected through semistructured interviews with nine urban elementary and middle school writing teachers, we document teachers' conceptualizations and enactments of culturally sustaining writing pedagogy. Findings indicate that these teachers tended to make space for explicit discussions of language, culture, and power in the writing curriculum and to problematize expressions of dominant culture, such as an emphasis on official languages. We also explore the tensions that these teachers experienced in their pedagogy while engaging in culturally sustaining methods; for example, we documented teachers' sense that writing needed to be more formal than speech and instances where their critical practices put them at odds with stakeholders in their schools. This work represents an emerging understanding of how culturally sustaining literacy pedagogy might be implemented in practice.
Language arts, May 1, 2023
Language arts, May 1, 2022
Language arts, Nov 1, 2022
Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education, Mar 2, 2017
Using ethnographic methods, this article looks closely at how a team of first-grade teachers and ... more Using ethnographic methods, this article looks closely at how a team of first-grade teachers and digital media artists in an urban elementary school used video in innovative ways during professional development over the course of one year. Extending a body of literature that primarily documents how video can be used as a tool in professional development to develop pedagogical knowledge and support reflective practice, this article documents how teachers in this partnership also consumed, connected through, and created videos to deepen digital media content knowledge and showcase their teaching and learning with a broader audience as part of a school-wide culture that attempted to create a "new ethos" (Lankshear & Knobel, 2007) of digital media arts mindsets.
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Papers by Rebecca Woodard