Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Creating Assessment Rubrics For Final Teacher Education Degree Projects: A Qualitative Case Study, Carla Fernández Garcimartín, Víctor Manuel López Pastor, Teresa Fuentes Nieto, David Hortiguela Alcalá

The Qualitative Report

This paper analyzes the process of creating the assessment instruments for the Final Year Project (FYP) by education faculty based on the opinions of the lecturers. Qualitative methodology was used, with a case study design and the in-depth interview as a data collection technique. Four lecturers participated as relevant informants. The results show that: (a) the faculty decided to create the instruments due to the lack of clear assessment criteria among the lecturers in the first years (2009-2015); (b) work was carried out on three assessment instruments over two years (2015-2017): a tutor's report (without grade), a document rubric (80% …

“Don’T Call On Me!”: Mediating Preservice Elementary Teachers’ Mathematics Anxiety In A Problem-Based Classroom, Christina Koehne, Wenyen Huang, Nataly Chesky

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

This study aims to understand the ways in which problem-based teaching in a mathematics content course can alleviate pre-service elementary school teachers' mathematics anxiety. The significance of this work is to help increase the content and pedagogical knowledge of mathematics education, as outlined in STEM policies. Using a mixed method approach, the teachers-researchers explore what methods, procedures, and other perhaps unknown variables, helped pre-service elementary teachers decrease their mathematics anxiety during two mathematics content courses. The findings illuminate five major themes the authors discuss, which are illustrated by rich descriptions of students’ narratives and interviews. Given the importance of mathematics …

What Pre-Service Teachers Want “Math” To Know: Examining Self-Identified Relationships And Critical Experiences With Mathematics, Claudia M. Bertolone-Smith, Alison Puliatte, Samantha Sommers, Michelle Unigarro, Danielle Vantassell

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

This study examines the self-reported critical experiences that undergraduate pre-service teachers (PSTs) choose to share when writing a letter directly to “Math” and creating a self-portrait of a math learning experience. The letters sought to initiate a personification of math and the self-portraits to further explore math learning experiences of the PSTs. The letters and portraits were examined to understand the types of math relationships and critical events PSTs reported and their impact on PST identity and agency as a future teacher. Portraits were analyzed by PST research partners. The relationship between the categories of critical events and mindset …

Advisement Challenges And Opportunities In Pre-Service Teacher Education: Insights Into The Experiences Of Diverse Pre-Service Teachers, Latasha Casterlow-Lalla

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Effective pre-service teacher educator programs are among the most important components in preparing the nation’s next generation of educators. Today’s educators collectively work to support the diverse cultural, linguistic, and social needs of students through the unprecedented demands of a transitioning school system. This dissertation examined the components of advisement challenges and opportunities as an impact on the preparation of pre-service teachers in Northern New Jersey. The study explored the influence of approaches available to pre-service teachers in the areas of program structure, a variety of support services, and the role of the advisor-advisee relationship to discover whether such programs …

Investigating Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions Of The Virginia Computer Science Standards Of Learning: A Qualitative Multiple Case Study, Valerie Sledd Taylor

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

Computer science education is being recognized globally as necessary to better prepare students in all grade levels, K-12, for future success. As a result of this focus on computer science education in the United States and around the world, there is an increased demand for highly qualified teachers with content and pedagogical knowledge to successfully support student learning. As a result, there is a call to include and improve the computer science training offered to pre-service teachers in their educator preparation programs from methods courses to practicum and student teaching experiences. Thus, it is important to understand how pre-service teachers …

Pre-Service Music Teachers’ Understanding Of Blended Learning: Implications For Teaching Post Covid-19, Louise E. Jenkins, Renee Crawford

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The significant increase in online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic has created a heightened need for educators to implement teaching methods which do not rely solely on “face-to-face” learning within the same physical space. Blended Learning (BL) is one such approach, allowing for flexibility in the delivery of a class and constant access to unit materials. This paper reports on an investigation, by two Australian Pre-service Teacher (PST) educators, of their students’ understanding of BL at the beginning and end of a BL music method unit. Data were collected for three consecutive years with three separate cohorts. Findings indicated that …

Learning To Lesson Plan: A Mentor’S Impact On Pre-Service Teachers, Kelly M. Gomez Johnson, Connie L. Schaffer Dr, Lela E. Nix, H. Emily Hayden

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

Lesson planning is considered an essential skill of teachers. As pre-service teachers first encounter the fundamental principles of planning for instruction, the complexity of planning to support the rigorous learning goals of content, curriculum, and individual student needs could be daunting. The mixed methods study explored how mentoring influenced early-program pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997) and progression through stages of concerns (Fuller, 1969) in relation to lesson planning. Participants, secondary early-program pre-service teachers enrolled in a Midwestern teacher preparation program, included a target group who received mentoring and a comparison group who did not. Using constant comparison techniques guided by …

Learning To Lesson Plan: A Mentor’S Impact On Pre-Service Teachers, Kelly Gomez Johnson, Connie L. Schaffer, Lela E. Nix, H. Emily Hayden

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

Lesson planning is considered an essential skill of teachers. As pre-service teachers first encounter the fundamental principles of planning for instruction, the complexity of planning to support the rigorous learning goals of content, curriculum, and individual student needs could be daunting. The mixed methods study explored how mentoring influenced early-program pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997) and progression through stages of concerns (Fuller, 1969) in relation to lesson planning. Participants, secondary early-program pre-service teachers enrolled in a Midwestern teacher preparation program, included a target group who received mentoring and a comparison group who did not. Using constant comparison techniques guided by …

Interpersonal Dynamics Of The Supervisory Triad Of Pre-Service Teacher Education: Lessons Learned From 15 Years Of Research, Anna Hart

Georgia Educational Researcher

Clinical field experience is recognized by many as the most influential and beneficial component of pre-service teacher education. The present article represents part of a larger qualitative meta-synthesis, the purpose of which was to explore the influence of the interpersonal dynamics of the supervisory triad—comprised of the pre-service teacher candidate, the mentor teacher, and the university supervisor—on pre-service candidates’ clinical experiences. Positioning theory was chosen to frame this investigation, as it employs distinct definitions for role and position, the delineation of which is of critical importance in the context of pre-service clinical relationships. Findings of the larger study reveal …

Advancing Supervision In Clinically-Based Teacher Education, Laura H. Baecher, Rebecca Burns

Journal of Educational Supervision

For this special issue, Advancing Supervision in Clinically-Based Teacher Education, we invited conceptual papers, empirical research studies, descriptive narratives, and evaluations of supervision from faculty, emerging scholars, professionals, and practitioners situated in teacher preparation contexts. The papers included illuminate how supervision in clinical teacher education is being improved, studied, or developed.

Voices On Data Literacy And Initial Teacher Education: Pre-Service Teachers’ Reflections And Recommendations, Shannon Kennedy-Clark, Vilma Galstaun, Peter Reimann, Taylor Martyn, Kiatin Williamson, Jessica Weight

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The purpose of study was gain insight into pre-service teachers’ experiences in using classroom data to make learning and teaching decisions. The qualitative study is based on the reflections and recommendations of three pre-service teachers’ that participated in a data-driven decision-making intervention whilst on an immersive 10-week professional learning experience. This study is underpinned by an action research framework. There are many understandings of action research, here the approach is understood to be a systematic investigation into one’s own practice with the aim of improving teaching and learning. From the thematic analysis of the reflections, several recommendations were put forward …

Peer Review In Online Professional Communities To Support Elementary Disciplinary Literacy Planning, Jaime Colwell, Valerie Taylor

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

This chapter reports the results of a qualitative case study focused on elementary pre-service teachers' perspectives on planning for disciplinary literacy using peer review in an online professional community (OPC). Seven pre-service teachers enrolled in an eight-week asynchronous, online content literacy course served as participants. Results indicated pre-service teachers' valued extended opportunities for reflection in the OPC and appreciated diverse backgrounds and experiences offered by their OPC colleagues. However, perceived challenges remained that are important to consider when incorporating peer review cycles into online asynchronous coursework. This study considers these perspectives in light of designing and planning online coursework in …

Refining An Instrument And Studying Elementary Teachers’ Understanding Of The Scope Of Engineering, Jacob Pleasants, Joanne K. Olson

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

To effectively incorporate engineering into their instruction, K–12 teachers need sufficient knowledge of the engineering discipline. An important component of teachers’ engineering knowledge is their understanding of the nature of engineering: what engineers do, the epistemological underpinnings of engineering, and the relationships between engineering and other fields of study. In this study, we present a quantitative tool that was developed to assess teachers’ knowledge of a particular nature of engineering dimension: the scope of engineering, which describes the demarcation between engineering and non-engineering. This tool was used to assess the knowledge of teachers and engineering graduate students, before and after …

A Critical Lens Of Experiential Learning In Puerto Rico, Robin Marion

Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT A CRITICAL LENS OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING IN PUERTO RICO February 2019 ROBIN L. MARION, B.A., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST M.A., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Dr. Denise K. Ives Teacher education research has shown that ethnically, linguistically, and economically diverse students have been historically under-served in U.S. public schools (Bennett, 2013; Gay, 2010). Scholars attribute the under-serving of diverse students to a deficit perspective that exists in many schools across the United States, both in classrooms and within school administration. This deficit perspective devalues the cultural and linguistic resources many students possess (Sleeter, …

Coach And Evaluator: Exploring How To Negotiate Both Functions In The Role Of Supervisor, Andrea T. Scalzo Willson

Journal of Practitioner Research

The tensions of engaging in both coaching and evaluation have driven this inquiry examining my practice as a university supervisor. I explored the ways I define the tasks that allow me to supervise in ways that align with my beliefs, while at the same time perform my duty as an evaluator. In order to examine my practice and the ways that I engage in evaluation and coaching as a supervisor, I considered those tasks in which I enacted such practices. Further, I envisioned a “hybrid” practice where both roles have a place and function while improving pre-service teaching practice.

Exploring The Interpersonal Dynamics Of The Supervisory Triad Of Pre-Service Teacher Education: A Qualitative Meta-Synthesis, Anna E. Hart

Doctor of Education in Teacher Leadership Dissertations

Clinical field experience is recognized by many as the most influential and beneficial component of pre-service teacher education (Borko & Mayfield, 1995). At the core of this experience is the supervisory triad, consisting of the pre-service teacher, mentor teacher, and university supervisor. Utilizing positioning theory as its theoretical framework, this qualitative meta-synthesis synthesized eleven pieces of empirical research focused on the interpersonal dynamics of the supervisory triad. The findings of this study reveal three primary factors of influence, four primary patterns of communication, and many modes of positioning of self and others as influential to pre-service teachers’ clinical experiences. The …

Making Pedagogy Tangible: Developing Skills And Knowledge Using A Team Teaching And Blended Learning Approach, Renée Crawford, Louise E. Jenkins

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In an era of accountability government and industry bodies are mandating that teacher education programs provide evidence of their impact. This paper provides an example of evidence-based practice, exploring how a team teaching and blended learning approach influenced the development of pre-service teachers (PSTs) competency skills and knowledge. This approach was introduced to an initial teacher education (ITE) specialist music secondary methods unit to ensure that the tertiary learning context aligned with contemporary innovations in schools and provided authentic learning and teaching opportunities. Using an embedded advanced mixed methodology, this research had two phases. Phase 1 explored the development of …

Primary Pre-Service Teachers' Attitudes Towards Inclusion Across The Training Years, Corrina Goddard, David Evans

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Teachers are responsible for meeting the needs of increasingly diverse learners. Given their position as catalysts for educational change, teachers’ positive attitudes towards inclusive education must be considered prerequisite to its success in Australian classrooms. This study investigated the extent to which pre-service training affects pre-service primary teachers’ attitudes towards inclusive education. A survey was designed to examine such attitudes among primary pre-service teachers at all year levels of their Bachelor of Education (Primary). To reflect the increasingly broad definition of inclusion established in the literature, participants’ attitudes towards gifted and talented students, those learning English as a second language …

Inside The Mentors’ Experience: Using Poetic Representation To Examine The Tensions Of Mentoring Pre-Service Teachers., Sharon L. Mcdonough

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The supervision and mentoring of pre-service teachers during professional experience is complex work that requires a range of skills and capacities. Professional development for this work has traditionally been limited, however, and mentor teachers report experiencing tensions in their work stemming from their roles as both supporter and assessor of pre-service teachers. Despite the central role that mentors play in professional experience, their voices are underrepresented in the literature. In this paper, I draw on interview data to examine teachers’ experiences as mentors and the tensions they experience. I use poetic representation to illuminate the tensions and emotions of …

What’S To Be Learned? A Review Of Sociocultural Digital Literacies Research Within Pre-Service Teacher Education, Ana Karina De Oliveira Nascimento, Michele Knobel

Department of Teaching and Learning Scholarship and Creative Works

This circumscribed review analyzes recent sociocultural, qualitative research in digital literacies within pre-service teacher education. It focuses on what teacher educators are doing with respect to working with pre-service teacher education students and digital literacies conceived more in terms of social practices than as proficiency in using education technology tools. Analysis suggests digital literacies within pre-service teacher education are typically linked to out-of-school practices in order to help facilitate student teachers' take-up of digital literacies in their own classrooms. The studies also suggest that projects that encourage and support collaboration are well received by pre-service teachers and seem to result …

The Politics Of Quality Teacher Discourses: Implications For Pre-Service Teachers In High Poverty Schools, Laura Scholes, Jo Lampert, Bruce Burnett, Barbara M. Comber, Lutz Hoff, Angela Ferguson

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Improving the quality of education for young people growing up in high poverty and culturally diverse communities is an escalating problem in affluent nations with increasing gaps between the wealthy and the poor. Improving the quality of teachers and improving the quality of teaching are amongst the prominent solutions offered to redress the differences between student academic performances related to socio-economic family circumstances. This article examines the different discourses of ‘quality’ in relation to the preparation of pre-service teachers to work in high poverty schools such as graduates of the National Exceptional Teaching for Disadvantaged Schoolspre-service teacher education program. Key …

Transforming Pre-Service Teachers’ Beliefs And Understandings About Design And Technologies, Marnie Best

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Design and Technologies challenges students to think differently: to think critically and creatively. Yet, how, when and why students are exposed to Design and Technologies curriculum in school classrooms is at the prerogative of their teacher. For this reason, it is imperative that pre-service teachers are inspired by and engaged through relevant, rigorous and responsive courses throughout their undergraduate teaching program. Situated within the Bachelor of Education (Primary and Middle) degree at the University of South Australia, Australia, this study captures pre-service teachers’ emerging beliefs, attitudes and understandings of Design and Technologies. Drawing on the comparative responses of pre-service teachers …

Exploring How Secondary Pre-Service Teachers’ Use Online Social Bookmarking To Envision Literacy In The Disciplines, Jamie Colwell, Kristen Gregory

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

This study considers how pre-service teachers envision disciplinary literacy through an online social bookmarking project. Thirty secondary pre-service teachers participated in the project through an undergraduate literacy course. Online bookmarks and post-project reflections were collected and analyzed using a constant comparative approach to determine emergent themes. Results suggest varying levels of disciplinary knowledge among pre-service teachers, influences of pre-service teachers' envisionments on posted bookmarks, and considerations about standardized testing in disciplinary literacy instruction. Implications for teacher education are discussed in light of these results.

Turkish Pre-Service Teachers’ Reflective Practices In Teaching English To Young Learners, Muzeyyen Nazli Gungor

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The course ‘Teaching English to Young Learners’ is the first stage where pre-service teachers are introduced to a child’s world, developmental characteristics, needs, interests as well as teaching and learning techniques for these learners in English language teaching pre-service teacher education programmes in Turkey. This action research study identifies the gap that pre-service teachers experience between the theoretical considerations and realities of teaching, and the problems they face in this course. It provides the opportunity for monitoring and evaluating themselves in a pre-service teacher education programme in Turkey. Hence, this piece of research aims to promote reflective practice at the …

Exploring How Secondary Pre-Service Teachers' Use Online Social Bookmarking To Envision Literacy In The Disciplines, Jamie Colwell, Kristen Gregory

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

This study considers how pre-service teachers envision disciplinary literacy through an online social bookmarking project. Thirty secondary pre-service teachers participated in the project through an undergraduate literacy course. Online bookmarks and post-project reflections were collected and analyzed using a constant comparative approach to determine emergent themes. Results suggest varying levels of disciplinary knowledge among pre-service teachers, influences of pre-service teachers' envisionments on posted bookmarks, and considerations about standardized testing in disciplinary literacy instruction. Implications for teacher education are discussed in light of these results. Copyright (c) by the authors.

Virtual Worlds In Pre-Service Teacher Education : The Introduction Of Virtual Worlds In Pre-Service Teacher Education To Foster Innovative Teaching-Learning Processes, Lisa Jacka

Dr Lisa Jacka

Few pre-service teacher education programs have integrated virtual worlds despite their capacity to provide a platform upon which new forms of teaching and learning can be explored. This research identified factors that influence the level of readiness of pre-service teacher educators and students to introduce, develop and support innovative teaching-learning processes using Virtual Worlds. Over three years Second Life and Sim-on-a-Stick were introduced in a School of Education and the perceptions, experiences, motivations and barriers of the participants were documented. A model was developed to assist pre-service teacher educators in the integration of virtual worlds in higher education.

Learning In A Pre-Service Teacher Residency Program, Shuyi Zhen

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Teacher educators worldwide are seeking ways to develop stronger links with schools, to improve the quality of initial teacher preparation. In this study the researcher investigated a residency approach to initial teacher education (ITE) in a one-year Graduate Diploma of Education course designed to prepare primary school teachers at a university in Western Australia. A mixed methods inquiry approach was employed to examine the nature and quality of the professional learning experiences of the pre-service teacher participants.

The Teacher Residency Program (TRP) was based on a medical residency model, with residents given a semester-length placement in two schools. Each placement …

Planting The Seed Of Teacher Identity: Nurturing Early Growth Through A Collaborative Learning Community, Ann Harlow, Donella J. Cobb

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Abstract: This paper reports on the findings of a reconceptualised Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programme where a collaborative relationship between the university and partner schools saw the shared responsibility for the first year ITE programme. Findings from this study suggests that ongoing, authentic teaching experiences in collaboration with school-based university tutorials provided a strong foundation for the early development of teacher identity. Wenger’s (1998) social theory of learning provides a theoretical framework for understanding why this community of practice has been particularly effective in planting the seed of teacher identity at such an early stage of the ITE programme.

Standards In Literacy And Numeracy: Contributing Factors, Linda Meeks, Coral Kemp, Jennifer Stephenson

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The establishment of international testing regimes such as the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), and the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) has provided one way for individual countries to monitor the effectiveness of their educational systems. Not only do such programs allow for overall student achievement to be compared across member, and partner, countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and to those countries choosing to participate in PIRLS and TIMSS, but comparisons can also be made in relation to the percentage of students achieving …

Pre-Service Visual Art Teachers’ Perceptions Of Assessment In Online Learning, Jeanne M. Allen, Suzie Wright, Maureen Innes

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Abstract: This paper reports on a study conducted into how one cohort of Master of Teaching pre-service visual art teachers perceived their learning in a fully online learning environment. Located in an Australian urban university, this qualitative study provided insights into a number of areas associated with higher education online learning, including that of assessment, the focus of this paper. Authentic assessment tasks were designed within the University’s learning and teaching framework of constructive alignment and were sequenced across the three semesters of the visual art program. Analysis of data collected through a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews revealed that participants …