Date of Award

Fall 2002

Project Type

Dissertation

Program or Major

Reading and Writing Instruction

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

First Advisor

Jane Hansen

Abstract

Through qualitative case studies, I explored what or who influenced four teacher educators to use multiple literacy artifacts and reflections to evaluate themselves, and help their students do the same. I define a wide range of print and non-print mediums as multiple literacies in that some learners rely on them to explore and express what they value as evaluators. Given that some students understand a poem or a social studies concept better when evaluate their interpretations through drama or drawing, as well as talk or writing, it is important for these students to be in classrooms where multiple avenues for evaluation are used. These opportunities, however, are rare. In order for teachers to learn to value the use of these literacies alongside print and talk as means of evaluation, teacher educators may need to experience them as potentially useful aspects of their own evaluation strategies.

The four teacher educators I studied were Julie Brooks Pantano, Dan Rothermel, Jane Hansen, and myself. For my data, I collected and analyzed our artifacts and reflections, and observed, recorded, and analyzed our interactions during one semester of the Reading and Writing Seminar. I also observed in at least two sessions with one class which each of my colleagues taught, and I informally interviewed them and at least two of their students regarding what I observed and what they learned. I analyzed myself by studying my growth as a teacher educator and evaluator in tandem with my evolution as a sculptor. I designed a sculpture to show what I learned in this dissertation via a literacy beyond print, as well as print.

I found that we were all influenced to value a wider range of literacies as evaluators through our participation in various diverse, supportive learning communities over time. In these communities, multiple literacies were explicitly valued, modeled, created in class, required, and shared by teachers and students alike in portfolio artifacts and reflections. As we evaluated ourselves, these literacies helped us find value in ourselves, others, and everyone's growth in accord with what she or he valued as multifaceted persons in multiple social worlds.

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