Harvard Educational Review Spring 2008: Adolescent Literacy (#2)
““Without clear understandings of subject-matter knowledge and goals, without learning about the challenges associated with various content area concepts, and without a measure of cognitive and emotional empathy for adolescents, how will prospective secondary teachers ever translate knowledge about strategy instruction into effective practice? The challenge ahead is to consider cognitive strategy instruction for preservice teachers in the context of this question and our own research””
This entire article is completely relevant to the research I am studying in regards to grit and looking past content to get to skills and strategies for learning.
In my research, as well as working with a student teacher, I am seeing this question of effective practice become more and more important. Later on in the article, Conley (2008) questions whether these cognitive strategies will hold true as tasks and texts become more challenging, and whether learners can still identify the need and apply these strategies at all when complexities arise. This persistence needed by learners is what my grit studies are looking at.
I do believe that teachers need preservice in order to fully understand and empathize with these strategies. To help develop learners who cannot only utilize cognitive strategies, but stay persistent as new challenges occur and grow through it.
Harvard Educational Review Spring 2008. Adolescent Literacy ISSN #0017-8055