Literacy Coaching With Teachers of Adolescent English Learners: Agency, Sustainability, and Transformation for Equity

Abstract

AbstractAs literacy coaching grows in popularity and schools grow in diversity, it is important to explore approaches to support sustainable and transformative teacher learning in complex settings. This seven‐month case study of the author’s coaching with two teachers of English learners (ELs) in an urban high school illustrates the use of a reflective framework with video to support agentive, sustainable, transformative literacy coaching. The reflective framework, developed by the author, begins with teachers’ own perplexity about literacy teaching and learning. Dialogue from coaching sessions shows how the framework capitalized on differing expertise of the EL teacher and literacy coach, providing key entry points for both professionals into the reflective conversation. Although one teacher chose to explore a perceived strength and the other teacher chose to explore a perceived weakness, coaching with the framework led to agency, sustainability, and transformation in both teachers, including thinking and practices that empowered ELs to take ownership of their literacy learning.