Education Commons^™

Predominantly White Teacher Education Programs Are Stifling Black Preservice Students’ Teaching Experience: Now What?, Jasmine N. Wilson

Culminating Experience Projects

scholarship theorizes and discusses Black preservice teachers’ experiences in predominantly White teacher education programs as stifling. While many studies have explored ways to improve Black students' experiences in teacher education, few studies have sought to adapt Historically Black Colleges and Universities’ (HBCU) successful strategies to produce and retain Black teachers. In this project I have two goals. My first goal is to highlight the neglect and inequity that Black preservice teachers face in predominantly White teacher education programs. My second goal is to ensure that faculty members in teacher education programs effectively support and prepare Black preservice teachers for long …

An Examination Of The Cultural Competencies And Practices Of Preservice Teachers Enrolled In Nonurban Alternative Teacher Preparation Programs, Terrie L. Gyles

Theses and Dissertations

The critical shortage of qualified teachers in hard to staff urban schools has been a persistent issue in the U.S. for decades. Teachers and researchers have pointed to the inadequacy of teacher preparation programs to prepare teacher candidates to address the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse students and special education students as the catalyst of the teacher shortage in urban schools. Urban school systems, like the New York City Department of Education, have had success in filling their teacher shortages through alternative teacher certification programs. Through these programs, teacher candidates are given a preservice teacher preparation that incorporates three …

Diminishing The Researcher Imposter Syndrome Among Teacher Education Faculty, David Wolff, Donna Zerr, Carissa Gober

Open Educational Resources - Teaching and Learning

We will share our journey of moving beyond our one-hit wonder of the dissertation and the imposter syndrome of being academic researchers. We developed a professional learning community to collaborate, support, lament, and celebrate scholarship. Attendees will learn our intentional processes and resources to progress in your writing journey.

Moving Through: Supporting Preservice Teachers’ Transition Through College To The Profession Using Homerooms, David Wolff, Mark Diacopoulos, Alexis Durman, Alexis Monks, Madison Adamson, Kim Ballew

Open Educational Resources - Teaching and Learning

Preservice Teachers at Pitt State undergo a significant transition from student to professional. Faculty in the College of Education created a weekly Homeroom to support this shift, covering topics like goal setting, power dynamics, generational differences, self-care, identity charts, and time management. Preservice Teachers’ experiences will be shared.

Positive Impacts Of Tilt: Two Professors’ Journeys In Creating More Student-Centered Teacher Education Courses, Michael Crosby, Rebecca Short

Perspectives In Learning

As the K-12 classroom changes to support the needs of our every-changing society, so should the teacher education courses change on the university level. Additionally, the focus on higher education has become more student-centered with an emphasis on transparency in teaching and learning (TILT). The purpose of this article is to highlight the positive experiences two teacher education professors had using TILT to examine assignments and course syllabi. The journey of developing transparent assignments and student-centered syllabi is time-consuming, challenging, and on-going, but the benefits of a student-centered classroom are invaluable.

Internationalizing The Teacher Education Curriculum Toward Global Competency: Academic Leaders’ Perceptions, Ellie F. G. Holliday

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

To prepare students for an increasingly interconnected world, P-12 teachers must be trained to infuse intercultural and global perspectives into their teaching practice. However, teacher education programs (TEPs) have been criticized for their lack of global perspectives in the curriculum and have been found to be the least internationalized programs at United States (U.S.) universities. Though university senior international officers (SIOs) play a large role in developing a strategic approach toward curriculum internationalization, there is a paucity of research on their perspectives on this process.

In this explanatory sequential mixed methods study, TEP leaders and SIOs at universities in the …

A Glimpse Behind The Curtain: The Detailed Structure Of The May Literacy Center, A University-Based Literacy Clinic, Brian M. Flores, Amber Meyer

Journal of Research Initiatives

Literacy centers have existed in the United States since the 1920s and have seen many changes over their vast and essential history. Initially, clinics focused on remediation with a deficit view that positioned struggling readers as lazy and unmotivated. Over time, clinics shifted to a medical model, which also held a deficit view that involved pathologizing, testing, and diagnosing to "fix what was wrong" with the struggling reader. Today, university-based reading clinics focus on research-based literacy practices providing opportunities for undergraduate teacher candidates and graduate students to support struggling readers. Research on literacy clinics primarily focused on funding, student demographics, …

Implementation Of A Student Research Group With Undergraduate Preservice Teachers, Melissa S. Martin, Alison Puliatte, Emily Blankenship Bostedor

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

The purpose of this paper is to describe the implementation of an undergraduate student research group with preservice teachers at a university in the Northeastern United States. Following the guidelines of Shanahan et al. (2015), university faculty provided intensive mentoring, scaffolded support, and instruction related to research evaluation and methodology. Undergraduate students completed literature reviews of a specific topic related to education and conducted their own research studies. This article describes a model of undergraduate research the authors developed for elementary and special education preservice teachers.

Fostering And Maintaining Relationships: Teacher Education During Covid-19, Jessica Vanvalkenburgh, Aaron R. Gierhart

Current Issues in Middle Level Education

This article expounds how our pedagogical practices have changed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of these effects others have contended with in the education community. The authors share pedagogical strategies they have found to be effective in terms of building and supporting relationships with teacher candidates. They suggest using digitally-mediated teaching and learning strategies, staying connected with students, and badge-based assessment and feedback approaches to build and support relationships with students; examples of the instructional design and implementation strategies are described. The authors propose that when looking forward, teachers at any level may benefit from providing students …

Increasing Awareness Of Inclusive Stem Education Through A College-Level Student Research Group, Sami Kahn, Tiffany Agyarko, Grace Lanouette, Sean Lee, Courteney Wiredu

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

The underrepresentation of persons with disabilities in STEM reflects not only a moral failing in society’s commitment to equity but also a practical dilemma as science benefits from the contributions of people with diverse perspectives. While teacher education programs attempt to address equity at the K-12 level, societal biases and misconceptions about who is “able” in science present persistent barriers for people with disabilities throughout the STEM pipeline, in higher education, employment, and beyond. How can we ensure that students with disabilities will encounter professors, employers, coworkers, and peers who are supportive of their efforts in STEM? To address this …

The Show Must Go On: Challenges, Questions, And Pedagogical Pivots In Response To Covid-19, Patrick S. De Walt

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

On March 18, 2020, many universities and university systems had or were in their initial stages of transitioning to virtual teaching as a result of COVID-19. This transition had varied effects on all aspects of the university community. This paper explores this transition through the teaching experiences of a tenure-track professor during the pandemic. The examination of six sections of a capstone undergraduate course over the course of three semesters was conducted. Through self-reflection, many of the challenges faced shifting from face-to-face to a virtual environment were discussed. Among some of the challenges and limitations experienced when teaching nontraditional and/or …

Unlearn: Preparing Preservice Teachers As Antiracist Educators, April Eddie

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

This paper explores a Teacher Education faculty member’s approach in providing preservice teachers a holistic, antiracist preparation that includes prioritizing the hiring of Black and Brown faculty, teaching critical pedagogies, and providing diverse experiences to enhance their theoretical and classroom learning. Although research that explores the impact of race and education exists, more is needed if we are to deconstruct the impact of antiblackness in Teacher Education programs.

A Thin Line Of Social Justice: Challenges And Changes In Navigating Relations Of Power In Graduate Schools Of Education, Heather Catherine Sands

Individual, Family, and Community Education ETDs

This dissertation brings together three qualitative research articles to interrogate a disjuncture between curriculum development in graduate schools of education and the relations of power it fosters in teacher education and counselor education. In applying biopower and intersectional analyses throughout each article, this dissertation contends that the recognition of power relations within these fields helps to highlight hegemonic patterns of teaching and counseling that occur in settings of classrooms and sessions. Three themes emerged within this dissertation: resistance, community, and subjectivity. Article One demonstrates a gap between teachers and school counselors with cyberbullying directed toward LGBTQ+ students. The Article leverages …

Targeted Teacher Education To Improve Primary Preservice Teachers’ Knowledge And Understanding Of Uv And Effective Sun Protection Measures For Children, Joseph J. Scott, Robyn S. Johnston, Natasha Bear, Sonia Gregory, Sally Blane, Mark Strickland, Jill Darby, Elin S. Gray

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Teachers are responsible for children at school during peak ultraviolet (UV) times of the day. It is paramount that teachers have knowledge and understanding of UV to effectively protect themselves and their students. The aim of this pilot study was to investigate the effect of a short intervention on preservice teachers’ sun protective behaviours, knowledge and perceived skill to teach sun safety. Participants (n =161; median age=20 years) attended a 45-minute preservice teacher sun safety intervention and completed pre- and post-test surveys. Post-intervention, most participants indicated they felt: i) more informed about the dangers of UV and risks of developing …

Insights From Academics Teaching International Students In Australia, Dawn Joseph Dr, Kay Hartwig Dr

The Qualitative Report

Australia continues to be an attractive destination in the world for international students. For higher education institutions to remain globally competitive there is a need to deliver high quality teaching and learning programs and adequate support structures. This paper forms part of a wider study on improving work placement for international students, their mentors and other stakeholders at Deakin University (Australia) and adds to the body of knowledge on international students as seen through the eyes of academic staff. It explores the lived experiences of seven academics as they navigate what is required of them when teaching international students in …

Teacher Education In A Dangerous Time: (Re)Imagining Education For Diversity, Democracy And Sustainability, John J. Lupinacci

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

This article amplifies the importance of social movements like Black Lives Matter and diverse critical educator responses to social suffering, COVID-19, and related critiques of current dominant assumptions of teacher education and Western schooling. The author offers an ecocritical conceptual framework to support education to recognize the importance of how teachers, and teacher educators, can take action as leaders (re)imagining education in support of valuing diversity, democracy, and sustainability. This article calls for an ecocritical pedagogical (re)imagining of how teacher education might be (re)constituted through local activist teaching in collaboration with social movements and in support of social justice and …

Creating A Foundation Of Well-Being For Teachers And Students Starts With Sel Curriculum In Teacher Education Programs, Deirdre Katz, Julia Mahfouz, Sue Romas

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

During the COVID-19 crisis, it has become clear how unprepared our educational systems are to provide social and emotional support through distance learning. Despite the demands for teachers to support the social and emotional development of their students, our universities are behind the curve in providing coursework to develop their knowledge and skills in these areas. This paper calls us to imagine teacher education with Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) as a cornerstone in teacher preparation programs. We outline the importance of SEL curriculum in preservice education and suggest a multifaceted approach to teacher preparation.

Contemplation For Educators: Theoretical, Ethical, And Practical Dimensions Drawn From The Catholic Intellectual Tradition, Joseph Polizzi, Darcy Ronan

Education Faculty Publications

Catholic colleges and universities educate thousands of teachers and school administrators every year to be at the forefront of teaching and leading. The mission and vision of Catholic colleges and universities is unique in higher education while sending their graduates forth into every sector of the wider world. We explore the contribution of the Catholic intellectual tradition (CIT) for colleges of education at Catholic colleges and universities. In this particular piece, we mine the tradition's emphasis on contemplation to cultivate and inform a practice of reflection for aspiring educators.

Implementing Narrative-Pedagogical Approaches In A Teacher Education Classroom, Pauline Swee Choo Goh

The Qualitative Report

Preservice teachers can no longer be prepared using conventional teaching approaches as these are inadequate to equip them with the necessary knowledge and skills they require to perform the tasks of teaching effectively. Teacher educators need to use new pedagogies, and narrative pedagogy is seen as a teaching method which can better prepare preservice teachers for the challenging classrooms of today. My study explored nine preservice teachers’ experiences after the enactment of a narrative pedagogical approach in one of their courses within their teacher education program. I used Ricoeur’s framework of the prefigured and configured arena of education to analyse …

Lessons Learned From The British: The Liverpool Project, Claudia J. Mcvicker

Educational Considerations

Universities around the country are beginning to feel the need to add a global dimension to their programs. One way to prepare teachers to address the challenges associated with teaching children in a global age is through carefully structured, international study abroad where the candidates are immersed in another culture and school system. This article seeks to demonstrate how a successful Teacher Education study abroad program can develop and transform pre-service candidates’ global perspective. This qualitative study was informed by the use of journal writing to prompts by ninety-six teacher education students over three different summers to learn about the …

An Examination Of California Home-Based Early Childhood Educators’ Self-Determination To Attain A Higher Education Degree, Shirley Collins

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to examine, identify, and describe the perceived impact of the self-determination attributes of autonomy, competence, and relatedness on the persistence and retention of California licensed home-based early childhood educators who attended higher education degree programs.

Methodology: This study utilized a concurrent triangulation mixed-methods approach to gain an understanding of the impact of self-determination on California licensed home-based early childhood educators’ persistence and retention in college. Three hundred members of the San Diego County Family Child Care Association and/or the California Family Child Care Network were invited to participate in this …

Student And Staff Perceptions Of A Learning Management System For Blended Learning In Teacher Education, Kathryn A. Holmes, Elena Prieto-Rodriguez

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Higher education institutions routinely use Learning Management Systems (LMS) for multiple purposes; to organise coursework and assessment, to facilitate staff and student interactions, and to act as repositories of learning objects. The analysis reported here involves staff (n=46) and student (n=470) responses to surveys as well as data collected in interviews and focus groups. The research focuses on participants’ perceptions of two broad affordances of the LMS: accessibility and interactivity. Differences were found between student and staff views in relation to accessibility of online materials, with students rating its contribution to their learning more highly than staff. However, the two …

Facilitating Teacher Reflection Through A Mutual Understanding Of The Characteristics Of Exemplary Teachers, Seth E. Jenny, Geraldine Jenny

Winthrop Conference on Teaching and Learning

Teachers meet challenges as they make a plethora of daily choices. It is a responsibility to learn from past choices. An exemplary teacher is a person who accepts the challenge of lifelong learning experiences in the domains of Leadership, Diversity, and Technology. Moreover, exemplary teachers must demonstrate competencies in the themes of School Context Expert, Master Practitioner, Learning Theorist, Curriculum Designer, and Instructional Leader (American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education, 2010, p. 24).

Making the commitment to become an exemplary teacher is a choice one should make with care because it is a decision that will affect the …

The Revolving Door Of Education: Teacher Turnover And Retention Amongst The Graduates Of A Liberal Arts Teacher Education Program, Gregory W. Dachille, Chloe Ruff

Education Faculty Publications

In the United States, elementary and secondary education teachers comprise 4% of the entire civilian workforce (Ingersoll, 2001). The composition of that 4% is changing because of teacher turnover. According to recent statistics, 46% of teachers leave the classroom within the first five years of teaching and 9.5% of teachers leave the classroom within their first year (Rinke, 2014; Riggs, 2013; Zheng & Zeller, 2016). This study is designed to examine the teaching experiences of graduates of one teacher education program and the potential differences between graduates who stay in teaching and those who leave. Throughout this study, the guiding …

Unprepared: Are Educator Preparation Programs Effectively Training Pre-Service Teachers To Teach English Learners?, Lorie Johnson

All students deserve high-quality, strategic instruction, yet pre-service teachers are not always taught best practices for instructing English Learners (ELs), students for whom English is not their native language. Almost 10 percent of the students in American public schools are classified as ELs, yet research indicates most educator preparation programs across the country have not yet integrated best practices for teaching ELs into their pre-service programs in meaningful ways. It is important for educator preparation programs to provide pre-service teachers with opportunities to understand the unique needs of ELs and to learn effective teaching strategies to meet those needs. This …

Effective Teaching In The Eye Of Teacher Educators: A Case Study In A Higher Education, Melek Çakmak, Ülker Akkutay

The Qualitative Report

Attempts to explore teacher educators’ thoughts seem to be meaningful at educational sciences since the number of studies discussing effective teaching and effective teacher at teacher education in the eye of teacher educators are quite limited. Therefore, this study mainly aims to identify the viewpoints of teacher educators in order to discover how they contextualize the concept of effective teaching. For this aim, a case study design, increasingly used in education (Tellis, 1997), is utilized in the study. This method is suitable when the research addresses an explanatory question such as how or why? (Yin, 2004). A questionnaire including open-ended …

Innovative School-University Partnerships: Co-Teaching In Secondary Settings, Brenda Morton, Ginny Birky

Faculty Publications - College of Education

A unique co-teaching partnership with professional development was created with two local high schools and a university teacher education program. The model was implemented to strengthen teacher candidate practicum experience and inservice teacher development. Three themes emerged from the design-based research: classroom climate, lesson planning/implementation/assessment, and differentiation. As a result of the co-teaching model with professional development, teacher candidates perceived increased support and guidance on all aspects of classroom practice. Cooperating teachers deepened their own understanding of teaching and learning in the classroom. High school students in co-taught classrooms reported positive classroom climate, increased engagement, individualized instruction, and feedback. Overall, …

Preparedness Of Pre-Service Teachers For Inclusive Education In The Solomon Islands, Umesh Sharma, Janine Simi, Chris Forlin

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Recent policy changes in the Pacific Islands have seen a strong emphasis on implementing inclusive education. Preparing teachers for this change in education will be essential if they are to have the knowledge, skills and understandings so that they can become inclusive practitioners. Pre-service teacher education will play a critical role in supporting this process. This paper considers the perceptions of pre-service teachers undertaking the first year of the Diploma of Teaching in the one university in the Solomon Islands. This is the only university that prepares teachers to work across the entire archipelago. Data are collected pre and post …

‘We Did The How To Teach It’: Music Teaching And Learning In Higher Education In Australia, Dawn Joseph

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The Australian Government recognizes that the Arts are a critical part of formal school education and it should not be viewed as subordinate or extra. This paper forms part of a wider research project titled “Pre-service teacher attitudes and understandings of Music Education” that started in 2013. The focus of this paper investigates music teaching and learning in a core unit within the Bachelor of Education (Primary) course at Deakin University (Australia). Using questionnaire and interview data gathered in 2014, I employ Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to analyse and codify the data. Three themes are discussed in relation to: Why it …

Development And Evaluation Of A Model For Secondary Evolution Educators’ Professional Development Needs, William L. Romine, Ellen Barnett, Patricia J. Friedrichsen, Aaron J. Sickel

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Background

Professional development (PD) efforts have improved acceptance and pedagogical practice related to the theory of evolution in high school biology teachers. However, these teachers express need for more PD related to evolution. It therefore becomes necessary to understand teachers’ PD needs prior to structuring PD efforts.

Methods

We formulated and validated a model to explain secondary teachers’ PD needs using data from a survey of 276 secondary biology teachers who reported teaching evolution.

Results

In addition to reliable subscales, we found that obstacles to teaching evolution, school and community support for evolution instruction, confidence in evolution instruction, and prior …