The impact of professional development on poverty, schooling, and literacy practices: Teacher narratives and reformation of mindset

• Main Author: Darlene Ciuffetelli Parker
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2017-01-01
• Series: Cogent Education
• Subjects: poverty; professional development; narrative inquiry; literacy; collaborative inquiry; reveal; revelation; reformation
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2017.1279381

The study examines the impact of professional development on the topic of poverty in one high poverty school community located in a small city in southern Ontario, Canada. It considers narrative-based experiences of teachers’ collaborative inquiry on literacy practices after a significant amount of professional development was provided to reinterpret teachers’ stereotypical conceptualizations of students and families living in poverty. Findings illuminate how professional development on poverty and education resulted in the enactment of literacy teaching practices from the vantage point of teachers’ reformed narratives of student poverty, with literacy themes including: global citizenship, inferencing, and social justice literacy.