Leslie Patterson

University of North Texas | UNT · Department of Teacher Education and Administration

This article reports on research by the authors and teacher leaders of successful implementations of Reading Recovery in four sites across four states using a complex adaptive systems lens.

Herein, we use action research as a means for graduate students to develop and grow in their professional expertise as literacy teachers/coaches/specialists. In short, this manuscript aims to document Ernie Stringer's Look, Think, Act routines of seven students as they inquire about one particular situation in their own settings, to improve their o...

Purpose ‒ Our purpose in this chapter is to examine the implementation of a set of lesson frameworks to set conditions for teachers to deal with the complex challenges related to writing instruction in a high-stakes testing environment. These lessons provided a flexible framework for teachers to use in tutorials and in summer writing camps for stud...

Informed by complexity research and models for analyzing conditions in complex adaptive systems such as schools, I describe findings from a descriptive case study of influences on teacher decision-making about writing instruction in a high-stakes writing assessment grade. I highlight how the use of complexity as a theoretical framework for research...

The authors present a model for generative learning for adolescent English learners, grounding their research in a sociocultural approach to literacy learning. Drawing on human system dynamics, the authors focus on professional development of teacher utilizing an inquiry-based workshop approach. The authors present an analysis of their reflexive na...

Literacy educators may dismiss the recent outcry about the U. S. school "crisis" as an emotional and perhaps cynical bid for political gain and private profit, but the drop-out rate and college-going rate highlight an urgent, legitimate concern about whether all students are being served. Admittedly, multiple factors influence how and whether indiv...

Culturally Mediated Writing Instruction invites students to take an inquiry stance toward issues of interest and significance—exploring issues, framing questions, gathering information, synthesizing findings into messages, publishing or presenting their findings, and assessing their efforts before moving on to other inquiries. CMWI can be seen as a...

This paper argues that educators interested in sustainability should look to complexity science for guiding principles. When we view our classrooms and campuses as living, dynamic ecologies, we can, as insiders, make sense of what might otherwise seem chaotic or meaningless. This perspective enables us not only to describe and explain what is happe...

Tells what happened when the authors invited six eighth graders to participate in a bilingual Reading Detective Club with the goal of helping them revalue themselves and what they can do as readers. Argues that when students believe their thinking and ideas are valued beyond getting a correct answer, their self-efficacy and engagement with reading...

Describes literature conversations as complex adaptive systems. Discusses four research studies from this perspective, and explains some assertions about this conceptual framework as a tool for teacher researchers. (SR)

The teaching profession's present notion of the ability of teachers to contribute to theory development in language education needs reexamination. University researchers can best foster this ability by encouraging and assisting teachers to become engaged in classroom research. On the basis of both published evidence and field data, it can be argued...

Explores the potential of teacher research for informing theory. Contends that arguments about the perspectives of researchers and teachers are founded upon positivistic assumptions undergirding particular views of research as well as definitions of researcher and teacher. Encourages collaborative researchers to examine the philosophical bases of t...