Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Literacy Curricula, The Common Core, And Defending An Unpopular Profession: The Lived Experiences Of Undergraduate Preservice Literacy Teachers, Susan A. Sturm

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

This study explored the lived experiences of eight pre-service teachers, specifically their understandings of teaching Common Core-aligned English language arts (ELA) and their feelings about becoming teachers of literacy amid the current era of accountability. Phenomenological methods were used to interview participants and analyze data for significant statements made by all eight pre-service teachers involved. Major themes to emerge include that pre-service teachers felt prepared to design ELA lessons but unprepared to develop an ELA curriculum; they felt the Common Core State Standards had changed everything about teaching; and they were anxious about becoming teachers during a time of great …

Being In Tension: Faculty Explorations Of The Meaning Of Social Justice In Teacher Education, Mary Shelley Thomas, Christine D. Clayton, Shin-Ying Huang, Roberto Garcia

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

This study explores faculty perspectives of social justice in teacher education within one New York institution with a social justice focus. Grounded in the institution’s self-study process for accreditation, the researchers were a part of a team that collected data from structured interviews, including a card sort, of 42 full time teacher educators across 16 programs in the institution. Informed by sociocultural theories (Vygotsky, 1978, Wertsch, 1991), a content analysis revealed the language selected by faculty as well as their meaning-making process and describes how individuals contextualized those meanings. Findings demonstrated a range of meanings and lack of a shared …

Relationship-Based Infant Care As A Framework For Authentic Practice: How Eun Mi Rediscovered Her Teaching Soul, Susan L. Recchia, Seung Eun Mcdevitt

Occasional Paper Series

In this paper, we explore the complex nature of preparing diverse professionals for authentic, relationship-based care for infants and toddlers in child care. Looking through the eyes of one student caregiver, we travel with her through a semester-long course introducing her to infant care as an integral part of early childhood teacher preparation. We draw on her descriptions of her weekly experiences in an infant room focusing on a key child, her formal reflections in written assignments, and her responses to a series of interview questions once the course was completed to construct a theory of authentic practice through relationship-based …

Mentoring Future Mathematics Teachers: Lessons Learned From Four Mentoring Partnerships, Angie Hodge, Janice Rech, Michael Matthews, Kelly Gomez Johnson, Paula Jakopovic

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

Mentoring is an important aspect of mathematics teacher education, and in particular, pre-service teacher education. Faculty at a large Midwestern university developed and refined a mentoring program designed to help pre-service secondary mathematics teachers, called Scholars, become future leaders in mathematics education. This paper describes how faculty mentors leveraged challenges in the mentoring program’s early stages based on their reflections and initial mentee outcomes to create a more effective mentoring program. Recommendations based on research and practice are provided for other university programs interested in mentoring future mathematics teachers.

Developing Open Practices In Teacher Education: An Example Of Integrating Oer And Developing Renewable Assignments, Jennifer Van Allen, Stacy Katz

Publications and Research

This manuscript offers a reasoning for and example of integrating Open Educational Resources (OER) and open pedagogy within a teacher education course. We highlight a collaborative partnership between library faculty and education faculty and the decision points and processes we used when redesigning this course to provide an example of adopting OER and our considerations for developing a renewable assignment. The benefits of using OER for K-12 teachers include increasing awareness of and providing opportunities to develop open practices. The transition to a renewable assignment creates a space for teaching candidates to meaningfully contribute to the profession and engage in …

Documenting Undocumented Motives Influencing The Career Choice Of The First-Year Science And Math Student Teachers In Indonesia, Amirul Mukminin, Masbirorotni Masbirorotni, Lenny Marzulina, Dian Erlina, Akhmad Habibi, Fridiyanto Fridiyanto, Mia Aina, Nunung Fajaryani, Nurulanningsih Nurulanningsih

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The aim of this study was to investigate the motives that were instrumental in driving the first-year science and math student teachers to be a teacher at one public university in Sumatra, Indonesia. A questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were used to collect the data. 378 participants completed questionnaires consisting of 318 females and 60 males while the interview data were collected from voluntary participants. The data of the fulfilled questionnaires were calculated as percentage of their whole results while the data of the interviews were carefully analysed by looking at the responses from all interviewees. Our results indicated that there …

Co-Teaching: Collaborative And Caring Teacher Preparation, Colette Rabin

Faculty Publications

This study investigated what happened during the implementation of a co-teaching model for student-teaching from a relational perspective. When analyzed through the theoretical framework of care ethics, teacher-candidates and their mentor-teachers developed caring relationships, acknowledged and negotiated differential power dynamics, and described cultivating a caring climate through dialogue and modeling.

Exploring The Experiences Of Male Early Childhood Aspiring Teachers, Tingting Xu

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

This exploratory study investigated the reasons why males chose early childhood

education and their lived experiences in a teacher education program. Qualitative data

were collected through interviews with twelve male early childhood pre-service

teachers. Results demonstrated that: Participates were passionate about teaching

young children. They were mostly supported by their relatives and friends in their

decision to become an early childhood teacher. They were positive about future career

opportunities but still had an underlying fear of losing job or being seen as sexual

predators. Meanwhile, participates indicated some conflicts might exist between the

field experience and program learning experience. They …

White Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions And Their Development Of Culturally Relevant Literacy Practices, Lakia M. Scott, Elena Venegas

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

Existent literature purports that providing White teacher candidates with increased exposure to urban schools in order to create culturally competent educators has failed. These findings reflect the notion that teacher ideologies and overall perspectives about working with diverse student groups must be harnessed in a genuine ethic of care and intentionality for students of color. However, few studies have taken the approach of examining the development of culturally relevant pedagogy through context-specific field experiences using content-specific courses. This study examines the perspectives of twenty-five White pre-service teachers from a predominately White, private university regarding their initial perceptions and gained conceptual …

Real-Time Support: Using Ecoaching To Increase Preservice Teachers’ Confidence To Teach, Morgan V. Blanton, Aftynne E. Cheek, Elizabeth Bellows

Journal of Media Literacy Education

The role of teacher education preparation programs is to equip preservice teachers (PSTs) with the knowledge and skills to support the development of all students. To do this, university faculty must establish and monitor PST’s progress toward quality standards for teaching. eCoaching is a professional learning tool that provides real-time feedback to PSTs during instruction. In this article, the authors present eCoaching as a professional learning strategy. An overview of eCoaching logistics, perceived impact of eCoaching on PSTs, a description of eCoaching in action, and an explanation of how it meshes with current support practices are provided.

Teachers’ Stories About Teaching: Collaborative Dialogues As Open Educational Resources, Ekaterina Arshavskaya

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

This paper examines the nature of teacher learning through a social-constructivist perspective and describes instructional strategies utilized with teachers during an international teaching assistants’ (ITAs’) training workshop offered at the Utah State University (USU). The strategy used involved eliciting and structuring exemplary teachers’ stories about teaching to serve as a basis for class discussions and other assignments. These teachers’ stories, recorded on video, were then shared online through the university website and YouTube. In this way, new teachers gained access to co-constructed and pedagogically appropriate teacher knowledge represented by authentic teachers’ voices.

Full Issue: Journal On Empowering Teaching Excellence, Volume 3, Issue 1, Kim Hales

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

The full Spring 2019 issue (Volume 3, Issue 1) of the Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence, Spring 2019

Creating A Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy: Examining Teacher Self-Efficacy And Their Discourse Patterns Through A Culturally Relevant Teaching Framework, Melanie Desmuke-Battles

Theses and Dissertations

America’s educational system has historically provided the best advantages for learners to use their potential to reach their learning, social, and professional goals. In contrast, it has also marginalized and oppressed the rights and opportunities of culturally diverse groups, i.e. African-Americans and Latinos, through the misrepresentation of, or the complete omission of, various ethnic groups and cultures in traditional instruction. This marginalization and oppression has contributed to the achievement gap between the dominant, white, middle-class and racial and socioeconomic minorities. This gap is accentuated by the cultural dissonance between teachers and their diverse student body population. Teachers must be equipped …

Exploring Pedagogies To Elevate Inquiry: Teaching Action Research In The Third Space, Sara B. Woolf

Publications and Research

This study chronicles a semester long inquiry focused on the impacts of pedagogical strategies informed by the tenets of third space theory on my own practices and understanding of students’ learning outcomes in an action research course. As I applied new instructional strategies to promote discourse and critical inquiry, I reflexively explored how these approaches enhanced my impacts on students’ learning and praxis of action research. This paper first provides a brief introduction to third space theory and then describes how I infused this framework into my course approach, the different types of data collected and analyzed to gauge the …

Combating White Resistance: What We Can Learn About White Educators Who Lean Into Anti-Racist Training, Erin Parr

Master's Theses

This work attempts to understand and describe why some white teachers lean into anti-racist training and racial literacy development when many resist it. A qualitative case study with three white female educators explores what initially drew the participants into racial literacy work, how they have transformed their professional values and educational practices because of such work, and what aspects of the work they found to be most valuable in meaningfully engaging them. It describes the ways in which they embraced critical anti-racist work, specifically in regards to education and teaching practices. The findings may be valuable for future teacher educators …

Building Teachers’ Emotional Competence: A Transactional Training Model, Caroline Fulton

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Classrooms are complex entities, where the emotions of students and teachers interact to influence learning, relationships, and students’ social emotional development. Teachers’ understanding of emotional processes within the classroom is critical to effective teaching, promotion of healthy child development, and attaining desired learning outcomes. Further, emotions have powerful consequences for teachers themselves. They affect teachers’ well-being, self-efficacy, and ultimately whether teachers remain in the profession or not. Therefore, teachers need skills to recognize and respond to emotional experiences in the classroom. In the present research project a set of emotional competences relevant to educational practices were developed. These competencies include …

A Space To Learn, Amy R. Goods

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this dissertation, I explore what it means to different people, in different places throughout life’s spectrum to create a space to learn. This dissertation is a collection of work that I have written throughout my time at the CUNY Graduate Center. The chapters herein represent an arch of my learning over the past five years. The title, A Space to Learn, has multiple meanings. For one, writing this dissertation has provided me a space to explore and reflect on a variety of topics, ranging from memory loss, to teacher preparation programs, to eugenics and special education, to tracking and …

Centering Preservice Teachers Of Color Through Culturally Relevant Critical Teacher Care: A Critical Race Transformative Convergent Mixed-Methods Analysis, Tara Joann Plachowski

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The reproduction of white supremacist culture in schools continues to marginalize Students of Color in a variety of implicit, explicit, and systemic ways. As teachers are the one of the key arbiters of school culture, teacher education presents itself as a vital locus in need of critical inquiry and radical change. A diverse teacher workforce not only helps to disrupt the direct effects of racism on Students of Color, but also prepares all students for successful democratic participation in a diverse global society (Sleeter, 2011). This study of teacher education examines the teacher demographic diversity gap within a College of …

Alternative Routes To Teacher Certification

Occasional Paper Series

Alternative routes to teacher preparation are clearly here to stay. A growing research literature on non-traditional pathways suggests the complexity of the task ahead. This report offers new teachers the opportunity to tell their own stories in their own words.

High-Needs Schools: Preparing Teachers For Today's World

Occasional Paper Series

In the second decade of the 21st century, some schools are in trouble and some schools are not. The subject of this Occasional Paper is the preparation of teachers for schools that--lacking sufficient resources, effective leadership, or vocal advocates--are failing to educate their students by any reasonable measures. The teachers and teacher educator contributors to this volume offer a more variegated set of responses grounded in a diversity of local experiences. Their approaches to researching and understanding the immediacy of becoming a teacher are based on decades of working in hard-pressed urban schools and the institutions that supply them with …

Media Literacy And American Education: An Exploration With Détournement, Seth D. French, Jacob Campbell

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Many competing voices are speaking about the state of American education and how it should be reformed in the best interest of students. Topics such as teachers unions, charter schools, and standardized tests are at the center of many of these discussions. How do we decipher what to believe amid such conflicting perspectives concerning these topics and others like them? To progress American education in a direction that benefits students and democratic society, today’s educational stakeholders must adopt a critical stance in their evaluation of issues at the center of American education; lessons that encourage the development of critical media …

Constructivists Online: Reimagining Progressive Practice

Occasional Paper Series

No abstract provided.

Problem-Based Learning In Teacher Education, Susan M. Bridges

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning

No abstract provided.

Conflicting Perspectives: A Comparison Of Edtpa Intended Outcomes To Actual Experiences Of Teacher Candidates And Educators In New York City Schools, Deborah Greenblatt

Journal of Inquiry and Action in Education

The edTPA is a performance-based assessment of teacher candidates created by the Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning and Equity (SCALE) and nationally scored by Pearson Education. It is also promoted by American Association of Colleges of Teacher Educators (AACTE) as a “standards-based assessment.” As of the spring of 2018, the edTPA is used as a requirement for program accreditation or teacher candidate certification or program completion in 18 states.

This article analyzes the stated goals, objectives, and benefits made by SCALE and AACTE and compares them to data collected from interviews and open-ended questions with teacher candidates and teacher educators …

Promoting This We Believe And The Amle Standards With Teacher Candidates, Amanda Wall

Current Issues in Middle Level Education

This article describes approaches to integrating This We Believe and the Association for Middle Level Education Standards into a middle grades course.

Supporting Middle Grades Teacher Candidates In Becoming Culturally Competent, Nathan Carnes

Current Issues in Middle Level Education

The author describes practices to support middle grades teacher candidates' becoming culturally competent.

Keynote. Motivation: Theory Into Practice, David Vawter

Current Issues in Middle Level Education

This paper is based on Dr. Vawter's keynote address at the Southeast Professors of Middle Level Education Symposium.

Collaboration In The Middle: Middle Grades To Higher Education Promoting, Advocating, Igniting Support For Middle Schools, Bridget Coleman, Nancy B. Ruppert

Current Issues in Middle Level Education

The authors provide an overview of the Southeast Professors of Middle Level Education Symposium, which was held in Greenville, SC, May 17-18, 2018. This is the introduction to the proceedings from the Symposium.

Multicultural Teacher Education Matters, Reginald Todd, Jacqueline Smith

The Journal of the Research Association of Minority Professors

This article focuses on the impact the demographic change in the student population in current K-12 classrooms has had on teacher education programs as it pertains to the preparation of culturally responsive preservice teachers. There exists an extensive body of literature that posits that the increase of cultural diversity in our current classrooms should be understood as a call for new teaching approaches that promote multicultural awareness among teacher educators to develop preservice teachers who exhibit culturally responsive teaching practices, behaviors, and attitudes. This comprehensive review of literature explored the current research on multicultural teacher education programs, and more specifically …

Guilty By Association: A Critical Analysis Of How Imprisonment Affects The Children Of Those Behind Bars, Whitney Q. Hollins

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

As 2.2 million individuals in the United States are currently incarcerated and an additional 5 million are under some form of correctional surveillance, the push for prison reform has reached new heights. Intimately and inextricably connected to mass incarceration and the push for its reform (and in some cases abolition) are the children have been impacted by incarceration. About half of the individuals currently incarcerated are parents to at least one child under the age of 18. Current estimates suggest that 2.7 million children currently have an incarcerated parent and that 10 million children in the United States have experienced …