Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Does Involuntary Mental Time Travel Make Sense In Prospective Teachers’ Feelings And Behaviors During Lessons?, Altay Eren, Amanda Yesilbursa

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This study examined the effects of involuntary mental time travel into the past and into the future on prospective teachers’ feelings and behaviors during the period of a class hour. A total of 110 prospective teachers participated voluntarily in the study. The results of the present study showed that (a) the involuntary mental time travel into the past and into the future occurred in the classrooms even during the period of a class hour; (b) both involuntary memories/future images were significantly discernible in terms of their characteristics; (c) the characteristics of the participants’ feelings and behavior following the involuntary memories/future …

Personality Types Of Hong Kong Kindergarten Teachers: Implications For Teacher Education, Yau-Ho Paul Wong, Zhang Li-Fang

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

While an individual’s personality is related to his or her well-being, little research has examined kindergarten teachers’ personality. This research was the first to investigate Hong Kong kindergarten teachers’ personality types using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Three hundred and seventy-one kindergarten teachers voluntarily responded to the MBTI. Findings showed that Hong Kong kindergarten teachers were predominantly of the sensing-feeling-judging personality types, characterized by being realistic, conventional, and considerate to others’ feelings. In addition, principals and head teachers in kindergartens tended to be extraverted. Results also suggested a very low percentage of intuitive kindergarten teachers, indicating that teachers’ personality types …

A Case Study Of Bilingual Student-Teachers’ Classroom English: Applying The Education-Linguistic Model, Jinghe Han, Jun Yao

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper explores the practicum experience of a group of bilingual student-teachers who taught Chinese using English to learners of Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) in Western Sydney schools. Specifically it explores how these student-teachers used English as the instructional language in class and what strengths and weaknesses they demonstrated compared to their host teachers. Data were collected through observing and audio-recording the participants’ teaching, aiming to capture the actual features of their English use in class. The data were structurally-coded employing the ELM categories. Discourse analysis was employed to interpret and understand the language use of the bilingual …

The Field Experiences Of Student Teachers And Effective Mathematics Teaching In Turkey, Guney Haciomeroglu

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The aim of this study was to investigate the cooperative teachers’ supervision for effective mathematics teaching from the perspective of elementary student teachers during their field experiences. The participants were 259 senior elementary education majors (189 female and 70 male) who were enrolled in practicum courses at a Turkish university. Results of the study revealed that cooperative teachers as a supervisor seemed to be deficient for interacting with student teachers as well as assisting them to develop critical point of views for teaching mathematics effectively. The study suggests that faculty-school partnership should be reconsidered for selection and professional development of …

Raise Awareness--Raise Confidence: Culturally Responsive Instruction For School Library Candidates, Bridget Kratt, Courtney Pentland

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

As the number of diverse and underserved student populations in our schools increases, it is imperative that school librarians create an environment where all students, regardless of cultural and linguistic background, are welcomed, feel supported, and are afforded authentic opportunities for learning.

In the library science education programs at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, we recognize the need to include a formal culturally responsive teaching component in our coursework, and have made a concerted effort to raise our candidates· confidence levels as culturally responsive educators by raising their awareness of culturally responsive teaching practices. In the UNO library …

Multicultural Dispositions: A Viable Tool For Teacher Training, Franklin Titus Thompson

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

The practice of assessing the dispositions of pre-service educators has gained increasing attention among institutions of teacher preparation. Current debate often centers on the needs and views of P-12 children, researchers, and policy makers, at the expense of a forgotten voice—teacher candidates. In particular, this study examines the multicultural portion of the larger dispositional debate. Education majors (N=420) from a Midwestern metropolitan university were asked to rate the viability of 13 selected multicultural dispositions as a training tool. Utilizing a 9-point Likert Scale, respondents gave strong support for multicultural dispositions not only during the posttest (M=8.38) but also the pretest …

Letters Of Recommendation: Honesty Remains The Best Policy, Charles J. Russo

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

Amid concerns over teacher sexual abuse and other misconduct involving students— although involving a very small percentage of educators—boards should strengthen their policies for evaluating the qualifications of potential teachers, including those with experience, by requesting letters of recommendation after they complete initial state-mandated criminal background checks.

As crucial as letters of recommendation are in the hiring process, litigation demonstrates that some education leaders fail in their duty to safeguard children from sexual predators. Cases arose when officials provided undeserved positive reference letters for teachers who engaged in sexual misconduct with students—teachers who moved on to other school systems where …

Associations Between Teacher Emotional Support And Depressive Symptoms In Australian Adolescents: A 5-Year Longitudinal Study, Patrick Pössel, Kathleen Moritz Rudasill, Michael G. Sawyer, Susan H. Spence, Annie C. Bjerg

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Approximately 1/5 of adolescents develop depressive symptoms. Given that youths spend a good deal of their lives at school, it seems plausible that supportive relationships with teachers could benefit their emotional well-being. Thus, the purpose of this study is to examine the association between emotionally supportive teacher relationships and depression in adolescence. The so-called principle-effect and stress-buffer models could explain relationships between teacher emotional support and depressive symptoms, yet no study has used both models to test bidirectional relationships between teacher support and depressive symptoms in students separately by sex. Four-thousand three-hundred forty-one students (boys: n = 2,063; girls: n …

Pre-Service Mathematic Teachers’ Knowledge Of Students About The Algebraic Concepts, Dilek Tanisli, Nilüfer Yavuzsoy Kose

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This study aims at evaluating pre-service primary school mathematics teachers’ ability to discuss and question thinking processes of students about the concepts of variable, equality and equation, analyzing their ability to predict student difficulties and misconceptions, and in this respect presenting their subject matter knowledge and possible misconceptions on the related topic. The study was conducted with 130 the pre-service teachers in their fourth year studying elementary school mathematics teaching. The data were collected through a questionnaire that consists of open-ended questions and clinical interviews. The data obtained were analyzed qualitatively. The study found that in general the pre-service teachers …

The Effectiveness Of Protocols When Pre-Service Teachers Engage In Online Collaborations: An Exploration, (Ron) Kim Keamy, Mark Selkrig

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Graduate teachers in Australia are expected to engage with their peers to expand their professional learning. Learning to use protocols – or structured professional conversations – provides pre-service teachers with opportunities to achieve this expectation. In this paper we explain how pre-service teachers during an extended practicum used protocols to participate in synchronous online discussions using the Blackboard Collaborate learning platform. The pre-service teachers were surveyed about aspects of the protocols and the platform on which the interactions occurred. Protocols appear to be well-suited to assisting synchronous discussions using Web 2 technologies as they ensure everyone has equal time to …

Indigenous Students’ Wellbeing And The Mobilisation Of Ethics Of Care In The Contact Zone, Bindi Mary Macgill, Faye Blanch

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Schools have historically been a location of oppression for Indigenous students in Australian schools. Giroux (1992, p. 24) argues it is critical to create a democratic space inside schools and Aboriginal Community Education Officers (henceforward ACEOs) have been employed to achieve this goal. This paper explores the processes of democratising the school space by ACEOs through an Indigenous ethics of care framework. The enactment of Indigenous ethics of care between ACEOs and Indigenous students will be explored, with a particular focus on the use of the Nunga[1] room (Blanch, 2009, p. 66) as a ‘safe-house’ (Pratt, 1991). Pratt uses …

At The Gate Of Discovery, Jan Nordgreen

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

This is the story of how a mathematical problem was discovered. Although it was never solved, it gave great joy to the discoverer.

Perceived Professional Development Needs Of Idaho Secondary Career And Technical Education Teachers: Program Management, John G. Cannon, Karl Allen Kitchel, Dennis W. Duncan

Online Journal for Workforce Education and Development

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceived professional development needs of Idaho secondary career and technical education teachers for a set of non-instructional competencies specifically associated with duties related to program management. The population of this study consisted of CTE teachers employed by Idaho secondary schools (N=725). Sixty-one percent (n=446) of the population participated in the study. The findings indicated that the top five perceived in-service training areas for the program management construct, as identified by a mean weighted discrepancy score (MWDS) ranking, to be “Grant writing & funding opportunities”; “Understanding federal (Perkins), state, and local funding”; …

The Dominican Big History Summer Institute: A Story Of Collective Learning, Mojgan Behmand

Collected Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Working The System: A Model For System-Wide Change In Pre-Service Teacher Education, Jo-Anne Ferreira, Lisa Ryan

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper reports on a study undertaken to identify the strategies and models used to facilitate curriculum change within teacher education institutions. Findings indicate three main approaches, which we name the ‘resource development’, ‘action research’ and ‘contextual change’ models. A new model that combines the best features of each is proposed. In this paper we provide a brief overview of the three models, a rationale for the new model being proposed, and a discussion of the systems theory concepts underpinning the model. It is our contention that the Mainstreaming Change model provides a structure for change to occur simultaneously at …

Min-Lin Lo Tssa Winter 2013, Min-Lin Lo

Teaching Skills Study Awards (TSSA) Reports

Enhances faculty's teaching by attending a conference devoted to university teaching, a high-impact practice, evidence-based practice or a newly developing teaching practice.

Professional Development In Cte Data Driven Methods: Development Of A Research-Based Intervention, John Foster, Carol L. Hodes, Patricia Kelley, Sandra Pritz

Online Journal for Workforce Education and Development

An initial survey conducted by the authors in 2009 determined the amount and type of preparation career technical educators (CTE) had regarding the use of assessment data for program and instructional improvement; this survey was the basis for development of an intervention for teachers on interpretation of assessment data for improvement of classroom instruction. The intervention, titled Career and Technical Educators Using a Data Driven Improvement Model or CTEDDI, was developed and successfully piloted in five states during spring semester 2010; the results of the pilot study have been used to revise the materials and process to produce a professional …

Karen Rowan Tssa Winter 2012, Karen Rowan

Teaching Skills Study Awards (TSSA) Reports

Enhances faculty's teaching by attending a conference devoted to university teaching, a high-impact practice, evidence-based practice or a newly developing teaching practice.

Education Under China’S Market Economy: A Case Study Of Urban And Rural Teachers In Hunan Province, Qing Li

Comparative and International Education / Éducation Comparée et Internationale

The purpose of this article to investigate the working and living conditions of teachers under China’s market economy, with a focus on urban and rural schools. This paper is a case study of teachers in Hunan province, representing Central China. A total of eighteen teachers in seven different schools participated in the study.

The analysis of data shows that teachers experience change of teaching as reflected in the shift to learner-centred approaches, as well as changes of curriculum, textbooks and teacher evaluation. Under market economy, Chinese educational system still possesses urban rural inequalities, for the same or different reasons. The …

Teaching In Northwestern China Under A Market Economy: Opportunities And Challenges, Gulbahar H. Beckett

Comparative and International Education / Éducation Comparée et Internationale

This article discusses a case study that explored the impacts of a market economy on some Northwestern Chinese teachers’ working and living conditions as well as opportunities and challenges the new economy presented from teachers’ perspectives. Analysis of surveys, interviews, and documents revealed that the participants believed they had benefited from the market economy, citing pay raises as well as improved working and living conditions. Participants thought opportunities under the market economy included additional earnings as well as improved national and international professional development. However, the participants found the shift from the traditional teacher-centered pedagogy to a more student-centered approach …