Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Learning From Faculty Mentors Who Had To Mentor And Evaluate Teacher Candidates Completing A Remote Practicum In The Early Stages Of The Covid-19 Pandemic In Canada, Sheryl Macmath, Deirdre Degagne

Journal of Educational Supervision

In the Spring of 2020, the COVID-19 global pandemic impacted all aspects of life throughout the world, including education. Teachers who had never taught online before, all of a sudden had one week to get ready to engage with their students in a virtual setting. On top of these changes, our small post-degree Canadian teacher education program had teacher candidates on practicum in K-12 schools. That meant our faculty mentors, responsible for recommending teacher candidates for certification, had to figure out how to mentor, support, and evaluate teacher candidates who were teaching remotely. This research aimed to address the following …

Toward A Renewal Of Supervisory Scholarship And Practice In Teacher Education: A Collaborative Self-Study, Brandon M. Butler, Rebecca West Burns, Craig Willey

Journal of Educational Supervision

University supervision of teacher candidates is a well-recognized component of teacher preparation. However, teacher education has long devalued supervision, largely relying upon retired teachers, administrators, and graduate students to serve as supervisors, often with little training or support. Although clinical practice has received increased focus among accrediting bodies, supervision as a field of scholarship and practice continues to receive little support within institutions or attention in teacher education. As supervision practitioners and scholars, the three authors engaged in collaborative self-study, sharing and interrogating professional autobiographies and narratives related to supervision, to make sense of institutional and professional contexts and to …

Relational Supervision: Jegnaship And Eldering As Emancipatory Pedagogy For Black Teacher Supervision, Michael Strozier Jr., Melanie M. Acosta

Journal of Educational Supervision

The case delves into the historical and cultural roots of African education, emphasizing the vital role of elders and community in the learning process. It examines the impact of African educational philosophies, particularly from the Nile and Niger river valleys, on the development of character, humanness, and spirituality. The case explores the adaptation of these philosophies by African people during the Middle Passage and their application in Western contexts for the supervision of African American teachers. By interweaving culture, history, education, and storytelling, the authors aim to highlight the unique contributions of African American educational experiences. They argue that these …

Barriers To Use Of Cross-Laminated Timber In Maine, Shane R. O'Neill

Forest Resources Faculty Scholarship

To increase understanding of both the adoption rate and in-state manufacturing of mass timber In Maine, the 131^st Legislature and Governor Mills passed LD 881, a resolve directing a study of the barriers facing cross-laminated timber In Maine and provide recommendations to promote their use in construction. This study was developed in response to the resolve. The study engaged 108 unique participants to define available training, education, and experiences across the stakeholders throughout the building lifecycle process in the state.

From this information, the following five recommendations are proposed:

1. Understand the policies and initiatives of other states to develop …

A Collaborative Self-Study Of Supervisors In A University-Based Literacy Clinic: Exploring Tensions In Support, Feedback, And Conflict Resolution, Hannah Carter, Jadelyn Abbott, Lauren Herzberg, Annie Hindman, Pam Swainston

Journal of Educational Supervision

This article reports on a collaborative self-study conducted by five supervisors in a university-based literacy clinic. Over two semesters of mentoring elementary teacher candidates, we met weekly and reflected biweekly. The purpose of this research was to identify the tensions that supervisors were contemplating as they mentored and supervised candidates. Our findings indicate that we were grappling with ways to 1) provide candidates with equitable support; 2) guide candidates, rather than tell them what to do; and 3) confront conflict. By detailing the ways we reflected on and explored these tensions, we include suggestions for teacher education supervision and teacher …

Investigating The Attitudes, Beliefs And Practices Of High School Chemistry Teachers Regarding The Differentiation Of Instruction, Anna Tyrina

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Differentiation of instruction (DI) is a broad term used for a group of pedagogical tools that teachers use to individualize instruction for students of different abilities and needs. Differentiation of instruction is a practice that has been researched and characterized to have a variety of instructional benefits, some of which include increased student motivation and engagement (Tomlinson, 2001). This study sought to characterize the attitudes, beliefs, and practices of ten high school chemistry teachers in Maine regarding the differentiation of instruction. Through a phenomenological approach, interviews with these teachers were analyzed to understand how high school chemistry teachers define differentiated …

Disrupting The Deficit Gaze: Equity Work With University Supervisors, Maika J. Yeigh

Journal of Educational Supervision

Teacher candidates commonly experience tensions within their clinical field placement classroom. Recently, candidates have brought forward tensions around the use of a deficit gaze (Dudley-Marling, 2007) on students and their families by their mentor teachers. Where candidates of the past would ignore negative framing, current candidates want to disrupt the status quo. This conceptual article describes one EPPs attempt to support teacher candidates “disruption” of instances where a mentor teacher used a deficit-lens toward students and/or their families. Clinical supervisors were offered professional development to support teacher candidates and guide them to disrupt in ways that maintained the professional relationship …

Reexamining Faculty Roles In The Supervision Of Pre-Service Teachers: Responding To The Call For Clinically-Rich Teacher Education, Sarah Capello

Journal of Educational Supervision

In an effort to integrate university coursework with field-site experiences and bolster pre-service teacher learning, national teacher education organizations have charged teacher education programs with embedding teacher preparation within clinically-rich experiences. These reforms have resulted in expanded and increasingly complex conceptions of pre-service teacher supervision and the university supervisor, which have affected not only traditional supervisors but all university-based teacher educators. This paper presents a framework that maps the shifting roles of four university-based teacher educators: program administrators, research faculty, teaching faculty, and adjunct faculty due to changing notions of clinically-rich pre-service teacher supervision. This framework demonstrates how faculty roles …

Language, Identity, And Citizenship: Politics Of Education In Madawaska, 1842-1920, Elisa E A Sance

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The establishment of the international border between Maine and New Brunswick in 1842 through the signature of the Webster-Ashburton treaty divided the Francophone population of the Madawaska region along the Saint John River. As a result, each half became administered by an Anglophone government. The linguistic and cultural differences between the Madawaska French and the Anglo-Saxon Protestant ruling majority in both the state and the province complicated the establishment of new public institutions. The language of both administrations as well as the language of public education was English; a language that very few people among the Madawaska French spoke or …

Work At The Boundary: A Research-Practice Partnership To Integrate Computer Science Into Middle School Science, Amelia R. Callahan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Maine Center for Research in STEM Education (RiSE Center) is currently developing a partnership between university education researchers, computer science faculty, and middle school science teachers throughout the state. The goal of this partnership is to develop a set of lessons that integrate computer science concepts and practices into existing science curricular materials. This STEM+C partnership brings together individuals who have a wide range of experience and comfort with computer science and teaching middle school. This study focuses on the partnership’s early stages through its initial summer collaborations. We designed and administered interviews prior to the module design process …

Supporting Emergent Bilingual Professional Development Through Supervisor Feedback, Megan Guise, Sarah Hegg, Briana Ronan, Tanya Flushman, Billie-Jo Grant

Journal of Educational Supervision

This study examines the effects of professional development on the content and frequency of university supervisor (n=6) written feedback related to supporting emergent bilinguals in order to improve the quality of observational evaluations provided to elementary and secondary pre-service teachers. Findings reveal supervisors’ post-intervention feedback more frequently addressed the needs of language learners and provided a greater breadth of issues related to emergent bilinguals. Interview data reveal key factors explain how the professional development addressed gaps in knowledge and affected confidence levels of university supervisors. Implications highlight the importance of supporting supervisors with targeted professional development opportunities around supporting emergent …

Scaffolding Development Of Clinical Supervisors: Learning To Be A Liaison, Jennifer Snow, Hannah Carter, Sherry A. Dismuke, Angel Larson, Stefanie Shebley

Journal of Educational Supervision

Teacher education as a field has embraced the idea that clinically-based teacher education will better support teacher candidate learning and the learning of their future preK-12 students (AACTE, 2018; NCATE, 2010). Likewise, teacher education scholars have emphasized the importance of learning to teach well in clinical practice (Darling-Hammond, 2014). We five women teacher educators engaged in a collaborative self-study to investigate our different perspectives and our institution’s hope for mentoring and preparing new liaisons. Our collaborative self-study focused on the research question: What are the key factors that play a part in influencing the developmental trajectory of a liaison? Through …

Tensions In The Preparation Of University Supervisors: Dual Perspectives From Supervisors And Administrators, Sarah Capello

Journal of Educational Supervision

Prior research shows that supervisors of teacher candidates are typically underprepared for their work and receive little oversight of it. However, there has been less research into these causes and the effects of minimal preparation on supervisors. This case study of a teacher education department uses survey, interviews, and document analysis to examine the tensions that occur when supervisors are underprepared for their roles. The results indicate three tensions that undermine supervisors’ practice: unclear expectations, perfunctory evaluations, and the failure to develop teacher educator identities. In the absence of organizational supports for supervisor preparation and development, supervisors relied on peer …

Pedagogy, Practice, And Mentorship: Core Elements Of Connecting Theory To Practice In Teacher Educator Preparation Programs, Monique Alexander

Journal of Educational Supervision

experiences as the heart of preservice teacher preparation, the research community has attempted to understand more about the pedagogies and personnel that will support learning in these areas. Supervisors are a staple in the clinical field experience, yet the research community has a limited viewpoint of the practices and decision-making that lay underneath their work. Using a multiple case study methodology and a select but diverse group of participants, this study investigated the resources that supervisors draw on to resolve challenges in their practice. The results of this study highlight the significance of coursework for the preparation of teacher educators. …

The Hidden Nature Of Whiteness In Education: Creating Active Allies In White Teachers, Megan E. Lynch

Journal of Educational Supervision

Norms of whiteness are pervasive throughout schooling in the United States (Tanner, 2017). Critical whiteness studies (Kincheloe, 1998) and second-wave White teacher identity studies (Jupp & Lensmire, 2016) provides relevant insight into the thoughts and experiences of White preservice and in-service teachers. This paper draws on the literature to explain the author’s varied personal experiences with whiteness in education. It is the author’s hope that the experiences shared will resonate with readers and complicate and/or support racialized experiences in education. The goal of this paper is also to put forth the argument that in order for teacher supervisors to develop …

Faculty Agency In Applying For Promotion To Professor, Amy Blackstone, Susan K. Gardner

Sociology School Faculty Scholarship

• Aim/Purpose: In the United States, faculty who wish to pursue promotion to the rank of professor do so without clear guidance or structure. Even the timing of such a process is nebulous. As such, an individual engages in magentic action to pursue the rank.
• Background: This study examined the experiences of faculty members who chose to pursue the application process to be promoted to professor but were rejected or dissuaded.
• Methodology: Utilizing a case study of one institutional setting, we conducted 10 in-depth qualitative interviews.
• Contribution: Very little is known about the process of promotion to full professor in the …

Policy Brief: Keeping All Students Safe Act Of 2014, Nancy Bergerson

Policy Analysis

Senator Harkin (D-IA), Senator Murphy (D-CT), Senator Baldwin (D-WI), and Senator Hirono (D-HI) introduced the Keeping All Students Safe Act (S.2036) in the Senate on Feb. 24, 2014. Rep. Miller (D-CA) introduced H.R. 1893 on May 9, 2013. The Act would produce limitations for the use of restraints in public and private schools. Currently, 19 states have no policies in place to address this issue. The law would require better training, monitoring and enforcement of these standards, as well as the collection of related data which would be available to the public. We are asking you to co-sponsor the Keeping …

Increasing Access And Success In The Stem Disciplines: A Model For Supporting The Transition Of High School Students With Disabilities Into Stem-Related Postsecondary Education, Martie Kendrick, Marnie Bragdon-Morneault, Janet May, Alan Kurtz

Transition-Age Resources

This publication (191-page PDF) contains a package of evidenced-based transition supports that can be used by educators or instructors with high school students with disabilities who are interested in pursuing STEM-related postsecondary education and careers. The publication contains information and instructional activities related to the following: self-advocacy and self-determination; exploring STEM careers; disability disclosure; the accommodations process in college; identifying assistive technology; mentoring relationships and internships; and using student- and family-centered planning to prepare for college.

An Analysis Of Disability-Related Provisions In The 2008 Higher Education Opportunity Act (Heoa): What Universities And Policy Makers Should Know, Alan Kurtz

Education

The purpose of this October 2011 policy brief is to provide state agencies, postsecondary institutions, and policy makers with an overview of changes in the 2008 Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) affecting the access to education of postsecondary students with disabilities and the way teacher education programs at Institutions of Higher Learning (IHEs) prepare general and special educators to teach students with disabilities. Specifically, this analysis reviews disability-related terminology new to this revision of the HEOA, access to instructional materials for students with print disabilities, changes in access to financial aid for students with intellectual disabilities, model demonstration projects both …

Visual Supports Checklist, V. Susan Bennett-Armistead, Bonnie Blagojevic, Erika Neal, Billie Taylor

Early Childhood Resources

The Visual Supports Checklist is based on a review of current literature, practical knowledge, and reported experiences from early childhood educators on the topic of visual supports.

Learning Ideas - Special Education Tips For Foster Parents Who Are Surrogate Parents, University Of Maine Center For Community Inclusion And Disability Studies

Education

Surrogate parents are appointed to represent children with disabilities whenever the birth parents or guardian of a child with a disability cannot be identified, located, or when the child is in the custody of the state. They have all the rights of birth parents for educational matters, e.g. permission for evaluation and placement, release information and request for educational hearing. The primary responsibility of surrogate parents is to ensure that children with disabilities are provided with a free, appropriate public education. (Adapted from http://www.maine.gov/doe/special ed/programs/surrogate/index.html)

Dusting Off The Tool Box: Tips For Trainers, Linda Labas, Michael Sandberg

Professional Development

This resource provides information to help instructors prepare, conduct, and review their presentations. It is divided into 3 sections. Within each section are subcategories with basic information and some simple resources or activities to assist instructors as they reflect upon their teaching practices and plan for a training event. The material is organized in the following way: Section 1: Things to Know; Section 2: Things to Do; and Section 3: Resources.