Secondary Education and Teaching Commons^™

Preservice Teachers’ Perceptions And Knowledge Of Response To Intervention/Multitiered Systems Of Support, Alexandra J. Taylor, Tommy Wells, Amy E. Lein

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

There has been considerable research that establishes the need to improve teachers’ knowledge of and ability to effectively implement response to intervention (RtI)/multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS), and there is a scarcity of research examining interventions addressing these concerns. In a mixed methods study, we examined the perceptions and knowledge of the RtI/MTSS frameworks of undergraduate preservice teaching candidates enrolled in a dual certification program at a small, private Catholic university in Kentucky, before and after participating in a semester-long, experiential learning project. The project involved monitoring both the reading and mathematics progress of struggling elementary or middle school-aged students …

Aboriginal Community-Led Preservice Teacher Education: Learning From Country In The City, Katrina Thorpe, Cathie Burgess, Suzanne Egan

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In Australia it is well documented that teachers continue to struggle with implementing Aboriginal content, pedagogies and engaging with Aboriginal communities. This paper describes a research project analysing place-based learning for preservice teachers at an urban university led by Aboriginal community members. We argue that place-based learning is critical in developing preservice teacher’s knowledge and confidence in Aboriginal education. Surveys, individual and group yarns provided in-depth data from 64 participants completing elective courses including place-based ‘Learning from Country’ (LFC) experiences. Three key findings emerge from the data. Firstly, the utility of an experiential ‘learning by doing’ approach, secondly, the profound …

The Dimensions Of Teachers Who Write And The Essence Of A Writing Life, Shari L. Daniels, Pamela Beck

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

The purpose of this grounded theory case study was to explore the perceptions among ten K-12 teachers who teach writing and also write themselves. What are the key essentials for teachers to sustain a writing life? What habits of mind or attitudes are necessary for teachers to sustain a writing life? Interviews served as the primary data source along with writing artifacts from the participants’ own writing life. Findings indicate that teacher-writers committed to a writing life do so for the purpose of 1) discovering meaning, 2) connections to others 3) commitment to learning and 4) well-being, with an overall …

The Value Of Conflict And Disagreement In Democratic Teacher Education, Kiel F. Harell

Democracy and Education

Deliberative democracy surfaces disagreements so that people holding conflicting stances understand each other’s reasons for the purpose of decision-making. Democratic education approaches should provide students with the opportunity to learn and practice how to address conflict in the collective decision-making process. In this paper, I examine the Foxfire Course for Teachers, a professional development retreat in which teachers learn to practice democratic teaching by themselves experiencing democratic decision-making. In particular, a series of disagreements among course participants is analyzed in detail to understand the learning that resulted and the conditions that supported that learning. As a result of this experiential …

Navigating The Challenges Of Becoming A Culturally Responsive Teacher: Supportive Networking May Be The Key, Nina L. Nilsson Ph.D., Ailing Kong Ph.D., Shantel Hubert

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Research shows graduates of teacher education programs do not always transfer, or apply, the best practices they learn to instructional practice due to factors related to course features, the student, and workplace environment (e.g., Brown & Bentley, 2004; de Jong et al., 2010). This study examined the challenges a secondary-level English teacher in the United States encountered when she attempted to implement culturally responsive teaching practices she learned from a graduate course to her class with ELLs. Findings indicate she faced strategy- and language-related challenges due to student culture and school environment factors (“external challenges”), as well as her own …

Teacher Education And Experiential Learning: A Visual Ethnography, Maureen F. Legge, Wayne Smith

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Abstract: This article reports research that critically examined our teacher education outdoor education pedagogy. The purpose was to use visual ethnography to critique our teaching over twenty years of annual five-day bush-based residential camps. The bush camps were situated in an outdoor education programme contributing to a four-year undergraduate teacher education Bachelor of Physical Education in Aotearoa New Zealand. The research method involved photo-elicitation of selected photographs representing students’ experiences and our practices. We each wrote about the photographs using introspection and recall to create a layered narrative analysis reflecting on the educative focus of the images. We responded to …

An Ethnographic Approach To The Initial Professional Education Of Teachers, K. J. Stevens

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Educational ethnography has become part of the research tradition of both sociology and anthropology, that is, "research on and in educational institutions based on participant observation and/or permanent recordings of everyday life in naturally-occurring settings" (Delamont & Atkinson, 1980). While most graduate students of education will today be familiar with ethnographic research, this paper outlines a way in which first year students can also make creative use of some aspects of this approach.

During their professional education, pre-service teachers are expected to make the transition from the status of student to that of teacher. For some this is an abrupt …