Suggestions & guidelines to assist graduate students with beginning their professional philosophy statement.

1. WELCOME TO LCRT 6915:
SEMINAR & PRACTICUM
IN
LITERACY PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
January 30 th
• Sign in attendance on the legal pad
• Get a name tag
• Find a place to sit & get comfortable
• We will start at 5:00p.m.
• Rebecca Schell, Academic Advisor, is
with us tonight!

2. Getting
Information
REBECCA SCHELL
ACADEMIC ADVISOR FOR LLCRT
STUDENT SERVICES
SCHOOL OF EDUCATION & HUMAN
DEVELOPMENT

3. • Graduation Application &
Timeline
• MA Portfolio (Philosophy
Statement, MA
Reflection, Livetext)
• CU Email system is official mode
of university-student
communication
• CDE Endorsement/PLACE Exam
• Your questions?

4. Getting Started on the Philosophy Statement
Many of you already have academic writings from LCRT courses
that address key areas of the philosophy paper. E.g., writings
on:
• Writings about foundations of literacy & language (historical
perspectives, foundational theory & research, perspectives about
literacy & privilege, sociocultural perspectives on literacy, etc.)
• Connections between language & literacy development
(primary & K-12);
• Writing development; reading development;
• Linking assessment with instruction;
• Connections between literacy & culture;
• Supporting literacy & language learning with children’s &
adolescent literature;
• Think about the pieces of writing you can use or pull from.

5. Getting Started on the Philosophy (2)
Consider aspects of literacy teaching and
learning that are important to you. These
may be general, such as
The importance of using assessment to inform
instruction;
The importance of planning & delivering
instruction that is responsive to students’ broad
cultural backgrounds; or
Learners’ language, learning & thinking are
interrelated.

6. Getting Started on the Philosophy (3)
Or, these aspects could be specific, such as
The importance of small group instruction; or
The importance of supporting learners’ in-class
discussion about new content; or
The importance of using formal & informal
assessments.

7. Getting Started on the Philosophy (4)
Your philosophy may include beliefs about
teaching & learning that are not directly
related to literacy, such as
working with second language learners of
English;
teachers’ work to advocate for students &
families;
 providing students with choice; or
including multiculturalism in your curriculum;
Other?

8. TAKE TIME INDIVIDUALLY:
WHAT ARE 5 TO 8 OF YOUR
BELIEFS ABOUT LITERACY
TEACHING & LEARNING?
 Literacy
 Language
 Culture
 Culturally responsive instruction
 What else?

9. NOW CONSIDER THE THEORETICAL
UNDERPINNINGS OF YOUR BELIEFS
You’ve taken course work in : •Whose work have
 Foundations of literacy, language & you read?
culture
 Literacy teaching & learning
 Primary literacy • What is the research
 Writing development process that grounds your
 Language development practice?
 Literacy across the curriculum
 Child/adolescent literature
 Literacy assessment linked to • What theories &
instruction research ground your
 Multiculturalism & education beliefs?
 Educational research

10. WHOSE WORK, WHAT
RESEARCH, WHAT THEORIES
GROUND THE 5 TO 8 BELIEFS
YOU SKETCHED ABOUT LITERACY
TEACHING & LEARNING?
 Literacy
 Language
 Culture
 Culturally responsive instruction
 What else?

11. As you advance your philosophy…
1. Review/re-read the academic papers and reflections you
have written in the MA course work;
1. Then revisit the 5 to 8 beliefs you have generated, and add a
statement to each one such as, “I feel that ___ is essential
because…” and finish the statement by writing a paragraph
about why you feel this is important to you and to your
students’ learning.
2. Next, take these paragraphs and find the professional
literature to back up your beliefs. You have been reading
this literature and it has been influencing your thinking, now
you need to put the two together.

12. Grounding the philosophy in
theory & practice
You need to articulate in the philosophy that you
believe a practice is good for students because
theorists and researchers have demonstrated its
benefits and because of the effects you have
seen in the learning context with your own
students.
Next week…. Beliefs, 1 paragraph each, research
& theoretical underpinnings of each….

13. AS YOU REFLECT ON
YOUR
PHILOSOPHY, CONSIDE
R WHAT YOU BELIEVE
TO BE IMPORTANT
Where do you spend your time?
Where do your strengths lie?
Where does your practice match
closely with what you believe?
Where does your practice need some
fine-tuning?

14. Where does your practice need
some fine-tuning?
• What are you working on this year?
• What aspects of your instruction are you wanting/needing to
improve in the areas of reading, writing, text, language?
For example:
Activating Ss’ schema? Asking Qs pre-during-post reading
Emphasizing vocabulary? Using non-fiction text features
Asking quality questions of Ss? Writing conventions
Emphasizing higher level thinking skills?
Determining importance? Literary features of sci-fi
Making inferences? Other?
Summarizing?

15. THINK ABOUT THIS!
What aspect of your teaching
would you like to share with
trusted colleagues who are also
literacy experts?
Coaching focus

16. Transitioning…to Knight’s work
We read in Knight’s text about these three
concepts:
•Coaching “light:” Building/maintaining
relationships
•Coaching “heavy:” Planning powerful
instruction
•Instructional coaching: Differentiated
coaching/support with focus on research-
based instructional practices

17. Chapter 2 on Instructional Coaching
Provides a preview to Knight’s “blue” text, “Instructional Coaching: A
Partnership Approach to Improving Instruction”
IC is grounded in the partnership philosophy (see theoretical
framework); Principles of Partnership Philosophy include:
Equality Reflection Dialogue
Choice Praxis
Voice Reciprocity
Where does instructional coaching begin?
Consider areas of teaching within what Knight calls “the big 4:”
classroom management content
instruction assessment for learning

18. You choose
Partner with 1 classmate & focus on 1 concept:
Coaching heavy; coaching light; or Instr. Coaching
1. Describe the concept in your own words.
2. What do you see as its advantages?
3. What would you identify as potential disadvantages?
4. Have you seen it implemented? How so?
5. What is a lingering question you have about the
concept?

19. SHARE OUT:
QUICK SUMMARY
Brief description of concept
Advantages
Disadvantages
Implementations in your context
Lingering question

20. LCRT 6915, Week 3, Feb. 6th
TOPICS: READINGS: BRING OR DUE:
-Philosophy Paper -Dagen & Nichols, ch.
Wkshp 1 2 “Teachers as Bring: Philosophy belief
literacy leaders” pp. statements (5-8) with 1
WRITING CENTER 21-41 (on ecollege in paragraph typed
Overview: APA doc sharing) narrative grounding
Style, etc. each belief & primary
-Knight (blue text) resources noted.
-Debrief Dagen & Ch. 1 “Why
Nichols ch. 2 coaching?” pp.1-18
DUE:
& ch. 2 “What does
-Instructional focus for
coaching look like?”
6915 Coaching Sessions
pp. 19-33
(1 paragraph, typed)

21. YOUR QUESTIONS?