| This was a qualitative research study in which four primary teachers participated. The main problem was that teachers felt pressured by the demands and requirements from the mandated standardized testing, curriculum, pacing guides, and teaching methods to prepare students for the high-stakes testing and grade level expectations. Traditional teacher development workshops were viewed as ineffective and inconvenient because the teaching and learning strategies they promoted were not useful or practical.;This study was intended to examine the extent to which the teachers were able to shift their pedagogy from traditional knowledge transmission to learner-centered teaching and learning practices, when experiencing a job-embedded and on-site peer coaching professional development model over one academic year. Another goal was to find out the extent to which teachers changed their perceptions, beliefs, assumptions and practices to provide an equitable and supportive learning environment for all students. At the same time, it aimed to explore and explain the barriers and facilitators that influenced changes in their thinking and practice.;The study involved four bilingual education teachers at the primary grade level, in one school. For the professional development that I led, teachers participated in grade level meetings and critical dialog sessions. I also modeled lessons for them to observe and gave them on-site peer coaching support.;Teachers were interviewed three times during the study. They were formally observed several times and a qualitative write-up protocol used. The data from the grade level meetings, informal observations and critical dialog sessions was recorded in a personal journal.;For the most part, teachers' thinking and pedagogy practice shifted from the traditional knowledge transmission to learner-centered ways of teaching and learning. The literature supported the findings, which show that with a job-embedded and on-site peer coaching professional development model teachers can learn strategies to navigate the institutionalized and legitimized pressures. Those findings also show that individual teachers have the power to shift their paradigm to create an equitable learning environment for all students. |
