Susi Bostock
page
222
Thirdspace: A Perspective
on Professional Development
E
ntering my classroom on a Monday morning, I smile to greet the self-portraits of my
first-grade students displayed upon the wall.
I have less than an hour to prepare the classroom for
the busy day that lies ahead. Unpacking my laptop,
cameras, and iPod, I get ready to begin my morning.
In the front of the room at the morning meeting center, I set out a weather-observation-recording sheet
for our meteorologist of the day, turn to a clean chart
paper page for the morning message writer, and
place a few new books on the book display shelf and
some books on tape in the classroom listening center.
Next, I move to the technology center, where I turn on
the classroom computers and printer and boot up my
own laptop. Finally, I check our basket of technology tools to make sure that our flip camera, digital
camera, and iPod are ready for the students to use.
As I look around at the classroom, I think to myself
how my classroom certainly has changed since I first
began teaching more than a decade ago. How and
why did these changes take place?
In this article, I will explore the shift in my
role as a classroom teacher, a shift that reflects the
ever-expanding role of technology in our world and
the personal and professional experiences that have
impacted my beliefs and practices about literacy
instruction. I will provide a review of the related literature and demonstrate how my growth as a professional was, in large part, a result of classroom
interactions with my students. As you read on, you
will see the possibilities for teaching and learning in
the “Thirdspace” of the classroom (Brooke, Coyle,
& Walden, 2005; Soja, 1996) where teaching and
learning are reciprocal processes and the collaborative process is essential. In the Thirdspace of a classroom, the balance of power shifts; students become
teachers and mentors, and teachers become learners.
Preparing Students and Teachers
for the Digital Age: A Review
of the Literature
With the abundance of new technologies and a
changing global landscape, literacy in the 21st century looks very different. Kinzer (2010) explains
that today’s youth are spending increasing amounts
of time outside of school communicating through
technology, resulting in changes in schools’ literacy
practices. As a result, traditional reading and writing practices, still prevalent in many classrooms
today, may not be adequate to prepare students for
a “wide range of reading and writing purposes and
practices” (Lewis & Fabos, 2005, p. 476).
Unfortunately, until very recently the role of
technology as a meaning-making process has been
largely unacknowledged by those who make policy for our schools. Using technology to develop
more traditional reading and writing skills related
to print-based literacy has dominated the curriculum for children in the lower grades, while newer
pedagogies that focus on promoting collaboration
and creation of digital, multimodal texts have been
relatively scarce (Wohlwend, 2010). The good news
is that changes in policy are under consideration.
The National Association for the Education of
Young Children (NAEYC), for example, drafted a
proposal in 2011 that encourages early childhood
educators to provide children with opportunities
for playful, hands-on engagement with technology
tools and digital media as both consumers and producers of content.
It is important, therefore, that students learn
to develop their digital literacies along with traditional skills in reading and writing (Kajder, 2004).
To accomplish this, teachers must be knowledge-
Language Arts, Volume 89 Number 4, March 2012
Copyright © 2012 by the National Council of Teachers of English. All rights reserved.
A302_Mar2012_LA.indd 222
1/18/12 4:16 PM
Susi Bostock | Thirdspace: A Perspective on Professional Development
page
able about new technologies; they must create new
spaces and possibilities for learners along with
existing print-based literacy practices. Unfortunately, many teachers still struggle when it comes
to technology fluency and integration in the curriculum (Resnick, Rusk, & Cooke, 1999). They need to
learn how to design instruction that promotes the
use of digital tools “authentically, purposefully, and
effectively” (Kajder, 2004, p. 6).
Traditionally, there have been a number of
avenues to support teacher change and enhanced
professional growth. These have included inservice education, continuing education, staff development, curriculum writing, teacher mentoring,
and collegial circles. Recent research in the field,
however, offers additional suggestions for ways to
educate teachers so that they are more effective in
the classroom.
According to Kopcha (2010), Plair (2008),
and Wright (2010), professional development
today needs to focus less on “how to” workshops
and more on pedagogy that will support teachers
in designing meaningful learning experiences for
their students. They believe that teachers must be
involved in creating learning opportunities with
technology in order to understand firsthand what
the process involves. Kopcha (2010), for example,
proposes a mentoring approach where teachers support one another by creating a community of learners and teacher leaders who model technology use
as they work on digital projects. Active involvement
in using digital technologies will enable teachers to
better understand how to develop the types of learning activities that will be engaging and meaningful
for their students, many of whom are familiar with
these practices in their lives outside of school.
Additionally, effective professional development must be collaborative so that teachers can
have a voice in shaping their learning experiences
to make them relevant for the work they do in
the classroom (Goodman, Helterbran, & Fennimore, 2004). Professional development must also
strengthen teachers’ sense of identity and help them
focus on creating nurturing classroom communities
(Casbon, Shagoury, & Smith, 2005). Research has
shown that when teachers have a sense of owner-
ship and choice in what they are learning, they are
more likely to invest in expanding their pedagogical
practices (Polly & Hannafin, 2010).
Although studies reveal that professional development courses and workshops play an important role in educating teachers and keeping them
informed, reflecting on my own experiences in the
classroom has led me to consider a new paradigm
for professional development, one that takes place
inside the classroom in collaboration with students.
Over the last few years, I have come to understand
that my development as a 21st century teacher,
skilled in the use of technology and media, has been
a result of working side by side with my students
and colleagues in what has been termed the Thirdspace (Brooke, Coyle, & Walden, 2005; Gutierrez,
2008; Soja, 1996). According to Gutierrez (2008),
this theoretical space allows for students to build
upon not only what they learn formally in school, but
also what they learn informally outside of school as
they “reconceive who they are and what they might
be able to accomplish academically and beyond” (p.
148). Thus, the traditional social roles and power
structures that situated students in a subordinate position in the classroom are replaced by classroom communities where the role of the teacher and student,
novice and expert, intersect, “creating the potential
for authentic interaction and learning to occur” (Gutierrez, Baquedano-Lopez, & Turner, 1997, p. 372).
Exploring the notion of Thirdspace has meant
that instead of me being the only one to assume
the role of leader or mentor in my classroom, my
students have taken on additional responsibility.
Together, we enter Thirdspace as we move inside
“an existing space to create a different way of acting” (Brooke, Coyle, & Walden, 2005, p. 368).
Thus, I can draw upon my students’ knowledge and
help expand their potential to incorporate new roles
and leadership in the course of their own learning. It is this Thirdspace in my classroom where it
becomes possible for my students and me to redefine what counts as knowledge and learning.
Finding these new opportunities comes from
“kidwatching” (Goodman & Owocki, 2002) and
carefully listening to my young learners who
teach me all about their world outside of school.
223
Language Arts, Volume 89 Number 4, March 2012
A302_Mar2012_LA.indd 223
1/18/12 4:16 PM
Susi Bostock | Thirdspace: A Perspective on Professional Development
page
224
Thirdspace exists in the work my first graders and
I do together; it is a place where they are teaching
and I am learning as much as a place where I am
teaching and they are learning. How does Thirdspace happen? Take a look in my classroom.
My First Grade Today.com
Technology has enhanced the way we learn in my
first-grade classroom. Although all the children
report that they have access to technology at home,
our classroom space provides new opportunities for
children to share their out-of-school practices as
well as learn what other students are doing at home.
Each morning our day begins with routines that
require the use of our classroom computers. Daily
attendance is recorded online, emails are checked,
iTunes turned on while students select books and
buddy read at our classroom library. After our
morning meeting, which includes a morning song,
a student weather report, a student-written morning message, and a read-aloud, my first graders are
eager to get up and move. During writers workshop,
we listen to music from iTunes. A science lesson
streamed in from Discovery Science provides my
students with a visual component that often helps
support learning. Virtual experiments give way to
inquiry and classroom experiments. Our math program often begins with a visual demonstration lesson animated on the big screen before moving on to
concrete practice.
Computers are available for students to create and write stories, read books online, draw, play
games, and watch classroom presentations that we
have recorded on our flip camera. Students can use
the flip camera to record other students performing
a readers’ theater production to be shown in our
class that week, as well as any other events they
deem important. Students often videotape their presentations to be uploaded to our classroom eboard
(an electronic communication portal similar to a
webpage) and presented to a larger audience. In
these ways, hybrid practices—ones that blend traditional text with digital, visual, musical, and spatial
modes of communication—provide students more
choice as readers and writers and afford a wider
range of meaning making (Kress & Jewitt, 2003;
Warschauer & Ware, 2005). Programs such as
Microsoft Word, Comic Life, iMovie, and Power­
Point support the students’ participation in meaning making that is “dynamic, fluid, multilayered,
and multimodal” (Razfar & Yang, 2010, p. 117). In
conjunction with traditional writing, these engagements foster my young writers’ imaginations and
invite them to design and create digital texts that
incorporate multiple modes of meaning.
Using the tools of technology in our firstgrade classroom keeps my students interested in
learning and always full of questions regarding
how they can use our classroom tools (see Fig. 1).
GarageBand: a software application that allows
users to create music or podcasts.
http://www.apple.com/ilife/garageband/
PowerPoint: a Microsoft product for producing
slide shows that can incorporate text, photos,
graphics, video, and animations.
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint/
Comic Life: a desktop publishing computer
program to create comics with templates for
photo layouts and speech balloons.
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/
imaging_3d/comiclife.html
iTunes: a digital media player application used
for playing and organizing digital music and
video files.
http://www.apple.com/itunes/
iMovie: a video editing software application that
allows Mac users to edit home movies.
http://www.apple.com/ilife/imovie/
iPhoto: a digital software application that
enables users to import images from digital
cameras, scanners, picture CDs, and the Internet.
http://www.apple.com/ilife/iphoto/
KidPix: a program for children that features tools
for drawing, painting, erasing, inserting text, and
adding sound.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kid_Pix
Tuxpaint: a drawing program for children that
uses basic drawing tools for drawing, painting,
and erasing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tux_Paint
Figure 1. Technology tools and websites
Language Arts, Volume 89 Number 4, March 2012
A302_Mar2012_LA.indd 224
1/18/12 4:16 PM
Susi Bostock | Thirdspace: A Perspective on Professional Development
page
These “digital natives” (Prensky, 2001) have only
known this way, although being born into a digital world does not necessarily mean that children’s
opportunities and experiences with technology
will be the same. Their questions, suggestions, and
creative problem solving inspire me. As a teacher
of young children, my business is to listen carefully when they share their world with me. I try to
stay informed about things they are interested in,
including board games, dolls, Webkinz, Bakugan,
Beyblade, and other elements of popular culture
(Alvermann & Xu, 2003). Many popular culture
texts and computer games “have become the kinds
of materials that children ‘read,’ have access to,
and participate with as literate beings in the new
millennium” (Vasquez, 2006).
Students as Teachers: Trying Out
New Modes of Practice
One afternoon, I learned about the online games
that my students were playing at home. During
writers workshop, some students asked me if they
could play a game from the Internet. While they
were only allowed to play the games that are on our
classroom computers, their enthusiasm for these
out-of-school activities prompted me to try to learn
more about what these games involved and why the
students seemed to prefer them. Intrigued, I sat with
them at the computer as they easily navigated to the
digital software site. I asked if they could teach me
how to play and they did.
What was interesting was their skill as teachers.
They did not direct me in a step-by-step fashion,
but instead sought to involve me personally. They
asked me a few questions about my interests and
then told me to click on a particular software site
that involved designing a new room. They encouraged me to begin and watched over me, offering
pointers on how to add furniture, change colors, and
finally impose some music that “matched,” as they
put it. Their expertise in playing on interactive sites,
understanding the rules, and teaching others how
to engage with the software supports Gee’s (2003)
contention that we need to broaden our views of
literacy to include skills that “have the potential to
lead to active and critical learning” (p. 46).
225
What I learned from this event was not so much
the mechanics of online room design but the realization that having classroom access to such programs
as PowerPoint, iTunes, iMovie, and Comic Life had
been instrumental in unleashing their potential as
digital communicators. The students were not only
skilled in using the technology as a tool to make
meaning, they were also motivated to share their
expertise and take on the role of mentor (Prensky,
2001). They taught me that what they were learning
at home about technology was something I needed
to draw upon in the classroom. They offered me
new ideas for programs and activities that would
enhance our literacy curriculum. In the months that
followed, I watched and listened to what they did,
what they said, and what they asked.
Since many of the students’ conversations
focused on computer games they enjoyed playing at
home, I took the opportuThe students were not only
nity to familiarize myself
with them and actually
skilled in using the technology
join in their play during
as a tool to make meaning, they
our “free” center activity
time. Over several days,
were also motivated to share
I learned about activities
their expertise and take on the
such as painting on the
screen and games involvrole of mentor.
ing math and language arts.
In an effort to make access to these sites easier for my
students, I created a space on our class eboard labeled
“games,” which meant I would not have to worry
about students navigating the Internet unattended.
One of the students’ favorite activities was creating and printing digital paintings from a program
called Tuxpaint. I realized that these paintings could
be used as illustrations for stories they were writing
during writers workshop, so I contacted our school’s
technical support liaison to assist us in importing
pictures into a desktop folder. Aware of this program’s potential to enhance the students’ writing,
I invited them to retell a story I had read aloud to
them by creating a PowerPoint presentation. Each
student’s part of the retelling was represented on an
individual slide containing their own original digital
images and captions they had typed. I arranged to
share the presentation with the parents, which made
Language Arts, Volume 89 Number 4, March 2012
A302_Mar2012_LA.indd 225
1/18/12 4:16 PM
Susi Bostock | Thirdspace: A Perspective on Professional Development
page
226
Figure 2. Our 21st century literacies bulletin board
for a most rewarding experience for my young student “teachers” and for me as their “student.”
Over time, we worked together on a range of
new activities using technology familiar to 21st
century children (Kinzer, 2010). Using the KidPix program, the students created individual and
class digital stories, digital poetry, and digital art.
They designed infomercials using PowerPoint and
iMovie. With the class flip camera, they recorded
readers theater productions of classmates reading
and acting out stories. They also created videos with
the flip camera, added music, and uploaded their
work onto the TeacherTube site. All of these projects
were then posted to our class eboard to share with
families and other classes in the school, providing
the students a wider audience for their work. Last,
we created a bulletin board to showcase the kinds
of activities involving 21st century literacies that we
had incorporated into our classroom (see Fig. 2).
Expanding Digital Literacies
into Practice
At the same time as I was experimenting with
new digital literacy practices in the classroom, I
had an opportunity to attend an educational conference about using podcasting to help children
explore social issues in the world. The presenter,
Vivian Vasquez, discussed critical literacy in practice (CLIP) and podcasting as a way of creating a
student-centered curriculum in which the class
could learn about and challenge the social and
political issues in their communities and the
larger world. Using digital tools such as podcasting in this way positions students as creators of content and advocates for social justice
as they demonstrate what it means to be literate
in the 21st century (Albers, Vasquez, & Harste,
2008; Vasquez, 2010).
Like Vasquez (2004), I try to create spaces
where my students can engage in literacy practices that may contribute to social change.
Her work prompted me to revisit and rethink
some of the ways I approached social action
in my classroom in hopes of empowering my
students. Eager to learn more about podcasting,
I enlisted Emma and Ally (pseudonyms), two
tech-savvy fourth-grade girls from my school, to
teach me.
During the next few weeks, the girls visited
my classroom on their lunch break and helped me
navigate several podcasting programs. These interactions took place while my students were working
independently on their reading or writing during our
literacy block. Sitting beside them, I reached for my
pen and paper to take notes as they instructed me to
“just watch. It’s easy.” Emma and Ally took turns
coaching me as I navigated GarageBand, a software application that allows users to create music
or podcasts and import pictures from iPhoto. They
also taught me how to use Soundzabound for music
clips. The girls’ expertise was not only helpful to
me, but also to many of my first graders who came
over to watch during these “tutoring sessions.”
Not long after, when I was conferring with a
student during writers workshop, I noticed an unnatural quiet in the classroom—the kind of silence that
got me up out of my seat. Huddled around one of
the classroom computers were three students. As I
approached, I noticed one student trying to exit the
site. I inquired as to what they were doing, and one
of the students told me they were making a podcast!
Very curious, I pulled up a chair and asked them to
show me what they had done. It turns out they had
started putting in some musical tracks from GarageBand. They told me they had wanted to surprise me.
Language Arts, Volume 89 Number 4, March 2012
A302_Mar2012_LA.indd 226
1/18/12 4:16 PM
Susi Bostock | Thirdspace: A Perspective on Professional Development
page
Amazed that they were even ready to attempt
this, I watched what they had created.
Working as a small group, the students had
begun to craft messages about peace so they
could “play it to the whole world.” One boy in
the group explained that he thought they should
include art into their presentation, so I enlisted
two students to take photographs with my digital camera and import them into iPhoto. I was
impressed by their facility with the program
and their use of the related terminology: “click
on photo,” “drag and drop the picture,” “pick
a jingle,” and “save as.” In this Thirdspace of
my classroom, the students not only imagined a
new type of curriculum and a new way of communicating to a larger audience, they also assumed
a leadership role that tapped into their out-of-school
literacies.
Our first podcast, Project Peace, was inspired
by The Peace Book by Todd Parr, a story I had
shared with the class many times throughout the
school year. After I encouraged them to share
thoughts that had some personal connection to their
own lives, they came up with messages such as
“Peace is being respectful,” “Peace is sharing,” and
“Peace is taking care of the environment.” Listening
to first graders discuss ways to make the world a
peaceful place was powerful. I saw how traditional
literacy practices involving paper and pencil could
be transformed into a multimodal presentation that
combined student-created artwork, student voices,
and background music. We shared the Project Peace
podcast with other first-grade classes, colleagues,
and students’ families during our school’s annual
Literary Festival. We also encouraged students and
visitors to share their own messages of peace on our
class graffiti board (see Figs. 3 and 4).
My collaboration with first- and fourth-grade
students had changed the nature of teaching and
learning within the classroom. I became just as
much of a learner as the students, while they took
on the role of teacher with ease. This shift in the
teacher’s role is not uncommon in today’s classrooms, where students often have more expertise as
a result of their out-of-school engagements with the
computer, Internet, and media (Collier, 2008).
227
Figure 3. Project Peace graffiti board
Figure 4. One student’s message about peace
Engaging Colleagues in Digital
Professional Development
While I continued to explore digital literacy practices within the classroom, I felt a desire to reach out
and share what I had learned with the other teachers
in my school district. I designed a 10-hour professional development course titled Digital Literacies.
Teachers who signed up for the course received
10 hours of credit that could be used toward their
annual professional development requirement. My
intent was to encourage teachers to examine and
participate in the types of digital literacies that were
an integral part of their students’ lives.
In keeping with a Thirdspace framework, which
challenges assumptions about knowledge and competing discourse communities, I also wanted to pro-
Language Arts, Volume 89 Number 4, March 2012
A302_Mar2012_LA.indd 227
1/18/12 4:16 PM
Susi Bostock | Thirdspace: A Perspective on Professional Development
page
228
vide an experience that would enable teachers to see
the value of students’ out-of-school literacies in addition to their more traditional school literacy practices,
thereby enabling them to help students “navigate
multiple texts and communities successfully” (Moje
et al., 2004, p. 39). To accomplish this, I planned to
share some of the digital projects and podcasts my
own students had created and uploaded on YouTube.
I also planned to demonstrate the importance of
providing students with personal agency by sharing
three different digital productions, each based on the
same poem. In this way, the teachers would see how
the students utilized different modes of meaning—
including sound, images, color, and movement—to
craft personally designed interpretations.
My Digital Literacies course filled almost im-­
mediately, and I had to add a second section. Elementary and secondary classroom teachers, along
with art teachers, physical education teachers, and
language teachers, signed up. Nervous about teaching my colleagues, I reminded myself that my ele-
mentary school students were not intimidated by
having me as their student and, in fact, had done an
admirable teaching job themselves. Shortly thereafter, I started receiving emails from teachers who
had registered for the course. They expressed frustration about how they were using technology in the
classroom and excitement about having the opportunity to learn about new digital literacies and related
teaching practices.
Part of the course focused on studying examples of online communication, including YouTube
videos of literary texts and digital poetry created by
professional writers as well as students and teachers. I also shared my first graders’ work with podcasting digital poetry and digital storytelling. These
models offered opportunities for my colleagues to
discuss the important role that these new Discourses
(Gee, 2008) and knowledges play in their own lives
as well as the lives of their students (Moje et al.,
2004). Using the same kind of hands-on approach
that worked with my first graders, I invited the
EXPLORING T H I R D S PA C E I N Y O U R 2 1 S T C E N T U RY C L A S S R O O M
With the everchanging conditions surrounding the role of technology in today’s society, being an agent of change
in the context of learning is crucial. The concept of Thirdspace now allows a place for reciprocal learning to occur
with teachers and students in the classroom. We must learn to adopt a new way of thinking as we journey through
educating students in the 21st century.
How to Begin
Be aware. As with this first-grade teacher, becoming aware of your students’ interests is important. Allow your
students to share technology from their homes; their awareness and/or familiarity will enhance the classroom
environment and inform future learning and teaching.
Get your feet wet. Learn as much as possible about all the existing technologies at your disposal: various computer
programs (PowerPoint, MovieMaker, iTunes), SmartBoard, document cameras, webcams, flip cams, projectors,
websites, video games, etc. The technologies around you present a great opportunity for teachers and students to
enter Thirdspace. Many students already have rich experiences in navigating technological resources.
Collaborate. To effectively increase the digital literacies of your students, be cognizant of the human resources
around you. Share ideas with your colleagues. Partner up and create projects, lessons, and opportunities for digital
exploration. Allow your students to work together so that critical thinking and creativity through technology can be a
focus of the learning—both yours and theirs—that takes place within your classroom.
—Hardray Dumas
Doctoral Student, Department of Early Childhood Education
Georgia State University
Language Arts, Volume 89 Number 4, March 2012
A302_Mar2012_LA.indd 228
1/18/12 4:16 PM
Susi Bostock | Thirdspace: A Perspective on Professional Development
page
teachers to try some of the digital tools independently and collectively. As they collaborated with
one another, they engaged in discussions about the
challenges they faced as novice digital learners, and
together we reflected on how their insights could
be helpful in their work with children. We also discussed how so many of our students were adept at
using technology and could actually serve as mentors/teachers themselves.
Following this, I asked teachers to create their
own multimodal presentations. My hope was that
they would start their journey with something personal and meaningful to them and begin to imagine what this might look like in their own classrooms. I asked them to give thought to what their
own students would want to create given this task.
The course ran for several days, which provided
the teachers time to practice using iPhoto, Internet
clipart, and photo sharing sites such as Flickr. The
teachers also explored the process of downloading
music from Sounzabound.
On the final day of the course, the teachers presented their work. Included among the presentations
were a digital story about a teacher’s child from his
birth through his second birthday and a “Did You
Know 3.L?” which featured a teacher’s third-grade
students presenting an infomercial about digital
practices taking place in a 21st century classroom.
A physical education teacher created a presenta-
229
tion to use with parents and other educators entitled, “What Your Child Does in Physical Education
Classes,” which she posted on her personal eboard
for parents to view. Similarly, the world language
teacher created a “Welcome to French 101” that
took the audience on a walking tour of France with
French music to delight the senses. She highlighted
the changing global world and the benefits of knowing how to communicate in other languages.
Teachers had an opportunity to express their
personal voices through these multiple modes by
exploring content of interest to them as well as
coordinating image, color,
As [the teachers] collaborated
sound, text, and movement according to their
with one another, they engaged
own designs. This proin discussions about the
cess of crafting their own
digital and multimodal
challenges they faced as novice
presentations helped them
digital learners, and together we
understand and appreciate
the importance of providreflected on how their insights
ing students with a wide
could be helpful in their work
range of choices when
using technology. More
with children.
important, the teachers
came to appreciate that these digital literacies were,
in fact, a new and important language, a language
that deserves recognition in the classroom curriculum as a significant form of communication,
INTO T H E C L A S S R O O M W I T H R E A D W R I T E T H I N K
While students interact with a range of print, visual, and sound texts, they do not always recognize that these
many documents are, in fact, texts. By creating an inventory of personal texts in the ReadWriteThink.org lesson
plan, “Defining Literacy in a Digital World,” students begin to consciously recognize the many literacy demands in
contemporary society. Students begin by brainstorming a list of items that combine different ways of expressing ideas,
such as a poster or DVD. After the lists are shared, list items are identified by type of text (audio text, video text,
etc.). Students then create an inventory of significant texts that they have engaged with over a specified period of
time, and discuss why it is important to interact with a variety of different types of texts. With this start, they create
a working definition of literacy; as they continue to investigate texts at home, at school, and in other settings, they
continually refine this definition.
http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/defining-literacy-digital-world-915.html
—Lisa Fink
www.readwritethink.org
Language Arts, Volume 89 Number 4, March 2012
A302_Mar2012_LA.indd 229
1/18/12 4:16 PM
Susi Bostock | Thirdspace: A Perspective on Professional Development
page
230
required for those who live in the global and digital
world that characterizes the 21st century.
The final hour of the course did not just end
with a celebration of the teachers’ accomplishments
as digital learners and creators, but also with a new
vision for their teaching. As the teachers began to
think and talk about new pedagogical practices—
ones that value collaboration, encourage students
to select topics of personal interest, and position
students in a leadership role—I realized that the
classroom for my course on Digital Literacies had
transformed into a Thirdspace where teachers were
being asked to “imagine” how curriculum could
be instead of being told how it should be (Brooke,
Coyle, & Walden, 2005).
Final Thoughts
As Palmer (1998) points out,
Teaching and learning are critical to our individual and
collective survival and to the quality of our lives. The
pace of change has us snarled in complexities, confusions, and conflicts that will diminish us, or do us in,
if we do not enlarge our capacity to teach and to learn.
(p. 3)
As technology continues to change the way we live
and work, literacy educators must keep abreast of
how digital texts and social media impact what
takes place in schools. My own experiences learning and teaching in the Thirdspace have helped
me to understand the importance of professional
development that encourages teachers to provide
spaces within their classrooms for acknowledging and building upon students’ individual funds
of knowledge (Moll, Amanti, Neff, & Gonzalez,
1990) and out-of-school literacies. In this way,
we can empower them to become more active and
socially engaged citizens (Moje et al., 2004) and
create opportunities for them to be collaborators
and leaders (Wohlwend, 2010). We must look to our
students for support, since they are on the front line
of change (Kinzer, 2010).
As I exit my classroom at the end of the day, I
think to myself, “It is hard to imagine what might
be next.” Then I remind myself that my students will
probably show me.
References
Albers, P.,Vasquez, V. M., & Harste, J. C. (2008). A
classroom with a view: Teachers, multimodality, and
new literacies. Talking Points, 19, 3–13.
Alvermann, D. E., & Xu, S. H. (2003). Children’s everyday
literacies: Intersections of popular culture and
language arts instruction. Language Arts, 81, 145–154.
Brooke, R., Coyle, D., & Walden, A. (2005). Finding
a space for professional development: Creating
thirdspace through after-school writing groups.
Language Arts, 82, 367–377.
Casbon, C., Shagoury, R., & Smith, G. (2005).
Rediscovering the call to teach: A new vision for
professional development. Language Arts, 82,
359–366.
Collier, L. (2008). The “c’s of change”: Students—and
teachers—learn 21st century skills. The Council
Chronicle, 18(2), 6–9.
Gee, J. P. (2003). What video games have to teach us about
learning and literacy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Gee, J. P. (2008). Social linguistics and literacies (3rd ed.).
New York: Routledge.
Goodman, Y., & Owocki, G. (2002). Kidwatching:
Documenting children’s literacy development.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Goodman, Y., Helterbran, V., & Fennimore, B. (2004).
Collaborative early childhood professional
development: Building from a base of teacher
investigation. Early Childhood Education Journal, 31,
267–271.
Gutierrez, K. (2008). Developing a sociocritical literacy
in the Third Space. Reading Research Quarterly, 43,
148–164.
Gutierrez, K., Baquedano-Lopez, P., & Turner, M. (1997).
Putting language back into language arts: When the
radical middle meets the third space. Language Arts,
74, 368–378.
Kajder, S. (2004). Plugging in: What technology brings to
the English/language arts classroom. Voices from the
Middle, 11(3), 6–9.
Kinzer, C. K. (2010). Considering literacy and policy in the
context of digital environments. Language Arts, 88,
51–61.
Kopcha, T. (2010). A systems-based approach to
technology integration using mentoring and
communities of practice. Educational Technology
Research & Development, 58, 175–190.
Kress, G., & Jewitt, C. (2003). Introduction. In C. Jewitt &
G. Kress (Eds.), Mulitmodal literacy (pp.1–18). New
York: Peter Lang.
Language Arts, Volume 89 Number 4, March 2012
A302_Mar2012_LA.indd 230
1/18/12 4:16 PM
Susi Bostock | Thirdspace: A Perspective on Professional Development
page
Lewis, C., & Fabos, B. (2005). Instant messaging,
literacies, and social identities. Reading Research
Quarterly, 40, 470–500.
Moje, E., Ciechanowski, K., Kramer, K., Ellis, L., Carrillo,
R., & Collazo, T. (2004). Working toward Third Space
in content area literacy: An examination of everyday
funds of knowledge and discourse. Reading Research
Quarterly, 39, 38–70. doi: 10.1598/RRQ.39.1.4
Moll, L. C., Amanti, C., Neff, D., & Gonzalez, N. (1990).
Funds of knowledge for teaching: Using a qualitative
approach to connect homes and classrooms. Theory
into Practice, 31(2), 132–141.
National Association for the Education of Young Children.
(2011). Draft: Technology in early childhood
programs. Retrieved May 15, 2011, from www.naeyc
.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/PSTECH98.PDF.
Palmer, P. J. (1998). The courage to teach: Exploring the
inner landscape of a teacher’s life, Hoboken, NJ:
Jossey-Bass.
Parr, T. (2004). The peace book. New York: Little, Brown
for Young Readers.
Plair, S. K., (2008). Revamping professional development
for technology integration and fluency. Clearing
House, 82, 70–74.
Polly, D., & Hannafin, M. (2010). Reexamining
technology’s role in learner-centered professional
development. Educational Technology Research &
Development, 58, 557–571.
Prensky, M. (2001). Listen to the natives. Educational
Leadership, 63(4), 8–13.
Razfar, A., & Yang, E. (2010). Digital, hybrid, &
multilingual literacies in early childhood. Language
Arts, 88, 114–123.
Resnick, M., Rusk, N., & Cooke, S. (1999). The computer
clubhouse: Technology fluency in the inner city. In
D. A. Schon, B. Sanyal, & W. J. Mitchell (Eds.),
High technology and low-income communities:
Prospects for the positive use of advanced information
technology (pp. 263–286). Cambridge, MA: MIT
Press.
231
Soja, E. (1996). Thirdspace: Journeys to Los Angeles
and other real-and-imagined places. Oxford: Basil
Blackwell.
Vasquez, V. (2004). Negotiating critical literacies with
young children. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Vasquez, V. (2006). Resistance, power-tricky, and colorless
energy: What engagement with everyday popular
culture texts can teach us about learning. In J. Marsh
(Ed.), Popular culture, new media, and digital
literacy in early childhood (pp. 202–215). New York:
Routledge Falmer.
Vasquez, V. (2010). iPods, puppy dogs, and podcasts:
Imagining literacy instruction for the 21st century.
School Talk, 15(2), 1–2.
Warschauer, M., & Ware, P. (2005). Hybrid literacy text
and practices in technology-intensive environments.
International Journal of Education Research, 43,
432–445.
Wohlwend, K. E. (2010). A is for avatar: Young children in
literacy 2.0 worlds and literacy 1.0 schools. Language
Arts, 88, 144–151.
Wright, V. (2010). Professional development and the master
technology teacher: The evolution of one partnership.
Education, 131, 139–146.
Susi Bostock is a first-grade teacher at the Half Hollow Hills School District in Dix Hills, New York,
and a doctoral candidate at Hofstra University in Hempsted, NY. She can be reached at
[email protected].
Language Arts, Volume 89 Number 4, March 2012
A302_Mar2012_LA.indd 231
1/18/12 4:16 PM