Education Commons^™

The Challenges Of Supporting Young Children’S Outdoor Play In Early Childhood Education And Care Settings, Ji Hyun Oh

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

This study explored preschool teachers’ beliefs about the challenges they have experienced when supporting young children’s outdoor play. Through Charmaz’s (2006) constructivist grounded theory data analysis process, two types of challenges for providing outdoor play were specified including: (1) natural environmental challenges, such as insect bites, allergies, and severe weather issues and (2) physical environmental challenges that include lack of play materials/environments and playground maintenance. The participant teachers perceive that these challenges are related to their preparation and planning for outdoor play including the provision of outdoor play, allotted play time, and a number of outdoor learning activities.

How Two English Language Arts Teachers’ Beliefs And Practices Impact Their Students’ Academic And Emotional Success, Christiana C. Succar

The Qualitative Report

This study commenced as part of a more extensive narrative inquiry about a literacy coach building relationships with two early-career sixth-grade English language arts teachers. The more extensive study revealed a gap in research about the teachers' beliefs and practices and their impact on their students' academic and emotional success. The research questions are: (1) in what ways do two teachers' beliefs and professional knowledge influence their teaching philosophies? (2) How do these teachers' identities influence student outcomes? The two teacher participants took part in interviews, observations, and reflections. By re-storying the data into narratives, three themes from each question …

Discerning (Dis)Information: Teacher Perceptions Of Critical Media Literacy, Jennifer K. Allen, Robert A. Griffin, Diana Mindrila

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Critical media literacy (CML) is vital for students to navigate the current proliferation of misinformation and disinformation. Despite what is known about the influence of teacher beliefs on classroom practice, little research to date has looked at what teachers perceive about the importance of CML. The researchers administered a survey to teachers throughout the U.S. (N = 362) on their perceptions of the importance of teaching CML as part of their instruction. Using quantitative methods, the researchers found CML as the primary factor underlying the survey data and a strong awareness of the importance of teaching CML to students. While …

Academics’ Understandings Of The Literacy Needs Of International Graduate Students, Edwin Creely, Raqib Chowdhury, Jane Southcott

The Qualitative Report

This article critically explores the understandings about the English academic literacy needs of international graduate students from the perspective of academic teaching staff in a Faculty of Education at a large Australian university. Research suggests that international graduate students for whom English is another language, on coming to English speaking countries, acquire English academic literacies as part of a complex set of academic competencies needed for successful graduate study. In this study, 16 academic teaching staff participated in focus groups and revealed their understandings and practices about academic literacies in the context of their experiences of working with international graduate …

Upper Elementary And Middle School U.S. Teachers’ Views Of Grammar And Its Instruction, Janice A. Dole, Elizabeth Thackeray Nelson, Adrienne Lowe Pahnke, Elisabeth Dibble Rush

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

The purpose of this study was to investigate upper elementary (Grades 4–6) and middle school (Grades 6–8) teachers’ views of grammar and its instruction and to determine differences in their views about grammar, its instruction, and its importance to writing proficiency. Participants in this online study were 196 practicing teachers in eight school districts in one western U.S. state. Two thirds of the teachers in the study taught at the elementary level, and one third taught at the middle school level. When asked what they taught when teaching grammar, the large majority of these teachers reported teaching parts of speech, …

Teachers’ Beliefs And Practices Regarding Assessment In English As A Foreign Language Classrooms In Vietnam, Xuan Van Ha, Nam Giang Tran, Ngoc Hai Tran

The Qualitative Report

Task-based language teaching (TBLT) has generated worldwide popularity as a curriculum innovation, and extensive research has investigated various aspects of the approach. However, little is known about the implementation of classroom assessment in TBLT curricula. This study investigated high school English as a foreign language teachers’ beliefs and practices regarding assessment in a curriculum innovation context in Vietnam. Data comprised in-depth interviews with six teachers, as well as testing documents. The findings revealed a strong impact of the high-stakes exams on teachers’ testing beliefs in that they focused explicitly on linguistic items in the assessed content and forms of assessment. …

Professional Learning In Reading Instruction: The Influence Of Context On Engagement And Enactment, Susan Main, Deslea Konza, Mark Hackling, Graeme Lock

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Professional learning is widely acknowledged as an effective way to improve teacher practice and, consequently, student outcomes. However, this presupposes a direct link from professional learning to the enactment of the content of professional learning in teaching. This paper explores teachers’ engagement with a continuing professional learning (CPL) program intended to improve teachers’ knowledge and practice in reading instruction. Six case study subjects, self-selected from 10 schools participating in a year‑long CPL program, provided the opportunity to explore what teachers enacted from the professional learning. This research highlighted the significance of contextual factors on how teachers engaged with and enacted …

Overcoming Second-Order Barriers To Technology Integration In K–5 Schools, Lisa Durff, Maryfriend Carter

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

The use of technology engages students and increases academic achievement, as Tamin, Bernard, Brookhovski, Abrami, and Schmid (2011) found in a study summarizing 40 years of research on this topic. Educators face attitudinal, sociocultural, and pedagogical barriers to technology integration in spite of its positive impact on academic achievement. In this qualitative multicase study, three groups of educators were interviewed to determine how some teachers successfully overcame barriers to technology integration. Each case contained two or three teachers, one administrator, and one technology support person in each of three schools in a rural northeastern school district. The findings showed that …

The Development Of Preservice Teachers’ Self-Efficacy For Classroom And Behavior Management Across Multiple Field Experiences, Maria B. Sciuchetti, Nina Yssel

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Classroom and behaviour management difficulties are consistently reported among the top reasons given by both novice and experienced teachers for leaving the profession. In order to successfully prepare and retain teachers, it is imperative that we understand the factors related to issues of classroom and behaviour management that may influence their decision to remain in the field. This study explored the development of preservice special education teachers’ self-efficacy for classroom and behaviour management as they progressed through a four-semester professional development sequence. Findings indicated that although self-efficacy levels were variable across semesters, statistically significant changes in group self-efficacy levels were …

Learning In Field-Experiences: A Multiple Case Study Of Eight Preservice Teachers, Franco Zengaro, Sally A. Zengaro

Journal of Research Initiatives

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this multiple case study was to examine the teaching beliefs of eight preservice physical education teachers. The following research questions guided this study. (1) In what ways do field experiences contribute to shape preservice physical education teachers constructs of teaching? (2) What theories of teaching emerge from field-experiences? (3) To what extent do contexts shape preservice teachers’ experiences as they teach? We framed this multiple case study through the lenses of personal and practical knowledge of teaching. Data collection included multiple interviews, field observation, and documentary notes. We analyzed the data using the constant comparative methodology. …

A Consensual Inquiry Of Teachers’ Responses To Classroom Situations: Implications For School Counselors, Jeffrey M. Warren, Gretchen G. Robinson

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

Although often overlooked by school leaders, teacher emotions are key factors that impact classroom climate and therefore educational outcomes and student success. We use a framework grounded in rational emotive behavior therapy and social cognitive theory to explore teachers’ perceived thoughts, emotions, and behaviors in response to common classroom situations. The consensual qualitative research methodology was used to analyze data collected from 21 elementary school teachers. Findings suggest that psychosocial barriers exist among teachers who undermine effective instruction and classroom climate. Implications for school counselor practice are discussed.

Factors Influencing The Evolution Of Vocational Teachers’ Beliefs And Practices Related To Classroom Management During Teacher Education, Céline Girardet, Jean-Louis Berger

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Two studies were conducted to investigate the evolution of 71 Swiss vocational teachers’ classroom management as a result of the inputs of a teacher education program, and to identify the factors that encouraged or impeded teacher change. Study 1 consisted of a longitudinal survey, and Study 2 of interviews. Longitudinal analyses were performed using a multilevel approach. This mixed-method study revealed that vocational teachers’ classroom management evolved towards the beliefs and practices encouraged by the teacher education program. Years of prior teaching experience and motivations for choosing teaching were found to moderate teachers’ evolutions. Moreover, influential people, providing alternative strategies …

Challenging Deficit Default And Educators’ Biases In Urban Schools, Lynette Parker, Charlene Reid, Tanya Ghans

Race and Pedagogy Journal: Teaching and Learning for Justice

This paper explores kindergarten and 1st grade teachers’ beliefs about students in an urban elementary school. Teachers situated concerns about a new literacy program and benchmark goals within an ideology that pathologized poor students of color as being academically unprepared. Teachers’ claims were corroborated by their grade-level administrator. However, an analysis of student performance data revealed educators’ pathological beliefs to be unwarranted. Deficit beliefs about the capabilities of the poor students of color were associated with fear of failure, uncritical acceptance of poverty as brain trauma, and their ascription to negative views about poor and minority students.

Exploring Effective Professional Development Strategies For In-Service Teachers On Guiding Beginning Readers To Become More Metacognitive In Their Oral Reading, Sharon M. Pratt, Anita M. Martin

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

This case study explored professional development centered on explicit teaching strategies with in-service first-grade teachers as they engaged beginning readers to consider stronger self-awareness of their thinking processes as they read. In this paper, we report on how teacher beliefs shifted regarding the impact of explicit versus implicit instructional practices that increased their students’ metacognitive awareness and regulation. Teachers adopted specific instructional strategies over the course of the professional development that positively impacted their students’ achievement, including one teacher’s use of peer coaching. As teachers observed their students doing more than they thought they were capable of, their beliefs about …

Feedback On Second Language Pronunciation: A Case Study Of Eap Teachers’ Beliefs And Practices, Amanda Baker, Michael Burri

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In the modern English language classroom,

Abstract: In the modern English language classroom, teachers are often faced with the challenging task of supporting students to achieve comprehensible pronunciation, but many teachers limit or neglect giving students feedback on their pronunciation for a variety of reasons. This paper examines the case of five experienced English for Academic Purposes (EAP) instructors who strive to provide feedback on specific features of pronunciation that negatively affect students’ comprehensibility. Results derived from semi-structured interviews, classroom observations and stimulated recall interviews reveal that the teachers use similar approaches to select and provide feedback on problematic features …

Teacher Beliefs About Motivating And Teaching Students To Carry Out Engineering Design Challenges: Some Initial Data, James P. Van Haneghan, Susan A. Pruet, Rhonda Neal-Waltman, Jessica M. Harlan

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

The present study examines middle school teachers’ beliefs about seven learning outcomes related to a project that involves developing and examining the effects of a set of engineering design modules constructed for use by middle school math and science teachers. Overall, the teachers involved in the intervention appear to believe they have the instructional skills, professional development, and resources to carry out the modules. Teachers from all of the schools (both intervention and comparison schools) for the most part valued the outcomes as important. Results of the study indicate that, although teachers believe they value and can obtain most of …

Writing And Learning Online: Graduate Students’ Perceptions Of Their Development As Writers And Teachers Of Writing, Kelly N. Tracy, Roya Q. Scales, Nancy Luke

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

This study examined the effect of an online graduate course in elementary and middle grades writing pedagogy on pre- and in-service teachers’ perceptions of themselves as writers and as teachers of writing. Eight graduate students enrolled in a summer online writing pedagogy course at a mid-sized regional university in the rural mountains of the southeastern United States participated in the study. Researchers collected qualitative data including reflections and blogs at the beginning and end of the 4.5-week course. Findings fell into four major themes in the data: (1)Past experience shapes perceptions of writing; (2)Perceptions shape writing instruction; (3)Perceptions are malleable; …

The Influence Of A Reform-Based Mathematics Methods Course On Preservice Teachers’ Beliefs, Brian R. Evans, Jacqueline Leonard, Kathleen Krier, Steve Ryan

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

Beliefs about teaching mathematics and urban students’ ability to learn mathematics are often overlooked in the discourse on highly qualified teachers. Altering teacher experiences has the potential to change their beliefs. It was found in this qualitative case study that preservice teachers’ beliefs about teaching mathematics to urban students were changed after teachers taught brief sample lessons to their peers and watched video episodes of quality teaching. These findings suggest preservice teacher beliefs can be positively changed after taking reform-based mathematics methods courses. Additional studies are needed to determine if these changes can be sustained during teacher induction.

Mathematics As Thinking. A Response To “Democracy And School Math”, Kasi C. Allen

Democracy and Education

Math education in the United States remains resistant to systemic change, and our country pays the price. Stemhagen's article "Democracy and School Math" further confirms this trend. Despite repeated calls for reform, decades of research on how people learn, millions of dollars invested in teacher professional development, and years of politicized debate, the math wars rage on—between those who believe students have the capacity to construct their own mathematical ideas and others who insist mastery of the traditional canon must come first. Meanwhile, algebra failure among secondary students remains rampant and elementary education majors report the greatest rates of math …