Education Commons^™

I Didn’T See It Coming: Navigating An Uncomfortable Episode During Doctoral Research Fieldwork, Narina A. Samah

The Qualitative Report

In this article, I revisit my experiences during my doctoral fieldwork from the lens of a novice qualitative researcher. Initially embracing the role of narrative inquirer, I was in the midst of navigating my inquisitive journey by re-examining my personal practical knowledge as a means to confront my puzzle of practice. Six months of fieldwork allowed me to re-experience my classroom teaching practice through a pair of new eyes. As my research was ending, events took an unexpected turn, leading to the delicate issue of female teacher/lecturer-student relationships during research fieldwork and the dilemma of deciding whether to include or …

Room For Breathing: Mindfulness, Currere, And Contemplative Practices In Teacher Education, Hongyu Wang, Jo Flory

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

This paper explores the intersections of using autobiographical (currere) writing and mindful meditations as two forms of contemplative practices in teacher education, from the perspectives of both a secondary classroom teacher and a teacher educator. An experientially-based conceptual inquiry, it is contextualized through first-person autobiographical narrations reconstructed from the authors’ currere writings and mindfulness practices, in order to draw connections between both through the theme of making room for breathing. The pedagogical contexts surrounding how students practice mindfulness and currere in teacher education are discussed, and the body, emotions, temporality, space, and relationality are analyzed as intersecting and complementary …

Pre-Service Teachers’ Experiences With Multi-Tiered Systems Of Support: Universal Screening & Intervention Planning, Alexandra J. Taylor, Tommy Wells, Amy Lein

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

Assessment plays a key role in the multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) model. Universal screening is an assessment component embedded into MTSS, specifically within the response to intervention framework. The process of administering, scoring, and analyzing data from a universal screener is an essential skill that pre-service teachers need to gain in their educator preparation programs. In this qualitative, case study approach, we examined the ways an experimental learning project in implementing universal screeners impact pre-service teachers’ beliefs and practices for Tier 1 of MTSS. The project was provided to pre-service teachers to give them familiarization with the implementation of …

On Becoming Online Educators: Developing Hybrid Learning-Centered Pedagogy, Rachel Toncelli Edd, Leila Rosa Phd

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Access the online Pressbooks version of this article here.

Recent global events pushed in-person learning to online formats. As K-12 teachers struggled with shifting from in-person to online teaching while adapting and adjusting instruction, and higher education prepared to do the same, two faculty members in a TESOL teacher preparation program joined forces to question assumptions about online teaching, reflect on praxis, and revisit pedagogy and practices through a critical autoethnographic study. Building from adult constructivist learning theory and collegial inquiry, the researchers utilized the pandemic as a stage for innovation and an opportunity to study their own ability, as …

Full Issue: Journal On Empowering Teaching Excellence, Volume 7, Issue 1, Spring 2023

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

The full-length Spring 2023 issue (Volume 7, Issue 1) of the Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

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

The Spring 2023 issue presents research and guidance on topics related to student self-reflection, participatory learning, and returning to the in-person learning following the COVID-19 pandemic. The first article takes a critical approach to understanding pedagogy with adult learners by involving students in the creation of course syllabi as a way to challenge ideologies related the roles of instructor and students. The second article blends research and narrative to explore how the experiences of …

Incorporating Social Justice Education Into Teacher Education: A Book Review Of Communicating Social Justice In Teacher Education: Insights From A Critical Classroom Ethnography, Angga Hidayat

The Qualitative Report

Aubrey Huber's book is of great value to aspiring and current educators alike, providing a comprehensive analysis of how qualitative critical classroom ethnography can be applied to support social justice in the field of education. Through this text, readers will gain an understanding of the unique opportunity that classroom ethnography provides in terms of utilizing it as an actionable mechanism to respond to social injustices while balancing intertwined multiple perspectives. Teacher educators who use this text will obtain a deeper appreciation for the instrumental role qualitative research such as classroom ethnography plays in improving and reforming education. All in all, …

Building Research Capacity Of Future Teachers: A Canadian Case Study, Dragana Martinovic, Ziad F. Dabaja

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Since their first day in school, in-service teachers are expected to act professionally, make good judgments, think critically, and problem-solve effectively. The literature suggests that engaging pre-service teachers in research can help them to develop several key skills. In this paper, we present the outcomes from a year and a half long mixed-methods case study that was conducted in two phases (i.e., a pilot and a follow-up study) with two groups of pre-service teachers enrolled in a teacher education programme in a Canadian mid-size university. The purpose of this research was to examine how an in-course research component might have …

'Half Of It's Out The Window': Exploring Tensions, Hierarchies And Positionalities Amidst The Changing Knowledge Base Of Early Childhood Teacher Education Discourses, Lauren Armstrong

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Early childhood education is foregrounded in change. In Australia, this has encompassed the introduction, review and updates of national quality and curriculum frameworks from 2009, and changes to qualification requirements. Within the state of Victoria, further impacts have occurred due to the simultaneous introduction of a parallel curriculum framework. This paper draws on a qualitative study to examine how diverse teacher education discourses available to Victorian long day care educators have shaped their subject positions, discursive practices and reform engagement. Utilising Foucault’s concepts of discourse, knowledge and power, and Foucauldian Discourse Analysis [FDA], findings offer insight into how diverse teacher …

Individualized Clinical Coaching With Bug-In-Ear: Enhancing Fidelity Of Implementation Of Behavior Specific Praise Among Novice Teachers Of Students With Developmental Disabilities In Rural Classrooms, Dennis P. Garland Ph. D.

Journal of Inquiry and Action in Education

Five novice special education teachers in rural classrooms received individualized clinical coaching (ICC) via the Internet to increase their use of behavior specific praise (BSP) with their students who had developmental disabilities (DD) during clinical supervision. Web cameras provided opportunities for the teachers to be observed during their regularly scheduled classroom teaching. The participants received brief coaching prompts through a wireless earpiece that they wore while teaching. A single subject multiple baseline across participants design was used to determine if a functional relation existed between the ICC and the rate of BSP use per minute for each of the participants. …

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 …

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 …

Building Community In An Asynchronous Write-To-Learn Course, Mary K. Tedrow

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

This study examines one online asynchronous course, Writing in Literature, devised by the researcher to determine the potential for building a student-centered course functioning as a learning community in spite of the limitations of the lack of shared space or time. The course was examined via student surveys that qualified experiences within the course as well as a review and coding of end-of-course student reflections. The survey and reflective commentary indicate that it is possible for an asynchronous course to effectively build a vibrant learning community. The learner to learner, learner to instructor, and learner to content framework recommended …

Keeping The End In Mind: Re-Centering Jesuit Pedagogy For Preservice Teacher Preparation, Margaret Schauer

Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal

Jesuit Universities embody a mission to prepare students to be men and women for and with others. Serving people on the margins and working with them to dismantle systems of oppression is infused in academic majors and core curricula. Jesuit pedagogy seeks to engage students in contexts, experiences, reflections, actions and evaluations that develop the whole person for the common good. Jesuit teacher education programs (TEP) are in a unique position where pedagogy is critical to the development of university students who then implement pedagogy with students in K-12 schools as preservice teachers. TEPs are charged with demonstrating ways program …

Preservice Teachers' Attitudes And Knowledge Towards Assistive Technology: Exploring And In-Class Workshop Approach, Stacey Keown, Moriah Smothers, Tori Colson

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

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (2004) mandates that all students receiving special education services should be considered for assistive technology; therefore, it is imperative that teacher preparation programs prepare preservice teachers to select, implement, and evaluate assistive technology for their future students. This mixed-methods study explored the influence an in-class workshop had on preservice teachers’ feelings of preparedness to use assistive technology in their future classrooms. The participants were all enrolled in a 400-level special education methods course, and their perceptions were assessed by administering a pre- and post- survey. The workshop consisted of an independent online training …

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 …

Students' Transitions Into Initial Teacher Education: Understanding Barriers And Enablers Through An Ecological Lens, Diana L. Amundsen, Nadine Ballam, Katrina Mcchesney

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper presents a small-scale qualitative investigation which explored early first-year transition experiences of pre-service teacher students. The study took place in one university in Aotearoa New Zealand, involving 24 students and three co-researchers from a Faculty of Education. Perceptions of students’ transition experiences were gathered through an essay task six weeks into the first semester; data were analysed using Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological theory to identify barriers and enablers related to students’ transition experiences in various contexts. Diverse transitions accounts of ‘becoming a pre-service teacher student’ were analysed as being complex and intertwined with historical, social, cultural and political elements. …

Working The Third Space: Reformulating Practice In The Transition From Classroom Teacher To Teacher Educator, Fleur Diamond, Stephanie Wescott, Kristen Molloy

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The working lives and identities of teacher educators remain an under-researched aspect of teacher education. This paper reports on a collaborative narrative inquiry by three early career teacher educators as they made the transition from classroom practice in schools, to teacher education in a university setting. The authors confronted technical understandings, or ‘official stories’ (Zukas & Malcolm, 2019) of what it means to prepare prospective teachers, derived from contemporary standards-based policies about teacher professionalism. The paper proposes the concept of ‘working the third space’ as a way of framing teacher educators’ efforts to draw upon classroom teaching experience while challenging …

Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions Of Professional Standards And Their Integration Into Pre-Service Training: A Comparative Study Of Australia And Pakistan, Sadia Shaukat, Raqib Chowdhury

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper critically analyses 52 Australian and 68 Pakistani pre-service teachers’ (PST) perceptions of professional standards for teachers enabling the comparison of teacher preparation in the two countries. A multivariate analysis of variance tested the hypothesis that an integrated standards-based teacher preparation program was more effective for professional skills and competencies development than a non-integrated one. While the Australian PSTs undertaking a standards-integrated curriculum reported significantly higher levels of professional preparation in ten areas of professional Standards, their Pakistani counterparts - who were not exposed to such curriculum - reported inadequate preparation. The findings have implications for teacher educators and …

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 …

Enacting Rhetorical Listening: A Process To Support Students’ Engagement With Challenging Course Readings, Jessica Rivera-Mueller

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Many educators assign course readings to purposefully enlarge students’ perspectives. In doing so, though, educators may face a range of behaviors—reluctance, resistance, avoidance, disengagement—from students who feel that such readings negatively press upon their prior knowledge, belief systems, or educational goals. This teaching challenge is often present for social justice educators. However, “rhetorical listening,” a rhetorical theory developed by Ratcliffe (2005), is a pedagogical tool that can help shift students’ understandings of and expectations for the activity of reading, thereby creating a learning environment that supports meaningful engagement with challenging course readings. In this article, the author outlines a process …

Full Issue: Journal On Empowering Teaching Excellence, Volume 4, Issue 2

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

The full Fall 2020 issue (Volume 4, Issue 2) of the Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence.

Evaluating Preservice Special Education Candidates’ Comfort Level Implementing High Leverage Practices, Cindy Clemson, Sarah N. Merimee

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

Special education teachers are presented with numerous demands within the classroom and must have a specific skill set to adequately address diverse needs. Therefore, 22 high leverage practices (HLPs) for special education teachers were established. This study assessed the impact of a semester of teaching the HLPs, including a final project requirement, on senior teacher candidates’ comfort level implementing the HLPs. Results indicate that the explicit teaching of the HLPs, required project, and practicum led to the students’ increased comfort implementing the HLPs. Additionally, the authors reviewed data gathered and used it to explore their university’s current curriculum to determine …

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 …

Problem-Seeking In Teacher Education: Empowering Students To Grapple With The Complexities Of The Profession, Julie Ballantyne, Libby Flynn, Tammie Olm-Madden

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Preparing teachers for the realities of the profession is an ongoing concern for teacher education providers. In a climate where the future of teaching is largely unknown and the issues to be faced by teachers throughout their career largely imagined, the ability to identify and solve problems becomes increasingly important. This paper documents an evaluation of a pilot approach to preparing pre-service teachers for the realities of their profession. This approach, which centred on students utilising mobile technologies to problem-seek, was evaluated in terms of students’ perceived preparedness for the profession and their development of problem-solving skills and strategies. Results …

Responding To Policies That Involve Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Students And Content: An International Pre-Service Teacher's Experience, Roxana Aguilar Alonso

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Using auto-ethnography, I write my story as Mexican international student in the role of pre-service teacher in Australia. I focus on exploring my socio-political status and its relationship to assuming a position to respond to education policies about working with students from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds, and teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander content. I argue that assuming a position to respond to these policies as international pre-service teacher is overlapped with a multi-layered process in which epistemological deliberation occur as a consequence of being in a state of constant position shifting. Anzaldúa’s Coyolxauqui imperative and Martin’s Relatedness …

Examination Of Text And Video-Formatted Learning Diaries In The Teacher Education, Murat Debbag, Mustafa Fidan

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This study aims to comparatively examine the text and video formatted learning diaries created within the scope of a school experience course which is a part of teacher education programs for prospective science teachers (PSTs). The case study design was used in this study. The participants created their learning diaries both in text and video formats for the school experience. Results showed that both text formatted diaries and video formatted diaries not only made it possible for the PSTs to see, review, and correct their deficiencies with respect to the profession of teaching, but also made contributions to the development …

Entangling Our Thinking And Practice: A Model For Collaboration In Teacher Education, Peta White, Jo Raphael, Shelley Hannigan, John Cripps Clark

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Collaboration is a key component of our practice as teachers and teacher educators and there is a need to develop generative models for collaboration among teacher educators. We have created and tested a model of collaboration. Data were drawn from: recordings of monthly group meetings; discussion threads and documents on our leaning management site; individual interviews with all members of the group conducted three times across the project; and reflections on these interview transcripts by individual annotation and group discussions. The model includes a collaborative overarching research project and, nested under this mantle, a series of focused research projects conducted …

Real-Time Support: Using Ecoaching To Increase Preservice Teachers’ Confidence To Teach, Morgan V. Blanton, Aftynne E. Cheek, Elizabeth Bellows

Journal of Media Literacy Education

The role of teacher education preparation programs is to equip preservice teachers (PSTs) with the knowledge and skills to support the development of all students. To do this, university faculty must establish and monitor PST’s progress toward quality standards for teaching. eCoaching is a professional learning tool that provides real-time feedback to PSTs during instruction. In this article, the authors present eCoaching as a professional learning strategy. An overview of eCoaching logistics, perceived impact of eCoaching on PSTs, a description of eCoaching in action, and an explanation of how it meshes with current support practices are provided.

Teachers’ Stories About Teaching: Collaborative Dialogues As Open Educational Resources, Ekaterina Arshavskaya

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

This paper examines the nature of teacher learning through a social-constructivist perspective and describes instructional strategies utilized with teachers during an international teaching assistants’ (ITAs’) training workshop offered at the Utah State University (USU). The strategy used involved eliciting and structuring exemplary teachers’ stories about teaching to serve as a basis for class discussions and other assignments. These teachers’ stories, recorded on video, were then shared online through the university website and YouTube. In this way, new teachers gained access to co-constructed and pedagogically appropriate teacher knowledge represented by authentic teachers’ voices.

Full Issue: Journal On Empowering Teaching Excellence, Volume 3, Issue 1, Kim Hales

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

The full Spring 2019 issue (Volume 3, Issue 1) of the Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence, Spring 2019