Discourse Communities, Professional Development, and Educators

If we want professional development to be successful, teachers have to be supported.

The world of education is one that is always changing. Those of us involved are constantly looking for ways to improve what we are doing in the classroom to make an impact on students. We hear so much about professional development and how necessary it is to make change. Many teachers understand the importance of taking part in professional development, yet it always seems to hold a highly negative connotation.  Nihal Yurtseven (2017) looks at this in a different light in his article “The Investigation of Teacher’s Metaphoric Perceptions about Professional Development.” He argued “Although many research findings support the fact that professional development is critical for teachers, the important thing is how teachers perceive this fact with their own perspectives… at this point, teachers’ perceptions about professional development can make important contributions to the identification of the concept of teachers’ professional development as well as resolving potential problems”  (124). I would like to take this view and look at local professional development, specifically surrounding the professional development that my region of Northeastern Colorado is taking on. As a group, we can be looked at as educators looking to create change through professional development. There are certain qualities that define how we communicate and how we behave. This Discourse Community of educators can provide other areas looking at professional development with insight into how to communicate effectively when approaching professional development to make it more successful for our schools.

Teacher’s Perceptions of Professional Development

Nihal Yurtseven (2017) conducted his study on teacher perceptions of professional development in Turkey, however, I believe it shows a great deal about the perspectives of educators. This is by no means meant to be a comprehensive view of teacher’s perceptions of professional development, but rather shows general understandings that are necessary to approaching teachers as a Discourse Community. Yurtseven (2017) grouped his findings on teacher perceptions of professional development into different groups. These include seeing professional development as constantly needing to be updated or changed, seeing it as labor intensive, seeing it as a necessary part of what teachers do, and some even found it to be negative in nature. Through these various categories, many similarities came forward. The most important is that teachers understand that professional development is needed, however, they must receive support for it to be effective. Yurtseven (2017) stated that “ it is possible that they [teachers] will feel burnout…Therefore, it is very important for teachers to receive the necessary support in their professional development processes, which they perceive as important as breathing or water and need to continue the learning process as a teacher” (127). This includes giving them resources and time to be able to complete what they are being asked to do.

Clearly, teacher perspectives on professional development must be understood and taken into consideration if their needs are to be met and for professional development to be successful. Thus, I wanted to look at our specific discourse community and how we are communicating these various perceptions and needs to see where we can improve in order to make it effective.

Background on Teacher Clarity for PD

For the past year, Northeast Colorado schools have been working towards teacher clarity and visible learning. This is based on the research conducted by John Hattie. Hattie (2018) held a meta-analysis on various methods employed by teachers and how that affects student learning, whether positive or negative. He averaged the scores out to find that the ‘effect size’ of these separate methods, with anything scored at .40 being the average effect size. This average score equates to the regular levels of learning within students. However, we can hit levels of learning that are much higher than this. Teacher clarity sits at a .75 effect size, and thus has been shown in studies conducted by Hattie to be able to double the rate of learning for students. Furthermore, effective teacher efficacy, or teachers working towards the same goals, has an effect size of 1.57. This leads to exponential rates of learning.

Photo: John Hattie’s Effect Sizes

These two movements are all about helping teachers and students to be able to articulate what they are learning, why they are learning it, and how the students can show what they are learning. Teachers must take state standards and turn them into learning outcomes that are in student friendly language. This allows students to clearly see what they are expected to learn. From this, teachers then construct success criteria, or what students must be able to do to show they have mastered the learning outcome. This allows students to take on responsibility of the learning process. By students being able to see this integrated across the board in a school, it increases learning in all areas. Clearly, these movements that our schools are working towards are necessary and important due to the impact it can have on student learning. This focus helps to piece the educators that are a part of this movement together as a specific Discourse Community. It creates meaning for our districts as we work to make improvements.

Discourse communities and Professional Development

Discourse communities should be defined and how this is related to professional development based on the movement towards teacher clarity and efficacy, as this certainly shapes teacher perception on professional development and how effectively we can work. Some may see discourse as dealing specifically with language. While language is certainly connected to this, James Gee (1999) looks at Discourse Communities as a specific way of “thinking, valuing, acting, and interacting, in the ‘right’ places and at the ‘right’ times” (17). It is about much more than language. It helps us to establish or recognize socially situated identities, or identities that allows that person to do something specific that creates specific meanings our understandings. Gee (1999) also includes the existence of “grammar two,” which is different from the traditional grammar we learn in schools.  Different discourses have different shared understandings as a part of their grammar two that helps to create meaning. Though there may be different meanings for the language, the grammar two that Gee (1999)  looks at allows for members of a Discourse Community to give specific meaning in order to communicate.

As a part of our Discourse Community of teachers attempting to create change, there are certainly clear attributes of our community that allows us to be recognized. We are all educators, even if we hold different positions within the field, most of us value making improvements for our students. This identity puts us in the right position to enact what we learn in professional development. We all share the same meaning, or grammar two, on how we approach teacher clarity through the meaning of learning outcomes and success criteria.

However, we do have different perspectives within our discourse community about how to approach the work towards teacher clarity, which is where our effectiveness can struggle. Gee (1999) pointed out that there are also “Conversations,” or the interplay of different discourses, which can at times seem to be a debate. This is prevalent within our Discourse community. For instance, some teachers, not because they are lazy or do not care about student learning, see the push for teacher clarity as overwhelming, resulting in conversations about how to enact this properly when there is already so much asked of them. Furthermore, different schools or even teachers may enact these concepts differently depending upon their discourses. This brings in an important argument crafted by James Porter (1986) on the intertextuality of communication. Porter (1986) argues that all texts contain “traces” of allusions or references to other works crafted in that discourse. That is a part of what makes communication effective in discourses, as these connections help to make it meaningful. These conversations of time, of the autonomy of teachers, and more show legitimate concerns within the Discourse of teachers working to create change, something that must be dealt with if our Discourse community is going to work as effectively as it can.

What We Do Well, and What We Can Work On

It is imperative that we understand this community we are a part of. Not only the teachers that are in the “trenches” putting in the hard work to make a change for their students, but also the administrators who are doing their best to help their teachers use these strategies effectively, and for the other leaders instructing our schools in the best way to approach integrating change. We need to look at what we do well, and what we need to work on in the future for this to occur. I believe that we share the same language and goals; this has been presented quite clearly within our community. However, there are areas that need work.

A major finding of teacher perceptions that have been communicated in our Discourse Community is that teachers must be given the time to do this properly. One area of question that so many teachers have is how to do this for all their classes when they have seven periods to prepare for. Leaders of our professional development have made clear time and time again teachers must have time to do this, they cannot be expected to have it done in a couple months. However, it has to go beyond just being a part of our language in our Discourse, but must become a part of what we do. Thus, administration that set deadlines must take this into consideration in order for it to be effective. Though I know many administrators are working towards this, all need to be on the same page within our Discourse.

Photo: Professional Development Leader Dave Nagel shows the importance communication.

Furthermore, there are clearly variations in views in our Discourse Community. As discussed above, different schools have different approaches. We should not desire to get from teacher and school autonomy, but work together to ensure that all schools and teachers feel that they are able to have their concerns voiced in the community to address issues they see. This will help all teachers feel more supported in this process, something Yurtseven (2017) stated was necessary for professional development to hit its potential. It will also allow our Discourse Community to be more successful if this support allows teachers and schools to feel more comfortable enacting the goals we have set forward.

I am very proud and excited about the work we are doing within our region. We are working towards something that is so beneficial. It does not mean that the process is perfect, but rather allows us to see ways to improve.

All schools, all regions, and all teachers should take a look at their professional development. What are you doing well, what needs work? What are your perceptions of your teachers? Do you share the same language and same goals? If you don’t, how can you get there?

We all have what it takes to create meaningful, effective professional development that can make a difference for our students.

Sources:

Yurtseven, N. (2017). “The Investigation of Teacher’s Metaphoric Perceptions about Professional Development.” Journal of Education and Learning, 6 (2), 120-131.

Gee, J. P. (1999). “Discourses and Social Languages.” In Introduction to Discourse Analysis: Theory and Method. London: Routledge.

Porter, J. E. (1986): “Intertextuality and the Discourse Community.” Rhetoric Reviews, 5, 34-47.

Corwin. (2019). What is Teacher Clarity? Retrieved from https://us.corwin.com/en-us/nam/what-is-teacher-clarity

Visible Learning. (2019). “Hattie Ranking: 252 Influences And Effect Sizes Related To Student Achievement. Retrieved from https://visible-learning.org/hattie-ranking-influences-effect-sizes-learning-achievement/