This descriptive case study examined the nature of talk a literacy coach used during coaching conversations to guide collaborative inquiry to support teachers needs. The study provided a rich description of the type of talk used in the coachs conversations with three kindergarten classroom teachers by analyzing the content of conversation, levels of support provided by the coach to scaffold teacher understanding about instructional practices, and the types of questions posed by the coach to prompt teacher thinking about instructional practices. Analysis of data revealed that the literacy coach was intentional in the approaches she used to differentiate her conversations with teachers. Moreover, the coach exemplified the characteristics that enabled her to hold effective coaching conversations: content knowledge, effective listening abilities, and skillful questioning techniques. Specific factors that influenced the nature of the coaching conversations included the relationships between the coach and teachers, teachers experiences and their knowledge of literacy instruction and assessment, and the teachers willingness to be coached. Analysis showed that both the content and scaffolding support differed in the coaching conversations between the literacy coach and teachers. Furthermore, student data provided the basis for the job-embedded professional development or coaching. It served as the impetus for the conversations held between the coach and teachers.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-12102009-133352 |
| Date | 15 January 2010 |
| Creators | Belcastro, Elizabeth G. |
| Contributors | Naomi Zigmond, Charlene Trovato, Rita M. Bean, Rebecca Hamilton |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-12102009-133352/ |
| Rights | restricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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