Using Literacy Coaching as a Means to Change Science Teachers' Attitudes About Teaching Writing: A Case Study
Comprehension of science text is notoriously difficult for many secondary students. One of the reasons some readers get lost in expository text may be due to a limited ability to navigate complex sentence structures.
The intent of this study was to investigate the connection between teacher practices in writing instruction and student understanding and to record the classroom effects from three perspectives: the science teachers, the students and the literacy coach. Data included multiple interviews with five students and two teachers, preliminary surveys and observational field notes taken during class sessions over a fourteen-week period.
This case study conducted at Highland High School[1], located in a suburb of a large southern California city during the fall semester of 2001, revealed the conflict between teacher pedagogy and optimal student learning as science teachers introduced sentence writing strategies into their curriculum. The participating teachers wanted their students to write scientifically, to understand science concepts more deeply and to be able to access text, but they did not have the strategies to make that happen. While these teachers consciously acknowledged a desire to acquire the ability to teach literacy skills and implement them, they knew that the time it would take to teach writing skills would come at the expense of time they would otherwise spend covering content. This caused frustration, tension and inner conflict. The classroom results caused a limited curricular shift toward direct instruction of science writing along with requests for ongoing coaching support in literacy strategies.
