Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

“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 …

Using Avatars To Address Teacher Self-Efficacy, Chancey Bosch, Trevor Ellis

Journal of Global Education and Research

Technology-enhanced learning continues to provide opportunities for increased interventions in educational programing. For teacher education programs, novelty pales in comparison to providing meaningful instruction and enduring outcomes. The use of avatars has provided integration of research evidence that increases intended behaviors; however, research is lacking on teacher self-efficacy change via an avatar experience. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between teacher self-efficacy and avatar use in a teacher education program. A relational study using both parametric and non-parametric designs for four different samples indicated a significant relationship between avatar intervention and teacher self-efficacy in classroom management, …

Support For Teacher Candidates And The Edtpa, Dia Gary, Dylan Thomas, Joseph Miller

Journal of Global Education and Research

Equipping new teachers in today’s society is a noble and challenging task. Of late, many additional licensing standards for teachers create additional responsibilities for universities that provide pedagogy, knowledge, and content for teacher candidates. Identification of best practices that support teacher candidates on the Educative Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA) is of interest to many teacher education programs. The purpose of this research was to analyze whether incorporating a mock edTPA had beneficial results on the passage of the edTPA. This study spanned fourteen ten-week quarters and included 688 teacher candidates who were preparing to become certificated teachers at a university …

Building Collaborative Teacher Education: Integrating Udl Through A Faculty Learning Community, Stacie B. Whinnery, Keri C. Fogle, Jennifer C. Stark, Keith W. Whinnery

Journal of Practitioner Research

Teacher educators have focused reform efforts on preparing graduates to address increasingly diverse K-12 students. Collaboration among general and special education faculty is seen as beneficial for preparing teacher candidates who can teach diverse learners, yet it is not the norm. This practitioner research study explored a curriculum reform effort that employed a faculty learning community (FLC) to engage general and special education faculty to collaboratively integrate Universal Design for Learning (UDL) into two teacher education programs. Faculty perceptions of the collaborative reform process and resulting curriculum enhancements are presented. Findings indicated the process was valued by our faculty, promoted …

Spilling The Lgbt(Ea)Q: A Study Of Lgbtq Youth Early School Experiences, Nicholas Catania

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this arts-based qualitative study, I explore the experiences of LGBTQ youth regarding inclusion during their early schooling. The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of youth participants regarding inclusion during their early school experiences to better assist educators and policy-makers at all levels with information to provide safe and equitable learning environments for LGBTQ youth to succeed. The intent of this study was to uncover the ways schools may marginalize or be inclusive of LGBTQ youth by examining school experiences with a particular focus at the elementary level. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews, focus groups, …

Collaboration Among Mathematicians And Mathematics Educators: Working Together To Educate Preservice Teachers, Amanda R. Mohn

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Collaboration among higher education professors who are responsible for the education of preservice teachers is one potential solution to the problem of poor teacher preparation. Specifically, collaboration among mathematics educators and mathematicians can enhance preservice teacher preparation because it provides opportunities for preservice teachers to develop pedagogical content knowledge. However, collaborative efforts are challenging, and collaborators often face obstacles and tensions arise among the collaborative group members. Learning about ways the collaborators approach their collaborative efforts, the issues and tensions that arise, the hindering and supporting factors that affect the collaboration, and the potential outcomes of collaborative efforts provides information …

“Inquiry Is Confidence”: How Practitioner Inquiry Can Support New Teachers, Rachel Wolkenhauer, Angela Hooser

Journal of Practitioner Research

This paper focuses on the profile of “Hannah,” who was having a successful first year of teaching until February when her principal shifted gears. At this point administration expected, as Hannah quoted her principal, “to walk into your classroom, at any point of the day, and see you in front of the classroom and the kids sitting at desks answering bubble-in questions and not talking to each other.” Hannah teaches first grade. Rather than being discouraged by this, Hannah turned to her knowledge of practitioner inquiry to systematically study and stand behind the professional decisions she knew she needed to …

Examining How Video-Elicited Reflection Mediates Teacher Candidates’ Beliefs About English Language Learners: A Multiple Case Study, Monica M. Gonzalez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

English Language Learners (ELLs) are students who speak a language other than English; they are the fastest growing student population in United States’ (US) public schools and will include over 17 million students by the year 2020 (NCES,2015). The dramatic increase in the ELL student population means that all mainstream classroom teachers will teach at least one ELL within their first year of graduating from a teacher preparation program. However, most US teachers hold misconceptions about ELLs and feel unprepared for ELL instruction (Coady, Harper, & de Jong, 2011). More empirical research is needed to inform teacher preparation programs on …

Exploring Mathematics Teacher Education Fieldwork Experiences Through Storytelling, Melody Jeane Elrod

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Throughout the history of teacher education, the final fieldwork experience has often been called the single most influential experience in teacher preparation programs (Burns, Jacobs, & Yendol-Hoppey, 2016; Feiman-Nemser & Buchmann, 1986; Parker-Katz & Bay, 2008). Though this experience has been expanded to include fieldwork experiences throughout many teacher education programs (Guyton & McIntyre, 1990), the final fieldwork experience remains the closing activity and the lasting image of teacher preparation (Feiman-Nemser & Buchmann, 1986; Rosaen & Florio-Ruane, 2008). Given its importance, though, researchers know relatively little about it. “The knowledge thus produced is akin to the quantum theory of physics; …

Picturing The Reader: English Education Pre-Service Teachers' Beliefs About Reading Using Photovoice, Michael Dicicco

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As students begin secondary school, they are charged with learning more content, at a faster pace and with increased pressure from accountability measures (Dreschler, Shumaker, & Woodruff, 2004). If secondary students' reading difficulties are not identified and remedied, the gap between struggling readers and their peers widens every academic year (Edmonds, Vaughn, Wexler, Rutebuch, Cable, Tackett, and Schnakenberg, 2009).

The task of reading instruction primarily falls on English teachers, but Strickland and Alvermann (2004) note that while secondary English Teachers do have more preparation in reading instruction compared to other content area teachers, they are not as prepared as they …

Connective Capacity: The Importance And Influence Of Dispositions In Special Education Teacher Education, Scot Mcgregor Rademaker

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Dispositions are a difficult construct to define and assess within teacher education. The problem lies in the relative ambiguity of the term and the subjective manner in which it is applied to the assessment of the performance of preprofessional teachers. Additionally, because certain accreditation institutes including the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) require that dispositions be measured as part of a teacher's professional development, the issues of how dispositions are constructed and gauged becomes an essential part of the foundation related to understanding the effectiveness of teacher education programs. The fact that much of the research …