A Multiple Case Study of Teachers' Visions and Reflective Practice

Reflective Practice
International and Multidisciplinary Perspectives
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A multiple case study of teachers’ visions and

reflective practice
Margaret Vaughn, Seth A. Parsons, Christopher Keyes, Kelly Puzio & Melony
Allen
To cite this article: Margaret Vaughn, Seth A. Parsons, Christopher Keyes, Kelly Puzio & Melony
Allen (2017) A multiple case study of teachers’ visions and reflective practice, Reflective Practice,
18:4, 526-539, DOI: 10.1080/14623943.2017.1323731
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Download by: [Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia] Date: 29 October 2017, At: 21:03
Reflective Practice, 2017
VOL. 18, NO. 4, 526–539
https://doi.org/10.1080/14623943.2017.1323731
A multiple case study of teachers’ visions and reflective

practice
Margaret Vaughna, Seth A. Parsonsb, Christopher Keyesc, Kelly Puziod and
Melony Allene
a
Curriculum & Instruction, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID, USA; bCollege of Education and Human
Development, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA; cDepartment of Teacher Education, Shippensburg
Downloaded by [Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia] at 21:03 29 October 2017
University, Shippensburg, PA, USA; dLanguage, Literacy, and Technology Department, Washington State
University, Pullman, USA; eCollege of Education, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, USA
ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Researchers have found that teachers’ visions of what they hope to Received 3 October 2016
instill in their students beyond curricular objectives are integral to Accepted 10 April 2017
their instruction and to larger decisions such as their career paths. The
KEYWORDS
purpose of this research was to examine 10 in-service teachers, who Teacher visioning; teacher
taught in different geographic locations across the United States, their visions; reflective practice
visions, and the ways in which these visions influenced their reflective
curricular decisions and instructional actions. The researchers
describe salient dimensions of visions, the actions teachers reported
to enact visions, and the distance and tensions in enacting visions.
Researchers used grounded theory and constant comparative analysis
to analyze interviews, questionnaires, and artifacts. Findings explore
the relationship between teachers’ visions and reflective practice as
well as the alignment of instructional practices teachers report in
supporting their respective visions. Implications for future research,
theory, and practice are discussed.
Teaching is a difficult profession. In the United States, as in other countries, teachers have a
heavy workload, low societal status, limited time for professional collaboration, and they
increasingly work under mandates that restrict their professional autonomy (Berry, Smylie,
& Fuller, 2008; Pearson, 2007). In short, ‘teaching is extraordinarily demanding of teachers’
expertise, energy, and enthusiasm’ (Little, 1999, p. 234). Yet, teaching is a tremendously
influential profession: the effectiveness of the teacher is the most important in-school factor
for student achievement (Berry et al., 2008; Darling-Hammond & Youngs, 2002). What keeps
teachers in this important job and allows some teachers to thrive in this profession in spite
of the low status and poor working conditions? Researchers suggest that it is a teacher’s
vision that helps them rise above these difficulties, navigate complexities, and excel in meet-
ing their students’ diverse needs (Duffy, 1998, 2002; Fairbanks et al., 2010; Hammerness,
2006; Parsons, Vaughn, Malloy, & Pierczynski, 2017; Vaughn, & Faircloth, 2013).
A vision is what a teacher hopes to instill in their students beyond curricular objectives.
Fairbanks and her colleagues (2010) suggest visioning is rooted in idealism: it is the ideal
CONTACT Margaret Vaughn [email protected]

© 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
REFLECTIVE PRACTICE 527
that teachers hold to and strive for in their daily work with children – above and beyond
teaching the curriculum. A teacher’s vision is informed by the construct of beliefs, but it
differs from teacher beliefs in that it is aims at inspiring children in areas beyond cognition
or learning (Fairbanks et al., 2010). The construct of visioning is informed by the concept of
hope; it is what teachers hope for and it influences how teachers teach (Parsons, Vaughn,
Bruyning, & Daoud, 2017). Birmingham (2009) explained that hope is oriented toward a goal:
it is something that one hopes for or wants to attain and is action oriented – it galvanizes
action (Bullough & Hall-Kenyon, 2011). Indeed, scholars have explored how visions inform
teachers’ day-to-day and career decisions (Hammerness, 2004, 2008). Teachers’ visions are
derived from their life experiences, ongoing reflection, and careful thought about their prac-
tice and instructional actions.
While this research has provided insight into the role of teachers’ visions broadly, less is
known about how teachers’ visions intersect with instructional practices. In order to gain a
more in-depth understanding of teacher visions and the relationship of visions to instruc-
tional practices, the purpose of this research was to examine teachers’ visions and the instruc-
tional actions teachers enacted to support their visions. Participants included 10 in-service
teachers in different geographic locations across the United States. The following research
questions guided this study:
(1) What are the dimensions of teachers’ reported visions?

(2) What actions do teachers describe using to enact their visions?
(3) What is the distance between visions and these actions, and what do teachers report
as tensions in enacting these visions?
Theoretical perspective
Duffy and colleagues (Duffy, 2005; Duffy, Miller, Parsons, & Meloth, 2009) characterize teach-
ing as a metacognitive activity. Teachers engage in metacognitive thought as they implement
instruction, monitor class proceedings, and act accordingly. These reflective actions are based
on multiple variables (e.g., assessment results, knowledge of students, class dynamics, beliefs
about effective instruction, etc.). Teacher metacognition is reflective thinking that empha-
sizes the ‘conscious, mindful action’ educators take as they possess ‘a proactive state of mind’
to ‘take charge’ of their teaching (Duffy, 2005, pp. 300, 301). A teacher’s vision is related to
metacognition because it is one of the factors that influences teacher thinking and action.
In the current study, participants, as reflective and metacognitive teachers, used their knowl-
edge of content, pedagogy, and their students as well as their visions to design and adjust
instructional opportunities to fit the individual needs of their students and particular class-
room situation.
Related literature
Teacher educators have agreed that teachers need a vision for teaching to guide their prac-
tice (Darling-Hammond et al., 2005; Duffy, 1998, 2002). Feiman-Nemser (2001, p. 1029) argued
that effective teacher preparation programs produce new teachers with a ‘compelling vision
of good teaching and a beginning repertoire of approaches to curriculum, instruction and
assessment consistent with that vision.’ Similarly, Shulman and Shulman (2004, p. 240)
528 M. VAUGHN ET AL.
argued, ‘teachers with a vision may be more reflective and purposeful, evaluating their
instruction based on the needs of their students.’ Accordingly, researchers have studied the
use of ‘visioning’ – having prospective teachers articulate their vision – during coursework.
For example, Turner (2006) and Hall (2009) examined the development of preservice teachers’
visions for culturally responsive literacy teaching while enrolled in literacy methods courses.
However, these studies did not follow the preservice teachers into their actual teaching to
examine the instructional practices used to support their respective visions.
Hammerness (2003, 2004, 2006, 2008) has written extensively on teacher visioning. Her
longitudinal study began when she identified four teachers as having particularly strong
visions. She followed these teachers throughout the early stages of their career to see how
their visions guided their career paths. She found that a vision involves ‘maintaining the
delicate balance between constantly shifting demands of subject matter and students’ needs
and dealing with the uneasy tension between their [teachers’] ideals and their current prac-
tice’ (Hammerness, 2006, p. 5). A clear vision can assist teachers in moving from current
practice to ideal practice. At the same time, clarity of one’s vision can bring about discour-
agement if the vision is left unaccomplished. Hammerness (2004, 2008) posits that a teacher’s
vision should be clear and compatible with the vision of the school if their visions are to be
enacted. McElhone, Hebard, Scott, and Juel (2009) similarly found that the context in which
teachers worked influenced the degree to which they could enact the visions they articulated
as preservice teachers. In schools with a culture that was both supportive and aligned with
the visions of teachers, new teachers were able to both expand their pedagogical prowess
and deepen their vision of teaching during their first years. However, they also found that
teachers with clear visions demonstrated more effective instruction in unsupportive teaching
contexts than those whose visions of teaching were unclear in their connections to
practice.
Similarly, McLoughlin and Dana (1999) examined the intersection of a preservice science
teacher’s vision, field experiences, and practice. Findings indicated that when the teacher’s
philosophy of reform-oriented approaches to science instruction, such as inquiry, was chal-
lenged by the boundaries of accepted practices in her field experience (with science being
taught in traditional lecture format) she began to question her own goals. Although this
finding contradicts McElhone et al.’s (2009) results, both these studies indicate that teaching
context provides opportunities to confirm or contest professional visions of teaching. They
also suggest that the intersection between vision and practice is rich for further study.
Method
The research reported here used a multiple case study design (Yin, 2009) to explore the
phenomenon of teacher visioning across 10 educators from different geographic locations
across the United States. Multiple case studies conducted in different contexts can provide
rich understanding of complex events (Yin, 2009). Studying the same phenomenon in mul-
tiple contexts with diverse participants provides a more comprehensive understanding of
phenomena (Miles, Huberman, & Saldaña, 2013) and strengthens external validity of the
study (Merriam, 2009). Following the typology described by Thomas (2011), the participating
teachers in the current research are the subjects of the case study, or the ‘revealing example
through which the lineaments of the object can be refracted’ (p. 514). The object of the
research is the teachers’ enacted visions, as reflected in the research questions.
Setting and participants

Ten educators were purposefully selected from a broader sample of teachers who had par-
ticipated in studies related to reflective practice. As teacher educators and researchers from
different institutions, we were afforded the opportunity to choose participants from a wide
variety of teaching contexts. We selected cases from our separate studies as ‘key cases’
(Thomas, 2011) that represented diverse contexts. These teacher participants represented
a range of experience, from first-year teachers to teachers with 25 years of experience.
Participants were also selected that teach in a variety of geographies (e.g., rural, urban,
suburban) as well as levels, from first-grade teachers to seventh-grade teachers. Table 1
displays the participants in this study.
Data collection and analysis

To answer our research questions, data collection and analysis procedures occurred in our
different settings. Data sources included: (a) interviews, (b) email questionnaires, and (c) writ-
ten responses. Interviews focused on the reflective practice of the teachers and were audi-
otaped and transcribed for analysis. The email questionnaire inquired into the content and
outcomes of teachers’ visions. Our analysis procedures followed the traditions of qualitative
research (Merriam, 2009) using grounded theory and constant comparison (Glaser, 1965) to
analyze interviews and artifacts (written statements, email questionnaires). After coding the
data independently, we met monthly to discuss emerging patterns and themes as well as
to identify salient segments of teacher visions and practice. Data analysis occurred during
four rounds of discussion and analysis. After each round, we discussed and debated these
reports and patterns via videoconference and agreed upon additional analysis to clarify
comments and questions. Our data analysis was informed by the work of Corbin and Strauss
(1990).
In the first round of analysis, data for each case were carefully read and researchers devel-
oped a case study table noting demographic information, the defining characteristics of
teacher visions, and important contextual information. In addition, researchers read through
each case report and made initial comments, notes, and potential patterns. This analytic
phase would be best characterized as open coding. During round two of analysis, the axial
coding phase of analysis, we read through the data again with possible themes and patterns
in mind, attempting to confirm, explore, and contextualize these patterns by specifically
looking for evidence and counterevidence. During the third round of analysis, each researcher
Table 1. Participants, their context, their grade level, and their years of experience.
Participant Context Region of US Grade Yrs Experience
Sonia Rural / Title I Pacific Northwest 1st Grade 9
Mason Rural / Title I Pacific Northwest 6th Grade 11
Min Urban / Title I Mid-Atlantic 6th Grade 0
Samantha Urban / Title I Mid-Atlantic 3rd Grade 0
Lawson Rural / Title I Southeast 4th Grade 4
Winnie Rural / Title I Southeast 4th Grade 5
Martha Suburban Midwest 4th Grade 5
Jane Suburban Midwest 4th Grade 25
Leah Rural Southeast 7th Grade 3
Nora Rural Southeast 7th Grade 2
wrote a contextualized case study report identifying and clarifying salient information. This
phase would be best characterized as contextualizing teacher visions and selective coding.
Each researcher read these reports separately noting questions, concerns, and possible prob-
lems. During round four of analysis, the refined case study reports and raw data from all
participants were reread by each researcher to contextualize, question, and clarify findings
more fully.
Findings and discussion

In this section, we discuss the findings by research question. We include statements from
the teachers’ vision statements to provide evidence and understanding in how these teachers
connected their visions to their instructional practices.
RQ1 – What are the dimensions of teachers’ reported visions?

Several patterns related to understanding the dimensions of the participants’ visions of
teaching emerged. The predominant characteristic of the teachers’ statements about their
visions of teaching was the focus on long-term internalized outcomes for their students.
These dimensions of their visions focused on developing particular character traits that,
although maybe immediately visible to the student, were typically described in enduring
and distal terms. This is important because, while hints of these dimensions may be seen in
the quotidian experiences of students and teachers, these long-term outcomes are ideals
(e.g., Fairbanks et al., 2010) that reflect the nature of schooling and thus may not be realized
in the space of one school year or within the space of a particular teacher’s encounter with
a class of students. This ‘long view’ nature of teachers’ visions adds to the previous literature.
Hammerness (2003, 2006) explored the ‘range’ or scope of teachers’ visions and found them
to be varied in this regard.
A common theme in these enduring statements was the desire that students would be
lifelong and motivated learners. Phrases such as Min’s ‘true love of learning’ and Martha’s
statement describing the ‘exponential’ growth that comes with getting students to ‘read for
the rest of their life’ suggest that their visions include dimensions that extend far beyond
the time that the students will spend in their classrooms. This lifelong learning vision includes
several student characteristics that teachers envisioned developing. For example, Lawson
stated that he desired to ‘mold students, make them believe in themselves and help them
have goals,’ while at the same time developing students who would care both about school
and themselves. Leah envisioned students who are ‘just a little more self-aware’ as well as
reflective about their learning. These statements described changes in students that teachers
believed will yield long-term benefits to the students as learners and as people who are
successful contributors to society.
In describing their visions, the idea of responsibility was important to many of the par-
ticipants. The teachers envisioned that students would, as stated by Sonia, ‘claim responsi-
bility for themselves and their actions’ and be ‘independent’ in learning to take ownership
over their actions. Additionally, the teachers hoped for students who would, in Samantha’s
words from an email questionnaire, learn ‘behavioral control and self-respect,’ which would
help them to ‘persevere through academic and social struggles.’ These internal characteristics
were often described as the means by which students would be able to escape the difficult
environment in which they currently live.
Another dimension found within the vision statements centered on envisioning students
as critical thinkers and problem solvers. For Leah, this meant both explicitly teaching ana-
lytical skills and that students would be able to think through their writing and critique it
by asking, ‘That doesn’t make sense. How can I reword it?’ Min took this a step further and
identified that he wanted his students to be ‘resilient’ in approaching problems. This does
not mean, to Min, that the students would always reach the ‘100% correct’ answer, but that
they would attack the problem as ‘risk-takers’ and ‘innovators’ who ‘think beyond the box’
and who find ‘different ways to approach’ a given problem. In an email questionnaire, Min
elaborated: ‘I still want to help foster a culture where students can come across any obstacle,
be it a math problem, peer pressure, a project, etc. and have the mindset to attack the prob-
lem effectively and with confidence.’ This echoes Lawson’s desire for his students to ‘realize
that there is not always a right or wrong answer and that there are different ways to solve
problems.’
Finally, in every participant’s vision statement, teachers wanted their students to be suc-
cessful. Winnie envisioned the successful student as one who had ‘a chance to make some-
thing of themselves,’ which meant that s/he would be ‘giving back to and participating in
society.’ For Nora, she described herself as one who is ‘trying to break down barriers and
open the doors and help them see more.’ She added that she wanted to, ‘Help them see more
possibilities for themselves, for their own futures, for people around them.’ Samantha
described her successful student as ‘empowered, happy, excited learners’ who committed
themselves to their ‘dreams, be it in academics, sports, or the arts.’ In her vision statement,
Jane claimed, ‘I’m a big proponent of every child being able to be successful, and in order
for that to happen, they are going to have to have the work at their level in their preferred
style of learning.’ These statements suggest that, in their visions, teachers connected their
attempts to widen the experiences, skills, and views of their students to their eventual
success.
Many teachers included specific skills in their descriptions of the success they envisioned
facilitating. In identifying such skills, teachers then connected that skill to a larger purpose
within their vision. For example, Leah described the importance of communicating well:
I could teach them information all day long and skills all day, but the place that that transfers
and the way that shows is if they take them on themselves and produce them from themselves.
And if they can’t do that, then my job is kind of worthless. I just give them information, rote
memory stuff that they memorize. I don’t really care if they know what an adverb or comma is,
I care if they can effectively communicate in an interview with somebody to where they can
get a job that they want.
Taking a broader view curriculum, Leah recognized in her vision that if the discrete skills she
taught as an English/reading teacher did not lead to something larger, then the time she
spent teaching skills was not worthwhile. Similarly, in an email questionnaire, Samantha
explained her vision: ‘I would like my students to be on level readers so they can develop a
love of reading and learning and academics that will help them persevere through academic
and social struggles to come.’ Therefore, in addition to revealing the enduring nature of these
teachers’ visions for their students, the dimensions of their visions also provide insight into
the specific skills and character traits that they hope to instill in students. Communication
skills, literacy skills, problem-solving skills, and innovation skills were all in the forefront in
teachers’ discussions of their visions.
RQ 2: What actions do teachers describe using to enact their visions?

Our findings revealed that these teachers used motivating instructional practices as the
primary method to actualize their visions. This included several sub-themes that highlight
these motivating practices such as creating an engaging classroom environment, developing
authentic learning tasks, and discovery learning experiences. Examples of each of these
sub-themes follow.
Engaging classroom environments

Participants shared how developing an engaging classroom environment where students
felt welcome and vested in the classroom was essential to their efforts to support their
visions. Consider the following response from Min, who captured the importance of building
an engaging classroom environment for his students:

For students to truly learn, teachers and students must be partners in learning. Students cannot
simply be told what to do. Instead, the two groups must be partners with the teacher guiding the
students to discover knowledge … It is also crucial for students to be active participants in their
learning … I must build off of students’ experiences and incorporate them into the classroom
… I must provide experiences for students to discover for themselves their own knowledge.
In the above quote, Min emphasized the importance of constructing a classroom environ-
ment where his students are active participants and partners in the learning process. He
emphasized that part of his role in creating such an engaging space was to incorporate his
students into the classroom. In this way, Min emphasized creating an engaging and open
classroom where students are able to co-construct learning outcomes alongside the teacher.
Similarly, Mason shared that a central component of restructuring his language arts
instruction was to move away from a teacher-directed approach to a student-directed one.
He invited his students to participate in an oral history project where they interviewed family
members about the changing landscape of their town. He shared the following in a written
reflection about why he decided to invite his students into the oral history process by having
students co-construct interview questions they found interesting and meaningful:
The start of middle school is such a tough transition time. That, combined with students who
are going through a lot of physical, emotional, and chemical changes, creates a challenging
classroom environment, I say to them, ‘Okay, you’ve gotta be responsible, you’ve got to be
respectful, you’ve got to prepare yourself for the next level of life.’
Mason shared that this time in students’ lives was challenging, but he saw his classroom as
a place where he could instill in his students a sense of responsibility and respect. Mason
described that because he taught in a rural community (with roughly 300 people), he felt a
deep responsibility to guide his students to become important community members. He
stated, ‘Since I am from this same area, it is more important than ever to show them that
they can be successful academically and in life.’ As researchers (Fairbanks et al., 2010) have
previously described, Mason described that his vision included developing more than just
academic skills in his students. He held an image of himself as a role model and mentor:
My vision is to be an example for my students. I’m Valley. I was born and raised in this area. My
childhood was very similar to that of most of the kids I teach. I wouldn’t ask them to give their all
if I wasn’t willing to do the same … I want to be a role model and mentor that can help develop
them as individuals and productive human beings.
Mason recognized that his ‘students aren’t motivated by generic writing prompts traditionally
used’ so, instead, he wanted to ‘immerse my students in a study of how their own attitudes
have been influenced by studying the people who helped to create them.’
Other participants shared how they purposefully incorporated extension activities and
routines to support an environment where students felt comfortable and that they were
important members of the classroom. Jane shared how she pulled extra resources, such as
articles, for her students based on their interests:
I am looking at things after school, and I see something or an article that this child would really
be interested in, then I am going to put it on their desk. In the mornings, they have to check in
with me first thing and they have to read; it’s a homework assignment that they have to read
every night so I talk to them about what they are reading right there every morning right when
they check in.
By following up with students about their interests, readings, and homework ideas, Jane
reflected on her practice and engaged in teacher metacognition (Duffy, 2005) to demonstrate
to her students that she cared about them individually and that they are important members
of the classroom. Such actions suggest that in doing so, she was working toward creating
an inviting and motivating classroom space for her students.
Authentic tasks
Sonia engaged in an action research project to examine what would occur for her students
if she restructured her literacy program to include book clubs with high interest books for
her second-grade students. She wanted to learn how veering away from the prescriptive
basal program would impact her students’ interest in reading and discussing books. She
stated, ‘Book clubs are a perfect place to develop skills. The students who are able to move
quickly can move ahead and the struggling readers can take their time.’ Through her action
research, she described how she worked to meet the specific literacy needs of her students,
something she never felt she could do using the prescriptive curriculum. As a result, her
action research focused on supporting positive student attitudes in reading and improved
reading skills by providing opportunities for her students to share and discuss books during
book clubs. For example, Sonia noted:
Today when the book club was finished, Mary asked if she could go back to her seat and finish
the book. We only had one chapter left. She asked to come back at lunch and read through
snack time so she could finish up the book.
Entries like this were not unusual in Sonia’s reflections about her teaching. For example:
I often noted in my teacher journal that students wanted to stay in from recess and read. This
showed me that reading was becoming an activity that my students all valued and wanted to
engage in and ultimately began to view it as something they could and wanted to do.
Observing students choose reading over other activities, Sonia noted that her students were
more motivated to read through her book clubs. The focus of this action research project
demonstrates not only the enactment of Sonia’s vision but also the restrictive environment
she was working in – an environment that teachers across the United States and beyond are
currently facing (Berry et al., 2008; Pearson, 2007).
Similarly, Leah, a seventh-grade teacher, shared that by designing hands-on activities for
her students, she provided experiences to get them interested and vested in the learning
process:
providing the kids with hands on [activities] and building their own information. I really prefer
that, to where I can move around and help individual children at their individual pace … kind
of the whole concept of letting them explore their way through it.
Others explicitly stated that they were working to incorporate authentic tasks in subject
areas. For example, Samantha shared, ‘I am working towards improving my literacy methods
to get my students on level. I am working to use authentic and interest-based literacy tactics
so that students can develop a love of reading.’ These teachers viewed authentic tasks such
as book clubs, exploration, and interest-based tasks as promoting their visions by supporting
classroom motivation.
Discovery learning experiences

Participants shared how creating experiences where students explored content area prob-
lems and created their own solutions was a way for them to discover concepts and ideas
and enact their visions. For example, during one lesson, Winnie instructed students to place
non-magnetic items between two magnets, explaining that she aimed for students to figure
out that distance impacted magnetic force. She also indicated that she wanted students to
start thinking about this concept so they could begin thinking about a magnetic field. In
this way, she provided experiences for her students to engage in the science experiment
and make sense of what they were learning.
On another occasion, Winnie challenged students to problem-solve the ways that they
could make two light bulbs light up by building a circuit. She stated that she wanted them
to ‘be challenged by having to figure out how to incorporate the second light bulb into their
circuit.’ While planning for another lesson, Winnie decided to give students the materials to
build an electromagnet instead of leading them through the process. She indicated that the
other three teachers were approaching the lesson in this way and that it sounded like a good
way to help students learn how to think and problem-solve. These examples highlight the
use of discovery learning practices to fulfill their visions.
RQ3: What is the distance between visions and these actions, and what do teachers
report as tensions in enacting these visions?
When asked about their instructional visions, teachers reported being generally autonomous
in being able to enact their visions. At the same time, teachers described tensions that caused
them to be strategic in how they enacted their visions. We interpret these tensions as evi-
dence that teaching is a complex endeavor, where instructional practices are shaped by
social and organizational contexts (Berry et al., 2008; Little, 1999). We also recognize that
teaching is under continuous change with districts and states spending millions of dollars
each year to strive to improve education. Teachers reported that there was increasing empha-
sis on standardized testing, which affected what and how they taught. The emphasis on
getting better scores often came with an ‘official’ curriculum and administrative pressures
to teach in specified ways.
Teachers regularly reported that the vision for the school was raising test scores rather
than supporting students to be lifelong learners. Typically, principals and district adminis-
trators, who were trying to raise end-of-year standardized test scores, emphasized this to
teachers. Min reported: ‘there is an enormous amount of pressure on the entire staff to raise
test scores. This is leading to extreme emphasis on teaching to the test.’ Nate presented a
similar sentiment:
No matter how much I think I’m not a teacher who stresses a test, they still get some of that from
me. And they still might say when I ask them something, ‘Why do we need to learn this? Why
is this important? What do you think the point of this is?’ They might still yell out, ‘Because it’s
going to be on state test.’ While I might want to say that’s not my focus, sometimes it is.
Tonya reported that her new principal, who recently transferred from an affluent school, was
‘very focused on improving our school’s standardized test scores and seems to notice very
little else.’ When asked to describe how the testing focus really influenced her instruction,
Tonya reported that a lot of time was spent on teaching ‘testing strategies like eliminating
the wrong answer [rather] than knowing that there is a right answer. We spend so much
time focusing on that.’ Clearly, teachers feel that the current testing-focused climate takes
both time and emphasis away from enacting their visions of teaching.
Along with overemphasizing test scores, some teachers were encouraged, or required,
to implement an official curriculum. For example, Lawson indicated that ‘skills-based’ instruc-
tion was particularly problematic because this approach was not supporting students to
‘realize how everything is connected.’ Although she was required to implement this curric-
ulum, she supplemented this curriculum with other activities and provided small group
targeted instruction when necessary. She reported that this practice allowed her to address
specific skills that students needed while also connecting their learning to bigger ideas
during whole group instruction. In another Language Arts context, the school identified
particular book titles to be used in certain grade levels. Leah viewed this structure as limiting
because she believed that students should be able to read according to their interests rather
than using whole-class novels (or prescriptions against reading certain novels). Although
she was discouraged from continuing this practice, Leah chose to allow her students access
to these titles while also letting them know that they would get another chance to read
them in another grade level where they would be able to ‘go deep in the book and get more
out of it.’
In some cases, the use of district-purchased curricula was a source of significant tension.
This tension was especially evident in schools that purchased basal readers for upper ele-
mentary students. While administrators and district staff wanted teachers to use basal readers,
Jane believed strongly in the importance of using novels to support literacy development:
Yes, we’ve had many discussions about the necessity for a 10–11 year-old to use a book that
develops plot over five pages – that you cannot create readers – you can’t bring a non-reader into
reading using that program. You’ve got to use the chapter books, the things that they are reading
in order to do that … they’ve spent a lot of money for all those little books that are in my closet.
Another teacher, Martha, mentioned that teachers in her school ‘got in trouble’ from the
district literacy specialist for using novels instead of the basal readers. Going forward, they
decided to keep using novels, but to do so in secret – ‘without telling the uppers.’ Teachers
reported that their visions were constrained by administratively mandated curricula.
Similar to curricular constraints, teachers reported that they were encouraged to teach
in very specific ways. These recommendations seemed to be particularly prevalent in schools
with low test scores. In these contexts, administrators supported specific visions of instruc-
tion through their discourse and formal teacher evaluations. This conceptualization
sometimes narrowed the curriculum. Tonya reported that because there was a strong empha-
sis on doing well in the spring test, she was ‘pushed in that direction by the administration
… and there was not enough time for fun stuff anymore, like music, PE, Science, Social
Studies, and Art.’ In a school that recently did not meet adequate yearly progress as outlined
in No Child Left Behind legislation, the state required them to teach in specific ways:
with failing the [state test] and having strict regulations, we were told exactly how many times
we were to differentiate per week. And we had to have it highlighted in our lesson plans … it’s
not that I disagree with that. I disagree with being told that I have to do guided reading four
times a week.
When asked about what would happen if their test scores were low again next year, Leah
reported that, ‘I’m pretty sure we’ll have pacing guides.’
Martha reported that her principal and district literacy specialist strongly encouraged
teachers to do guided reading every day.

We have in place guided reading program, where you have children reading in small groups at
their level. The principal wants that. Definitely. That’s what she would be looking for, that you
have small groups in place when you are talking about language arts.
Despite strong encouragement by the principal and district personnel to enact guided read-
ing, Jane conducted individual reading conferences:
And I don’t think there is anything wrong with groups. That’s fine. That’s fine. But I also know
that when I pull a group of kids over that know that they are the lowest readers in the class and
everybody else knows that they are the lowest readers in the class, you know, there is a place
for that, but to do that daily, I think it damages self-esteem and I think it, um, it sort of makes
it okay to be at that level, you know, this is where I am. And it’s not okay, you know. And if they
are put out there in the bigger group and they see these other kids doing things. This young
man went from below meets to exceeds because he got thrown in the mix with kids who were
readers, who talked about books, who talked about higher level books, and he wanted to be a
part of that, and that motivated him, where if I had kept him over here in this little group with
the five page stories, I don’t think that we would have seen the growth that we saw.
Similarly, because of her belief that homogeneous grouping all the time can damage the
motivation and achievement of low-achieving readers, Alice used individualized approaches
to literacy instruction and she also reported that the principal and district staff members
were displeased with her instruction. When asked how she was able to enact this vision of
instruction in the midst of this situation, she responded that she was able to do it because
she had been in the district longer than just about anyone.
Therefore, we found that administrators and school systems put an emphasis on increas-
ing high-stakes test scores and often imposed restrictive curricula or instructional mandates
in attempt to raise test scores. These emphases were contradictory to these teachers’ visions
for their students, visions that extended beyond attaining a high score on a state-wide
assessment to a far more lasting impact on students. This contradiction has potentially
impactful implications for teachers and schools in light of previous research that demon-
strates that the congruity between teachers’ visions and the vision of the school they work
in is central to teachers’ instructional decisions and their career decisions (i.e., to stay at a
school or to find a different teaching job or to leave the profession entirely) (Hammerness,
2008; McElhone et al., 2009).
Conclusion
The results of this investigation indicate that teacher visions were focused on supporting
and developing lifelong, independent learners. These teachers saw their work as having
far-reaching impacts on students’ future success and well-being. In particular, teachers
wanted to develop and support human beings who love learning and become good citizens.
In order to accomplish these goals, educators created engaging classroom environments,
where students participated in authentic and independent tasks. Given continued pressures
on teachers to follow district curriculum to fidelity, we want to emphasize the careful thought
and reflection these teachers acted upon in order to teach according their visions. The results
of this study and the use of visioning as a reflective tool provide insight into our work as
teacher educators and those working alongside teachers in their efforts to help teachers
engage in reflective practice. Specifically, we highlight how visioning can be used to help
teachers modify and craft their instruction to support students’ individual instructional, lin-
guistic, and cultural strengths.
These results have important implications for teacher education and professional devel-
opment. Because teaching is a social, metacognitive (Duffy, 2005), and institutional practice
(Cobb, McClain, de Silva Lamberg, & Dean, 2003), teacher educators need respectful ways
to incorporate teachers’ existing visions into new learning opportunities. Typical professional
development is often a series of ‘things’ to do with students (e.g., cooperative learning,
formative assessment, guided reading), teacher visioning is a fundamentally different way
of approaching professional learning. This approach honors and respects the history and
autonomy of educators and has the possibility to help teachers reshape curricula and adapt
their instruction to meet the specific and individual needs of their students (Duffy, 2002,
2005; Fairbanks et al., 2010). Therefore, insights from this research will be helpful for teacher
educators, in-service teachers, and others who work with classroom teachers.
These results also have implications for future research. While there is a growing list of
evidence-based practices (e.g., What Works Clearinghouse) that teachers are encouraged or
pressured to adopt, there is very little research or theory on how teachers view or interpret
these practices. Likewise, very little is known about how teachers share, adopt, or shift their
instructional visions in the midst of other visions, practices, or technologies. Future research
should focus on understanding the reflection and action teachers engage in and further
contextualize how teachers enact and negotiate their visions across a variety of contexts.
Examining visioning in this way can strengthen the foundations of teacher learning research,
which, in turn, can help us understand what drives and sustains teachers in this important
and demanding profession.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes on contributors
Margaret Vaughn, PhD, is an associate professor in the College of Education at the University of Idaho.
Her research focuses on adaptive teaching, teacher visioning, and student agency. She has published
research in Literacy Research and Instruction, The Reading Teacher, Language Arts, and Theory Into Practice
as well as leading a group of elementary teachers, located on the Nez Perce Reservation in their creation
of six, dual language books in Nez Perce and English.
Seth A. Parsons, PhD, is an associate professor in the College of Education and Human Development at
George Mason University. His research focuses on teachers’ instructional adaptations, teacher educa-
tion and development, and students’ motivation and engagement. His work has appeared in numer-
ous journals including The Journal of Educational Research, Teaching and Teacher Education, Journal of
Literacy Research, Literacy Research and Instruction, and The Reading Teacher.
Christopher Keyes is an assistant professor in the College of Education at Shippensburg University.
His research focuses on bilingual literacy, secondary literacy, technology, teacher development, and
design research. He has published his research in Bilingual Research Journal, Journal of Education, and
Language Arts.
Kelly Puzio, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Washington
State University. He was a language arts teacher for five years in diverse settings. His research focuses
on differentiated instruction and culturally relevant pedagogy. He has published in Journal of Research
on Educational Effectiveness, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, and Literacy
Research and Instruction.
Melony Allen, PhD, is an assistant professor in the College of Education at University of Carolina
Greensboro. Her research focuses on science teaching and inquiry learning, adaptive teaching, and
teacher development. Her work has appeared in Teaching and Teacher Education, International Journal
of Science Education, and The Teacher Educator.
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Reflective Practice

International and Multidisciplinary Perspectives

ISSN: 1462-3943 (Print) 1470-1103 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/crep20

A multiple case study of teachers’ visions and

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A multiple case study of teachers’ visions and reflective

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

CONTACT Margaret Vaughn [email protected]

(1) What are the dimensions of teachers’ reported visions?

Setting and participants

Data collection and analysis

Findings and discussion

RQ1 – What are the dimensions of teachers’ reported visions?

RQ 2: What actions do teachers describe using to enact their visions?

Engaging classroom environments

an engaging classroom environment for his students:

Discovery learning experiences

teachers to do guided reading every day.

Feiman-Nemser, S. (2001). From preparation to practice: Designing a continuum to strengthen and

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(1) What are the dimensions of teachers’ reported visions?