Reflections: Literature as data

Perry, N. E., Brenner, C. A., & MacPherson, N. (2015). Using teacher learning teams as a framework for bridging theory and practice in self-regulated learning. In T. Cleary, T. Cleary (Eds.) , Self-regulated learning interventions with at-risk youth: Enhancing adaptability, performance, and well-being (pp. 229-250). Washington, DC, US: American Psychological Association. doi:10.1037/14641-011

This article, Using teacher learning teams as a framework for bridging theory and practice in self-regulated learning, discusses the theoretical foundations of self-regulated learning and why “practices that promote SRL have been successful in improving social and academic outcomes for students who struggle in school- even student with exceptional learning needs.” I team-teach with two other staff members in an alternative high school where teachers, administration, counsellors, youth and cultural workers are collectively trying to bridge theory into a collaborative practice.

With the focus of bridging theory to practice, Brown, Campione, & Day concluded in 1981 that “students seldom maintained and generalized” task-specific strategies in nonexperimental contexts. Researchers “expanded their behavioural views” during the 1990s and “designed instructional methods that emphasized direct teaching of specific...strategies, such as goal setting, self-monitoring, and selection of strategies to meet the demands of specific tasks.” Crucial elements that I need to provide in the classroom if I am hoping to foster SRL are: choice, complex tasks, different lesson access points, teacher/peer support, and ongoing powerful feedback.

Action research is the label attachment to the idea that “teachers’ practices benefit greatly when they act as a primary researcher in teacher study groups.” This is the reason behind self-directed professional development days, why local contexts and knowledge cannot be underestimated, and is the foundation for the SFU M.Ed program. During my graduate diploma, I was able to center myself as a “teacher-learner” where I could allow myself the space to expand my pedagogical knowledge, especially in regards to what research informs my methods of teaching and the values/aims that drive my practice. Randi & Corno recommend that “instead of, or in addition to, applying theory to practice, teachers might adapt practice to theory, which personalizes the whole process.”

The remainder of the article follows two SRL case-studies that were developed in British Columbia. One was an elementary school partnership that was a district-level initiative, and the second was a provincewide initiative. Unpacking these two case-studies helped me understand that I need to find a focus related to SRL. The overarching theme can be self-regulated learning, but I need to make sure I have a specific destination. I need to gather resources that support the direct instruction of cycles of self-regulation, develop a system for monitoring the students’ self-regulation, and decide which strategies I want to teach so that I allow the students to have opportunities to apply them. A last but resounding message from this reading is that when teaching self-regulation skills, they need become “an integral aspect of teaching and learning in these classrooms-it is not a separate curriculum.”