Lydia Menna

Bio: Lydia Menna is an academic researcher from University of Alberta. The author has contributed to research in topics: Literacy & Teacher education. The author has an hindex of 5, co-authored 9 publications receiving 90 citations. Previous affiliations of Lydia Menna include Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.

Four spheres of knowledge required: an international study of the professional development of literacy/English teacher educators

Abstract: This paper reports on a research study of 28 literacy teacher educators (LTE) in four countries: Canada, the USA, England and Australia. It identifies three main forms of professional development: informal, formal and communities of practice and four spheres of knowledge: research; pedagogy of higher education; literacy and literacy teaching; and current school district and government initiatives. The study reveals the sheer scale of knowledge required to be an effective LTE and demonstrates how participants used the three forms of professional development to enhance their knowledge in each sphere. It concludes that the professional development of teacher educators is not conducted systematically; rather, it is quite ad hoc with much of it occurring through learning while doing. All had to construct their own programmes for professional development, which added yet another layer to their responsibilities.

A foot in many camps: literacy teacher educators acquiring knowledge across many realms and juggling multiple identities

Abstract: This study involved 28 literacy/English teachers in four countries: Canada, the USA, the UK and Australia. The goal of the study was to examine their backgrounds, knowledge, research activities, identity and support within the university. The teacher educators had a range of classroom teaching experience which they drew on in many ways. Most went far beyond simply telling stories about their previous work. All were heavily influenced by their own childhood experiences, which continue to affect their current work. Many felt that they needed to hold dual identities, teacher and academic, because they were still heavily involved in schools through their research and in-service activities. Several felt that there was a hierarchy in their department with those most removed from schooling at the highest tier. Most saw themselves in the field of literacy not teacher education and gravitate towards literacy-focused conferences and journals rather than those in teacher education.

You Teach Who You Are: The Experiences and Pedagogies of Literacy/English Teacher Educators Who Have a Critical Stance

Abstract: This study involved 28 literacy/English teacher educators in four countries: Canada, U.S., UK, and Australia. The goal of the study was to examine their backgrounds, pedagogies, research activities, identity, and turning points in their lives. Eight of the participants self-identified as having a critical stance which they actualized through specific pedagogical choices. Their broad goals for schooling are to support pupils who are traditionally underserved. Data analysis (using NVivo) revealed commonalities across the participants; each participant had a pivotal experience in early childhood (e.g., marginalized as English Language Learners) that continues to influence their current pedagogy. Each participant provided experiences beyond the confines of the course for student teachers to work with children in high needs situations. In some cases, student teachers embraced the opportunity (and commitment to social justice), while others, would have preferred a much greater focus on practical skills and resources.

So how do you teach literacy in teacher education?: Literacy/English teacher educators' goals and pedagogies

Abstract: Given expanding concepts of literacy and evolving communication patterns literacy teacher educators face a daunting task - preparing student teachers for a world where literacy is very complicated and contested. This paper addresses two key questions: What are the elements of a pedagogy of literacy teacher education? What opportunities for learning do literacy/English teacher educators offer to help student teachers understand the changing conception of literacy? For this research 28 literacy/English teacher educators in four countries were interviewed three times. Two overall conclusions are: the need to anchor their course in the concept of literacy as expanding and evolving; and to approach literacy teacher education holistically. Three elements of a pedagogy of literacy teacher education are discussed in this paper; that there is a need to: value and respond to diversity; read, discuss, and analyse a range of texts and genres; create authentic reflection activities. These elements are relevant for our increasingly diverse student body and can work dialogically. This paper provides a broad road map for literacy teacher educators who are often faced with conflicting messages from governments and feel tremendous pressure to teach to the test.

Displaced academics: intended and unintended consequences of the changing landscape of teacher education

Abstract: Given the intense politicisation of education, many teacher educators are caught in the cross-hairs of government’s reform agendas, university expectations and student teacher needs. This paper rep...

经验与教育 = Experience and education

Abstract: Experience and Educationis the best concise statement on education ever published by John Dewey, the man acknowledged to be the pre-eminent educational theorist of the twentieth century. Written more than two decades after Democracy and Education(Dewey's most comprehensive statement of his position in educational philosophy), this book demonstrates how Dewey reformulated his ideas as a result of his intervening experience with the progressive schools and in the light of the criticisms his theories had received. Analysing both "traditional" and "progressive" education, Dr. Dewey here insists that neither the old nor the new education is adequate and that each is miseducative because neither of them applies the principles of a carefully developed philosophy of experience. Many pages of this volume illustrate Dr. Dewey's ideas for a philosophy of experience and its relation to education. He particularly urges that all teachers and educators looking for a new movement in education should think in terms of the deeped and larger issues of education rather than in terms of some divisive "ism" about education, even such an "ism" as "progressivism." His philosophy, here expressed in its most essential, most readable form, predicates an American educational system that respects all sources of experience, on that offers a true learning situation that is both historical and social, both orderly and dynamic.

Democracy and education.

Abstract: Course Description In this course, we will explore the question of the actual and potential connections between democracy and education. Our focus of attention will be placed on a critical examination of democratic theory and its implications for the civic education roles and contributions of teachers, adult educators, community development practitioners, and community organizers. We will survey and deal critically with a range of competing conceptions of democracy, variously described as classical, republican, liberal, radical, marxist, neomarxist, pragmatist, feminist, populist, pluralist, postmodern, and/or participatory. Using narrative inquiry as a means for illuminating and interpreting contemporary practice, we will analyze the implications of different conceptions of democracy for the practical work of civic education.

Social Linguistics and Literacies: Ideology in Discourses.

Abstract: Many people in "literate" societies, when asked to define literacy, almost always do so in terms of reading and writing abilities This narrow interpretation of literacy, an offspring of reductionist psychology, has reigned supreme in many academic and educational contexts for decades, greatly shaping literacy theories and classroom practices Within the past ten years, however, a large body of multidisciplinary research has begun to undermine the authority of this perspective by situating literacy in larger social practices

Practice Makes Practice A Critical Study Of Learning To Teach

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