January 28, 2010: Anne Cunningham

Teacher Study Groups: Professional Development in Early Literacy for Preschool Teachers


Given the significance of establishing strong foundations in early
literacy in preschool children, there is a need for effective sustainable
professional development to assist preschool teachers in providing early
literacy support in their classrooms. The goal of our project, a three
year Institute of Education Sciences funded study, Teacher Quality: The
Role of Teacher Study Groups as a Model of Professional Development in
Early Literacy for Preschool Teachers, is to investigate the factors that
will contribute to effective professional development for preschool
teachers in language and literacy. In this presentation, we will describe
our model of PD employing Teacher Study Groups (TSG) .
The TSG professional development model is guided by an emphasis on content focus, coherence, duration/intensity and collective participation. The TSG will provide opportunities for teachers to have interactive, reflective, and context-sensitive conversations to foster their knowledge, beliefs, and practices in ways aligned with research-based early literacy development and instruction. This presentation will frame the study in historical and current research in the field of early literacy as well as provide an in-depth look into the inner workings of the TSG.

Spring 2010 Brown Bag Series

The speaker series for the Brown Bag Meetings this Spring are as follows:

Jan. 28 Anne Cunningham
February 11 Anne Fernald
February 25 Emily Ozer
March 11 Susan Holloway
April 1 Susan Stone
April 15 Margaret Bridges
April 29 Laura Sterponi

The meetings are held at 12:30-2:00p.m. in Room 1111 Tolman Hall.

Please check back for possible changes to the schedule and more information about each of the talks.