Listening to Preservice Teachers’ Perceptions and Representations of Teacher Education Programs

Author(s):  
Andrea K. Martin ◽  
Tom Russell
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 368-384
Author(s):  
Lucinda Grace Heimer

Race is a marker hiding more complex narratives. Children identify the social cues that continue to segregate based on race, yet too often teachers fail to provide support for making sense of these worlds. Current critical scholarship highlights the importance of addressing issues of race, culture, and social justice with future teachers. The timing of this work is urgent as health, social and civil unrest due to systemic racism in the U.S. raise critiques and also open possibilities to reimagine early childhood education. Classroom teachers feel pressure to standardize pedagogy and outcomes yet meet myriad student needs and talents in complex settings. This study builds on the current literature as it uses one case study to explore institutional messages and student perceptions in a future teacher education program that centers race, culture, identity, and social justice. Teaching as a caring profession is explored to illuminate the impact authentic, aesthetic, and rhetorical care may have in classrooms. Using key tenets of Critical Race Theory as an analytical tool enhanced the case study process by focusing the inquiry on identity within a racist society. Four themes are highlighted related to institutional values, rigorous coursework, white privilege, and connecting individual racial and cultural understanding with classroom practice. With consideration of ethical relationality, teacher education programs begin to address the impact of racist histories. This work calls for individualized critical inquiry regarding future teacher understanding of “self” in new contexts as well as an investigation of how teacher education programs fit into larger institutional philosophies.


Author(s):  
Ngatman Ngatman

<em>This study aims to analyze the understanding the use of Javanese language "krama inggil" of preservice teachers in primary teacher education programs. This research is a descriptive study of 84 research subjects. The instruments used were description test sheets, questionnaire sheets, and interview sheets. The data analysis technique uses descriptive qualitative. The results of the analysis show that: 1) The average value of understanding the use of Javanese language "krama inggil" was 78; 2) students who are able to communicate using good manners and apply in daily life as much as 38.61%; 3) Some of the difficulties factors of students using Javanese language "krama inggil" include not being accustomed from childhood, parents do not teach Javanese language "krama inggil", preferring to use Indonesian, lacking the motivation to use Javanese language "krama inggil" because it is difficult to pronounce.</em>


2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marla S. Sanders ◽  
Kathryn Haselden ◽  
Randi M. Moss

AbstractThe purpose of this article is to promote discussion of how teacher education programs can better prepare teacher candidates to teach for social justice in ethnically and culturally diverse schools. The authors suggest that teacher education programs must develop teacher candidates’ capacity to teach for social justice through preparation programs that encourage critical reflection and awareness of one’s beliefs, perceptions, and professional practice. The authors ask the following questions: How can teacher educators provide structures in professional preparation programs that will produce reflective practitioners? How might we prepare teacher candidates who are constantly thinking about how they perceive their students and their families and how those perceptions affect the way they relate to students? Through a discussion of five case scenarios, the authors discuss prior research on preparing teachers for culturally diverse schools and offer suggestions for improving professional education programs.


Author(s):  
Anne S. Koch ◽  
Joseph C. Kush

In this chapter, student achievement, the differentiation of instruction, and 21st Century Skills are examined along with their relationship to the use of technology in an educational setting. Characteristics of highly qualified teachers are also examined from multiple standpoints within the educational system. Standards from INTASC, NCATE, NCTAF, and NCLB point to the importance of the university faculty and quality teacher education programs to support the needs of preservice teachers. In addition, the joining of business and education across the nation and the world to infuse technology into education has shown positive results. This merger between business and education exemplifies the need for the acquisition of 21st century skills needed for all students to be a literate part of the 21st century workforce.


Author(s):  
Valerie J. Robnolt ◽  
Joan A. Rhodes ◽  
Sheri Vasinda ◽  
Leslie Haas

The use of ePortfolios to document and assess preservice teacher learning continues to be a prevalent method for encouraging student reflection. This chapter outlines the definition and prevailing uses of ePortfolios and describes the variety of ways that ePortfolios are implemented in teacher education programs. The authors describe the issues that faculty and preservice teachers face when implementing ePortfolios, particularly when writing for different audiences, such as accreditation agencies and to meet program requirements. The importance of technology knowledge and skills for successful creation of ePortfolios is outlined. Through the presentation of two cases, this chapter focuses on the development of ePortfolio implementation projects. The chapter concludes with suggestions for faculty to support preservice teachers as they implement ePortfolios in their teacher education programs.


Author(s):  
Lorraine Gilpin ◽  
Yasar Bodur ◽  
Kathleen Crawford

Peer assessment holds tremendous potential to positively impact the development of preservice teachers. The purpose of this chapter is to describe our findings on the impact of different forms of peer observation and feedback on preservice teachers’ skills in analyzing classroom teaching and their perceptions of their experience with peer assessment. In addition to reporting our findings, we draw from the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning literature to present peer assessment as a medium to overcome structured isolation that is present in the practice of teaching. According to our study, peer observation and feedback is beneficial to preservice teachers’ learning. However, to maximize its effectiveness, a culture of peer assessment should be established in teacher education programs.


Author(s):  
Deborah L. Lowther ◽  
Marshall G. Jones ◽  
Robert T. Plants

The potential impact of the World Wide Web (WWW) on our educational system is limitless. However, if our teachers do not possess the appropriate knowledge and skills to use the Web, the impact could be less than positive. It is evident, then, that our teachers need to be prepared to effectively use these powerful on-line resources to prepare our children to thrive in a digital society. The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the impact of Web-based education on teacher education programs by addressing the following questions: • How is the World Wide Web impacting education? • Are teacher education programs meeting the challenge of producing certified teachers who are capable of integrating meaningful use of technology into K-12 classrooms? • What is expected of teacher education programs in regards to technology and Web-based education? • What knowledge and skills do preservice teachers need to effectively use Web-based education? • What instructional approaches should be used to prepare preservice teachers to use Web-based education?


2022 ◽  
pp. 119-135
Author(s):  
Diane LaFrance ◽  
Lori Rakes

This chapter discusses the problem of teacher retention as it relates to handling the unexpected, whether it be meeting the needs of all learners, classroom management, or any other problem teachers may encounter. The authors propose that teacher education programs can support the growth of preservice teachers by helping them to develop teacher identity early in their learning through experiences and autonomy. In addition, preservice teachers should develop a growth mindset to promote agency when encountering learning obstacles and to engage in reflective practice. By identifying as teachers, allowing themselves to grow, and being proactive in searching for ways to improve their practice, preservice teachers can better prepare themselves for the reality of teaching and, hopefully, remain in the teaching profession.


Author(s):  
Bethy Leonardi ◽  
Sara Staley

Generations of education scholars have positioned issues that affect LGBTQ youth as critical to conversations about equity, diversity, democracy, and social justice in schools. Those voices, for generations, have been relegated to the periphery of those conversations at best and have been silenced at worst. Relatedly, university-based teacher education programs have been remiss in their attention to issues of gender and sexual diversity, systematically sending teachers into the field largely unprepared to create contexts that are safe for LGBTQ youth and to affirm gender and sexual diversity. With growing attention to issues that affect LGBTQ youth, both in educational research and practice as well as in the larger sociopolitical discourse, teachers are on the front lines. They are charged with navigating the complexities of students’ identities, the contexts in which they teach, local politics, and their own deeply held beliefs—and they are often, unsurprisingly, doing so with little or no support. That support needs to start much earlier. Teacher education programs—and teacher educators—are implicated as central in changing the discourse around what counts as (non)negotiable in learning to teach. By supporting preservice teachers’ learning around gender and sexual diversity, their processes toward that end, and their engagement in queer practices, teacher educators and teacher education programs can work toward paying down the debt owed to teachers in the field and to LGBTQ students and families who have long suffered the consequences of silence.


Author(s):  
Rachel Roegman ◽  
Emilie Mitescu Reagan ◽  
A. Lin Goodwin ◽  
Julia Yu

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine mentor teachers’ approaches to mentoring preservice teachers in a yearlong teacher residency program (TRP). Design/methodology/approach – This multiple-methods study examined 15 mentor teachers’ approaches over the course of a year in an urban TRP through the lens of Wang and Odell’s (2002) framework for mentoring. Data sources included mentors’ self-assessments over three points in time across one academic year. These self-assessments included numerical ratings of practice (quantitative) as well as open-ended rationales and goal setting (qualitative). Findings – Mentors predominately provided support and technical assistance to the residents learning to teach, drawing on humanistic, and situated apprentice perspectives on mentoring. They worked to develop residents’ self-confidence and exposed residents to a range of practices and school contexts. Glimmers of a more critical constructive approach were apparent in some mentors’ discussions of reflection and collaboration. Research limitations/implications – This study informs the work of teacher education programs as they develop mentoring structures that align with program visions, expand notions of mentoring, and consider the many roles of a mentor teacher. Originality/value – Increased emphasis on clinical experiences for preservice teachers highlights the need to attend to the practices of the mentor teachers with whom they work. These mentors, as field-based teacher educators, play a critical role in teacher education, and teacher education programs need to support their professional development as mentors. Understanding mentors’ approaches to mentoring is necessary in order to provide this support.


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