Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Assuring The Quality Of Future Victorian Teachers : Acer Response To Det Discussion Paper: Working Together To Shape Teacher Education In Victoria, Lawrence Ingvarson

Teaching standards and teacher evaluation

ACER’s response to the August 2016 discussion paper on teacher education titled, 'Working Together To Shape Teacher Education in Victoria' released by James Merlino, the Minister for Education and Training in Victoria. This response addresses focus areas including:

1. Raising the quality and status of teaching: a profession of choice
2. Ensuring high quality pathways into the profession
3. Improving course quality
4. Developing Early Career Teachers

Ceteal News, September/October 2016, Ceteal, Coastal Carolina University

CeTEAL Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Teachers' Perceptions Of K-12 Online: Impacting The Design Of A Graduate Course Curriculum, Michael K. Barbour, Kelly L. Unger

Education Faculty Publications

While K-12 online learning in the United States has increased exponentially, the ability of teacher education programs to adequately prepare teachers to design, deliver, and support has been deficient. A small number of universities have begun to address this deficit through the introduction of graduate certificates in online teaching. This article examines curricular changes focused on introducing in-service teachers to K-12 online learning. This design-based research study examined changes in teacher perceptions after having completed a systematic curriculum focused on K-12 online learning, as well as track revisions to that curriculum based on the data collected. The results indicate that …

In This Issue [Of Tesol Quarterly, On Language Teacher Identity], Monka M. Varghese, Suhanthie Motha, Gloria Park, Jenelle Reeves, John Trent

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

Our decision to propose a special issue of TESOL Quarterly on language teacher identity (LTI) grew out of our growing recognition of the profound embeddedness of LTI within the research, teaching, and policy practices of (multi)lingual professionals and the immense interest generated by LTI work within the disciplines that engage with language education. We use (multi) in (multi)lingual to underscore our desire to move beyond a monolingual lens in TESOL and to highlight potential extensions to the notion of multilingualism, such as (pluri), (trans), (ethno), and (racio). This allows us …

Secondary Pre-Service Teachers’ Algebraic Reasoning About Linear Equation Solving, Christina Alvey, Rick A. Hudson, Jill Newton, Lorraine M. Males

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

This study analyzes the responses of 12 secondary pre-service teachers on two tasks focused on reasoning when solving linear equations. By documenting the choices PSTs made while engaging in these tasks, we gain insight into how new teachers work mathematically, reason algebraically, communicate their thinking, and make pedagogical decisions. We will share qualitative results from our examination of teacher knowledge through pre-service teachers’ explanations, models, language, and conjectures about student thinking.

Translanguaging In The Writing Of Emergent Multilinguals, Lydiah Kananu Kiramba

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

This article discusses the findings of an empirical study that investigated the writing practices in a multilingual, rural, fourth-grade classroom in Kenya. The study was undergirded by Bakhtin’s heteroglossia. Analysis of texts indicated that these emergent multilinguals used multiple semiotic resources to maximize the chances of meeting the communicative goals through translanguaging. However, the translanguaging process in writing was a tension-filled process in terms of language separation and correctness. The emergent multilingual writer went through tensions in the process of finding a balance between authorial intentions and the authoritarian single voicedness required by the school and the national curriculum. The …

Caring For Children With Severe Allergies: Establishing Protocols For Epipens And Other Medical Needs Through Collaborative Practices, William Arthur Parnell, Allison Schnur, Lynn Green

Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

As educators and researchers, throughout our work with young children and families, we authors have cared for children who were prescribed an epinephrine auto-injection device to be used in the case of a severe allergic reaction. However, it wasn't until we actually had to consider using such a device, commonly referred to as an EpiPen-a popular brand of epinephrine auto-injector-that we realized the care plan for these children was unclear. In many ways, the protocols and care-taking processes for managing severe allergies felt unlike those for many other medical concerns due to the instantaneous life threatening nature, immediately needed reactions, …

The Impact Of Faculty Development On Community College Adjunct Faculty, Stefanie Forster Bourque

All Theses And Dissertations

Facing a host of challenges posed by economic constraints and increased accountability, higher education is rapidly changing. All institutions are expected to meet changing student needs, implement learning-centered pedagogies, and utilize evolving technologies regardless of their size or access to resources. Rural community colleges face the same challenges as all other higher education institutions; however, small, rural colleges have added difficulties due to their size and location. Recruiting qualified faculty is one challenge due to the small number of local residents, and the salary and isolation of a rural college makes it difficult to attract instructors from other areas. Retention …

A Collaborative Approach To Address Student Behavior And Academic Achievement Across Systems, Beverly Ngozi Okereke

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Academic achievement and in-classroom behaviors are two significant child outcomes that affect student success in school. According to Systems Theory, in order to truly understand the factors that affect these outcomes for children, one must look to the major systems that encapsulate the child (including their school and home environments). This project is a meta-analytic review that examined the effectiveness of measures representing each system in predicting child achievement and behavior: School-Wide Positive Behavior Supports (SWPBS) for the school as a system, level of parent involvement (high versus low) for the home system, and student motivation (intrinsic versus extrinsic) for …

Solving Absolute Value Equations And Inequalities On A Number Line, Melinda A. Curtis

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Absolute value has often been taught procedurally. Many students struggle with solving absolute value equations and inequalities because they do not have an understanding of the underlying concepts. This study was designed to determine to what extent solving absolute value equations and inequalities by using the concept of distance on a number line is an effective method. The claim is that if students use the distance concept on a number line, they will develop the necessary conceptual understanding in addition to just a procedural knowledge that will lead to the success with and flexibility in the use of strategies for …

The Influences Of Teacher Self-Reflection Practices While Interacting With Families, Nena M. Cunningham

All Theses And Dissertations

Self-reflection in early childhood education is one reform effort that has taken hold in the education community. This study shares some of the findings of a qualitative study that explored how five teachers identified and implemented strategies of self-reflection, and how these strategies informed their practice. The purpose of this study was to better understand self-reflection and how it influences interactions with families. The theoretical framework originates in the works of Touchpoints® and Bandura, and applies a theoretical framework to give voice to the teachers within the context of their community action program. Four themes were culled from the data …

Correlating English Language Learner Crct Scores On The Basis Of English Language Learner Access Scores, Nancy Mcneal

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to test the sociocultural theory that relates English language learner students’ scores on the Georgia Assessing Comprehension and Communication in English State to State (ACCESS) test to English language learner students’ scores on the Georgia Criterion Referenced Competency Test (CRCT). The assessments scored students in language use and proficiency in listening, speaking, reading, writing, English/language arts, math, science and social studies. Specifically, the study assessed the predictive power of student scores on the ACCESS test on the criterion variable of student scores on the Georgia CRCT. The participants in the study were …

Out Of Sync: Analyzing The Paradoxical Impact Of Synchronous Learning In Distance Education, Benjamin David Luce

All Theses And Dissertations

Modern forms of distance education provide students and instructors with the ability to access their online experiences without being limited by time or place. Though this quality is convenient for many, the predominantly asynchronous nature of online learning creates transactional distance that challenges the depth of engagement between instructors and students. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine the impact of technology-assisted synchronous transactional interventions on the social construction of knowledge created between instructors and their students in distance education. Research was conducted through a series of interviews with instructors who have used synchronous methods within their online …

Introduction: Reflecting On The Red Balloon Project, George L. Mehaffy

Teacher-Scholar: The Journal of the State Comprehensive University

On a warm July afternoon in 2010, AASCU convened its Academic Affairs Summer Meeting in Chicago. The hotel ballroom had a festive look about it, with red balloons hanging from every imaginable place. At that conference, we used the red balloons to announce the launch of the Red Balloon Project, a national initiative focused on reimagining undergraduate education. The Red Balloon Project grew out of three critical challenges for AASCU institutions: declining state support, increasing expectations, and dramatic changes in technology. The year 2010 witnessed an acceleration of disinvestment in public higher education as states, struggling with the consequences of …

Educator Responses To Migrant Children In Mexican Schools, Juan Sánchez Garcia, Edmund T. Hamann

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

A decade-long, five-state, mixed-method study of students encountered in Mexican schools with previous experience in the United States suggests there may be 400,000 such students in educación básica alone (elementary and middle school). The focus here, however, are data from 68 educators asked how they have responded to such students and their families. We offer an emergent taxonomy of teacher sensemaking about these students and teachers’ responsibilities to respond. We then assert that because they are at the interface between a national institution (school) and transnational phenomena (migration), educators can provide key insight into how migration is shaped and negotiated. …

Nota Bene: News From The Yale Library, Amanda Patrick

Nota Bene

Nota Bene is published during the academic year to acquaint the Yale community and others with the resources of the Yale Library.

Fluency: A Steady Beat In The Making, Nicole Patton

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This honors thesis explores the literacy component of fluency and its instruction in the intermediate grades through the incorporation of Brain-based learning and the arts. Because reading fluency can affect other areas of reading, such as comprehension, it is important to build fluency skills through meaningful instruction. By exploring the best practices of fluency instruction, by understanding how the brain learns, and by recognizing how the arts can meet the needs of different learners, educators can alter and create instruction that challenges students’ reading ability in a unique way. A series of fluency lessons incorporating brain-based learning and the arts …

A Context For Extramural Funding At State Comprehensive Universities: Tilting At Windmills Or Fighting The Good Fight?, John Falconer

Teacher-Scholar: The Journal of the State Comprehensive University

Once upon a time, colleges hired professors to teach students. It was a simple world. But in the 1800s, the German model of higher education began to influence American higher education, and we embraced the notion of faculty members who would both develop knowledge and transmit it to students. This expanded the job of the professor considerably, although the spread of this model across higher education was gradual. Indeed, it is still underway. Despite the widely held notion that a faculty member who is engaged in his or her discipline offers more to a department and to students than someone …

Understanding The Self-Efficacy Beliefs Of Preservice Learning And Behavioral Specialists During Their Practicum, Field-Based, And Student Teaching Semesters, Alice S. Cahill

Theses and Dissertations

The study of self-efficacy has become a dominant topic in psychological and educational research over the last 50 years. However, little information is known about preservice teachers and even less about preservice special education teachers’ beliefs. This study was designed to survey preservice special educators’ self-efficacy beliefs placed outside of the college classroom in the education field.

The participants (n = 74) were special education preservice teachers in the state

of Illinois in their practicum, field-based, or student teaching semesters. The participants completed a 24-question online survey designed by Tschannen-Moran and Hoy (2001) on their self-efficacy beliefs in the areas …

Old Teachers, New Teachers—And Some Thoughts On Successful Teaching As We Begin Another School Year, John C. Bird, Teaching And Learning Center

The Weekly Reader

Attached is the first issue of the Teaching and Learning Center’s newsletter, The Weekly Reader, now beginning its 8^th year of publication. This week, some thoughts on what makes a successful teacher at Winthrop, in answer to an excellent question from one of our new colleagues.

Internationalizing Teacher Education: A Case Study Of A School Of Education, Florence Bromfield

Capstone Collection

Schools of Education across the US are some of the furthest behind in the race to internationalize departments across campuses in higher education. What does this mean for students in the K-12 classroom? The purpose of this case study is to explore the internationalization of teacher education within the context of a medium-sized state university in the South-East of the US. Working with the School of Education on this campus, qualitative interviews and surveys were administered to faculty and pre-service teachers to understand the extent of internationalization at the university, and the needs of the K-12 classroom. For this research, …

Understanding How Intentionally Unplugging From Cell Phones Shapes Interpersonal Relationships And The Undergraduate College Experience, Jadelin P. Felipe

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of what motivated college students—the Unplugged Students—to intentionally use their cell phones less and how they understood the impact that unplugging had on their interpersonal relationships and college experience. Nine undergraduate college students from four private schools were interviewed in one-on-one semi- structured interviews. These students, considered non-users, provided a particularly useful perspective as these students made a conscious choice to counteract social norms and experienced both being plugged in and unplugged. Cell phones and the act of unplugging proved to make up a complex and more nuanced topic than …

Emotional Self-Regulation: Voices And Perspectives Of Teachers Within Diverse Socio-Cultural Contexts, Anna Paula Peixoto Da Silva

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Given the importance of emotional self-regulation to a child’s ability to develop social competence and prosocial behavior, and the significant role early childhood teachers play in supporting young children’s emotional self-regulation, it is important to explore the concept from the perspective of teachers, or from the socio-cultural context through which they (i.e., teachers) make sense of the world.

This study used an exploratory case study methodology to explore the understandings of emotional self-regulation among three Head Start teachers working with varying socio-cultural contexts and to identify the socio-cultural perspectives that influenced their ability to effectively apply their understandings.

Findings indicate …

The Effects Of Community-Building On Achievement, Motivation, And Engagement In Undergraduate Mathematics, Hannak Keith

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This 2 x 2 quasi-experimental study examined the effects of pedagogical method (i.e., direct instruction vs. 5E inquiry) and intentional community-building (i.e., absence or presence) on undergraduate student (N = 103) motivation, engagement, and achievement in mathematics. Conditions were randomly assigned to one of four different College Algebra classes with a one-time occurrence and taught by a trained expert teacher. Findings indicated that intentional community-building – regardless of pedagogical method – had the strongest effects on students’ motivation, engagement, and achievement. Although no differing pedagogical effects were discovered (most likely due to the one-time implementation of the lesson formats), …

Testing The Effects Of Professional Development On Elementary Pre-Service Teachers’ Beliefs About Mathematics Inquiry Instruction, Courtney Inabnitt

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

In this study, a professional development (PD) seminar was designed and implemented with elementary pre-service teachers (n=20) enrolled in a mathematics content course at a small Midwestern university. The central focus of the PD was on bringing inquiry, specifically the 5E model, into mathematics instruction at the elementary level. The structure of the PD followed the 5E model format and participants learned about inquiry through inquiry. The study utilized a pre-post-test design and measured participants’ knowledge about the 5E model and beliefs about using inquiry in elementary mathematics instruction. Statistically significant growth from pre-test to post-test appears in …

Meaning-Making In Early Adolescence: Practices And Perspectives Of School Counselors, Jill E. Schwarz

Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision

Adolescence is a crucial life stage involving aspects of identity development and decision-making that have potential life-long consequences. A sense of meaning is related to many beneficial factors during adolescence, including psychological health, academic engagement, and overall well-being. This qualitative interview study was designed to investigate middle school counselors’ perspectives and practices regarding exploring meaning with their early adolescent students. Analysis of ten individual interviews and a focus group revealed that the school counselor participants did engage in work with middle school students around meaning-making. They primarily helped students to find meaning through identity exploration, specifically focusing on navigating challenging …

Teaching Students With Down Syndrome: Mothers' Perspectives On The Most Appropriate Educational Environments For Their Children, Stacey Mulrenin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the perspectives that mothers of children with Down syndrome (Ds) hold regarding the most appropriate educational environments for their children. Environments for students with Ds may be classified as inclusive (fully included within a general education classroom with complete access to the general curriculum and typical peers), integrated (self-contained within a general education school, with some interaction with typical peers), or segregated (separate school for students with intellectual disabilities, or InD). A qualitative research design using semi-structured interviews and a follow-up focus group was used to gather thick, rich descriptions of mothers’ perspectives of these different types …

Development Of An Associate Degree Level Course On Lean, Jeremy Espinoza

Master of Technology Management Plan II Graduate Projects

Lean training and education has become a focal point in both industry and the realm of academics; however, the need within the industry remains, and oftentimes companies must take on the additional and high expense of training new graduates once they enter the workforce. Often, the classes that students study in the lean methodology, if any are studied at all, are taught within other disciplines, and the instruction is in a general sense as opposed to in depth and hands on. Within the past eight years it has been referenced in different academic articles that students are not coming into …

Inductive Teaching With Learninghub, Samuel Villamizar

Faculty and Staff Institute

This session is geared toward instructors who have discovered how effective it is to teach via the inductive method (instead of deductive), and would like to know what tools LearningHub has available in order to implement this learning method in their current (and future) courses. This training session assumes that the audience has previous LearningHub experience, we will expand on the use of some of Moodle’s basic tools (Assignment, forum, glossary, etc.). To take full advantage of this session, please bring your laptop to work in your own session-provided class space.

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Interacting With Muslim Students: Strategies That Work, Oscar Osindo

Faculty and Staff Institute

This presentation will help faculty to become familiar with Muslim values and customs that might affect classroom relationships and learning. The Muslim and Christian worldviews are in conflict, which is reflected in day to day Muslim practices such as outward manifestation of their faith and practice, in lifestyle and their general view of community structures. This presentation will provide practical suggestions and how to build bridges towards healthy intercultural classroom atmosphere.

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