Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Contextual Factors Impacting School And Pastoralist Family Communication In Rural Mongolia: A Partial Ecological Model, Batdulam Sukhbaatar Dr, Klara Tarko Dr

The Qualitative Report

This study developed a partial ecological model of contextual factors impacting school and pastoralist family communication at the primary school level in rural Mongolia based on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model. To develop the model, we interviewed 10 classroom teachers and 10 pastoralist parents from two remote county schools in eastern Mongolia. During our interpretative phenomenological analysis based on semi-structured interviews, we found eight contextual factors impacting rural school and pastoralist family communication located at the exosystem and the macrosystem levels. The partial ecological model can be used in teacher education programs providing a greater insight into the contexts of school-family communication …

Social Justice In Teacher Education: Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Tara Ratnam, Elaine Chan, Darlene Ciuffetelli Parker

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

Editorial: Social Justice in Teacher Education: Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Tara Ratnam, Darlene Ciuffetelli Parker, and Elaine Chan

Teacher Candidates’ Responses to Examining Personal Privilege: Nuanced Understandings of the Discourse of Individualism in Critical Multicultural Education, Erin Feinauer Whiting and Ramona Maile Cutri

Narrative Reconsiderations of Teaching as Negotiated Curriculum for Social Justice and Equity, Candace Schlein, Dianne Smith, and Charles Oakley

Radical-Transformative Agency: Continuities and Contrasts With Relational Agency and Implications for Education, Anna Stetsenko

Computer Science for Equity: Teacher Education, Agency, and Statewide Reform, Joanna Goode, Max Skorodinsky, Jill Hubbard, and James Hook

Design …

Teaching Priorities As Both Durable And Flexible: Writing Pedagogy Classes Across International Contexts, Charlotte L. Land, Jessica Cira Rubin

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

This article developed from a year-long inquiry into our practices as writing teacher educators. As new university faculty in two different countries, we drew on a previous literature review project to identify enduring priorities for teaching writing pedagogy. We then analyzed our developing practices in these unfamiliar places, specifically noting what also felt flexible enough to work across contexts, leaving space for local adaptation. For each of our classes, we explore how we expressed those priorities: discussing teaching practices as connected with theories and discourses of teaching writing, supporting teacher-student experiences through a cycle of writing, and facilitating appreciative views …

Imagining The Possible: Reflections On Teaching A Writing Methods Course For Pre-Service Undergraduate Secondary English/Language Arts Teachers, Emily S. Meixner

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

What's possible in a teaching writing methods class? In this essay, the author provides a descriptive portrait of the undergraduate secondary writing methods course she teaches, focusing on five specific learning outcomes: teacher writing identities, knowledge of writer's craft, grammatical awareness and an understanding of linguistic justice/injustice, writing workshop methodology, and genre-based unit and lesson planning. Course readings, assignments, and work samples are included.

Guns, Classrooms, And Politics: Eliciting And Reflecting Upon Education Student Beliefs In The Age Of School Shootings, James K. Rigney, Gage Jeter

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

Unearthing the perspectives students bring with them in their college-level education coursework is especially important as education instructors are tasked with interrupting the unexamined proliferation of dominant ideologies among future educational professionals. The introduction to education course serves as an important site for this interrogation. One trend largely unexplored in the scholarly literature is the pedagogical use of controversy in introduction to education coursework. This study analyzes student discussion of the controversy of school gun violence within a redesigned introduction to education course. Data for this study come from student postings and final reflection papers in an online section of …

Ungrading The Writing Process: Crafting An Educational Philosophy Statement, Delia Hernandez

Open Educational Resources

This project provides a framework and process for guiding preservice teachers in the creation of their educational philosophy statements that is guided by the principles of the writing across the curriculum program and ungrading movement in education.

Preservice Teachers’ Perceptions And Knowledge Of Response To Intervention/Multitiered Systems Of Support, Alexandra J. Taylor, Tommy Wells, Amy E. Lein

Kentucky Teacher Education Journal: The Journal of the Teacher Education Division of the Kentucky Council for Exceptional Children

There has been considerable research that establishes the need to improve teachers’ knowledge of and ability to effectively implement response to intervention (RtI)/multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS), and there is a scarcity of research examining interventions addressing these concerns. In a mixed methods study, we examined the perceptions and knowledge of the RtI/MTSS frameworks of undergraduate preservice teaching candidates enrolled in a dual certification program at a small, private Catholic university in Kentucky, before and after participating in a semester-long, experiential learning project. The project involved monitoring both the reading and mathematics progress of struggling elementary or middle school-aged students …

Undoing Whiteness To Diversify Teacher Education And The Teaching Force, Rick Lybeck, Andrew P. Johnson, Maria-Renee Grigsby

Elementary and Literacy Education Department Publications

Various initiatives are underway in Minnesota and around the country to promote racial consciousness in K-12 teaching (R4615). Some of these show great promise for helping to realize goals related to racial equity and social justice articulated by key professional organizations guiding teacher education and educational research nationwide (AACTE; AERA; AESA).

While enrollment statistics point to incremental gains being made toward diversifying the teaching force in Minnesota and nationwide, this pace lags behind the growth in diversity of the K-12 student population. At the same time, Minnesota’s teaching force remains over 90% white (MDE, 2020).

Considering …

Linguistically Inclusive Tesol Course Design And Its Effect On Pre-Service Teacher Education, Dylan Thibaut, Irina Mclaughlin

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

Lack of linguistic awareness prevents teachers from catering to English learners. This study proposed a new linguistically inclusive course and compared pre-service teacher knowledge of the linguistic features of five frequently spoken languages in the course versus standard courses. Odds of a correct answer on linguistic questions increased significantly in 28% of the areas tested. The inclusive course showed increased linguistic awareness compared to standard courses.

"I Felt Scared The Whole Time": On Emotional Responses To Sexual Assault Narratives, Amber Moore

Feminist Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Building Community In An Asynchronous Write-To-Learn Course, Mary K. Tedrow

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

This study examines one online asynchronous course, Writing in Literature, devised by the researcher to determine the potential for building a student-centered course functioning as a learning community in spite of the limitations of the lack of shared space or time. The course was examined via student surveys that qualified experiences within the course as well as a review and coding of end-of-course student reflections. The survey and reflective commentary indicate that it is possible for an asynchronous course to effectively build a vibrant learning community. The learner to learner, learner to instructor, and learner to content framework recommended …

Decentering Whiteness In Teacher Education Through A Creative Self Study Of Womanist Caring Pedagogy, Jane Ammon

Education Doctorate Dissertations

Teacher education faculty in higher education continues to mirror K–12 schools, continuing to be comprised of predominately White women, thus creating a what is known as a cultural gap for teacher education students from marginalized populations in colleges. This culture gap, created by modeling Whiteness as the expected and accepted norm, is often painfully evident to students of color though invisible to White teachers who do not seek to change the current systematic racism prevalent in many teacher education programs. The understanding of self through the critical Whiteness lens is in the movement of the second wave of critical Whiteness …

Structured Pathways, Reinforced Plans: Exploring The Impact Of A Dual Enrollment Program On The College Choice And Career Interests Of Future Teachers Of Color, Jennifer M. Johnson, Joseph H. Paris, Juliet D. Curci

Journal of College Access

In response to the critical shortage of a diverse teacher workforce, Temple Education Scholars is a “Grow Your Own" dual enrollment program model designed to promote access to postsecondary education and educator diversity. Grow Your Own programs have frequently been cited as a promising and potentially sustainable model for addressing the disparity between the racial identifications of students and those of their teachers. Using social cognitive career theory, we explore how three participants in the Temple Education Scholars program develop academic and career interests in teaching and make educational choices related to their career aspirations. Following case study analysis, we …

Supporting And Retaining Early Career Mathematics Teachers Using An Online Community Of Practice, Paula M. Jakopovic, Travis Weiland, Maria Campitelli, Lorraine Males, Lisa Amick

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

This study reports on efforts over several years to design and implement a yearlong intervention intended to support secondary mathematics teachers in their early years of teaching. The intervention is designed to retain early career mathematics teachers in the professions by engaging them in the development of meaningful professional relationships with a school-based mentors, and by creating an online community of practice for support with other professionals. The intervention itself consists of early career teachers and their mentors participating in monthly professional learning activities such as online meetings, videoconferencing panels with experts, and collaborative reading and discussing timely, purposeful, and …

Positioning Dispositions In Initial Teacher Education: An Action Research Approach, Qilong Zhang, Joanne Hayes, Rawhia Tehau-Grant, Roberta Skeoch, Lois France, Ke Jiang, Ruth Barnes

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In spite of debate, ambiguity, and tension around teacher dispositions, in the past over two decades, the place of dispositions in initial teacher education (ITE) has been widely supported among policy makers and researchers. Specifically, debate on whether dispositions are teachable has largely given way to action to foster dispositions. Adopting a two-cycle participatory action research design, this study explored ways to teach the first-year teacher candidates’ dispositions in an early childhood ITE programme in New Zealand. The intervention included eight focus dispositions and corresponding strategies to teach each focus disposition. Data collection methods included student self-assessment surveys, individual and …

Developing Mathematics And Science Teachers’ Ability To Design For Active Learning: A Design-Based Research Study, Steven Kickbusch, Les Dawes, Nick Kelly, Katherine Nickels

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper describes an approach to working with secondary preservice mathematics and science (M&S) teachers to develop their ability to design for active learning. It presents the design of a studio-style intervention that augments existing teacher education. It describes the way that these studios can be organised, with specific suggestions that a specialised learning designer, a subject matter expert, and administrative support be included to aid in the design for learning—on the justification that this can both improve the learning design as well as advance teacher learning. It describes a study in which 10 secondary M&S preservice teachers experienced this …

Brain-Based Learning: Beliefs And Practice In One Australian Primary School Implementing A Neuroscience Pedagogical Framework, Christina Deans, Ellen Larsen

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

: Pedagogy grounded in neuroscience is an influential approach in Australian schools, despite concerns regarding teachers’ beliefs in several neuromyths that go on to pervade their practice. This paper reports on a small study that explored teachers’ beliefs and implementation of brain-based learning in one Australian primary school whose pedagogy is specifically underpinned by neuroscience. Survey data collected from 14 teachers were analysed using simple descriptive statistics and content analysis. Findings indicated that these teachers, despite having some accurate brain-based knowledge, were still prone to endorsing common neuromyths regardless of the school’s teaching and learning framework, years at the school, …

Reading Curriculum Policy And (Re)Shaping Practices: The Possibilities And Limits Of Enactment, Dawn Penney, Laura Alfrey

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This paper provides a contribution and opening to the special issue Realising curriculum possibilities: From creative readings to transformative practice. It firstly considers and expands upon issues and concepts that were foregrounded in the special issue call for papers and that variously feature in subsequent contributions within it. Conceptual linkages that were implied or assumed in the text of the call for papers and that we contend, are worthy of continued debate and exploration, are critically examined. Enactment, creative readings, transformative practice and their inter-relationships are addressed. Secondly the paper provides an introduction that offers stimulus and provocation for the …

Stop Fearing Blindness! Visually Impaired People Reflect On The Ethics Of Sighted Prospective Teachers Simulating Visual Impairment, Anthony J. Maher, Justin A. Haegele, Andrew C. Sparkes

Human Movement Studies & Special Education Faculty Publications

Disability simulations have developed as a popular professional development tool to help increase knowledge and awareness of disability and facilitate pedagogical learning among prospective and pre-service teachers. The aim of this research is to explore the ethics of sighted people simulating visual impairment from the perspective of visually impaired people. Participants were nine visually impaired adults who read vignettes narrating simulation experiences of prospective physical education teachers in a university setting before being interviewed about their perceptions of what they had read. Interviews were conducted via telephone, and were recorded, transcribed, and subjected to thematic analysis. The themes constructed and …

Teacher Candidates’ Pivot To Virtual Literacy Field Experiences: The Interplay Of Culturally Responsive Sustaining Pedagogies And Improvisation, Mary Coakley-Fields, Courtney Kelly, Katherine Egan Cunningham, Kori Krafick

Education Faculty Publications

This qualitative investigation examines how teacher candidates enrolled in literacy courses navigated virtual field work experiences during summer and fall 2020. The study is grounded in theories of improvisation as a pedagogical practice and culturally responsive and sustaining approaches to teaching. Data show that teacher candidates took advantage of the affordances of the environment and adapted their practice to suit the new situation by improvising and growing their virtual teaching skillset for culturally responsive literacy instruction. Findings reveal the importance of teacher candidates developing improvisational culturally responsive and sustaining practices, including learning about students’ interests, cultures, and experiences and applying …

Linguistic Awareness And Dyslexia Beliefs Among Teachers Of Students Who Are Blind Or Visually Impaired., Nosheen Gul, Lindsay N. Harris, Alicia Larouech, Gracie Strohm

CISLL Publications

US students who are blind or have visual impairments do not read at the level of a third-grader with typical sight until, on average, halfway through the seventh grade. As a first step toward narrowing that gap, we investigated levels of linguistic awareness among teachers of students who are blind or visually impaired (TSBVIs) because research with general education teachers has demonstrated a link between teacher linguistic awareness and student literacy outcomes. We also examined the accuracy of dyslexia beliefs among TSBVIs and whether TSBVI linguistic aware- ness and dyslexia beliefs are associated with training and experience variables. A survey …

Disappearing Acts: The Declining Numbers Of African American Teachers In Public School Settings, Catherine F. Lewis-Brownfield

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

African American teachers are slowly leaving the classroom, causing an imbalance in the student/teacher ratio (NCES, 2019). According to the National Center for Education Statistics, African American teachers make up 3% in California and 7% nationally. This study sought to understand the reasons for the decline in the number of African American teachers in public school settings. Due to the decline in their numbers, African American students have suffered high dropout rates, low standardized test scores, and low college attendance (Gershenson, Hart, Hyman, Lindsey, & Papageorge, 2017). This qualitative study examined the obstacles current African American teachers face and the …

Nontraditional Students’ Perceptions And Experiences Using Technology In A Teacher Preparation Program, Amy Wright

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractTechnology integration is a key part of a 2-year teacher education program at the Canadian university; nontraditional students seemed unprepared to use technology for learning. The purpose of this study was to investigate nontraditional students’ perceptions and experiences about their successes and challenges using technology in the program. The study was guided by Knowles’s andragogy theory, which presents a learner-centred perspective on adult learning. The research questions focused on nontraditional students’ successes and challenges using technology in coursework. A basic qualitative design was used to capture the insights of 10 purposefully selected, nontraditional university students through semistructured interviews. Themes were …

Early Childhood Education Teachers’ Perspectives Of Their Self-Efficacy And Knowledge In Biliteracy Instruction, Magda Levin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The number of English language learners (ELLs) in early childhood education (ECE) continues to increase, particularly with students whose first language (L1) is Spanish. Recent studies have shown the connection between teachers’ self-efficacy and student achievement, but very few specifically address early childhood education teachers’ self-efficacy and knowledge of biliteracy instruction. Grounded in Bandura’s self-efficacy theory and Krashen’s second language acquisition theory, the purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore kindergarten (K) through third-grade teachers’ perspectives of their self-efficacy and knowledge of biliteracy instruction. Nine K through third-grade teachers responded to an online flyer, completed a demographics questionnaire, …

Possible Paths Forward For A Practice-Based Teacher Education Centered On Justice, Joshua Harlan Karr

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation seeks to address limitations of Practice-Based Teacher Education (PBTE) in relation to (1) narrow conceptions of practice and teacher learning, and (2) peripheralization of equity and justice. After aiming to understand the landscape of limitations in PBTE, this study situates itself within specific manifestations of these limitations that exist in common conceptualizations of teacher learning and practice-based pedagogies. To (re)emphasize the situated nature of practice and center equity and justice in PBTE, I theorize an expanded notion of teacher learning, develop design features for contextually situated pedagogies of practice (Grossman et al., 2009), and implement the design with …

Social Discourses On The Teacher Performance Assessment: Media Tales, Twitter Tweets And Leadership Surveys, Beryl Exley, Donna Pendergast, Frances Hoyte

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper explores the introduction of the new Teacher Performance Assessment (TPA) for graduate teachers in Australia. We investigate how the broader discussion around TPAs has been understood by multiple agents during an eight-month period from January 2019 to August 2019. Data includes legacy media, social media tweets and a survey of school leaders. The analysis draws on Bernsteinian (1975) theory about the way particular social relations produce differing sentiments of social unity. While eschewing a strict binary, legacy media was characterised by a mechanical solidarity which promoted the TPA as akin to a test. Contributions to social media and …

Teacher Efficacy In High Performing Teachers: Barriers And Enablers For New Graduates, Dianne M. Toe, Lynette Longaretti

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Teachers with a high sense of self-efficacy are more resilient to difficulties, experience greater job satisfaction and have higher expectations of their students. This study investigated teacher self-efficacy in high performing teachers at two points in their development: 1) as preservice teachers, halfway through their undergraduate degree using the Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale (TSES) (Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001) 2) as new graduates through a qualitative interview focused on efficacy. These 24 teachers participated in the National Exceptional Teaching for Disadvantaged Schools program (NETDS) at Deakin University during their BEd (Primary) degree. They demonstrated lower self-efficacy than their peers in Efficacy …

A Comparative Study Investigating The Enablers And Barriers Facing Teacher Educators In A Regional University: Snapshots From 2013 And 2020., Sharon L. Mcdonough, Robyn Brandenburg

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Although the provision of initial teacher education has been the subject of more than 100 inquiries and multiple reforms, the work of those in teacher education remains under-researched. This comparative research provides two snapshots of teacher educator surveys conducted seven years apart (2013 and 2020) in a regional university in Australia. The primary aim of the research was to examine how teacher educators describe their work and goals and to identify the barriers and enablers that are present in their practice. The data were thematically coded and categorised. The outcomes highlight that personal and professional experiences do shape the goals …

Generating Reflections Through Professional Collaborative Storytelling, Anne Keary, Narelle Wood, Karina Barley, Kelly Carabott

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

For teachers, storytelling is a way of making sense of everyday pedagogical practices and connecting with colleagues. In this paper, we explore how storytelling contributed to a collaborative culture indicative of our professional journey as four teacher educators. We examine six online weekly Zoom conversations we participated in as a teaching group to share our pedagogical ideas for enhancing an English education unit of work. During this storytelling, we discussed how we engaged with the teaching of, teaching about and teaching through the teaching and learning curriculum cycle to a first-year cohort of preservice teachers (PSTs). Importantly, we deliberated on …

A Review Of Undergraduate Education Student Responses To The Online Component Of Blended Learning: A Cautionary Tale, Ross S. Bernay, Chris Jenkin, Tafili Utumapu-Mcbride, Adrian Schoone, Andrew Gibbons

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Calls for enhancing the digital interface for teaching and learning within tertiary institutions have played out in one School of Education, with variable results. Online learning tasks were added in 2018 to regular classes to provide more flexibility for student engagement. A team of lecturers developed a questionnaire for students to be completed after the first semester pilot. Data and findings indicated that one-third of students identified online learning as an enhancement to their learning. A second survey was conducted one year later to assess changes made and analyse the longer-term impacts. During the COVID-19 lockdown, fully online pedagogy was …