Education Commons^™

Examining Culturally Responsive Understandings Within An Undergraduate Teacher Education Program, Kelly M. Gomez Johnson, Anne E. Karabon, Derrick A. Nero

Journal of Curriculum, Teaching, Learning and Leadership in Education

This article examines how a group of elementary and secondary preservice teachers engaged in understanding “culture” and culturally responsive teaching while enrolled in an early program course. We analyze how culturally-related experiences, emotions, and perspectives contribute to the overall understanding of cultural competency training in teacher education. Preservice teachers varied in their use of individual- and structural-orientations, in isolation and in combination, as they developed and progressed as socially just teachers. These findings reveal that despite attempts to develop and shift toward asset-based perspectives, far more culturally embedded coursework and practicum experiences are necessary. This paper includes a reflection on …

The Role Of The Clinical Educator In Teacher Preparation: An Exploratory Study Of Perceptions Of Preparedness, Kristen M. Driskill

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

As the demands on P-12 teachers increase, so do the demands on teacher preparation programs. In higher education institutions across the country, coursework is regularly updated to reflect changing academic standards, increasing diversity in classrooms, rigorous certification exams, etc. In addition, accreditation standards have been updated to reflect the need for P-12 partnerships in best preparing teacher candidates. As a result, clinical practice has come under focus. Yet the role of the clinical educator remains unclear. There is a gap in the literature regarding the preparedness and support of clinical educators, particularly addressing their role in developing teacher candidates along …

The Complexity Of Learning To Teach News Media In Social Studies Education, Mardi Schmeichel, Jim Garrett, Rachel Ranschaert, Joseph Mcanulty, Shannon Thompson, Sonia Janis, Christopher Clark, Stephanie Yagata, Briana Bivens

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This research reports on data generated through an initial teacher certification program for secondary social studies teachers that introduced a specific and program-spanning focus on news media literacy. Growing out of the urgent need for pedagogies that address and promote critical engagement with the kinds of news media sources upon which civic decisions are made, our project follows teacher candidates from their initial certification coursework through the culminating student teaching semester. Our work with teacher candidates over this time was explicitly intended to intervene in and develop teacher candidates’ understandings of news media literacy, its place in social studies education, …

Locating The Critical Component In Technological Pedagogical And Content Knowledge ( Tpack ): An Examination Of How Graduate Students Recruit Tpack And Critical Digital Literacy Into Classroom Practices., Vicki Ann Hosek

Theses and Dissertations

The objectives of this study were to gain an understanding of how practicing teachers believe they are prepared to meaningfully and critically integrate technology into their classroom practices; and to understand how practicing teachers recruited those beliefs into their teaching practices. This included gaining an understanding of what they believed led to their engagement in the critical dimensions of technology use in their teaching practices. This mixed-methods study contained two phases. In Phase 1, 58 graduate students in a College of Education completed a newly developed Critical Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (C-TPACK) survey containing likert-scale and open-ended questions. A subset …

Holding Onto Dread And Hope: The Need For Critical Whiteness Studies In Education As Resistance In The Trump Era, Brittany A. Aronson, Kyle Ashlee

Journal of Critical Scholarship on Higher Education and Student Affairs

The purpose of this article is to critically examine how white higher education instructors work through the tensions of dread and hope while supporting and preparing educators during the Trump Administration. Dread is a result of the permanence of racism while hope seeps through a collective effort and commitment to dismantling white supremacy. Aronson is racialized as a white, ethnically Latina female teacher educator who educates predominantly white female pre-service teachers and Ashlee is a white male doctoral candidate who teaches master’s level student affairs courses to predominantly white students. Using critical autoethnographic narratives, they reflect on their experiences using …

Clinical Field Experiences Of Nontraditional Pre-Service Teachers: Issues And Beliefs, Melanie Diloreto

Journal of Practitioner Research

According to the American Association for Colleges of Teacher Education (AACTE, 2010), effective teaching practices and good clinical experiences share a mutually beneficial relationship. Additionally, according to research reported by AACTE (2010), an important link exists between future P–12 student-achievement and effective clinical practices experienced by pre-service teachers. This case study sought to determine experiences deemed effective or important by nontraditional pre-service teachers while engaged in fieldwork completed in an elementary and/or middle school classroom setting. Four themes were derived from the qualitative data obtained through semi-structured interviews of four junior or senior teacher education students engaged in clinical field …

Teachers Learning To Teach: A Phenomenological Exploration Of The Lived Experience Of Cognitive Load For Novice Teachers, Mark Hebert

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

Cognitive load is a relevant phenomenon experienced by novice teachers moment-to-moment in complex classroom environments. Teachers learning to teach within the classroom daily encounter mental workload, but the latter has played little part in learning design for teachers, although other professions demanding complex performanes have made use of Cognitive Load Theory and Cognitive Task Analysis for learning design and for the reduction of cognitive load. Exploration of the lived experience of cognitive load was the focus of this study. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe the limits of mental capacity and the mental liberty experienced by teachers …

Using High-Leverage Practices To Support Twice Exceptional Learners, Susan Keesey, Kelsey Highbaugh

Kentucky Teacher Education Journal: The Journal of the Teacher Education Division of the Kentucky Council for Exceptional Children

Students documented as twice-exceptional, possessing both giftedness and a disability, are a group of learners that despite strong potential, are often misunderstood and misdiagnosed. Often, for these students, either the giftedness hides the disability or the disability overshadows the giftedness. It is important that teacher education programs help preservice teachers learn how to recognize and support students classified as twice-exceptional. High-leverage practices can help support twice-exceptional students. This article demonstrates how all four key components of HLPs (i.e., collaboration, assessment, social/emotional/behavioral practices, and instruction) can be incorporated into the plan to support twice-exceptional learners and maximize learning outcomes for these …

Infographic: Teacher Training In Student Career Guidance, Dominique Russell

Teacher infographics

In a new working paper published by the OECD, results from a survey of teachers conducted in PISA 2015 are presented. Teachers were asked if training in student career guidance and counselling was included in their initial teacher education or in their professional development activities during the last 12 months.

K-12 Blended Teaching Competencies, Emily Bateman Pulham

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation centers on competencies for K-12 online and blended teaching. Article 1, published in Distance Education, is the literature review, which compares K-12 online and blended teaching competencies. We found that online and blended teaching share personalization as the most salient competency, but that blended teaching competencies emphasize pedagogical skill sets and online teaching competencies emphasize managing the online course. Article 2, published in the Journal of Online Learning Research, is an analysis of selected literature from Article 1, which analyzes the modality in which competencies occur (online or digital context, face-to-face context, generic, or blended). Over half of …

Teaching To Assess: An Evaluation Of Assessment Education For Secondary Teacher Candidates, Daniel M. Frederking

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the assessment instruction of a four-year undergraduate secondary education program and its alignment to the teaching standards and the summative teacher licensure assessment. Document analyses were conducted on the program’s syllabi as well as the assessment portions of the InTASC standards and the handbook of the edTPA. Results highlighted several areas of misalignment in the areas of categorical concurrence, depth of knowledge, and range of knowledge. Also of note, preservice teachers in different secondary subject areas are receiving different amounts of assessment instruction. Additionally, local edTPA data was examined to highlight areas of strength and weakness. Students …

Una Destinatio, Viae Diversae – One Destination, Many Paths: An Invitation To Design Curriculum, Aviva B. Dorfman

Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research

One goal of early childhood teacher educators is to teach in ways that model teaching young children. What better way to study curriculum than to design it? This article describes a graduate early childhood curriculum course in which the students participate in the process of designing the syllabus. They receive a syllabus empty of topics, schedule, and readings. Together, we design the course according to their interests and needs. By semester’s end there is a full reading list and schedule. The invitation to co-design curriculum provides opportunities for investigation, representation and reflection as does constructivist teaching for children, and demonstrates …

A Descriptive Exploration Of A Self-Directed Professional Development Approach, Derek R. Riddle

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Teachers, who are deemed the greatest in-school factor of student success, are often invited or mandated to engage in some form of professional development (PD) to continue in improving their practice. However, an empirical understanding of how teachers learn from PD offerings remains elusive and incomplete. Often teachers report not learning from the models where they have little autonomy. While there is small body of research on teacher-driven models, there is a lack of sufficient evidence on whether these models enhance teacher learning and ultimately their practice. Therefore, this study employed grounded theory methods coupled with a descriptive research approach …

How Does Training From A Stem Elementary Education Program Influence An Elementary Teacher’S Instruction And Experiences?, Courtney G. Mayakis, Jessica R. Robinson, John Williams Iii

Journal of STEM Teacher Education

In the United States, innovation and our economy seem to be lacking in comparison to other countries. Many cite the shortage of individuals interested in STEM careers as part of the problem. The following research article addresses how STEM programs may influence the efficacy and practice of curriculum integration as well as the mathematics and science instruction of teachers in elementary education. Data were collected using interviews and taped instruction from an elementary educator who graduated from a STEM-focused elementary program. This exploratory case study will aid in understanding how preservice programs focusing on STEM-integrated curriculum in elementary education can …

Infographic: The Career Intentions Of Early Career Teachers, Jo Earp

Teacher infographics

The latest Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) report on initial teacher education includes survey data about the career intentions of teachers with one to five years' teaching experience.

Reading Researchers In Search Of Common Ground: The Expert Study Revisited, Tiffany A. Flowers

Journal of Research Initiatives

The purpose of this book review was to analyze the main arguments regarding literacy instruction from various paradigms of research. The Foreword of this text was written by Dr. Patricia Edwards the Past President of the Literacy Research Association. As Dr. Edwards pointedly reveals in her endorsement of this text, “Reading researchers must find some common ground in order to provide teachers with the necessary strategies to teach children reading." Dr. Edwards takes a strong stance on the reading wars debate. This foreword leaves readers with key questions that are answered throughout the reading of this text such as, what …

Design, Implementation And Perceptions Of A Preservice Mentor Development Program, Jill R. Heiney-Smith

Education Dissertations

Teacher education programs support their mentor teachers through a variety of resources and professional development, but generally lack a dedicated curriculum for pre-service mentoring. This study was designed to learn what kinds of resources, tools, trainings, and experiences would better support mentor teachers in a teacher education (or pre-service) program. The study was grounded in social learning theories and empirical research on mentoring, as well as research on teacher induction and professional development. Mixed-methods data were collected in three sequential phases with a total sample of n = 199 mentor teachers. Results indicate that mentors have sophisticated expectations for their …

An In-Depth Case Study Of A Prospective Black Male Teacher Candidate With An Undisclosed Disability At A Historically Black College And University, Julius Davis, Lynne Long, Sarah Green, Yvonne M. Crawford, Jeannette Blackwood

Journal of Research Initiatives

As scholarship of Black male collegians is growing, there is limited research attentive to Black males with disabilities and in teacher education programs. The research focused on pre-service Black male teachers with disabilities attending HBCUs and the federal laws impacting their education and supports is absent. This research study fills the void by examining the individual experiences of a Black male pre-service teacher with a disability attending an HBCU. The research team used Black males with disability theory and single-subject case study methodology to describe Christopher “CJ” Jackson’s journey navigating his program of study as an English education major. Four …

Experiential Learning In Teacher Education: Increasing Awareness Of Diversity Through The Immersion Experience, Nadine Dolby, Jubin Rahatzad

Experiential Learning & Teaching in Higher Education

Sixty-four years after the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education decision, schools, neighborhoods, and communities in the United States remain largely segregated by race and class. As a result, many incoming students arrive on college and university campuses with limited exposure to people from a wide array of backgrounds and identities. In this article, we examine how students enrolled in an undergraduate teacher education course, Multiculturalism and Education, learned from and reflected on an experiential learning assignment. The assignment, called “Immersion Experience,” required them to have a brief experience in a cultural context that is different from their own. Through …

Becoming A Math Teacher- Recruitment, Preparation, And Practice, Dena Sexton

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

One of the prevailing concerns in education is student access to well-qualified teachers. This concern is particularly acute in the case of California math students where one of out of every six teaching in high minority middle and high schools is considered under-prepared, compared to one of twenty in high-achieving schools. Math, as a content area in schools, is often considered a gatekeeper subject. Limited access to qualified teachers only adds to America’s already inequitable social stratification. As a potential barrier to higher education and employment, school math – and those who teach it -- play critical roles in the …

The Bellringer Sequence: Investigating What And How Preservice Mathematics Teachers Learn Through Pedagogies Of Enactment, Mary A. Ochieng

Dissertations

This study examines preservice teacher learning through pedagogies of enactment—approaches to teacher education that allow preservice teachers to learn by doing what teachers do. Preservice teacher (PST) learning is examined through the implementation of the Bellringer Sequence (BRS), a pedagogy of enactment conceptualized in the study. The BRS is centered around bellringers—brief mathematical tasks implemented as students arrive for class. The BRS is a sequence of four activities centered on a bellringer: preparation (for teaching a bellringer) implementation (of the bellringer with peers), debriefing (discussing the implementation as colleagues), and written reflection (about the effectiveness of the bellringer).

Practice-based approaches …

Becoming A Math Teacher- Recruitment, Preparation, And Practice, Dena Sexton

Dena Sexton

Making Learners: A Framework For Evaluating Making In Stem Education, Jill A. Marshall, Jason R. Harron

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning

The maker movement has strong connections to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) as well as art and crafts, but the goals of making are not in perfect alignment with any of these disciplines. Within the problem-based paradigm, however, there is room to incorporate making as situated STEM learning, even in formal, standards-based educational settings. We report on a framework for making in STEM education and describe a rubric for assessing the presence of the essential elements of making within STEM instruction. We present examples of the application of the rubric in a STEM teacher education course.

Tinkering With Logo In An Elementary Mathematics Methods Course, Keri Duncan Valentine

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning

With an increased push to integrate coding and computational literacy in K–12 learning environments, teacher educators will need to consider ways they might support preservice teachers (PSTs). This paper details a tinkering approach used to engage PSTs in thinking computationally as they worked with geometric concepts they will be expected to teach in K–5. Experiences programming in Logo to construct authentic artifacts in the form of two-dimensional geometric graphics not only supported PSTs’ understanding of core geometric and spatial concepts, but also helped them to make connections between mathematics and computational literacy. Artifacts and discourse are discussed as they relate …

An Alternative Pathway To Elementary Teaching, Lotta Larson, Tom Vontz

Educational Considerations

This article describes an alternative pathway to elementary teaching through the MAT online program at Kansas State University.

Teacher Candidate Psychological Insight And Capacity For Change: Developing A Professional Identity, Richard Bradley Coats

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Research in the field of teacher education has recently found that the formation of teacher candidate’s sense of professional identity is an integral part of their development as a future educator, yet few programs explicitly address it (Beauchamp & Thomas, 2009). The purpose of this study was to examine teacher candidates’ ability to reflect on self and others, and the influence of psychological insight on the development of a professional identity. The study took place in the Pacific Northwest at an accredited university in the Northern Rocky Mountain region. The six participants selected for this study were undergraduate Elementary Education …

The Effects Of A Peer-Supported Mindfulness Practice On Teacher Stress Reduction, Dana Vitolo

Masters of Arts in Education Action Research Papers

The purpose of this action research project was to measure the effects of daily mindfulness practice with peer-support on teacher stress reduction. Nine female Montessori teachers participated in study and taught at private Montessori schools in suburban or rural settings. The participating teachers practiced a short mindfulness activity daily such as the body scan, sitting meditation, yoga, or mandala coloring and wrote reflections in their daily journal for four weeks. The teachers also participated in a weekly peer support group for community building and wrote reflections in their weekly journal. The teachers participated in a pre- and post- intervention stress …

Making Connections: Evaluation Of A Professional Development Program For Teachers Focused On Stem Integration, Judy Lambert, Carmen Cioc, Sorin Cioc, Dawn Sandt

Journal of STEM Teacher Education

This article reports on a 2-year evaluation of a STEM integration professional development (PD) program for 40 math, science, and special education teachers in Grades 5–9 from a large Midwestern public school district. The National Research Council’s framework for integrated STEM education (Honey, Pearson, & Schweingruber, 2014) was used to explain the goals, outcomes, nature and scope, and implementation of the program. Teachers were measured on their growth in STEM content knowledge, technology integration, teaching confidence, pedagogical beliefs, and impact of PD. Increases resulted in all these areas with statistically significant improvements in most of them, particularly in Year 2. …

Does Seeing Matter? Exploring Pre-Service Teachers’ Use Of Self-Video As A Tool For Self-Reflection In The Study Of Their Own Practice, Lynn Navin

Dissertations

The use of video for teacher learning is a useful tool to support reflection and self-analysis. Video records have been successful in supporting teachers in learning to notice student thinking, a strong component in instructional expertise. The use of video provides permanent records of classroom lessons that can be viewed repeatedly (Sherin, 2001, 2007; van Es & Sherin, 2002, 2008.) It allows deep engagement and collaborative learning. Including the use of video in teacher preparation courses has successfully contributed to increasing pre-service teachers’ attending and analyzing skills, necessary components of professional vision, (Santagata & Guarani, 2011; Stürmer, Könings, & Seidel, …

Impacts Of Cohort Membership On Teacher Candidates In An Alternative Certification Program, Katherine Eaton

Dissertations

Post baccalaureate teacher education programs are an effective way to increase the teaching pool with candidates who are content experts (Beijaard et al. 2004; Brantlinger, A., & Smith, B., 2013; Zeichner, K. M., & Schulte, A. K., 2001; Schultz, K., & Ravitch, S. M. 2013; Humphrey et al., 2008). Many of these programs utilize a cohort model design where students progress through the program together as a group (Maher, M. A. 2005; Jorissen, K. T., 2002; Ross et al., 2006; Mandzuk, D. et al., 2005). In his book, Deep Knowledge (2013), Larkin describes the complex nature of preparing candidates for …