Education Commons^™

Parts Of The Whole: Is Everything Equally Important?, Dorothy Wallace

Numeracy

Two strategies are proposed for sorting out priorities and goals in education. At the college level the column argues that goals, and therefore requirements, should be set based on the desired knowledge base of the entire population rather than the individual. At the scale of a single K-12 classroom the column argues that priority be given to content requiring most instructor intervention, describing how the structure of class time and school activities would change as a result. Implementation of these strategies would lead to more efficient use of teacher’s time and effort, better allocation of systemic resources, and clarity of …

A Systematic Approach For Training Candidates To Use The Teacher Work Sample, Beth Walizer, Taggart Germaine, Keith Dreiling

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

The purpose of this paper is to describe the benefits of scaffolding the work sample criteria through a teacher preparation program for elementary education candidates. This article illustrates the way that Fort Hays State University’s teacher education program has successfully implemented a work sample process. A process of scaffolding the criteria was woven throughout the elementary teacher education program to instruct candidates on how to develop, implement, and assess instructional units of study. As a way to describe the teacher work sample process, the authors have contextualized the model, provided components of a teacher work sample, and presented a program …

Context, Process And Change: The Status Of Prospective Teachers' Perceptions Of Teaching Process, Abdurrahman Sahin, Hulusi Cokadar, Muhammet Usak

Essays in Education

Teacher candidates come to teacher education programs with beliefs shaped out of traditional contexts in their earlier lives. Those beliefs influence their new learning outcomes. It is therefore important for teacher education programs to identify the degree of perceptions that entry- and exit-level candidates hold. The purpose of this study is to identify and compare entry- and exit-level candidates’ degree of perceptions about teaching process and to understand if their perceptions relate to their personal variables. This is a descriptive study. The data were gathered by 28-item Teaching Process Perception Scale developed by the researchers. Collected from 267 teacher candidates …

Connecting Alternate Practicum Experiences In Teacher Education With The ‘Seven Principles For Good Practice In Undergraduate Education', Sylvia Dietrich, Tamar Riley

Kentucky Teacher Educator

University students and professors participated in a shared practicum experience with individuals with moderate to severe disabilities through a weekend long fishing tournament sponsored by an Easter Seal’s Camp. Results from open ended questionnaires were inductively analyzed. Results indicate that students felt the experience was beneficial, provided them with the opportunity to work collaboratively with peers and professors, and impacted their perceptions of their professors. Experience is connected with ‘The Seven Principles For Good Practice in Undergraduate Education’ and discussion for implication for practice in teacher education programs is presented.

Which One Is Better: Saying Student Teachers Don't Reflect Or Systematically Unlocking Their Reflective Potentials: A Positive Experience From A Poor Teacher Education Faculty In Ethiopia, Jeylan Wolyie Hussein

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper is informed by Deweyean pragmatism, critical pedagogy, Marxist humanism and social constructivism, all of which see teacher professional learning as a process of constructing knowledge and identity through critical interdependence. In addition to presenting the philosophical root of the reflective approach to teaching and the structure for engaging student teachers in reflective processes, I present the outcome of my own and my colleagues’ attempts to unlock the reflective potentials of student teachers at a poor teacher education faculty in Ethiopia and a theoretical/methodological framework to deal with the reflective data. I hope that teacher educators who work with …

What Music Teachers Want: The Emergence Of A Unified Understanding Of An Ideal Teacher Education Course, Julie Ballantyne

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

‘Burnout’ and praxis shock seem to be causing teachers to leave the profession early. Much research suggests that this is a reflection on the quality of teacher education programs. Interviews with teachers who were in their first four years in the secondary music classroom reveal how they view their pre-service preparation, and therefore provide an insight into how pre-service teacher education might be effectively reconceptualised. This paper explores the relationship between Zeichner and Liston’s (1990) teacher education ‘traditions’ and early-career music teachers’ perceptions of an ‘ideal’ teacher education course. Analyses of interviews with 15 early-career secondary classroom music teachers suggest …

Who Will Teach The Teachers?: Collaboration Between Liberal Arts And Education In Teacher Training At Bsc, William C. Levin

Bridgewater Review

No abstract provided.

News From Cart, Barbara Bautz, Kelly Donnell

Bridgewater Review

No abstract provided.

Rural Teachers In Project Launch, Mary M. Harris, Linda Holdman, Robin Clark, T. Robert Harris

The Rural Educator

The success of Project Launch, a teacher induction program sponsored by a regional teacher center and a consortium of universities, is compared for rural and non-rural participants. Indicators of success include teacher accomplishment of action plan goals, teacher self and mentor assessment of teaching strengths related to action plan goals, profiles of teaching strengths, and retention in teaching. Measures of teaching strength are related to INTASC standards. Rural participants differed significantly from non-rural participants in their lower self-perceived accomplishment of action plan goals. Rural participants were significantly more likely to move from their 1st positions after 1 year, but their …

Lesson Study: A Professional Development Model For Mathematics Reform, Ann R. Taylor, Shari Anderson, Karen Meyer, Mary Kay Wagner, Christine West

The Rural Educator

In this action research report 4 teachers and 1 teacher educator use the Japanese lesson study model of professional development for 15 months in rural Carlinville, Illinois. In March 2001, 4 teachers identified a goal to improve their students’ understanding of two step word problems in 2nd grade elementary mathematics. Teachers completed three cycles of researching, planning, teaching, evaluating and reflecting. They were motivated, empowered, and found lesson study effective professional development in their rural setting. It focused on the classroom lesson; provided an effective lesson plan and hours of focused professional development; supported attempts to put into practice best …

Best Practices In Educator Preparation, Deborah Gober

Perspectives In Learning

One of the themes emphasized in the College of Education (COE) Conceptual Framework is excellence in teaching. As defined in the Conceptual Framework, excellence in teaching embodies the use of best practices which embody a variety of educational ideas and activities that lead to improved student learning. The phrase “best practice” is used frequently in fields such as medicine or law to describe reputable work based on current research and employing the latest knowledge, technology, and procedures in the field (Zemelman, Daniels, & Hyde, 1998). However, best practice in education has been somewhat difficult to define.

Reflections Of Native American Teacher Education On Bear Ridge, Steven Locke

The Rural Educator

This study examines an elementary teacher education certification program delivered by a state university to Native American teacher aides on the reservation. Data were collected over two semesters using a Freirean critical theory framework to analyze the data and to explicate the problematic nature of Native American education. Analysis of the data indicated that the program reproduced Euro-American cultural values, was insensitive to Native American history or values, and did little to support individual teachers. Suggestions include the need for the program to acknowledge and address the historical cultural genocide that occurred in the education of Native Americans and the …

Six Best Practice Structures, Two Disciplines, One Instructor, James Brewbaker

Perspectives In Learning

A common perception about teacher educators is that they preach better than they practice. Too many accomplished elementary and secondary teachers recall an education professor’s tedious class on the limitations of the lecture—delivered, sad to say, in a traditional lecture format. Too many accomplished teachers recall courses in which learning was measured solely through pencil-and-paper, short-answer recognition-and-recall tests that promoted cramming, test taking, and, too soon thereafter, forgetting the material in question. Too many accomplished teachers learned their craft in spite of faculty who were anything but pedagogical role models.

Teacher Education And Teacher Training In China, Chen Xiaoduan

Perspectives In Learning

Like other countries, Teacher Education is very important in Chinese education. It involves the great task to foster teachers for all levels of Chinese education. Since 1978 when China opened her door to reform, great changes have taken place in many aspects of Teacher Education. Government officials more often recognize that we must train good teachers to fostering good students. Only excellent teachers can educate excellent students. Teachers are being asked to improve their knowledge and skills. We are committed to reform the old system of teacher education and teacher training so that it can foster better teachers for our …

Enhancing Multicultural Education Through Higher Education Initiatives, Porter L. Troutman Jr.

Trotter Review

This paper describes a comprehensive initiative intended to increase multicultural education and the amount of ethnic diversity among college of education faculty and undergraduate teacher education students at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). The paper details six components of the on-going initiative: 1) staff development: to enhance the sensitivity of college of education faculty regarding cultural issues, 2) a minority mentoring program: to provide a stronger support system for under-represented populations enrolled in the teacher education program, 3) the multicultural education project (MCE): a collaborative effort with the public school district in multicultural education, 4) the College of …

Preparing White Undergraduate Pre-Service Teachers To Teach African-American Students: What Does It Take?, Frances Y. Lowden

Trotter Review

A strong appreciation and knowledge of diverse cultures is vital in delivering what the Association for Childhood Education International position paper identifies as the curricular areas that should be addressed in a preparation program for teachers of young children. Thus, undergraduates must develop: 1) an acquaintance with great music, art and literature, 2) a knowledge of health, safety and nutrition, 3) an understanding of the physical and biological aspects of the world and the universe 4) a knowledge of mathematical concepts 5) an ability to read with comprehension, then to analyze, interpret, and judge a wide range of written material, …

Are Today's Teachers Being Prepared For Diversity? An Analysis Of School Catalogues, James Jennings, Illene Carver

Trotter Review

A recent content analysis study shows that while leading educators in Massachusetts stress the importance of preparing teachers for an increasingly diverse world, most teacher preparation schools virtually ignore the issue of racial and ethnic diversity in catalogues recruiting new students. This not only discourages people from diverse backgrounds from becoming teachers, but could also create a lack of understanding in the classroom of the black, Latino, and Asian students being taught.

A summary of A Content Analysis of Racial and Ethnic Themes in Catalogues Distributed by Teacher Preparation Schools in Massachusetts, 1989 and 1990, a report issued by …

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 …

Teacher Education - Today And Tomorrow, Geraldine C. Gilliss

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Teacher education today presents a formidable challenge to both policy makers and curriculum designers. In its broadest aspect, teacher education faces the same problems as the schools it serves - i.e., how to choose from the whole array of the world's knowledge the selection of information and skills which will most benefit its clients. In addition, teacher education works within much more stringent time constraints. While the predominant preparation pattern in Canada is the four-year Bachelor of Education, which may contain up to two years of professional content, the largest province and largest producer of teachers, Ontario, still adheres to …

Attitudes Towards Migrants And Needs In Teacher Training : Some Research Findings, R. W. Sealey

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The area of immigrant education has become a major source of interest, concern, comment, and research in recent years. This interest has its origins in the concern felt and views expressed at various conferences that many pupils in our schools are in need of an educational approach which will take cognisance of their linguistic and cultural differences.