Enacting High Leverage Practices in English Methods: The Case of Discussion

Though literature discussions are a commonplace feature of English classrooms, we know little about how teachers learn to facilitate classroom talk. Research on methods courses reveals little about how, or if, teachers are prepared to enact the “high leverage” practice of literature discussions. This qualitative study examines an English methods unit on discussion and the practices that the novices later enacted in the field. Sociocultural theory is used to analyze how the novices’enacted particular features of discussions and how these activities afforded them opportunities to practice the facilitative roles that teachers play. The findings suggest that the novices had difficulty understanding their roles as teachers in student-centered activities, and that teacher educators must curricularize enactments to help novices learn what teachers actually do when enacting high leverage practices like discussions.