Sarah Schneider Kavanagh | University of Pennsylvania (original) (raw)
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Papers by Sarah Schneider Kavanagh
Equity & Excellence in Education, 2019
Teachers are frequently advised to respond when they hear remarks that reflect anger, contempt, o... more Teachers are frequently advised to respond when they hear remarks that reflect anger, contempt, or disgust towards members of historically marginalized communities. However, there is little research on how teachers respond to such remarks. Focusing specifically on classroom talk about sexual identity, this study investigates how teachers responded to students who overtly expressed anger, contempt, or disgust towards LGBTQ people. Data were collected on three teachers’ classroom practice, including teacher interviews, daily logs, and classroom observations. Findings indicate that variations in teachers’ responses to overt student bias reflect variations in underlying theories of how people unlearn their biases. This study suggests that grounding research on teachers’ responses to students’ biases in knowledge about how people learn might reveal new directions for research on ways to counter bias in the classroom.
American Educational Research Journal, 2017
Disciplinary literacy scholars promote text-based instruction in the service of disciplinary inqu... more Disciplinary literacy scholars promote text-based instruction in the service of disciplinary inquiry, and scholars of teacher education promote practice based preparation for teachers. This study brings these scholarly communities into conversation by investigating how practice orientations in teacher education influence novice teachers' literacy teaching. We conducted video analyses of teacher education coursework and novice teach-ers' classroom instruction in secondary English language arts. Data were collected during a summer institute for novice teachers designed through a partnership between a university and an alternative teacher education program. Analyses revealed that when learning targets for novice teacher participants were explicitly connected to teaching practice through the use of representations, decompositions, and approximations, those targets were more frequently observed in novices' subsequent classroom instruction.. Her areas of interest include the preparation of secondary English and history teachers , the preparation of teachers for social justice goals, the teaching of practice in professional education, and the pedagogy of teacher education. EMILY C. RAINEY is a postdoctoral fellow at
Journal of Teacher Education
Journal of Teacher Education, 2017
Preparing classroom teachers to teach English Learner (EL) students continues to challenge teache... more Preparing classroom teachers to teach English Learner (EL) students continues to challenge teacher educators. This article argues for EL teaching work to be situated within theories of professional learning that focus on developing teachers who can
flexibly and innovatively integrate EL instructional practice into content area teaching. We propose a framework of adaptive expertise that highlights scaffolding instructional practice while simultaneously creating opportunities for preservice teachers
to collectively engage with problems of practice and critical reflection in real time in classrooms. Using data from a qualitative study involving a practice-based design—the studio day—in teacher education, we illustrate key elements of the framework.
We examine the potential of studio days to help preservice teachers build integrated knowledge about rigorous mathematics and language instruction. Framing the preparation of classroom teachers to teach EL students within theories of adaptive
expertise may inform teacher education pedagogies and contexts for teacher learning.
Journal of Teacher Education, 2017
Both the Common Core Standards for Literacy and the College, Career, and Civic Life Framework for... more Both the Common Core Standards for Literacy and the College, Career, and Civic Life Framework for Social Studies State Standards underscore the importance of classroom discussion for the development of high-level literacy and subject-matter knowledge. Yet, discussion remains stubbornly absent in social studies classrooms, which tend toward rote memorization and textbook work. In this article, we discuss our efforts to design practice-based methods instruction that prepares preservice teachers to facilitate text-based, whole-class discussion. We propose a framework for facilitating historical discussions and illustrate it with examples from videos of teacher candidates enacting the practice in K-12 classrooms. The framework assists not only in conceptualizing and naming the discrete components that constitute disciplinary discussion facilitation but also in highlighting where novices appear to struggle. Our analysis has implications for improving teacher education that seeks to prepare novices for ambitious instruction called for by the new literacy and social studies standards.
Currently, teacher preparation that is primarily focused on social justice occurs through interna... more Currently, teacher preparation that is primarily focused on social justice occurs through internal reflection: reflection on one's own dispositions, identity, experiences, commitments, and beliefs. In this chapter, I propose a curricular and pedagogical framework for promoting reflection on issues of justice and equity that is practice based. Weaving together concepts from scholarship on multicultural education and scholarship on core practices of teaching, the framework offers curricular and pedagogical tools for teacher education that is anchored in practice and aimed at issues of identity, power, privilege, and equity. To date, the preparation of teachers for social justice work has primarily been understood as a process of disposi-tional change rather than a process of developing professional judgment and repertoires of practice. In this chapter, I argue for a shift toward the specification of justice-oriented teaching practices. Specifying practice allows teacher educators to engage preservice teachers in representations, decompositions, approximations, and reflections of and on episodes of teaching that intentionally bring social justice issues to the fore. When teacher educators can scaffold preservice teachers' early attempts at social justice teaching by bounding and specifying teaching activities and social justice goals, they can create spaces of practice within which preservice teachers can reflect on how justice and equity play out in the fine-grained interactions that make up the work of teaching.
Teachers College Record
Background/Context: As states and districts have begun adopting texts inclusive of lesbian, gay, ... more Background/Context: As states and districts have begun adopting texts inclusive of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people, debates about how LGBTQ issues should be represented in the curricular canon have emerged. While existing research investigates curricular questions that are arising as a result of LGBTQ curricular inclusion, scholarship has been slow to address the instructional questions presented by the introduction of inclusive curricula.
This article presents a periodization of educational research on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgen... more This article presents a periodization of educational research on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) issues between 1970 and 2010. Developed through a frame analysis of 105 educational research reports, the periodization maps ideological and chronological patterns in the conceptual frames of research on LGBTQ issues. Five paradigmatic frames for understanding LGBTQ issues in education are discussed: (a) homosexuality as a social contagion; (b) homosexuality as a private identity; (c) LGB youth as " at-risk " ; (d) LGBTQ youth as victims; and (f) LGBTQ youth as resilient. The author calls for an expansion beyond individual-level analyses into investigations of educational practice. of 2016, the American Educational Research Association (AERA) released a position statement following the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. The statement called on the educational research community to commit itself to building a knowledge base that could support practitioners in combating the pervasive prejudices and biases that contribute to heterosexist violence in the United States. AERA is aggrieved by the horrific act of bigotry, extremism, and violence in Orlando. The mass murder at the Pulse nightclub is a hate crime that is an assault on the entire LGBTQ community. This and other recent tragedies rooted in hate raise a broad range of societal and policy issues that are at the core of education and education research….We call on the
Encyclopedia of Diversity in Education, 2012
Encyclopedia of Diversity in Education, 2012
Equity & Excellence in Education, 2019
Teachers are frequently advised to respond when they hear remarks that reflect anger, contempt, o... more Teachers are frequently advised to respond when they hear remarks that reflect anger, contempt, or disgust towards members of historically marginalized communities. However, there is little research on how teachers respond to such remarks. Focusing specifically on classroom talk about sexual identity, this study investigates how teachers responded to students who overtly expressed anger, contempt, or disgust towards LGBTQ people. Data were collected on three teachers’ classroom practice, including teacher interviews, daily logs, and classroom observations. Findings indicate that variations in teachers’ responses to overt student bias reflect variations in underlying theories of how people unlearn their biases. This study suggests that grounding research on teachers’ responses to students’ biases in knowledge about how people learn might reveal new directions for research on ways to counter bias in the classroom.
American Educational Research Journal, 2017
Disciplinary literacy scholars promote text-based instruction in the service of disciplinary inqu... more Disciplinary literacy scholars promote text-based instruction in the service of disciplinary inquiry, and scholars of teacher education promote practice based preparation for teachers. This study brings these scholarly communities into conversation by investigating how practice orientations in teacher education influence novice teachers' literacy teaching. We conducted video analyses of teacher education coursework and novice teach-ers' classroom instruction in secondary English language arts. Data were collected during a summer institute for novice teachers designed through a partnership between a university and an alternative teacher education program. Analyses revealed that when learning targets for novice teacher participants were explicitly connected to teaching practice through the use of representations, decompositions, and approximations, those targets were more frequently observed in novices' subsequent classroom instruction.. Her areas of interest include the preparation of secondary English and history teachers , the preparation of teachers for social justice goals, the teaching of practice in professional education, and the pedagogy of teacher education. EMILY C. RAINEY is a postdoctoral fellow at
Journal of Teacher Education
Journal of Teacher Education, 2017
Preparing classroom teachers to teach English Learner (EL) students continues to challenge teache... more Preparing classroom teachers to teach English Learner (EL) students continues to challenge teacher educators. This article argues for EL teaching work to be situated within theories of professional learning that focus on developing teachers who can
flexibly and innovatively integrate EL instructional practice into content area teaching. We propose a framework of adaptive expertise that highlights scaffolding instructional practice while simultaneously creating opportunities for preservice teachers
to collectively engage with problems of practice and critical reflection in real time in classrooms. Using data from a qualitative study involving a practice-based design—the studio day—in teacher education, we illustrate key elements of the framework.
We examine the potential of studio days to help preservice teachers build integrated knowledge about rigorous mathematics and language instruction. Framing the preparation of classroom teachers to teach EL students within theories of adaptive
expertise may inform teacher education pedagogies and contexts for teacher learning.
Journal of Teacher Education, 2017
Both the Common Core Standards for Literacy and the College, Career, and Civic Life Framework for... more Both the Common Core Standards for Literacy and the College, Career, and Civic Life Framework for Social Studies State Standards underscore the importance of classroom discussion for the development of high-level literacy and subject-matter knowledge. Yet, discussion remains stubbornly absent in social studies classrooms, which tend toward rote memorization and textbook work. In this article, we discuss our efforts to design practice-based methods instruction that prepares preservice teachers to facilitate text-based, whole-class discussion. We propose a framework for facilitating historical discussions and illustrate it with examples from videos of teacher candidates enacting the practice in K-12 classrooms. The framework assists not only in conceptualizing and naming the discrete components that constitute disciplinary discussion facilitation but also in highlighting where novices appear to struggle. Our analysis has implications for improving teacher education that seeks to prepare novices for ambitious instruction called for by the new literacy and social studies standards.
Currently, teacher preparation that is primarily focused on social justice occurs through interna... more Currently, teacher preparation that is primarily focused on social justice occurs through internal reflection: reflection on one's own dispositions, identity, experiences, commitments, and beliefs. In this chapter, I propose a curricular and pedagogical framework for promoting reflection on issues of justice and equity that is practice based. Weaving together concepts from scholarship on multicultural education and scholarship on core practices of teaching, the framework offers curricular and pedagogical tools for teacher education that is anchored in practice and aimed at issues of identity, power, privilege, and equity. To date, the preparation of teachers for social justice work has primarily been understood as a process of disposi-tional change rather than a process of developing professional judgment and repertoires of practice. In this chapter, I argue for a shift toward the specification of justice-oriented teaching practices. Specifying practice allows teacher educators to engage preservice teachers in representations, decompositions, approximations, and reflections of and on episodes of teaching that intentionally bring social justice issues to the fore. When teacher educators can scaffold preservice teachers' early attempts at social justice teaching by bounding and specifying teaching activities and social justice goals, they can create spaces of practice within which preservice teachers can reflect on how justice and equity play out in the fine-grained interactions that make up the work of teaching.
Teachers College Record
Background/Context: As states and districts have begun adopting texts inclusive of lesbian, gay, ... more Background/Context: As states and districts have begun adopting texts inclusive of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people, debates about how LGBTQ issues should be represented in the curricular canon have emerged. While existing research investigates curricular questions that are arising as a result of LGBTQ curricular inclusion, scholarship has been slow to address the instructional questions presented by the introduction of inclusive curricula.
This article presents a periodization of educational research on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgen... more This article presents a periodization of educational research on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) issues between 1970 and 2010. Developed through a frame analysis of 105 educational research reports, the periodization maps ideological and chronological patterns in the conceptual frames of research on LGBTQ issues. Five paradigmatic frames for understanding LGBTQ issues in education are discussed: (a) homosexuality as a social contagion; (b) homosexuality as a private identity; (c) LGB youth as " at-risk " ; (d) LGBTQ youth as victims; and (f) LGBTQ youth as resilient. The author calls for an expansion beyond individual-level analyses into investigations of educational practice. of 2016, the American Educational Research Association (AERA) released a position statement following the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. The statement called on the educational research community to commit itself to building a knowledge base that could support practitioners in combating the pervasive prejudices and biases that contribute to heterosexist violence in the United States. AERA is aggrieved by the horrific act of bigotry, extremism, and violence in Orlando. The mass murder at the Pulse nightclub is a hate crime that is an assault on the entire LGBTQ community. This and other recent tragedies rooted in hate raise a broad range of societal and policy issues that are at the core of education and education research….We call on the
Encyclopedia of Diversity in Education, 2012
Encyclopedia of Diversity in Education, 2012