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22 The Florida Reading Journal -- Vol. 48, No. 3, Summer 2012 knows and understands emerges as the organizational framework for responding. “Save the Last Word for Me” (Short, Harste, & Burke, 1996) is an instructional strategy that empowers learners to build their thinking and response in the “letting go” holding environment. After locating several important quotations from readings, an individual reads one selected quote to the small group and then waits silently as each responds. In the end she makes the final response and reaction – thus allowing her to have the last word. As a small group instructional strategy, the learner is encouraged to develop independent thinking and then respond to the thinking of others; through reflective response and dialogue learners have a holding environment that allows them to let go. Teachers’ behaviors and reactions in “Letting Go” environments. At this developmental level, coaches may observe expanded knowledge funds resulting in higher confidence levels as learners negotiate and respond to peers through new lenses of understanding. At the same time a dichotomy of extremes may be present as learners fluctuate between confidence and uncertainty in their attempts to navigate and assimilate their new way of knowing. “Sticking Around” Environments. Kegan (1994) describes the final function of the holding environment as a place that “sticks around” and provides continuity and a context of stability. Some adult learners strive for independence as new understandings emerge and old ways of knowing are transformed. At the same time other individuals require support and feedback as they test new practices. Thus, the literacy coach remains available to foster growth through the support in the professional learning community. Professional learning strategies for environments that “Stick Around”. The “sticking around” environment and strategies are dependent on the individuals‟ ways of knowing since all arrive with varied background knowledge and experience as was demonstrated through “holding well” and “letting go” strategies. Throughout professional learning, adults with diverse ways of knowing react in different ways to problem solving and instructional strategies that might include decision-making skills, communication, interpersonal skills and negotiation (Drago- Severson, 2004). Individuals have their own starting points and progress at differing rates through the complex process of refining their meaning-making system – their way of knowing. Literacy coaches provide support that “sticks around” since their work is jobembedded and directly related to the daily lives of teachers and students. Literacy coaches are committed to promoting learning along with sticking around as needed, but their ultimate goal is to provide venues that empower teachers to continue to take in new understandings and transform thinking. Traditional teacher-discussion formats such as hallways, lunch rooms, and teachers‟ lounges offer settings to continue conversations. At the same though, emerging technologies provide a distinctive format for the “sticking around” holding environment. However, new socialnetworking formats such as “Grouping Up” through web-based applications allow learners to continue to chat, discuss, debate, and reflect. Technology offers the continuity, stability and supportive environment that learners often require in the stick around phase. Online communities made up of discussion groups, chat rooms, Wikis, You Tube videos, and podcasts, to name a few, are examples of how learners can appreciate continued support. Discussion groups designed to extend classroom discourse in an asynchronous manner can extend classroom discussions or offer new concepts for discourse. The chat rooms in their synchronous mode can also keep learners updated and connected to professional learning. These communities offer the social interaction, engagement, accountability, and opportunity for debate and critical reflection.
The Florida Reading Journal -- Vol. 48, No.32, Summer 2012 23 Teachers’ behaviors and reactions in “Sticking Around” environments. At this developmental level, the coach can serve as a mentor or in some cases, a colleague, as teachers are ready to move beyond and take attitudes and beliefs outside of the professional development session. New understandings may serve as a springboard for new actions in the school at large. Unrest may still be prevalent in some, but this restlessness may be the result of excitement as learners are energized for action and change in their long established ways of thinking. The instructional strategies included in Table 1 can be useful to connect professional development learning activities to the holding environments. The list is not exhaustive but may serve as a catalyst for recalling other effective instructional strategies that promote learning in various “holding environments.” Implications The three functions of a holding environment recognize individual differences and provide an effective framework for supporting teachers in their professional learning. Drago-Severson (2004; 2009) acknowledges the developmental diversity that each teacher brings to the school environment but advocates for a supportive community that helps individuals manage change. An understanding of teachers‟ learning in schools‟ holding environments promotes the professional development and learning that is outlined in the Standards for Professional Learning (Learning Forward, 2011). People grow best in learning communities that provide support and challenge. Kegan (1994) cautions, however, that “environments that are weighted too heavily in the direction of challenge without adequate support are toxic; they promote defensiveness and constriction. Those weighted too heavily toward support without adequate challenge are ultimately boring; they promote devitalization” (p. 42). The challenge is to create that environment that is neither toxic because challenge has left teachers floundering on their own or devitalized because learning is boring and vitality is abandoned. As coaches gradually release individuals to challenge, experiment, and explore, the model of gradual release of responsibility (Pearson & Gallagher, 1983) that forms the developmental understanding for young learners, can also form the developmental framework for adult learning. The holding environment gradually releases responsibilities out to adults when independent, transformative learning is realized. The Literacy Coach in the Community of Learners Literacy coaches must provide instructional strategies that support the holding environment and meaning making system or way of knowing that each brings to the adult learning classroom. Activities are tied to the different developmental levels and holding environments in which learners grow. The approaches challenge adult learners to move away from merely acquiring more information and empower them to take on a new way of knowing - to “transformational education, a „leading out‟ from an established habit of mind” (Kegan, 1994, p. 232). Kegan reminds us that the mind is always in motion. He questions us, “How might we understand transformational learning differently - and our opportunities as educators- were we better to understand the restless, creative processes of development itself, in which all our students partake before, during, and after their participation in our classrooms” (Kegan, 2000, p. 69). As the leaders in these learning communities, the challenge is to create restless, creative opportunities for transformation even after teachers leave existing support sessions. References Dillon, D., O‟Brien, D., Sato, M., & Kelly, C. (2011). Professional development and teacher education for reading instruction. In M. Kamil, P. D. Pearson, E. Moje, & P. Afflerbach (Eds.), Handbook of reading
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