It's Like This 3

I now have key search terms for this new study I'm interested in doing.
At the back of my mind, I'm interested in branching away from a case study design and would like to go for: phenomenology and narrative inquiry. Or maybe to even find out whether these 3 can simultaneously happen in this new study.

New search terms:

• teacher identity
• teacher beliefs
• personal epistemology
• epistemic cognition

In other words, teachers' ways of knowing and in particular -- that of learning support teachers and learning advisors (K-20)

A bit of background:
In the process of writing my auto-ethno on my PhD journey, I have had quality exchanges with key persons engage in providing research support and learning advice from my Australian university. It made me curious about the role of the HDR-LA. There is no such thing as an LA in my university. I figured perhaps, if universities in the Philippines had more LAs, library support for researchers and working with Research Supervisors, without further delay. So how does one become an LA? How do you prepare one to become an LA? And more -  what's in the 'make-up' of an existing LA expert. How can you actually engage them to un-pack what they know and what they are learning so that they can recommend ways other teachers can learn these to.

I figured, with all the online learning that's going to happen, surely we will be needing more online learning support providers K-20. Some students will certainly fall through the cracks in HS and they will hopefully land on to university work, online ones even. So how do we prepare for them to make sure they continue to learn and succeed.

Then of course, I turn to my K-12 practice. This time taking note that for the first time, my curiosities and recent HDR experiences fuelled this interest in my new-found study.  Normally, I take the route of my teacher self and my K-12 bag of tricks to further research ideas at the higher ed.  This time, it's my higher ed research experiences which make me want to reflect on my K-12 practice and translate into a research study spanning K-20.

Recent K-12 experiences: (to mean b4 leaping into my PhD v.2.0)
1) I was Learning Coordinator at BA and really had the fortunate experience of observing teachers at work. Just so happen that these observations are within the context of teacher evaluation. BUT, it was great opportunity to 'learn' from fellow teachers and 'capture' their teaching based on their CK and PK and PCK. Teacher observations are really good ways to understand how-why teachers teach the way they teach. You see varied ways teachers engage students and it brings you to that space of understanding one's strengths and limitations as a teacher.

I've been fortunate enough to interact with the LST=Amor of BA who had all the tools and tricks to provide quality learning support to students whom I can clearly relate with when it comes to language processing and written expression.  My task then was to at least support her clear initiatives and desire to help as student in need. I needed to make sure there would be communication among key persons to identify possible student cases;  diagnostics and informal ways to assess student level; documentation of work; honest to goodness 'case conferences'.

From these exchanges with different teachers, I was able to put in words "teacher pathways of growth"-- that in fact teachers continue to evolve in their functions and roles. However,  how to provide support to this evolution was not mine to decide at that time. What I realized is that a major part of my growth as a teacher was: self-learning, on the job and while interacting with teachers and teacher-leaders. And there were clear areas I will not get into -- for example Learning Support -- as this is best handled by a teacher with more methodical ways of diagnosing, addressing and teaching those students in need.


2) As co-founder of Builders School, I was the luckier teacher handling inquiry learning projects with our schoolchildren. Luckier because I had co-teachers to ensure that explicit skills instruction. We managed to install our ILS = Integrated Literacy Support Program. Instead of the usual 'clinic-mode' model of Wordlab school, I figured that the literacy support should be integrated with the everyday things they do in their language classes and within the multi-grade setting.

While my mindspace was pre-occupied on dual language, whole-language approaches, field trips, integrating ICTs amidst co-crafting project presentations/ sharing with students, and doing classroom-based research and curriculum documentation, I was assured that my schoolchildren are still able to cover content they needed to learn and acquire skills they needed to deliver in the other subject areas. These way students can safely move up to traditional HS not only with the necessary skills but with the confidence and love for learning intact + wonderful memories of their gradeschool life to continue learning how to learn.

Within this space, I was a great witness to how students loved their read -aloud sessions with Teacher Vic; how their reading and writing lessons paid off as seen in their project work in my class; how our themes were at work not only in my project class; how students are just as committed to their artwork to express their understanding of literature. Most importantly, how our once-nonreaders have become fluent and confident children.

In other words, it's clear that my co-teachers have worked their magic! And while I do acknowledge my own magic, I've always wondered about the HOW behind their magic.

Tables have turned:
I recall that one of the first few questions I asked the HDR-LA during our F2F consultation Year 2017, while preparing for my CoC was something along the lines of: have you worked with students who may have language difficulties?

Then after a few consultations, I was able to confirm MY kind of language difficulties - in the area of written expression. While I was getting all the help needed for the thinking and writing I needed for my major research at my QLD university, I've come to realize that yes, there may be common spaces learning support teachers, special educators and LAs operate or even more, common things they bring to the table.

I guess, those were my ways of figuring out what exactly HDR-LA's do and whether he is the higher ed version of Amor and Vic. And if so, what was his background? how much of his K-12 practice gets into his current practice as HDR-LA? or if in fact that background even helps.

Teacher beliefs > teacher cognition > teacher and learning experiences

And why even? Is there something about this which can be 'transmitted' to would-be teachers? and how? or what are the basics we can integrate in pre-service courses to pre-dispose teachers to consider becoming LST and LAs? Will a background of an Education degree even help? In what ways? How can we explore informal learning spaces to learn to become one?