Writing that Values Multiple Ways of Knowing: Supporting Early Career Teachers’ Efforts to Promote Literacy Development

Authors

Lauren A. May, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State UniversityFollow
Heather Wright, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State UniversityFollow

Abstract

Early career secondary English teachers manage challenges that complicate their efforts to support students’ literacy development, including feelings of inadequacy as teachers. This paper focuses on low-stakes writing strategies that teachers might use to promote literacy development in the classroom and decrease their feelings of inadequacy. The authors, Lauren and Heather, use the lenses of dialogic pedagogy and the reflective turn to draw upon literature on the blending of reading and writing instruction and elements of autoethnography to examine their efforts to support students’ literacy development. Working from the literature and pedagogical reflections, the authors offer suggestions for instructional practice teachers can use to support students’ literacy development. Key findings explore multiple ways of knowing and low-stakes writing activities.

Author Biography

Lauren May is a doctoral student at Virginia Tech in the School of Education. She is studying how language and culture influence secondary classrooms.

Heather Wright is a doctoral candidate at Virginia Tech in the School of Education. She is studying how classroom teachers can support the voices of rural adolescent students.

Recommended Citation

May, Lauren A. and Wright, Heather (2021) "Writing that Values Multiple Ways of Knowing: Supporting Early Career Teachers’ Efforts to Promote Literacy Development," Virginia English Journal: Vol. 70: Iss. 2, Article 4.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.bridgewater.edu/vej/vol70/iss2/4