Applying the Constructivist Framework to Principal Preparation Programs
Barbara S. Smith, Ph.D., Radford University
Christina M. Dawson. Ed.D., Virginia Tech
THE TWO PROGRAMS AND CONSTRUCTIVISM
Two Preparation Programs
In this paper the two authors describe the two principal preparation programs at their respective universities with particular attention to the constructivist approaches each takes. The authors believe that the K-12 principal's role is fundamental in ensuring the appropriate placement, instruction, and development of teachers and students. Both preparation programs primarily serve elementary, middle, and secondary teachers who are preparing for the principalship. The students, who have from three to more than twenty years of teaching experience, are usually employed full-time while they are in the programs. Both programs are at state universities with approved programs by the Virginia State Department of Education, though one is located at a research university, Virginia Tech, and the other at a comprehensive university, Radford University. Our case studies describe the ways constructivist approaches have been used in quite different programs, and the benefit is the connections that may be made to broaden and deepen constructivist approaches at both types of institutions.
Radford University's program, a course-based program located at a comprehensive master's degree granting university, has made broad use of the constructivist approach, largely through the use of writing in particular courses. Virginia Tech's program, a two-year cohort at a master's and doctoral degree granting university, has a partially integrated curriculum, and is one of eighteen programs in the country restructured under guidelines developed by the Danforth Foundation. In the programs at both universities, students are given opportunities to develop confidence in their abilities to learn and to express their ideas. Faculty members become facilitators, providing situations, suggestions, resources, and guidance. The authors of this paper want each student in the two programs to develop the skills to solve problems as individuals as well as though group membership. Through the use of comparative case studies (Bogdan & Biklen, 1992; Stake, 1994) the authors take an in-depth look at the very different uses each of their programs makes of constructivism, thereby providing a basis for each program, and other programs, to deepen and widen its own uses of the framework.
If principal preparation programs, such as those represented by the two authors, wish to encourage learning communities within the schools (Goodlad, 1994; Wells, 1994), there will need to be specific instruction and modeling of the learning process as one of internalizing and reshaping new information (Woolfolk, 1997), which is at the heart of constructivism. Only then will prospective school leaders be prepared to facilitate in the transformation of their schools' learning climates and curricula (Leithwood, 1992; Starratt, 1996).
The professors conducting this study attempted to model the teaching and learning approaches they wished the students to employ in their schools as future principals. We relied on Dewey (1938), Piaget (1950), Vygotsky (1978), and others (Brooks & Brooks, 1993; Wells, 1994; Woolfolk, 1997) to inform our practice. The students maintained reflective journals, participated in extensive internships with school, community service, and business components, prepared presentations and portfolios, worked with each other and with faculty and school-based mentors.
Constructivism
Our understanding of constructivism is not simply as a singular approach. Cognitive psychologists make the most use of the term most because it pulls together so much of what we now know about human learning. Some of the psychological theorists we have mentioned are Piaget and Vygotsky; we also acknowledge the Gestalt psychologists, Bartlett, and Bruner. Constructivism, however, is also an approach that has been supported by philosophers and anthropologists, and to us the most interesting among these theorists is John Dewey. While educators have long known John Dewey, there is a renaissance of interest in his work among philosophers (Garrison, 1995). His theory of inquiry is important to the constructivist theory of learning, and his philosophy of educating citizens for democracy is an important cornerstone in the American ideal for public education. When we talk about constructivism, we have a robust theory confirmed from a number of fields (Smith, 1996).
As a theory about knowledge and learning, constructivism defines knowledge as temporal, developmental, socially and culturally mediated, and thus, nonobjective (Brooks & Brooks, 1993, vii). Learning from this perspective is understood as a self-regulated process of resolving inner cognitive conflicts that often become apparent through concrete experience, collaborative conversation, and reflection.
Radford University
Transformational Leadership Philosophy
The philosophical framework for Radford University's Principal Preparation Program is transformational leadership, which is defined by this program as a particular kind of instructional leadership that embraces constructivist tenets. From the transformational perspective, professors seek to prepare leaders who are capable of cultivating a professional school culture with their staffs, who foster teacher development, and who work together with their teachers to solve the problems facing their schools so that the problems are solved more effectively (Leithwood, 1992). The first course most students take in the leadership program is Curriculum Development, which Barbara has taught for the past four years, increasingly from a constructivist framework. She will describe her processes in the first person, and then Christina will describe her program's processes in the section on Virginia Tech.
Use of Trade and Scholarly Books
Rather than using a textbook for the course as I did the first year I taught it, I have selected trade and scholarly books focused on five major themes. My purpose was to provide more engaging texts which would hopefully create more connection and response to the themes and related issues. Above all, I wanted to provide books that would help future school leaders to develop perspective on curriculum development.
Conversational Guidelines
Knowing that the texts were going to raise both personal and public issues, I set up guidelines for the discussions and attempted to model them in my interactions with students. I attempted to establish a climate of respect and personal interest in all of my students as early as possible in the course, and to sustain that climate. Additionally, the syllabus states: "Participation in class discussions, lectures, and activities is strongly encouraged. Being 'psychologically present,' constructive, nondominating, and nonoffensive in presentation of ideas is expected in keeping with professional behaviors that promote democratic participation of all the members of the class."
Weekly Reflective Writings
Each week students are asked to complete the assigned readings, and write a one to two page response to what they have read. They know the audience will be other classmates as well as the professor. (At the end of the course, they can choose to give or not give me permission to use their writings for presentations or articles. I do not know their choice until after final grades are turned in.)
The weekly writings have been very important, particularly as class sizes have increased. I have had the opportunity each week to see what each of the students has understood, what they were still puzzling over, and to what they had particularly positive or negative reactions, and often why. I have used this knowledge to determine mini-lectures, additional readings, or discussion topics I would pursue with the whole class. As important as it is has been for me to know what my students have understood, it has been just as important for each of them to know what they have and have not understood. As they have written their weekly responses, they have been much more prepared as contributors to the discussions and for the activities designed to apply the ideas.
Instructional Conversations
Often, I will have students exchange their writings with two or three others in the class, writing a response to each one that they read. This practice has been beneficial to students for several reasons. Engaging in conversation with others, including written conversation, clarifies what was learned, and sometimes fills in gaps in learning that would remain if students remained in isolation. The practice of reading and responding to each others' writings has also helped students to see that others also struggle when they are developing new understandings. This provides support and can improve students' confidence in their own abilities to learn. Sometimes the struggles of other students are similar to one's own struggles, and sometimes they are quite different. In either case, over time, there is the potential for growing in appreciation of intelligent difference. There is also the potential to experience the way corporate, sustained discussion of some of these issues is exactly what is needed in order to formulate new, more adequate curriculum approaches for the future (Smith, 1997).
After students have had the opportunity to read and respond to others' reflective writings, I have often engaged in teaching practices that were frequently employed by my professors, and that are described in an Educational Psychology text I have used in undergraduate courses: 1) Inquire about students understandings of concepts before sharing my own understandings of those concepts, 2) Encourage students to engage in dialogue, both with the teacher and with one another, 3) Encourage student inquiry by asking thoughtful, open-ended questions; encourage students to ask questions of each other, 4) Seek elaboration of students' initial responses, 5) Engage students in experiences that might engender contradictions to their initial hypotheses and then encourage discussion, 6) Allow wait time after posing questions, and 7) Provide time for students to discover relationships and create metaphors (Woolfolk, 1997).
The support structure of the class for any one of these kinds of discussion periods is often a unique experience for students. In particular, when students find that a safe climate can be established, especially when discussing opposing views, they experience an important knowledge gain.
Mini-lectures
While lecturing is not considered to be a constructivist practice per se, the use of mini-lectures, a term coined by Nancie Atwell (1987), can be very important to a constructivist classroom. A mini-lecture is a brief lecture on a specific topic about which the professor has knowledge and that students need to know. Often, it is the "just right" explanation that helps students understand more clearly the topic at hand. For example, in the Curriculum Development course, students are aware that principals need to be instructional leaders, yet little is offered in the selected readings explaining what this means. Among other things, it means understanding learning and learners, so I have offered 15 to 20 minute mini-lectures with overheads and handouts on Vygotsky's contributions to our understanding of learning. Another evening I introduced Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences and some of the relevance of this theory to teaching and learning (Armstrong, 1995). Students are not ready to apply these theories merely by being exposed to them, but they do hopefully have their appetite whetted to learn more about them, and they can pursue the topics further in their individual projects.
There is a reason for using mini-lectures and not relying upon lecture as the primary means of delivery when preparing principals; it was said well by Barrows and Tamblyn (1980) when they offered their rationale for problem-based learning:
Students and teachers can obtain a false sense of security if they believe that once information is dispensed and a cognitive framework provided, the student will incorporate the information, recognize where and when it could and should be used, and apply it effectively at that time . . . It is more important to consider how much the student learns than how much the teacher teaches.
For this reason, follow-up activities are needed in which students apply what they have been reading and discussing.
Group Work
Each week of the course, for approximately one hour of the three hours of the meeting time, the students are responsible for engaging fellow classmates in activities, often group discussions or role plays, in which problems to be addressed are given, and individuals and group members seek to resolve the problems, explaining their processes and the connection to the readings and mini-lectures. Students sign up to be responsible with two or three other classmates for one evening's presentation for the semester. Proposed activities are approved at least one week in advance so that I can complement the presentation group's activities with strategies of my own (see sample student proposal, Appendix A).
Synthesis of Concepts and Choosing a Personal Platform
At the conclusion of the course, students are asked to synthesize the major concepts from the five books, related articles, class materials, and discussions into a coherent personal platform from which to make curriculum decisions. This is the final paper for the course. This opportunity to connect the concepts that have been learned individually and then developed more elaborately and experientially in the classes now have the possibility of becoming a platform to be acted upon when assuming a leadership position.
Virginia Tech
Field-based Program
The typical preparation program in educational leadership has consisted of a series of courses -- finance, law, budgeting, curriculum, instructional processes, personnel, and so on. Each course is self-contained and is taught by one faculty member for 15 weeks. In the past few years this single-course, single-teacher scheme has been challenged by faculty who are working together in teams to bring together faculty, students, content, and methods in ways that make learning meaningful and relevant to the problems and issues administrators face every day in schools, offices, and classrooms. Classroom preparation is no longer separate from the real world of administration; field experiences and internships bridge classroom and work.
Interdisciplinary Learning and Constructivism
Interdisciplinary learning is an approach that consciously applies methodology and language from more than one discipline to examine a central theme, issue, problem, or topic. This approach addresses social, emotional, physical, and cognitive goals, and promotes democratic values (Dawson, 1997; Smith, 1993). Experiences that are real, and issues and topics that are meaningful to the teachers and the students are important. Students need to be able to make sense of what they are learning and to connect the experiences in ways that lead to conceptual understanding. Take students where they are and challenge them to build on their backgrounds and perceptions. Many have realized that this is important for children. We know that it is appropriate for adult learners, too.
Brooks and Brooks (1993) provide five principles of a constructivist approach to teaching and learning: (1) posing problems of emerging relevance to learners; (2) structuring learning around primary concepts; (3) seeking and valuing students' point of view; (4) adapting the curriculum to address students' suppositions, and (5) assessing student learning in the context of teaching. In our regional program for the preparation of principals we use problem-based learning and internships as the primary strategies to address principles one and two; classroom conversations, journals, and feedback sessions address principles three and four. Portfolios, presentations, and internships address principle five.
Problem-based Learning and Internships
The problem-based learning (PBL) strategy is based on the work of Edwin Bridges (1992) of Stanford University. Bridges believes that the strength of PBL is that students acquire knowledge in a functional context that closely resembles the problems they will encounter in their "real world" life. According to Bridges problem-based learning is "an instructional strategy that uses a problem as the starting point for learning. The problem is one that students are apt to face as future professionals. The knowledge students are expected to acquire during their training is organized around problems rather than disciplines. Students work on project teams on these problems and assume a major responsibility for their own instruction and learning" (p. 17). We use PBLs in many forms: quick fish-bowl activities, one day intensive sessions, and weeks-long projects. The products are presented to the class or to panels of practitioners and others. We search for problems related to the smaller day-to-day issues and the life-changing, long range issues. We hope the exposure to PBLs helps students prepare for their internship experiences and for their future jobs as principals.
Acquiring and applying new knowledge is an intellectual task and a high priority in a professional learning community (Hord, 1997). Integrating an internship into the instructional program of principal preparation is a key factor in this process. Our goal is to have the students begin their internships as soon as possible. This past fall (1996) classes began in late August and internships began in November. As we discuss the experiences students have during their internships, the linkages to the topics we address in class become clearer. We also learn what topics and issues we need to address more fully. Suddenly the question of why things we teach are important or necessary is no longer an issue. Learning is taking place in context and is functional; mastering the material has immediate value. The roles of mentors are also critical. Mentors begin as role models, coaches, and observant advisors. We hope they become colleagues and friends who can share personal practice. During any semester we also design specific activities related to the focus topic and ask the interns and mentors to do these together.
Journals and Portfolios
Students keep weekly journals for dialogue and reflection. In these journals they share their thoughts about their professional and personal lives, their reactions to their classroom and internship experiences, their ideas related to specific readings, or anything else they choose. At least one faculty member responds to the journal entries, and from these written dialogues come suggestions for future coursework, for professional and personal development, and a sense of relationship. As faculty we get to know students more clearly through their journals than we do just through class interactions. We also feel that we are more likely to receive honest feedback about aspects of our program through the journals than we sometime receive through other methods. Other tools we use for obtaining students' points of view include weekly feedback sheets (Appendix B) and individual feedback sessions. At the feedback sessions we also help students set individual goals they address in various ways and document in their portfolios.
Portfolios are used throughout as assessment and development vehicles. The students collect, select, and reflect as they develop portfolio documents that address the work of a particular semester and of the entire program. It has been intriguing to watch the development of portfolios over time. Students become more willing to create and to express as they present evidence of their growth. We have received audio and video tapes, web sites, and works of art as parts of the portfolio process.
Assessing Student Learning
Assessment is an ongoing, everyday process. We have given the students criteria for evaluation (Appendix C) at the beginning of the cohort. Each semester we, faculty and students, review these criteria in written and oral form. During our internship visits and conversations with site-based mentors we discuss these criteria as well as the specific internship objectives. We are evaluating students in class, during presentations, during small group activities, and through their portfolios.
Challenges
Adapting activities to a wide range of experiences and abilities is demanding. Faculty members spend much time searching for information and resources. Planning is sometimes difficult because professors are never quite sure where the learners will lead them. The faculty and students become "co-constructors" of knowledge. Everyone is a learner; everyone is a teacher. This requires self-confidence and flexibility of the teacher. It also requires a willingness to learn and to grow along with the students.
Both programs struggle with various issues as we work to enhance our programs: How do we best match students and mentor principals? How do we fully prepare the mentor to understand and to implement the objectives of our programs? How do we fairly use one portfolio format for many different purposes (development, evaluation, and grades)? How do we foster a continuously deepening commitment of all members of the educational leadership faculties to engage in constructivist practices when these practices are not uniformly rewarded or valued? We will look to all of the participants in the programs to help us answer these questions as we continue to construct solid preparation programs for the instructional leaders of the future.
References
Armstrong, T. (1995). Multiple intelligences in the classroom. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Atwell, N. (1987). In the middle. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Brooks, J.G. and Brooks, M.G. (1993). In search of understanding: the case for constructivist classrooms. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Dawson, C. M. (1997). The integration of schools and their community and natural environments: Using the alternative community schools model to inform policy and practice for educational leaders. Manuscript in preparation.
Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. New York: Collier Books.
Goodlad, J. (1994). Educational renewal: Better teachers, better schools. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Hord, S.M. (1997). Professional learning communities: Communities of continuous inquiry and improvement. Austin, TX: Southwest Educational Laboratory.
Leithwood, K. (1992). The move toward transformational leadership. In Educational Leadership, 50 (5), 8-12.
Piaget. J. (1950). The psychology of intelligence. New York: Harcourt, Brace. (Original work published in 1947)
Smith, B. (1993). Democracy in education: a philosophical analysis and ethnographic case study. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg.
Smith, B. (1996, April). Social constructivism in school partnerships. Invited presentation to the annual meeting of the Virginia Association of Elementary & Middle School Principals, Roanoke, VA.
Smith, B. (1997, Summer). Communication as curriculum guide: Moving beyond ideology to democracy in education, Journal of the Association for Childhood Education International, 73, 232-233.
Stake, R. (1994). Case Studies. in Denzin, N. & Lincoln, Y. (Eds.). Handbook of qualitative research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Starratt, R. J. (1996). Transforming educational administration: Meaning, community, and excellence. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in society. Edited by M. Cole, V. John-Steiner, S. Scribner, and E. Souberman. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. (Original work published in 1930)
Wells, G. (Ed.). (1994). Changing schools from within: Creating communities of inquiry. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Woolfolk, A. (1997). Educational Psychology (7th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Appendix A
Chapter 8 A Matter of World Views
As the authors School Wars remind us, people of integrity hold different views, opinions, and beliefs. Gaddy, Hall, and Marzano explain the concept of a paradigm as the primary manner in which we organize and integrate beliefs with our experiences, culture, and traditions. Paradigms or world views enable us to "make sense" of our experiences.
We will use this concept in the following activity.
Divide into groups of five. You are all Christian Fundamentalists. What does that mean in terms of your beliefs about authority and truth, views on human nature and self, values, and reality?
Use the markers and poster board to make a graphic representation of your paradigm.
Decide as a group how you will present and explain your paradigm to the class.
Note: If you finish prior to others in the class, think about a graphic representation of your own personal paradigm. Do you really fit into the categories presented? How are you different?
Appendix B
Critical Incident Questionnaire --adapted from The Journal of Experiential Education
Please take about five minutes to respond to each of the questions below about this week's class. Your responses are anonymous; please DO NOT put your name on your responses. Thank you.
At the start of the next class I will share the responses with the group. What you write will help make me and the class more responsive to your concerns.
Appendix C
Personal Qualities
Communication
Leadership Abilities