Education Commons^™

Enhancing Teacher-Child Interactions: A Pilot Study Using Focal Child Data, Kaitlin Noel Bargreen

Doctoral Dissertations

Research suggests that teacher-child interactions in early childhood classrooms are an essential element to high quality programs and child outcomes. With the increase in state funded pre-kindergarten classrooms across the nation and the growing concentration on academic content for young children, careful attention is needed to children’s social-emotional development. Research suggests that it is a strong social emotional foundation that contributes to children’s successful transition into their elementary school years. Therefore, the purpose of this mixed method study was to pilot the use of focal child data as a professional development tool for pre-kindergarten teachers to examine teacher-child interactions. Studying …

Developing Mathematical Content Knowledge For Teaching Elementary School Mathematics, Eva Thanheiser, Christine A. Browning, Meg Moss, Tad Watanabe, Gina Garza-Kling

Faculty and Research Publications

In this paper the authors present three design principles they use to develop preservice teachers' mathematical content knowledge for teaching in their mathematics content and/or methods courses: (1) building on currently held conceptions, (2) modeling teaching for understanding, (3) focusing on connections between content knowledge and other types of knowledge. The authors share results of individual research projects and teaching approaches focusing on helping preservice elementary teachers develop such knowledge. Specific examples from different content areas (whole number, fractions, angle, and area) are discussed.

An Investigation Of The Strategies And Decision-Making Processes Used By Effective Elementary Mathematics Teachers, Rochelle Goldberg Kaplan

NERA Conference Proceedings 2010

This paper describes an investigation on the behavioral and cognitive decision-making processes used by effective elementary mathematics teachers in order to add to the knowledge base in that field and move toward better elementary mathematics teacher preparation, enhancement, and selection. The data collection utilized an observational and interview format for assessing teachers’ planning, implementation, and reflection on a mathematics lesson. Data were collected from 15 teachers in New Jersey and in Israel from a variety of SES and ethnic communities. The scoring systems for coding data are discussed and preliminary hypotheses generated from the data are presented.

Democracy In Teacher Education: Learning From Preservice Teachers’ Understandings And Perspectives, Allen Trent, Jaesik Cho, Francisco Rios, Kerrita Mayfield

Woodring College of Education Faculty Publications

This article provides an overview of a teacher education inquiry project focused on teaching in a democracy. The research was conducted by the faculty in a university educational studies/foundations department (EDST) as they engaged in a curriculum development and implementation project designed to better prepare teachers for democratic participation and teaching. In this context, ongoing curriculum examination and revision and embedded data collection and analysis are utilized as important activities in evolving a curriculum delivered to teacher education candidates.

This article includes an overview of theoretical perspectives that guide and inform teacher education efforts in this department and presents a …

Problematic Conceptualizations: Allies In Teacher Education For Social Justice, Vonzell Agosto

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Faculty Publications

This review of the literature on the concept ally and ally identity development was inspired by a qualitative study exploring the identities and social justice values of prospective teachers of color. Although the participants in the original study never used the term ally, their narratives inspired me to characterize them as allies in the struggle for social justice education. However, a review of the literature on allies, as analyzed through critical race theory and critical discourse analysis, revealed emerging conceptualizations of ally as incongruent with minority identities as they position people of color at the periphery of this social justice …

Teach For Australia Pathway : Evaluation Report Phase 1 Of 3 (April-July 2010), Catherine Scott, Paul R. Weldon, Stephen Dinham

Teacher education

This Report (Part 1) is designed to provide a summary of data gathered on the operation of the Teach for Australia Pathway to date.

Data were collected via site visits with schools and phone interviews with the program partners, the Associates, their mentors, principals and other school personnel, and the Educational Advisers over April through July 2010.

The information gathered to date aims to provide early feedback on how the program is being implemented – to synthesise emerging themes in the delivery of the program and to inform future development and implementation.

The Professional Development Of Pre-K Mentor Teachers: Insights From A Face-To-Face And Online Community Of Practice, Lori Allison Caudle

Doctoral Dissertations

Early childhood classroom mentor teachers are often left with little support and guidance as they assume the role of teacher educators. The purpose of this collective case study was to explore how a community of practice comprised of pre-K mentors and a university program coordinator supported the development of shared and individual understandings about how to effectively supervise preservice teachers. Utilizing key tenets of sociocultural theory, four pre-K mentor teachers from two public schools in the Southeast participated in an online and face-to-face community of practice facilitated by a university program coordinator. The pre-K preservice teachers (n=6) were secondary participants …

Beginning Teachers' Perceptions Of Preparedness: A Teacher Education Program's Transferability And Impact On The Secondary English/Language Arts Classroom, Mary C. Thompson

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Dissertations

In October 2009, United States Secretary of Education Arne Duncan declared in a speech to Columbia University’s Teacher’s College that many university teacher preparation programs are outdated and must undergo major reform in order to produce high quality teachers needed to improve academic achievement for all students (U.S. Department of Education, 2009). Duncan stated that “America’s university-based teacher preparation programs need revolutionary change – not evolutionary tinkering” (U.S. Department of Education, 2009, p.2). To improve student success in the classroom, policy makers must understand the key role well-trained teachers play in achieving this goal (Boyd, Lankford, Clothfelter, Ladd & Vigdor, …

International Study Tours And The Development Of Sociocultural Consciousness In K-12 Teachers, Raymond Yu-Kuang Young

Open Access Dissertations

This research study examined the long-term effects of a professional development study tour to Southeast Asia that took place in 2001. Participants included ten public school teachers from Western Massachusetts, which has a significant population of people of Vietnamese and Cambodian descent. Funded by a Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad grant, the purpose of the study tour was to increase teacher awareness, knowledge and understanding of contemporary Southeast Asia so that they could more effectively address the educational needs of students representing diverse cultural backgrounds, particularly immigrant and refugee youth, through the development of culturally relevant curricula and lesson plans. From …

Pathways To Reflection: Exploring The Reflective Analytical Practices Of Novice Teachers, Emily Hayden

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This mixed methods study explores reflective practices of novice teachers teaching in a University Reading Clinic. Novices’ reflective practices are compared to those of experienced teachers in a pilot study. A theoretical model of novices’ reflective practices is developed and tested. Twenty-three novices wrote structured reflections after each teaching week. Theoretical coding identified six themes: Description, Confidence, Locus of Control, Adaptations, Discourse,Transfer. Graduated scoring and ANOVA explored trends, correlations, effects among themes. Confidence followed a significant linear trend. Adaptations, Discourse, Transfer followed significant quadratic trends. Significant correlations were found between Description-Discourse, Locus of Control-Discourse, Locus of Control-Adaptations, Discourse-Adaptation Slope. Significant …

The Traveling Science Circus: Developing Pre-K Geoscience Educators Through Public Outreach Opportunities, Priscilla Field Skalac

Faculty Scholarship – Geology

As members of the university’s student chapter of the National Science Teachers Association [NSTA], undergraduate teacher candidates with a specific interest in science education have developed a public outreach group: the Traveling Science Circus. Upon request, volunteers from the NSTA chapter provide science learning activities to a variety of groups at no cost.

The Influence Of Assertive Classroom Management Strategy Use On Student-Teacher Pedagogical Skills, Annette Barnabas, Clifford S., Joseph D.

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

This quantitative study examined the influence of teacher-educators’ use of assertive classroom management strategies on English as a foreign language (EFL) student-teacher generic-education and language-teaching skills. Concerns have been voiced that many teachers fail to communicate target skills and information to their students though they possess abundant subject-content and pedagogical-content knowledge. Traditionally, teacher-educators have been concerned with assisting students to grasp a defined body of knowledge through information transmission. Currently, teacher educators face the challenge of assisting student-teachers to learn how to learn so that they can face political, social and economic uncertainties and to become independent lifelong learners. This …

Issues Of Concern Related To Practicum Experiences In Undergraduate Education Programs, Dana Harwell, Jenifer Moore

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

In many undergraduate education programs, practicum experiences (also referred to as field experiences or lab placements) are an integral component of the curriculum. These placements are designed to provide undergraduate students with practical, authentic experience in classrooms of various levels. During practicum experiences, students are placed in classrooms in order to gain direct experience in teaching elementary or secondary students. However, because these clinical applications occur in real-world learning environments, many factors can influence their quality and effectiveness.

The Review Of Teacher Education For Languages Teachers : Final Report, Elizabeth Kleinhenz, Jenny Wilkinson, Margaret Gearon, Suzanne Fernandez, Lawrence Ingvarson

Jenny Wilkinson (retired)

This report produces a comprehensive national picture of the nature and effectiveness of teacher education and re-training opportunities for languages teachers. The report investigates course entry requirements, course content and structure for primary and secondary languages teachers; identifies structural impediments relating to the development of languages teachers' linguistic and pedagogical competency; and explores the potential application of the Professional Standards for Accomplished Teaching of Languages and Cultures, developed by the Australian Federation of Modern Language Teachers (AFMLTA), in teacher education for languages teachers.

Engaging Students In Mathematics Conversations: Discourse Practices And The Development Of Social And Socialmathematical Norms In Three Novice Teachers' Classrooms, Mary T. Grassetti

Open Access Dissertations

Research on learning to teach mathematics reveals that mathematics teaching is a complex process (Lerman, 2000) and classroom teaching and learning is a “multifaceted, extraordinarily complex phenomenon” (O’Connor, 1998, p. 43). Moreover, research reveals that the mathematics reform agenda has had an impact on what happens in the mathematics classroom, however, the impact has been superficial (Kazemi & Stipek, 2001) with teachers often retaining their pre-reform habits and attitudes in regards to mathematics teaching and learning (O’Connor, 1998). This study examined the reform discourse practices that three novice teachers, who had been enrolled in a reform based methods course during …

From Ideal To Practice And Back Again: Beginning Teachers Teaching For Social Justice, Ruchi Agarwal, Shira Epstein, Rachel Oppenheim, Celia Oyler, Debbie Sonu

Publications and Research

The five authors of this article designed a multicase study to follow recent graduates of an elementary preservice teacher education program into their beginning teaching placements and explore the ways in which they enacted social justice curricula. The authors highlight the stories of three beginning teachers, honoring the plurality of their conceptions of social justice teaching and the resiliency they exhibited in translating social justice ideals into viable pedagogy. They also discuss the struggles the teachers faced when enacting social justice curricula and the tenuous connection they perceived between their conceptions and their practices. The authors emphasize that such struggles …

Imagining A Better World: Service-Learning As Benefit To Teacher Education, Virginia M. Jagla, Antonina Lukenchuk, Todd A. Price Dr.

Faculty Publications

This study intends to broaden the conception of service-learning and to expand on its models, epistemological positions, and exemplars. Our intentions are to develop a substantive analysis of service-learning in its current theoretical development and to diversify service-learning pedagogical repertoire for teacher education candidates in graduate education programs. As university faculty, who embed service-learning components in various education courses, we are concerned with the manner in which higher education institutions manage their practices—primarily according to narrowly conceived technical and prescriptive models, thereby restricting multiple ways of knowing, teaching and learning. We demonstrate how service-learning can develop new forms of knowledge …

Problematic Conceptualizations: Allies In Teacher Education For Social Justice, Vonzell Agosto

Vonzell Agosto

This review of the literature on the concept ally and ally identity development was inspired by a qualitative study exploring the identities and social justice values of prospective teachers of color. Although the participants in the original study never used the term ally, their narratives inspired me to characterize them as allies in the struggle for social justice education. However, a review of the literature on allies, as analyzed through critical race theory and critical discourse analysis, revealed emerging conceptualizations of ally as incongruent with minority identities as they position people of color at the periphery of this social justice …

Resolving A Cultural Conflict In The Classroom: An Exploration Of Preservice Teachers' Perceptions Of Effective Interventions, Catherine L. Polydore, Kamau Oginga Siwatu

Catherine L. Polydore

This study employed qualitative research methods to explore presservice teachers' thoughts about the effectiveness of interventions designed to resolve a cultural conflict involving an African American student. Ninety-five preservice teachers in the Southwest read a 300-word case study that was followed b y four experienced teachers' responses and their proposed culturally or non-culturally responsive interventions. Participants were asked to identify which of the four interventions were most and least effective and supplement their responses with an explanation. The results revealed that most preservice teachers were aware of the effectiveness of interventions that incorporated the student's culture into the teaching and …

Evidence-Based Decision-Making In Teacher Preparation, Kristen Crabtree-Groff

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

Cooperative Learning, Flexible Grouping, and Scaffolding to name a few. Each of these strategies asks teachers to make instructional decisions based on the collection and analysis of data. In addition, classroom management practices, authentic assessment and student growth measures necessitate clear evidence gathering. As teacher candidates progress through their programs, they should encounter evidence-based decision-making — multiple means of collecting evidence, analyzing the evidence, setting goals, and evaluating results – throughout their coursework. We ask our teacher candidates to be reflective practitioners, in essence we ask them to use information to make evidence based decisions. The current pressures of accountability …

Understanding Curriculum Perspectives: A Lesson In Frustration, Molly Mee

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

During a heated discussion in my master-level Curriculum Theory and Development class on whether or not a given curriculum borrows more from the experientialist or the constructivist perspective, Suzy, a 45-year old veteran math teacher interrupts the discussion and in an agitated tone asks, “Professor will you please just tell us the answer?” This is typical of the responses I receive when my students read about curriculum perspectives to interpret them in light of their own teaching. Anticipating frustrations like Suzy’s I open my first class session with a lesson on Posner’s notion of reflective eclecticism which is an overarching …

Teacher Education In Nigeria: Past, Present And Future Challenges., Israel Osokoya

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

The history of western education in Nigeria was intimately bound up with the history of western education in Europe. During and after the Dark Ages in Europe, the church dominated the business of education and this had a tremendous impact on the intellectual life of people not only in Europe and America but also in the British colonial territories of Asia and Africa. Historically, the British imperial ambition and effective occupation of Nigeria dated back to the second half of the 19th century even though some Europeans including British traders had assumed trading activities with the people in the coastal …

Redirecting The Teacher's Gaze: Teacher Education, Youth Surveillance And The School-To-Prison Pipeline, John Raible, Jason G. Irizarry

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

This article addresses an apparent contradiction in American teacher education that results in conflicting goals for educators. It asks: How do we prepare teachers to interrogate their inherited professional roles in the surveillance and disciplining of youth? How might teacher education inspire pre-service teachers to care more about youth who belong to populations that have been deemed "undesirable" and expendable? We critically examine the role of teacher education in contributing to the criminalization of certain youth in urban communities and the resulting school-to-prison pipeline crisis that leads too many students from the schoolhouse to the jailhouse.

African-American English: Teacher Beliefs, Teacher Needs And Teacher Preparation Programs, Abha Gupta

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

The purpose of this descriptive study was to investigate elementary school teachers' self-perceived beliefs regarding African-American English (AAE), and their professional preparedness to address linguistic needs of AA students in the classrooms. The findings revealed three central issues: (1) teachers had limited understanding of the linguistic features of AAE, (2) teachers believed they had limited pedagogical skills to address issues related to AAE, and (3) teachers indicated that teacher education programs at the pre-service level were inadequate in preparing them for teaching students who spoke AAE in the classrooms. The study has implications for teachers' in-service training needs regarding culturally …

Resolving A Cultural Conflict In The Classroom: An Exploration Of Preservice Teachers' Perceptions Of Effective Interventions, Catherine Polydore, Kamau Siwatu

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

This study employed qualitative research methods to explore presservice teachers' thoughts about the effectiveness of interventions designed to resolve a cultural conflict involving an African American student. Ninety-five preservice teachers in the Southwest read a 300-word case study that was followed b y four experienced teachers' responses and their proposed culturally or non-culturally responsive interventions. Participants were asked to identify which of the four interventions were most and least effective and supplement their responses with an explanation. The results revealed that most preservice teachers were aware of the effectiveness of interventions that incorporated the student's culture into the teaching and …

Resolving A Cultural Conflict In The Classroom: An Exploration Of Preservice Teachers' Perceptions Of Effective Interventions, Catherine L. Polydore, Kamau Oginga Siwatu

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

This study employed qualitative research methods to explore presservice teachers' thoughts about the effectiveness of interventions designed to resolve a cultural conflict involving an African American student. Ninety-five preservice teachers in the Southwest read a 300-word case study that was followed b y four experienced teachers' responses and their proposed culturally or non-culturally responsive interventions. Participants were asked to identify which of the four interventions were most and least effective and supplement their responses with an explanation. The results revealed that most preservice teachers were aware of the effectiveness of interventions that incorporated the student's culture into the teaching and …

Teaching Teachers: A Study Of Teacher Educators' Perceptions Of The Effect Of Meeting Mandated Ncate Standards, Edward D. Hendricks

Education Faculty Publications

Teacher quality matters when it comes to student achievement. However, the fact that there are no nationally mandated standards as to how teachers should be prepared has led to wide variations in the quality of teacher education programs. It was in response to this situation that the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) was established. The purpose of this qualitative participant observational study was to present how teacher educators perceive the effect of complying with NCATE standards on teacher preparation programs and on their own teaching practices. Eight purposefully selected faculty members of a university-based teacher preparation …

Mentoring In Teacher Education: Building Nurturing Contexts And Teaching Communities For Rural Primary School Teachers In Sindh, Pakistan, Nilofar Vazir, Rakhshinda Meher

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

This paper examines how mentoring can improve the performance and level of teacher education in Pakistan, especially in rural areas. It presents a qualitative case study that focuses on two teachers from rural Sindh; one male and the other female. These teachers were participants in the Mentoring Program at the Aga Khan University – Institute for Educational Development (AKU-IED). Data was collected through participant observations, from structured and unstructured interviews, in the classroom and the field, and from reflective journals. The program focused on reconceptualizing the role of these teachers as mentors, developing relevant skills through critical thinking and reflective …

Teaching Teachers And Students About The Nature Of Science, Nelofer Halai

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

This article advocates the teaching about the nature of science to both pupils in schools and teachers in teacher education institutions in Pakistan. Not knowing about science; teachers tend to continue to teach science as fixed knowledge and not as inquiry and this cycle continues. This cycle needs to be broken. This article first discusses the salient features about the concept of the nature of science and then illustrates these ideas with the help of a simple but a powerful activity which could be used both with teacher educators and pupils in secondary and lower secondary classrooms.

Traditional, Online, And Blended Instruction : An Investigation Of Outcomes In A Graduate Special Education Course Taught In Three Different Learning Environments, Mary C. Gozza-Cohen

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Nationally and regionally there are insufficient numbers of qualified special education teachers to meet current demand. Online course delivery has been proposed as one way to reach more students and increase the number of special education teachers. A recent meta-analysis conducted by the U.S. Department of Education (2009) reviewed the research on online learning and reported that on average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those in traditional classes. However, among other issues noted in the meta-analysis, it was specified that many of the included studies did not control for curriculum materials and various aspects of pedagogy. This …