Second Portfolio Review, Fall 2007: Goal Statement

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Literacy and Equity:  From the Classroom to Scholarship and Back, Goals 2007

        Developing leadership characteristics and research skills continue to be a focus as I work towards a Doctorate of Philosophy in Education. My developing framework for leadership is defined as facilitating knowledge development and sharing among teachers and disseminating scholarly literacy research. I maintain the desire and drive to work in a professional development school as this seems to be a viable context for action research and teacher development in the area of literacy instruction and learning. The following updated goal statement will review previous academic, research, and professional goals as I outline work I intend to complete during the next three or so semesters. The statement will end with a brief analysis of my level of personal mastery as it pertains to my goals as a developing scholar and my current reality.

Academic Goals

            Three previous academic goals continue to influence my choices in class projects.  These include a focus on socio-cultural and sociolinguistic aspects of literacy development, a focus on the political and practical aspects of knowledge development among practicing teachers, and the development of a commitment to teacher development in literacy teaching and learning as it relates to student achievement and policy.  These three areas set the parameters of focus within my specialization, literacy, and minor, teacher development.

            The literacy classes that remain on my program of studies will continue to build my knowledge base concerning the sociolinguistic aspects of literacy instruction. Two areas within classroom practices that are of particular interest are the role of oral language in the development of phonological awareness and the role of language in the development of student engagement, motivation, and academic identity. I intend to complete an independent study on first and second language acquisition and their implications for classroom teaching and learning. I would also like to take the mixed methods course to solidify my understanding of action research. I feel this course would increase my flexibility and creativity as it pertains to school or classroom based research that is culturally responsive.  

Foundations of Literacy: Adolescence through Adulthood should provide opportunities to study the variables within motivation and engagement. It could also increase my understanding of how to work with the academic pipeline between elementary and post high school. The role of language and knowledge of the information pipeline are important as I begin working with scholars and teachers in the field of literacy focused on building a developmental framework meant to lead to continuous progress and close the achievement gap.

Teacher development continues to be a focus for me. Research on Teacher Education will help me understand the issues surrounding teacher education and development. I am particularly interested in the potential for self study in building reflective practices among practicing teachers. Taken further, I would like to play with ways of connecting self study works and connecting self study to other research methodologies to extend our understanding of how we develop as teachers.

The final two areas of my program of studies to be addressed are advanced quantitative methods and internship. Much of the research studying the role of language in literacy development is quantitative and involves structural equation models.  This class will help me critique current studies more accurately and will also add to the research tools at my disposal. My thinking is that the action research I conduct will help define the variables to be studied quantitatively, and that well designed quantitative studies that include culturally relevant variables could help inform policy.  

Finally, I would like my internship to go in one of three directions. Interning in a policy oriented office would provide insight as to how research actually turns into policy. Another option would be to intern with a research institute to learn how such arenas pose and research various literacy related questions. On the other hand, interning with program working to decrease the summer slide in literacy would afford me the opportunity to frame relevant, researchable questions as they relate to continuous progress for students. Any of these three options would help solidify my efforts to learn how to conduct basic and applied research aimed at learning about language and its import for literacy teaching and learning, and to disseminate this learning in scholarly and practical ways.

My Current Reality

This goal statement has outlined where I am in my efforts to become a scholar focused on literacy and teacher development. I am more acutely aware of the role of language in literacy development; and, I need to become more comfortable with the first and second language acquisition literature as well as quantitative and mixed methods. I am confident in the classrooms at Mason; however, I stumble a bit with some teachers and administrators in work that pertains to teacher development. Some stumbling is due to time management. More stumbling is due how I perceive my relationships with and trust in others; therefore, if I remember not to label people or situations, then I will be more likely to make shifts I need to make in order to facilitate the creative tension that fuels effective collaborative learning. Experiencing more productive creative tension on a regular basis will help tighten my efforts in finding a way to bring self study, teacher learning through authentic assessment, and student achievement together in a process that can be replicated and extended.

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