Professional learning catalysts: Unveiling the influences on One teacher's literacy practices

Abstract This author investigates the question, Within the cultural context of her teaching, how does one teacher experience professional learning aimed at literacy practices? Using an elementary teacher's professional context as a site, the author employed data collection tools typical of qualitative analysis: participant observation, interviews, and document analysis. Then, she entered field notes, interview transcriptions, and document analysis notes into Ethnograph, a software program designed to support the analysis of qualitative data. The individual and integrated analysis of these sources identified five areas that served as catalysts for this teacher's professional learning: (1) a Literacy Staff Development Initiative, (2) colleagues, (3) dialogue, (4) district and state initiatives, and (5) a theoretical and practical framework. After describing the attributes of these categories and their links to this teacher's practices, the author calls for a move from a traditionally conceived consideration of staff development to the acknowledgment of contextually driven professional learning.