How do those who teach reading and writing learn? About the approaches to doing and thinking about beginning literacy

Abstract

This article questions how teachers learn to teach reading and writing during their teaching practice. The paper examinates the configuration of teaching approaches for reading and writing in first grade at two public schools, by means of qualitative methods. The theoretical perspective adopted in this study incorporates insights from Latin American educational ethnography, socio-historical tradition, and psychogenetic theory, focusing on the conflicting nature of social practices. The literature documents that changes in teaching practices are often constrained and gradual, as they are rooted in both personal and learned frameworks that are not always explicit and exhibit varying degrees of stability. Through the presentation of the learning trajectories of two teachers, it becomes apparent that they construct their own logic, in terms of layered meanings, with varying degrees of awareness regarding the origins of their ideas about literacy instruction and the conflicts that accompany them. In this sense, the article discusses the notion (present in political debates about literacy) that those who teach do not adhere rigidly to a single method or approach, regardless of its nature. Among the research findings, it is asserted that understanding how the modes of teaching reading and writing are configured, along with the concerns of educators, facilitates the identification of clues or traces that may suggest openings for generating changes in the teaching practices occurring within primary school classrooms.