Megan Madigan Peercy

Research Interests

Broadly speaking, my interests lie within the following areas:, theory-practice relationship; practice-based pedagogies of teacher education; self-study of practice; teacher collaboration; core practices for teaching English language learners (ELLs).

Bio

Drawing from a sociocultural understanding of learning, I use qualitative methods to study the growth and development of teachers and teacher educators, particularly as they work for socially just outcomes for linguistically and culturally diverse learners in PK-12 settings. I am deeply invested in identifying and understanding the pedagogies that teacher educators utilize to draw upon and generate teachers’ experiences of practice, and in the ways in which practice and theory can be in dialogue with one another.

Since 2015 I have directed a collective of 20 early career teachers and teacher educators as we have collaboratively explored the kinds of practices that matter for teaching ELLs. Examples of my recent work appear in Teaching and Teacher Education, Language Teaching Research, Action in Teacher Education, and TESOL Journal. Together with Dr. Judy Sharkey, I have a forthcoming edited book entitled Self-study of language and literacy teacher education practices: Culturally and linguistically diverse contexts. I am an Associate Editor for the International Multilingual Research Journal. I serve on the executive committee for the Second Language Research SIG and the Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices (S-STEP) SIG for AERA. I also serve on AERA's Division K Dissertation Award Committee.

I have experience as an ESOL and Spanish teacher across a variety of ages and contexts, ranging from pre-K through adults.

Honors & Awards

American Educational Research Association (AERA) Second Language Research SIG Midcareer Award, 2019.

University of Maryland Graduate Faculty Mentor of the Year award, 2011 (One of 4 faculty members chosen by students as an outstanding mentor, from 29 nominees across University of Maryland campus of 1300+ tenured/tenure-track faculty).

Publications

See a more complete listing of my publications on ResearchGate.

Selected recent publications:

Peercy, M. M. & Sharkey, J. (2018). Missing a S-STEP? How self-study of teacher education practice can support the language teacher education knowledge base. Language Teaching Research..DOI: 10.1177/1362168818777526

Sharkey, J. & Peercy, M. M. (Eds.). (2018). Self-study of language and literacy teacher education practices: Culturally and linguistically diverse contexts. Bingley, UK: Emerald Publishing.

Troyan, F. J. & Peercy, M. M. (2018). Moving beyond “Très bien’: Examining teacher educator practice in lesson rehearsals. In J. Sharkey & M. M. Peercy (Eds.), Self-study of language and literacy teacher education practices:Culturally and linguistically diverse contexts. Bingley, UK: Emerald Publishing.

Peercy, M. M., DeStefano, M., Sethna, K., & Bitter, M. (2018).Scaffolding scaffolding: A collaborative effort to understand and enact appropriate scaffolding for EL learning in science. In J. Sharkey (Ed.), Engaging Research: Transformative Practice for Elementary Settings(pp. 133-148). Alexandria, VA: TESOL Press.

Peercy, M. M., Alkandil, D., Caufman, R., Hudson, S., Lane, S., Petillo, A. E., Reeves, E., & Sonnier, A. (2018). ‘Standing in a messy sandpit:’ The learning side of self-study research. In J. K. Ritter, M. Lunenberg, K. Pithouse-Morgan, A. P. Samaras, & E. Vanassche (Eds.), Teaching, learning, and enacting of self-study methodology: Unraveling a complex interplay(pp. 259-273). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer.

Tigert, J. M. & Peercy, M. M. (2018). Preparing to teach both content and language: Four ESOL teacher candidates’ experiences. TESOL Journal, 9(3), 542-556.

Peercy, M. M. (2018). Mainstream and ESL teacher collaboration. In J. Liontas, M. DelliCarpini, G. Park, & S. Salas (Eds.), TESOL encyclopedia of English language teaching, v.7 (section on teacher training and professional development) (pp. 4631-4636). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Yazan, B. & Peercy, M. M. (2018). “Pedagogically speaking, I’m doing the right things”: Three preservice ESOL teachers’ identity formation.Teacher Learning and Professional Development, 3(1),1-18.

Peercy, M. M. & Troyan, F. J. (2017). Making transparent the challenges of developing a practice-based pedagogy of teacher education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 61, 26-36.

Peercy, M. M., Ditter, M., & DeStefano, M. (2017). “We need more consistency”: Negotiating the division of labor in ESOL-mainstream teacher collaboration. TESOL Journal, 8(1), 215-239.

Peercy, M. M., Martin-Beltrán, M., Yazan, B., & DeStefano, M. (2017). “Jump in any time”: How teacher struggle with curricular reform generates opportunities for teacher learning. Action in Teacher Education, 39(2), 203-217.

Silverman, R. D., Martin-Beltran, M., Peercy, M., M., Hartranft, A., McNeish, D., Artzi, L., & Nunn, S. (2017). Effects of a cross-age peer learning program on the vocabulary and comprehension of ELs and Non-ELs in elementary school. Elementary School Journal, 117(3), 485-512.

Martin-Beltrán, M., Daniel, S., Peercy, M. M., & Silverman, R. (2017). Developing a zone of relevance: Emergent bilinguals’ use of social, linguistic, and cognitive support in peer-led literacy discussions. International Multilingual Research Journal, 11(3), 152-166.

Peercy, M. M., DeStefano, M., Kidwell, T., & Ramirez, R. (2016). Co-constructing practice in an online ESOL literacy methods course. Professional Development in Education, 42(5), 752-766.

Troyan, F. J. & Peercy, M. M. (2016). “Feedback from outside of my own head”: Novice teachers’ perspectives on learning in lesson rehearsals. International Multilingual Research Journal, 10(3), 188-200.

Daniel, S. M., Martin-Beltrán, M., Peercy, M. M., & Silverman, R. D. (2016). Moving beyond “Yes or no?” Shifting from over-scaffolding to contingent scaffolding in literacy education with emergent bilingual students. TESOL Journal, 7(2), 393-420.

Peercy, M. M. & Austria, M. (2016). “It’s just really relevant to them”: One school district’s efforts to teach ELA credit-bearing newcomer ESOL courses. In L. de Oliveira & M. Shoffner (Eds.), Teaching English language arts to English language learners: Preparing pre-service and in-service teachers (pp. 215-239). London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Peercy, M. M., DeStefano, M., Yazan, B., & Martin-Beltrán, M. (2016). “She’s my right hand”: Teacher collaboration for linguistically diverse students’ equitable access to curriculum. In J. C. Richards & K. Zenkov (Eds.), Social justice, the Common Core, and closing the instructional gap: Empowering diverse learners and their teachers (pp. 39-56). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

Selvi, A. F. & Peercy, M. M. (2016). Diversity within TESOL teacher education programs. In J. Crandall & M. Christison (Eds.) Teacher education and professional development in TESOL: Global perspectives (pp. 83-97). New York, NY: Routledge.

Yazan, B. & Peercy, M. M. (2016). ESOL teacher candidates’ emotions and identity development. In J. Crandall & M. Christison (Eds.) Teacher education and professional development in TESOL: Global perspectives (pp. 53-67). New York, NY: Routledge.

Grants & Projects

Spencer Foundation Grant for Supporting Novice Teachers of ELLs through the Examination of Practice (STEP), 2019-2021.

Courses

EDCI 734/TLPL 743, Teaching English Language Learners: Current and future research directions

A recent review of the literature on preparing teachers for linguistically diverse classrooms noted that “teacher educators…need to increase their advocacy for and knowledge of linguistically diverse learners and include more focused pedagogical practices aimed at teaching English language learners (ELLs) in all methods courses, foundational courses, and fieldwork experiences” (Faltis & Valdes, 2016). ELLs are the fastest-growing student population in the country, and comprise 10% of students in US public schools (Ruiz Soto, Hooker, & Batalova, 2015). Thus, a critical responsibility of all teacher educators is to equip teachers with the knowledge, skills, dispositions, and capacity to enact practices that will support them to work with ELLs in ways that allow them to develop academically. This course explores the implications of the current context of schools for the preparation and practices of teachers and teacher educators, as well as the theoretical frameworks and research designs needed to move the field forward.

EDCI 788W/TLPL 788Y, Pedagogy of Teacher Education

More than 3 decades ago, Lanier & Little (1986) noted that “Teachers of teachers–-what they are like, what they do, what they think—are systematically overlooked in studies of teacher education” (p. 528). More recently, education scholars have noted that we continue to have important gaps in our knowledge regarding the practices of teacher educators, the impact of their work on teachers, and on the learners they teach (e.g., Conklin, 2015; Darling-Hammond, 2016; Goodwin et al., 2014; Knight et al., 2014). Furthermore, generally little is done to prepare teacher educators for the pedagogies in which they engage (Conklin, 2015; Zeichner, 2005), and teacher educators report feeling unprepared to engage in their work (e.g., Goodwin et al., 2014). In this course, we aim to illuminate the somewhat implicit pedagogies of teacher education that have existed over time, and to develop a more overt knowledge of where the field is, and should be, as we engage in the opportunities and challenges of teaching and teacher education in our current era. To do so, we bring together lenses on teacher education, as well as past, current, and future education policy that impact this work.

EDCI 634/TLPL 665, Methods of Teaching ESOL