The potential for pedagogical expertise in a whole-school early literacy model

As part of their commitment to improve the achievement of their students and the literacy instruction of their teachers, Boston Public Schools required all elementary schools to select a whole school early literacy model and all primary teachers to participate in its professional development.;This dissertation explores teachers' responses to one of the whole school early literacy models and asks: How do participating teachers respond to the model? How do they interpret the pedagogical methods that comprise the model? What do their responses tell us about the contribution the model makes to their pedagogical expertise? To answer these questions, I observed and interviewed Grade 1 and Grade 2 teachers at two schools during the 2001--2002 school year.;This dissertation presents participants' responses to the model in three ways. First, I identify the broad patterns in teachers' responses, including which of the model's instructional methods they chose to teach. Second, I focus on three of the participants and present their constructions of guided reading, one of the model's methods. The portrayals were created by examining observational data for key instructional features present across multiple lessons and then confirmed by interview data.;Third, I compared the teachers' constructions to the core concepts that undergird the guided reading method; guided reading instruction (1) is informed by students' needs, (2) supports the use of reading strategies, and (3) fosters independent reading . While all three focal participants teach guided reading daily, they vary widely with respect to presence of the core concepts in their pedagogical content knowledge of guided reading. For one teacher, the core concepts permeate her instruction and her talk about her instruction. For the second, they are emerging and for the third, they are absent.;The multi-disciplinary research on expertise indicates that experts organize their content knowledge around core concepts. Comparing the teachers' interpretations to the core concepts offers insight into the development of their pedagogical expertise. It suggests that literacy model's professional development can contribute to pedagogical expertise, but does not necessarily do so. Suggestions for modifying and supplementing professional development to promote pedagogical expertise are included.