Education Commons^™

Full Issue: Journal On Empowering Teaching Excellence, Volume 8, Issue 1, Spring 2024

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

The full-length Spring 2024 issue (Volume 8, Issue 1) of the Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Access the online Pressbooks version (with downloadable EPUB format) here.

The Spring 2024 issue presents research and commentary on trends and best practices in higher education, with a focus on public policy implications for literacy instruction, adjusting instructional programs to Generation Z learning preferences in English courses, and increasing students' critical thinking and self-reported ability through an interrupted case study approach.

A Roadmap For Trauma-Informed Practice Integration In Teacher Preparation Content, Kathryn S. Young, Ofelia Castro Schepers

Journal of Educational Research and Innovation

With the continued interest in trauma-informed practice (TIP) knowledge at the P-12 level, it has become imperative to consider the role of teacher preparation programs in providing this crucial knowledge to preservice educators. The TIP program at Mountain U (pseudonym) School of Education (SOE) is working to increase the current TIP knowledge of preservice teachers so that they are ready to implement TIP from the beginning of their careers. This paper adds to the trauma-informed literature in teacher preparation by describing the TIP initiative at Mountain U. It provides a roadmap for schools and departments that want to undertake this …

Pre-Service Training On Media Education For Teachers At Czech Universities, Karolína Mackenzie

Journal of Media Literacy Education

The study shows the content of future teachers’ education and their needs to teach media education in their future practice. The preparation of future teachers within the faculties of education varies considerably across Europe, as does the level of teaching in primary and secondary schools. In the Czech Republic, media education is a cross-cutting topic in primary and some types of secondary schools and is rather rarely found in the university training of future teachers. The research shows the areas in which future teachers were prepared in their teacher training, their sense of readiness to teach and their needs in …

Full Issue: Journal On Empowering Teaching Excellence, Volume 7, Issue 2, Fall 2023

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

The full-length Fall 2023 issue (Volume 7, Issue 2) of the Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Access the online Pressbooks version (with downloadable EPUB format) here.

The Fall 2023 issue presents research and guidance on topics related to educational adaptation. The first article by C. Farrell describes an adaptation of the interteaching method to the hybrid delivery method. The second article by C. C. Loose and R. Jagielo-Manion describes a study of modules on personalized learning to preservice teachers and its impact on their comfort level and preparation to implement personalized learning in their classrooms. The third article by B. …

“I Changed My Mind”: Exploring Why College Students Change Majors To Become Teachers, Ross Bussell

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

While teacher education programs have long studied what draws students to choose a career in teaching, a less studied aspect of teacher candidates relates to students who change majors to become teachers. As a phenomenon that is common in teacher preparation, I am interested in better understanding why this happens. This article centers around six participants who began college choosing a science major, changing their course of study after at least one full year. Through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, a discussion of what led the participants to change majors, what they were looking for when deciding to become teachers, and …

Developing Horizontal Expertise With Professional Learning Communities In Social Studies Teacher Preparation, Charles Tocci, Ann Marie Ryan

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

As teacher education programs become increasingly organized around accreditation and licensure standards, finding opportunities to be responsive to teacher candidates' needs and interests has become more difficult. This paper traces the evolution of a professional learning community for secondary social studies teacher candidates as a key feature of one teacher education program and analyzes the collaborative projects designed for the purpose of developing horizontal expertise. We find that professional learning communities can serve as dynamic spaces to co-construct learning experiences with candidates in ways that prepare them for future professional learning as practicing social studies teachers.

Using Controversial Or Difficult Topics In The Classroom As A Means For Civil Discourse: Are Pre-Service Teachers In Tennessee And Three Of Its Neighboring States Prepared And Confident?, Stacie Shanks

Ed.D. Dissertations

Sixty percent of college freshmen entering American colleges and universities were unprepared for college level discussion and analytical skills. Though the many researchers I detailed in the literature review showed how effective the use of controversial or difficult topics in the classroom as a means for civil discourse was for imparting the missing skills, they also found teachers largely avoided them. The purpose of this basic interpretive qualitative study was to investigate if pre-service teachers training at public colleges in Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky, and North Carolina were given the opportunity to learn the pedagogy of and practice using controversial or …

Instruction, Identity, And Inclusivity: What Can Teacher Preparation Programs Learn From Gay Male Teachers In The South, Joseph R. Jones

Taboo: The Journal of Culture and Education

Abstract: In this article, the author discusses a qualitative research study that examined southern gay male teachers’ beliefs about the intersectionality of sexuality, gender identity, and pedagogy in secondary classrooms. For this discussion, three important themes emerged from the data analysis: instruction, identity, and inclusivity. The study utilized individual unstructured interviews, unstructured focus group interviews, classroom observations with field notes, and a research journal. The findings offer suggestions for teacher preparation programs to consider when preparing teacher candidates for the profession.

What Does Written Reflection Reveal About Novice Teachers’ Knowledge, Beliefs, And Skills Related To Literacy Assessment?, Erin K. Washburn, Abby Pierce, Chyllis E. Scott, Carly Waters

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Assessment of literacy learning has been a long-standing focus for future teachers in elementary education. Teacher educators use ongoing written reflection to promote learning before, during, and after coursework and field experiences. In this study, the researchers examined the effects of ongoing written reflection on two groups of novice teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, and skills about literacy assessment in a semester-long graduate-level literacy assessment course with embedded fieldwork. First, the researchers conducted qualitative and descriptive analyses to examine what novice teachers reflected about in their ongoing written reflections. Second, they conducted comparative analyses to examine the extent to which the two …

How Prepared Are Educators To Work With Students Of Color, Ja're Thorn

Dissertations

From what I have experienced, there has been a lack of preparation when it comes to preparing educators to work with students of color. This research aimed to explore the importance of early childhood teachers’ cultural preparation programs when it comes to working effectively with students of color. Most of the time, teachers teach to the common core standards set in place by the state. They also implement a curriculum that is considered “best practices” for students instead of paying attention to and considering the individual student’s specific culture, family, and community values and ways of life before planning (Spies, …

Using Multimodal Virtual Instruction To Build Preservice Teachers' Knowledge Of Dyslexia, Susan J. Chambre, Molly K. Ness

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

Increasing awareness about screening and instructional interventions for students with dyslexia is a necessary component of P-12 teacher preparation. Disparities in reading achievement for students with disabilities, including those with dyslexia, is evidenced in lower literacy testing scores as well as lower high school graduation rates for those with documented disabilities when compared to typical developing peers. Preservice teachers, however, continue to struggle with understanding, identifying, and providing targeted literacy instruction to remediate reading challenges for students with dyslexia. Emerging data on the impact of the COVID-19 school closures on lags in student’s reading attainment, further solidifies the need for …

Examining Elementary Teacher Perceptions And Experiences Of Transitioning From Knowledge-Based To Inquiry-Based Social Studies Standards, Benjamin Stephen Pinnick

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Elementary educators are responsible for the earliest years of student learning in a public setting. The amount of content students are expected to master continues to grow in scope, and the methods that are utilized shift to align with educational research and social momentum. After a decade of Common Core policies, social studies education in elementary schools has become a deemphasized subject. Reading and math, as well as science, have taken a greater precedence in today’s classrooms.

Yet, expectations for the creation of knowledgeable and participatory citizens continue to serve as a goal in elementary schools. Conceptualization of citizenship form …

“What Does Learning Sound Like?”: Reverberations, Curriculum Studies, And Teacher Preparation, Boni Wozolek

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

Using a project given to undergraduate students in a foundations of education course, this paper thinks through the assignment title, “What does learning sound like?” to explore the nexus of sound studies in education and curriculum studies. The central argument of this paper is that thinking through sound can be but one way for students to think through the forms of curriculum while examining their own bias in terms of Western privileging of the ocular.

Exploring The Purdue Teacher Education Program: Focus On Diversity, Equity, And Social Justice, Julia Pirrello

The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research

During this time of heightened awareness of social injustices via Black Lives Matter protests, the #MeToo movement, and the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to ensure that teacher preparation curriculum includes attention to knowledge and skills related to social justice issues in education. Th e purpose of this study was to investigate the ways in which social justice, diversity, and equity are addressed in the foundational courses of the Purdue Teacher Education Program (PTEP). McDonald (2005) proposed a framework in which social justice is integrated across all experiences (e.g., courses, activities, clinical placements) in a teacher education program. In an …

A Primer For Incorporating Pre-Service Co-Teaching Into Teacher Residencies, Prepared To Teach, Bank Street College

Prepared to Teach

Pre-Service co-teaching – where teacher candidates engage as co-teachers during student teaching – is a strong instructional model, especially when combined with yearlong teacher residencies. This brief features a combination of resources, ideas, and activities that can help your preparation program/school district partnership create a shared understanding of pre-service co-teaching.

What Counts As Rigor When Rigor Counts?: Increasing Intentionality In Teacher Education, Derek Riddle, Chyllis E. Scott, Leann G. Putney

Taboo: The Journal of Culture and Education

Debates regarding the effectiveness of teacher preparation programs continue to persist. The level of rigor in teacher preparation programs and the ability of teacher educators to prepare candidates for the challenges persist in the educational climate. In higher education, rigor has been well-defined, but the understanding is limited, specifically rigor in preparing new teachers. This study undertook a telling case approach to explore student and faculty perceptions of rigor in a teacher preparation course. This research “leans in” to the criticism of rigor by exploring how teacher preparation programs can match the rigor and demands of the profession and to …

Restorative Pedagogies In Primary And Secondary Education: A Review Of Selected Literature, Gwynn Alexander

School of Leadership and Education Sciences: Student Scholarship

Purpose

Restorative justice is a philosophy and set of practices aimed toward centering student well-being and positive social relationships in the classroom. Restorative pedagogies offer an approach to teaching/learning that seeks to remedy persistent patterns of punitive and exclusionary school-based practices.

Design, Methodology, and Approach

In this literature review, I employ a constructivist grounded theory approach to first define restorative pedagogies, then offer key themes that emerged across the body of literature. I introduce key foundational texts with a focus on the proliferation of research in the last decade. Lastly, I present critiques and limitations in the body of literature …

“Sometimes I Do This Thing”: Exploring Preservice Teachers’ Knowledge And Beliefs About Reading Instruction, Sherridon Leigh Sweeney

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Prior research has established preservice literacy teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning are often misguided and/or overly-simplistic, yet limited work has examined in what ways their in-the-moment teaching decisions align or misalign with what they believe. This qualitative study used deductive analysis methods to: (1) Identify three preservice teachers’ knowledge/beliefs about reading, reading instruction, and learning, as evidenced by their planning, reflecting, and in-the-moment teaching decisions, and (2) investigate if/how participants’ knowledge/beliefs manifested across multiple teaching experiences. Findings indicate that while participants made attempts to act on professional ideas they explored/practiced with the support of a university-based mentor, they taught …

Preparing Middle Grades Candidates For Edtpa In Uncertain Times, Holly H. Pinter, David C. Virtue

Current Issues in Middle Level Education

Teacher candidates in North Carolina must earn a passing score on the edTPA assessment to get certified. The middle grades education program at Western Carolina University integrates aspects of the edTPA assessment throughout pre-student teaching coursework and field experiences to prepare candidates for this high-stakes assessment. Some of the edTPA practice assignments serve as key assessments that help the middle grades program faculty evaluate the program and make decisions about curriculum. The pivot to remote and blended learning formats on campus and in partner middle level schools affected the implementation of the edTPA-related assignments. The authors share some of the …

Engaging Pre-Service Teachers In Interactive Social Justice-Themed Read-Alouds, Kayln Hoppe

Educational Considerations

This qualitative case study explored how pre-service teachers responded to social justice-themed picture book read-alouds in an undergraduate literacy course. Data were collected from personal observations, semi-structured focus group interviews, and student work, and were analyzed using inductive analysis. Findings indicate how reading multicultural literature aloud plays an important role in post-secondary students’ content understanding and preparation for a career in teaching. This case study may inspire teacher educators to incorporate multicultural read-alouds into higher education coursework.

Review Of Teaching In Rural Places: Thriving In Rural Classrooms, Schools, And Communities, Rachelle Kuehl

Virginia English Journal

This is a book review of Teaching in Rural Places: Thriving in Classrooms, Schools, and Communities, a first-of-its-kind textbook geared for preservice teachers interested in teaching successfully in rural schools.

Making It Work! Increasing Collaboration Between Our Special Education And General Education Licensure Programs At Msu Denver, Rebecca L. Canges, Lisa Altemueller, Kara Halley

Journal of Educational Research and Innovation

Teachers have been identified as one of the most important factors in the success of inclusive education. However, many preservice teachers report feeling inadequately prepared for supporting the needs of students with disabilities in their classroom. The following paper presents a detailed look at how one Institution of Higher Education has been working to build a collaborative program so that their preservice elementary and secondary teachers graduate with a higher rate of self-efficacy for teaching students with disabilities in an inclusive classroom.

Novice General Education Teachers’ Perceptions Of Preparedness In U.S. Public Schools: The Impact Of Learning About And Working With Multilingual Students, Lydiah Kananu Kiramba, Qizhen Deng Ph.D., Kara Viesca

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

This study examined perceptions of preparedness among novice general education teachers using 2015/ 16 National Teacher and Principal Survey data. Results show that teachers with training in teaching multilingual learners reported higher perceived preparedness than those without across all five general aspects of teaching (i.e., instructional methods, teaching subject matters, assessing students, differentiating instruction, and using assessment data to inform instruction). Further, teacher preparedness in differentiating instruction was positively associated with the percentage of multilingual learners in a teacher's classroom. Findings suggest that learning to teach multilingual learners supports novice general content teachers to feel more prepared as teachers overall.

Social Justice In The Teacher Education Program Curriculum, Julia Pirrello

The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.

Converging Andragogy With Working Adult Professionalism In Initial Teacher Preparation, Michelle Anderson, Stefani Boutelier

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

Educator Preparation Programs (EPPs) are tasked with providing preservice teachers with pedagogical theory, practical field experiences, mentorship, and scaffolded professional dispositions during critical phases of their preparation. In addition, EPPs collaborate with school districts and state departments of education to address critical issues in the field, including teacher retention and shortages. Our research explores how one EPP pilot, designed to build upon experience, supported working adult education students (e.g., parapros) seeking initial teacher certification. We sought to understand how adult teacher candidates engaged in professional learning and emergent professional relationships. Our qualitative study examined the experience of the first cohort …

Review Of Collaborative Learning Communities In Middle School Literacy Education: Increasing Student Engagement With Authentic Literacy By Jolene T. Malavasic, Maryann Dunn

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

No abstract provided.

Using Esser Funds To Support Teacher Residencies, Prepared To Teach, Bank Street College

Prepared to Teach

This document details the opportunity that Local Education Agencies (LEAs) have to leverage Elementary and Secondary Emergency Relief Funds (ESSER) to develop teacher residency programs at their school sites. It is not only allowable, but also advisable under Federal guidance that these funds can support teacher candidates working for a full year, co-teaching within classrooms with accomplished mentor teachers, helping lead to a more diverse teacher workforce, reducing teacher turnover, and improving instructional outcomes.

Let’S Talk About It: Bridging The Gap Between Diverse Students And Their White Teachers, Beth Dean Boring Shoff

Theses and Dissertations

The achievement gap is a notorious construct of 21st-century schools and refers to the achievement of marginalized groups as compared to their White counterparts. This qualitative action research studied this phenomenon in a small, suburban school district experiencing shifting demographics by analyzing educators’ perceptions and attitudes for multicultural education and culture-centered themes. Survey responses and interview data were coded using Banks’s five dimensions of multicultural education (content integration, knowledge construction, equity pedagogy, prejudice reduction, and empowering school culture) to frame professional learning opportunities for White, middle-class educators. Additionally, emergent themes were identified that impact the achievement gap in this setting: …

Full Issue: Journal On Empowering Teaching Excellence, Volume 5, Issue 1, Spring 2021

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

The full Spring 2021 issue (Volume 5, Issue 1) of the Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Student Reflections On Study Abroad: A Collective Case Study Exploring The Experiences Of Pre-Service Teachers During An International Student Teaching Program, Holly D. Hutton

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As classrooms in the United States grow more culturally and linguistically diverse, schools of education are challenged to prepare more culturally responsive, globally minded educators. International student teaching (IST) programs provide a unique opportunity for pre-service teachers to develop cultural competencies in a global context. However, in order for these programs to effectively meet ambitious global and intercultural learning objectives, multiple curricular and programmatic components must be considered, and on-going research exploring individual student experiences must be conducted.

The present collective case study explored the experiences of five, pre-service teachers during a semester-long, IST program at Florida International University. A …