Supporting classroom literacy instruction for vulnerable learners with reflective dialogue

Vulnerable learners require that teachers know more about how children acquire literacy. This study is about helping teachers reshape the lens through which they see vulnerable literacy learners in order that they can interpret current literacy learning behaviours and scaffold new learning that makes sense to the learner. To support teachers in refining their instructional practice and the lens through which they see the vulnerable literacy learner, I draw from Donald Schön’s conception of coaching for reflective practice to examine the relationship between theory and practice of a small group of primary teachers. The teachers learn by doing while being coached or mentored by myself as a more experienced practitioner. Using an iPad we record lessons that become vehicles for discussion about learning and teaching. We examine the children’s repertoire of responses, interpreting their actions in terms of literacy processing theory and designing a teaching response that builds upon what they can already do.