Elsie Olan - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Elsie Olan
A Lens for Examining Inequity, Culture, and Identity: A Self-Study of Discourse on Multimodal Learning Representations
Proceedings of the 2021 AERA Annual Meeting
Proceedings of the 2019 AERA Annual Meeting
In this paper, I examine the practice of incorporating experiential collaborative narratives and ... more In this paper, I examine the practice of incorporating experiential collaborative narratives and experiential collaborative mentorship strategies to foster and promote an experiential collaborative relationship between pre-service English teachers and their mentor teachers while engaging in a writing workshop. Twelve pre-service secondary English teachers (PSETs) and their mentors share and discuss the complexities of their stories about writing, writing instruction and their mentoring experiences. Drawing on Goodson and Gill's (2011) narrative pedagogy, Lopez (2013) collaborative mentorship and following a qualitative inductive design, I identify the central instrument to search for the "self" and to find meaning behind the participants' learning experiences and teacher memories that come alive via reflective processes, narratives and mentoring interactions.
Moving toward Praxis: Disrupting the Banking Model in English Teacher Education
The New Educator
Problematizing the Notion of Story Through Critical Friendship: An Exploration of Reframing Dissertation Writing Through Collaborative Meaning-Making Events
Springer eBooks, 2022
An “Epiphania”: Exploring Students’ Identities through Multimodal Literacies
English Journal
Dialogic Interactions as Objects of Self-Study: Two Teacher Educators' Transformative Journey through Narrative Pedagogy
AERA Online Paper Repository, Apr 29, 2017
Audience and Authority in the Professional Writing of Teacher
Research in the Teaching …, 2012
This article discusses the ways issues of audience and authority are encountered and addressed by... more This article discusses the ways issues of audience and authority are encountered and addressed by classroom teachers who write journal articles for publication. Drawing on an interview study of K-12 classroom teachers who have published articles in NCTE's ...
Having Words: Contrasting Perspectives on Children
Language Arts, 2011
Abstract: This article is an historical study of the understanding of children's writing thr... more Abstract: This article is an historical study of the understanding of children's writing through" Language Arts". The author and her research team did a content analysis of articles about writing that appeared in" Language Arts" beginning in 1924 through January, 2010. ...
Literacy Information and Computer Education Journal, Sep 1, 2015
This qualitative inductive study of pre-service secondary English teachers (PSETs) focuses on way... more This qualitative inductive study of pre-service secondary English teachers (PSETs) focuses on ways PSETs think about teaching writing, the kinds of stories they draw on when learning to teach writing and what role, if any, do these stories play in their storied responses during a methods course experience. This study encompasses a convenience sample of four pre-service secondary English teachers' (PSETs) learning, teaching, and writing instruction experiences in their Language and Literacy methods course (LLED XXX). Most preservice secondary teachers (PSETs) have their definition of writing instruction and set out expectations as English teachers before they enter their teaching training programs. Yet at some point during their methods course experience, these expectations seem to change. Findings indicate that PSETs draw on contrasted stories of past and present experiences in one of three thematic categories: stories about a beloved teacher, about writing, and about authenticity. They identify, invoke and note contrasts between their own learning experiences as students, the beliefs they had come to hold about writing instruction and their set out expectations as English teachers via methods courses and preteaching experiences. PSETs storied responses about their writing process and writing instruction depicted a causal relationship characterized as one of mediation and self-discovery.
Olan, E. (2014). Broadening Theses Horizons, Cox, T. (Forthcoming 2014). Case Studies in Higher Education: Surviving the Jungle of the Academy (pp. 1-7). NC: Information Age Publishing
Olan, E. & Kaplan, J. (8/2014). Narratives and dialogic interaction in a teacher preparation writing workshop: self-study of practice, change and reflection. In L. B. Erickson, J. R. Young & S. Pinnegar (Eds.), Navigating the Public and Private: Negotiating the Diverse Landscape of Teacher Educat...
Olan, E. (2014). Going Against the Grain. Cox, T. (Forthcoming 2014). Case Studies in Higher Education: Surviving the Jungle of the Academy (pp. 1-7). NC: Information Age Publishing
1 Abstract: In this multiple case study that uses narrative research methodology, two beginning E... more 1 Abstract: In this multiple case study that uses narrative research methodology, two beginning English teachers’ stories, their use of young adult literature, and their dialogic interactions with university mentors are examined through a lens of culturally responsive pedagogy. This study is focused on how teachers’ stories indicate the difficulties they have incorporating culturally relevant young adult literature into their secondary English classes, how they establish connections between the texts, their students’ lived experiences, and their own lived experiences, and why they struggle with the application of culturally responsive pedagogy. Findings indicate that beginning teachers’ stories (a) express uncertainty regarding the place of young adult literature in their curricula and seek guidance from mentors; (b) demonstrate difficulties meeting students’ needs, which include connecting with characters and plots that “resonate” with their life experiences; (c) struggle with the ...
The Relationship between Language, Culture and Society: Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Positioning in Society
Gist: Education and Learning Research Journal, 2016
This paper reports on EFL teachers’ career choices and societal positioning in different regions ... more This paper reports on EFL teachers’ career choices and societal positioning in different regions of the world. The researchers conducted a qualitative narrative study to analyze, understand and interpret the relationship that exists between language, culture and society in the positioning identified by international EFL teachers. Positioning theory and narrative research were used as the study’s theoretical framework, and data collection tools included reflections, narratives and counter-narratives. Teachers’ personal narratives show their strength in the illocutionary force through which they demonstrate their positions of agency, authority and empowerment.
As self-study researchers, we choose to see ourselves as metaphorically tangled in the threads of... more As self-study researchers, we choose to see ourselves as metaphorically tangled in the threads of time, stories, others’ meaning-making, and our own. Self-study methodology affords us with tools to unstitch and restitch these threads--the complex interplay of processes, methods, and practices--and to make new meanings. Furthermore, we accept our multifaceted responsibility to study teaching practices and self-study research experiences as a way to improve our own teacher education practices and to inform our disciplinary and scholarly fields (Edge & Olan, 2020). In this chapter, upon the loom of composing found poetry, we describe the process of analyzing, interpreting, and representing transformed understandings. In unraveling the tangled mess of participants’ stories threaded through our own narratives, we (re)acknowledged our positionality as narrative inquiry teacher education researchers. As critical friends, we envisioned the act of creating found poetry as an arts-based, lite...
Preparing Pre-Service Teachers to Teach English Learners (ELs): A Phenomenon in Teacher Education Programs
Dialogue Journals and Literacy Quadrants: Two Strategies for Increasing Dialogic Interaction in the English Methods Classroom
Students’ Literacy Experiences with Reflective Narratives and Reflexive Instructional Approaches: Fostering Online Discussion
A Lens for Examining Inequity, Culture, and Identity: A Self-Study of Discourse on Multimodal Learning Representations
Proceedings of the 2021 AERA Annual Meeting
Proceedings of the 2019 AERA Annual Meeting
In this paper, I examine the practice of incorporating experiential collaborative narratives and ... more In this paper, I examine the practice of incorporating experiential collaborative narratives and experiential collaborative mentorship strategies to foster and promote an experiential collaborative relationship between pre-service English teachers and their mentor teachers while engaging in a writing workshop. Twelve pre-service secondary English teachers (PSETs) and their mentors share and discuss the complexities of their stories about writing, writing instruction and their mentoring experiences. Drawing on Goodson and Gill's (2011) narrative pedagogy, Lopez (2013) collaborative mentorship and following a qualitative inductive design, I identify the central instrument to search for the "self" and to find meaning behind the participants' learning experiences and teacher memories that come alive via reflective processes, narratives and mentoring interactions.
Moving toward Praxis: Disrupting the Banking Model in English Teacher Education
The New Educator
Problematizing the Notion of Story Through Critical Friendship: An Exploration of Reframing Dissertation Writing Through Collaborative Meaning-Making Events
Springer eBooks, 2022
An “Epiphania”: Exploring Students’ Identities through Multimodal Literacies
English Journal
Dialogic Interactions as Objects of Self-Study: Two Teacher Educators' Transformative Journey through Narrative Pedagogy
AERA Online Paper Repository, Apr 29, 2017
Audience and Authority in the Professional Writing of Teacher
Research in the Teaching …, 2012
This article discusses the ways issues of audience and authority are encountered and addressed by... more This article discusses the ways issues of audience and authority are encountered and addressed by classroom teachers who write journal articles for publication. Drawing on an interview study of K-12 classroom teachers who have published articles in NCTE's ...
Having Words: Contrasting Perspectives on Children
Language Arts, 2011
Abstract: This article is an historical study of the understanding of children's writing thr... more Abstract: This article is an historical study of the understanding of children's writing through" Language Arts". The author and her research team did a content analysis of articles about writing that appeared in" Language Arts" beginning in 1924 through January, 2010. ...
Literacy Information and Computer Education Journal, Sep 1, 2015
This qualitative inductive study of pre-service secondary English teachers (PSETs) focuses on way... more This qualitative inductive study of pre-service secondary English teachers (PSETs) focuses on ways PSETs think about teaching writing, the kinds of stories they draw on when learning to teach writing and what role, if any, do these stories play in their storied responses during a methods course experience. This study encompasses a convenience sample of four pre-service secondary English teachers' (PSETs) learning, teaching, and writing instruction experiences in their Language and Literacy methods course (LLED XXX). Most preservice secondary teachers (PSETs) have their definition of writing instruction and set out expectations as English teachers before they enter their teaching training programs. Yet at some point during their methods course experience, these expectations seem to change. Findings indicate that PSETs draw on contrasted stories of past and present experiences in one of three thematic categories: stories about a beloved teacher, about writing, and about authenticity. They identify, invoke and note contrasts between their own learning experiences as students, the beliefs they had come to hold about writing instruction and their set out expectations as English teachers via methods courses and preteaching experiences. PSETs storied responses about their writing process and writing instruction depicted a causal relationship characterized as one of mediation and self-discovery.
Olan, E. (2014). Broadening Theses Horizons, Cox, T. (Forthcoming 2014). Case Studies in Higher Education: Surviving the Jungle of the Academy (pp. 1-7). NC: Information Age Publishing
Olan, E. & Kaplan, J. (8/2014). Narratives and dialogic interaction in a teacher preparation writing workshop: self-study of practice, change and reflection. In L. B. Erickson, J. R. Young & S. Pinnegar (Eds.), Navigating the Public and Private: Negotiating the Diverse Landscape of Teacher Educat...
Olan, E. (2014). Going Against the Grain. Cox, T. (Forthcoming 2014). Case Studies in Higher Education: Surviving the Jungle of the Academy (pp. 1-7). NC: Information Age Publishing
1 Abstract: In this multiple case study that uses narrative research methodology, two beginning E... more 1 Abstract: In this multiple case study that uses narrative research methodology, two beginning English teachers’ stories, their use of young adult literature, and their dialogic interactions with university mentors are examined through a lens of culturally responsive pedagogy. This study is focused on how teachers’ stories indicate the difficulties they have incorporating culturally relevant young adult literature into their secondary English classes, how they establish connections between the texts, their students’ lived experiences, and their own lived experiences, and why they struggle with the application of culturally responsive pedagogy. Findings indicate that beginning teachers’ stories (a) express uncertainty regarding the place of young adult literature in their curricula and seek guidance from mentors; (b) demonstrate difficulties meeting students’ needs, which include connecting with characters and plots that “resonate” with their life experiences; (c) struggle with the ...
The Relationship between Language, Culture and Society: Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Positioning in Society
Gist: Education and Learning Research Journal, 2016
This paper reports on EFL teachers’ career choices and societal positioning in different regions ... more This paper reports on EFL teachers’ career choices and societal positioning in different regions of the world. The researchers conducted a qualitative narrative study to analyze, understand and interpret the relationship that exists between language, culture and society in the positioning identified by international EFL teachers. Positioning theory and narrative research were used as the study’s theoretical framework, and data collection tools included reflections, narratives and counter-narratives. Teachers’ personal narratives show their strength in the illocutionary force through which they demonstrate their positions of agency, authority and empowerment.
As self-study researchers, we choose to see ourselves as metaphorically tangled in the threads of... more As self-study researchers, we choose to see ourselves as metaphorically tangled in the threads of time, stories, others’ meaning-making, and our own. Self-study methodology affords us with tools to unstitch and restitch these threads--the complex interplay of processes, methods, and practices--and to make new meanings. Furthermore, we accept our multifaceted responsibility to study teaching practices and self-study research experiences as a way to improve our own teacher education practices and to inform our disciplinary and scholarly fields (Edge & Olan, 2020). In this chapter, upon the loom of composing found poetry, we describe the process of analyzing, interpreting, and representing transformed understandings. In unraveling the tangled mess of participants’ stories threaded through our own narratives, we (re)acknowledged our positionality as narrative inquiry teacher education researchers. As critical friends, we envisioned the act of creating found poetry as an arts-based, lite...
Preparing Pre-Service Teachers to Teach English Learners (ELs): A Phenomenon in Teacher Education Programs
Dialogue Journals and Literacy Quadrants: Two Strategies for Increasing Dialogic Interaction in the English Methods Classroom
Students’ Literacy Experiences with Reflective Narratives and Reflexive Instructional Approaches: Fostering Online Discussion