Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Teacher Professionalism., Christopher K. Shon

Faculty Publications and Presentations

Is teaching a profession? This article compares teachers with other professionals, such as medical doctors or lawyers, in professional knowledge, autonomy, and commitment to the welfare of the clientele. The implications for teacher professionalism include establishment of national/state standards for professional teachers, increased autonomy in teacher education, salary increase, and opportunities for promotion. However, there still remains a question of whether there will be a genuine improvement in the quality of education with “professional” teachers.

Responses From The Field, Roberta Weaver, Shauna M. Adams, Mary F. Landers

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

DeFiore (2006) provides a comprehensive review of elements that have shaped the state of special education in Catholic schools. The article speaks of the bishops’ vision without teeth and the theoretical support provided under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEIA). DeFiore discusses the demand for services that are not met because of a lack of resources, expertise, and funding. The article concludes by allowing that much has occurred over the past decade, but more is needed.

To meet this need, DeFiore states that diocesan and local leaders must face the challenge of inspiring the laity to …

Catch Them (Preservice Teachers) While You Can!, Audrey Church

Education & Human Services Faculty Publications

The article addresses a university school library instructor's approach, which features a meeting with preservice teachers early in the sequence of coursework. The majority of preservice teachers are not learning in their teacher preparation programs about the benefits of collaborative partnerships with teacher-librarians.

Recent Trends In Basic Science Department Reorganizations, Sarah A. Bunton

Educational Leadership and Policy Faculty Publications and Presentations

The past several decades have seen a rapid and profound expansion of knowledge within the biomedical sciences. Achievements in molecular biology, human genetics, and neuroscience, among others, have contributed to the realization that the complexity of science now lends itself to interdisciplinary and collaborative efforts. This transformation of biomedical science has led to questions regarding the organization of academic departments in U.S. medical schools around traditional basic science disciplines. Some have proposed that the discipline-based department impedes scientific progress and a new structure that breaks down boundaries is needed. Others believe that traditional basic science departments continue to foster valuable …

Effective Letter Identification Activities For K-1 Children: A Handbook For Teachers, Luann Nicole Jensen

All Graduate Projects

The purpose of this project is to provide K-1 teachers with a handbook of effective letter identification activities. Letter identification is a pre-requisite reading skill that students must have in order to be successful readers and to prevent reading difficulties later on. This handbook can be implemented by teachers of kindergarten or first grade children who need a letter identification intervention. The lessons in this project were developed to be paired with explicit, intensive teaching during the intervention to help remediate a child's weakness in identifying letters.

Learning To Use Innovative Pedagogy: The Experience Of A Primary Science Teacher In Pakistan, Nelofer Halai

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

This study examined the experiences of primary science teachers when they weThis study examined the experiences of primary science teachers when they were exposed to a new and innovative teaching strategy and the process that they followed in using the strategy in the class- room for the first time. Four primary science teachers, among the 22 participants of an 8-week Certificate in Education (Science) in Karachi, were observed and interviewed after the four-day teaching session where they were instructed how to use "Discrepant Events" to teach science content. Only the case of Farhana Batool, a teacher in a private school, …

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 …

Preparing Teachers To Use Problem-Centered, Inquiry-Based Science: Lessons From A Four-Year Professional Development Project, James D. Lehman, Melissa George, Peggy Buchanan, Michael Rush

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning

Calls for reform in science education stress the need for inquiry-based, integrative methods that provide students with opportunities to solve authentic problems. Project INSITE, a four-year professional development effort in Indiana, was designed to help teachers integrate problem-centered science methods in their classrooms. This approach was characterized by use of a meaningful driving question anchored in a real-world context; student-conducted investigations that resulted in the creation of products; collaboration among students, teachers, and the community; and use of technology as a tool for gathering and sharing information. Quantitative and qualitative evaluations of the project suggest that it was generally successful …

Goals And Strategies Of A Problem-Based Learning Facilitator, Cindy E. Hmelo-Silver, Howard S. Barrows

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning

This paper describes an analysis of facilitation of a student-centered problem-based learning group. The focus of this analysis was to understand the goals and strategies of an expert facilitator in support of collaborative learning. This was accomplished through interaction analysis using video data and stimulated recall to examine two PBL group meetings. In this paper, we examine how specific strategies were used to support the PBL goals of helping students construct causal explanations, reason effectively, and become self-directed learners while maintaining a student-centered learning process. Being able to articulate these strategies is an important step in helping others learn the …

Identities In The Making: Realized In-Between Self And Other, Margaret A. Macintyre Latta, Lori Olafson

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

A middle school is a complex setting in which to develop a sense of self. The following accounts of three young women reveal ways that identity is confronted, offering insights for all learners. The intent is to show how prospective and practicing teachers can gain greater access to fostering identities in the making. The language of Bakhtin gives expression to the necessary teaching and learning conditions for students to look at the sense and selves being made on a continual basis. We conclude that valuing and validating identities in the making require that learning spaces be created, sustained, and nurtured …

Math Anxiety: What It Is And How It Can Be Prevented By Elementary Classroom Teachers, Amy Christenson

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduation requirement for the BSU Honors Program.

University Diversity Committee: Where Diversity And Dedication Meet, Mary Texeira

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

No abstract provided.

The Power Of Visuals: Picture Books As Invitations To Literacy, Mary Jo Skillings

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

When young children are exposed to picture books, they are building important bridges to literacy. Picture books are sometimes defined as a storybook with a dual narrative. That is, the illustrations and text work interdependently, the integration of the visual and the verbal tell the story. The illustrations add a new dimension that extends beyond the words on the page; together, the text and pictures make the story stronger. A well crafted picture book is a feast for the eyes of a young child. The illustrations awaken and develop the child’s visual, mental, and verbal imagination.

Aesthetic Knowing: Essential To The Development Of Heart And Mind., Laura Howzell-Young, Susan Daniels

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

Children are biologically wired to experience their world through rich sensory, affective, aesthetic, and imaginal experiences. Children thirst for art, music and movement, and these modes are utilized widely to learn the varied languages of literacy: the alphabet, numbers, vocabulary, body-sense and more. Yet, in response to meeting higher and more prescribed standards at the elementary and secondary levels, there is a tendency to narrow the curriculum, to consider art and music expendable, to view social-emotional development as external to the schoolhouse. This narrowing is happening just as our global culture is moving again toward multiple kinds of communication: toward …

Where Visual Literacy And Identity Meet: Adolescents Define Themselves Through Participation In A University Video And Art Enrichment Program, Susan Daniels, Patricia Little, Linda M. Reynolds, Alayne Sullivan

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

This article summarizes a project that oriented one hundred and twenty-five gifted and talented middle-school students to university culture through a series of summer workshops that emphasized visual media. Various workshops introduced students to methods of video and art production. The middle-school students created short videos and artistic collages to represent their identity in response to two activities: (a) in-depth explorations of the California State University campus at San Bernardino; and (b) literary reading. Art and video production are revealed as a powerful means of middle-school students’ identity formation and expression; the work summarized herein gains credence through its alignment …

Developing High School Multiple Intelligence Learning Centers: An Action Research Project In History., Jessica Cannaday

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

Research that provides results which can be almost instantaneously put into use is looked on by some teachers as a path to better student learning. Accordingly, action research is a form of critical reflection that some experts believe can achieve instant change. Although, action research is sometimes denigrated as lacking in precision, the critical reflection necessary in any well done action research project demonstrates that such research while, not quantitatively rigorous can still be qualitatively useful. As such, the author discusses her own implementation of MI learning centers as a form of action research in the classroom.

Meaningful Assessment Promotes Meaningful Learning, Diane K. Brantley

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

Since the enactment of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in 1965, America’s schools have faced enhanced scrutiny by the public sector. Larger demands have been placed on children to perform at increasingly higher levels of achievement in reading and math, often beginning as early as kindergarten. Teachers and institutions of higher education have also felt the surge of outside pressure to “perform” wash over them.

How Teacher Attitudes And Administrator Behaviors Affect Levels Of Technology Integration In The Classroom, Sheri Leigh Bradshaw

Dissertations

Multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to evaluate how well teachers’ attitudes predict levels of technology integration into the classroom. This study also investigated whether perceived support from the administrator as the instructional leader was related to teachers’ levels of technology integration into the classroom. The population for this study included identified school districts in rural North Georgia. Utilizing the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) for the 2002-2003 school year, the researcher identified 5 peer districts: Franklin County, Gilmer County, Stephens County, Union County, and White County. All middle and high school teachers within a district were invited to …

Superintendents ’ Perceptions Of Clinical Supervision Practices In A District-Wide Implementation Program, Myrna Rae Ladner Bourgeois

Dissertations

In 1990 a new idea swept through the educational industry. Forty-nine school districts in Pennsylvania instituted a new form of organizational management called clinical supervision. In effect, this was a change in the relationship between administration and teachers concerning instructional behaviors. Formerly, when teachers were supervised and evaluated by administrators, they felt intimidated. They also felt their privacy was being invaded. Clinical supervision is an attempt to organize the methodology of teacher supervision while improving instruction. The purpose of this study was to provide data to the participating school districts for use in developing supervision, evaluation, and involvement training modification …

School Web Sites And Teacher Employment Interest, David Theodore Freeman

Dissertations

The Internet has changed the way many organizations, including public and private schools, recruit and select employees. It has also changed the way many people research and pursue employment opportunities, including those seeking positions in education. The school Web site is often the medium of first contact between a school or school district and a potential employee. That first contact can influence the potential employee’s decision to actively pursue employment with a school or a school district.

This research measured the reactions o f preservice teachers who visited three grade-level appropriate school Web sites of “poor,” “average,” and “best” distinction. …

Incorporating Nonfiction Into The Primary Grades: A Handbook For K-2 Teachers, Mandee D. Burton

All Graduate Projects

The majority of reading done outside the school setting is primarily nonfiction in nature; however primary teachers continue to emphasize fictional texts in the classroom. Therefore, many students are unprepared for the increase in the use of nonfiction text which begins in the intermediate grades and continues on up through the college years. Students as young as kindergarten benefit from the early exposure to nonfiction in numerous ways including increased background knowledge, vocabulary, and comprehension. A handbook was created to assist teachers (K-2) in incorporating nonfiction into the primary grades. Eight strategies effective in improving students' comprehension of nonfiction as …

Supporting Alternate Routes To Teacher Certification: Principals' Perceptions, Joy L. Russell

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine principals' perceptions regarding the importance of six dimensions of support for Traditional and Alternative Route to Teacher Certification (AR TC) graduates. Additionally, this study compares principals' perceived importance of these support dimensions for ARTC graduates to the perceived importance of these support dimensions for Traditionally Certified graduates. Information was also collected regarding the relationship between the support dimensions for AR TC graduates and building grade levels and areas of teaching specialization. A sample population of principals employing one or more graduates from two Eastern Illinois University ARTC programs was used for …

Computer Use And Integration Of Elementary School Teachers, Samuel L. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

The problem in this study asks: Could it be that teachers who have high frequency of computer use in the classroom have recognizable characteristics than teachers who have a low frequency of computer use in the classroom?

A data collection instrument was develop and distributed to 23 classroom teachers at H. B. Wilson Elementary School in Camden, New Jersey. The 47 questions on the survey assessed computer knowledge and uses in the classroom, and a score was given to each category. Some of recognizable characteristics of teachers who had high frequency of computer use in the classroom were the fact …

The Prevalence And Function Of Mathematics Specialists Across Southern New Jersey, Susan M. Eith

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this descriptive study was to examine current practices regarding math specialists in the eight southern counties of New Jersey. Additionally, information on training opportunities offered by several universities was presented and compared to the certification requirements of other states. A written survey was mailed to a proportional stratified random sample (n=45), categorized by county and socioeconomic status. Both simple percentages and tests of significance (t-test and chi-squared) were used in analyzing the data. This study found there were no significant differences in the number of math specialists working in economically disadvantaged districts compared to other, more affluent …

Anti-Bullying Laws And Policies In Southern New Jersey, Joanna M. Wardrop

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to discover the anti-bullying laws set by New Jersey legislatures. It was also to discover whether school districts in the five southern-most counties of New Jersey are following these laws. Finally, this study attempted to discover which, if any, anti-bullying services are being utilized by school districts in these counties.

This study consisted of a survey which was sent to the 110 superintendents in school districts in the five southern-most counties of New Jersey. The survey contained multiple choice, yes/no, and open-ended questions. The goal of the survey was to find the percentages of …

Web-Based Transitioning For Students With Disabilities: Learning From Existing Limitations To Design A Process That Leaves No Child Behind, Kevin Johnson

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

Students with disabilities face numerous obstacles. This is especially true while in the process of postsecondary transitioning, moving from secondary (K-12) to Post-secondary schooling (College, University or Community College). The transitioning process poses obstacles to all students however students with disabilities confront additional obstacles unique to having a disability. Federal law mandates public secondary schools design transition plans, a written plan detailing students transition from secondary to postsecondary school. Secondary schools must also create opportunities for students to develop both academic and life skills critical to successfully take the postsecondary leap and remain successful at the postsecondary level. The need …

Amy Leh Tssa Winter 2006, Amy Leh

Teaching Skills Study Awards (TSSA) Reports

Enhances faculty's teaching by attending a conference devoted to university teaching, a high-impact practice, evidence-based practice or a newly developing teaching practice.

Authentic Communication For Japanese Language Learning: A Single Case Study Of Midwestern University Students, Yuki Ozawa

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Theses and Other Student Research

The purpose of this single case study was to explore authentic communication for Japanese language learning in second-year Japanese classes at a small, private university in the Midwest. Types of authentic Japanese communication and materials in and outside of Japanese class were studied from four learners’ and one professor’s perspectives.

Data were collected throughout one academic year, the first semester of 2004 through the second semester of 2005. Multiple methods of data collection were used in this study including personal interviews, casual conversations, participant observations of classes and related events, and studying relevant documents including the textbook, students’ study sheets, …

Karen Johnson, Karen Johnson, Institute Of Child Nutrition. Child Nutrition Archives.

Oral History Project (all interviews)

Karen Johnson is a retired child nutrition director in Arizona and a past-president of the American School Food Service Association.

Paula Barletta, Paula Barletta, Institute Of Child Nutrition. Child Nutrition Archives.

Oral History Project (all interviews)

Born in the Sudetenland, Paula Barletta left Germany after surviving World War II, and later moved to Yuma, Arizona, with her American husband, where she became the food service director.