Did it count?: Preservice teachers’ reflections on teaching with primary sources

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 280-294
Author(s):  
Deborah Lynn Morowski ◽  
Theresa M. McCormick
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Student Learning ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Field Experiences ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
Elementary Classroom ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact

Purpose During field experiences, preservice teachers often are asked plan and teach a lesson and then to reflect on their teaching. The purpose of this paper is to examine the guided reflections of 66 preservice teachers after they planned and implemented a primary source-based lesson in an elementary classroom. The project occurred during the preservice teachers’ enrollment in a social studies methods course. Design/methodology/approach This qualitative study utilized a fieldwork approach as the methodological framework. This approach provided data that allowed the researchers to develop a deeper understanding of the preservice teachers’ experiences. Data were analyzed using Bogdan and Biklen’s (1998) content unit of analysis. Descriptive and interpretive coding schemes were used to analyze data using a priori categories of successes and challenges. Findings The preservice teachers were able to engage in technical and practical reflection, considering strategies used in the classroom and their effects on student learning, but they were unable to reflect at the critical level, thinking about moral and ethical decisions. The themes and subthemes that many of the preservice teachers identified as successes, others identified as challenges. Originality/value This study highlights the importance of preservice teachers engaging with primary sources, as well as with frequent, meaningful, and ongoing field experiences. Teacher educators need to provide multiple opportunities for teacher candidates to reflect broadly and deeply on their teaching practice and student learning. Additional research needs to be conducted to assess the impact of preservice teachers use of primary sources in the elementary classroom.

scholarly journals Internationalizing teacher education curricula: opportunities for academic staff development

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-169
Author(s):  
Mónica Lourenço
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Staff Development ◽  
Global Education ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Academic Staff Development ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this study is to understand the impact of a collaborative workshop, aimed to support teacher educators in embedding a “global outlook” in the curriculum on their perceived professional development. Design/methodology/approach The workshop included working sessions, during a period of 13 months, and was structured as participatory action research, according to which volunteer academics designed, developed and evaluated global education projects in their course units. Data were gathered through a focus group session, conducted with the teacher educators at a final stage of the workshop, and analyzed according to the principles of thematic analysis. Findings Results of the analysis suggest that the workshop presented a meaningful opportunity for teacher educators to reconstruct their knowledge and teaching practice to (re)discover the importance of collaborative work and to assume new commitments to themselves and to others. Originality/value The study addresses a gap in the existing literature on academic staff development in internationalization of the curriculum, focusing on the perceptions of teacher educators’, whose voices have been largely silent in research in the field. The study concludes with a set of recommendations for a professional development program in internationalization of the curriculum.

Digitized historical content for teaching: library of congress primary sources training

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 10-13
Author(s):  
Michelle Kowalsky
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
College Level ◽  
Library Of Congress ◽  
Multiple Perspectives ◽  
Historical Events ◽  
Digital Collections ◽  
Content Type ◽  
K 12

Purpose This paper aims to teach educators a variety of ways to navigate the digital collections of the Library of Congress, which include primary source materials from the past which can be used to instruct students of all grade levels from elementary through college. Design/methodology/approach Workshops for preservice teachers, practicing teachers and their college-level and librarian counterparts focused on advanced searching skills and pedagogical structures which help students access primary sources and use them as evidence to draw conclusions about historical events in history. Findings Many of the Library of Congress’ holdings have been digitized, described and categorized for ease of access (subject, keyword and metadata descriptors) and for ease of rights management (copyright, ownership and permissions indicated for each digital object). Practical implications Digitized primary sources help students create deeper understandings of historical events and periods and allow for multiple perspectives on the same events, thus teaching students valuable skills in drawing conclusions based on primary and secondary information sources. Originality/value Online collections from the Library of Congress are free for use by teachers, students and the general public, and the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources program makes available free training for teachers in how to use the materials, as well as provides lesson plans, project ideas and thematic units for use in K-12 schools and beyond.

Impact of quality management systems on teaching-learning processes

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 394-415 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco José Fernández Cruz ◽  
Inmaculada Egido Gálvez ◽  
Rafael Carballo Santaolalla
Keyword(s):  
Quality Management ◽  
Student Learning ◽  
School Quality ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Quality Management Systems ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Teaching Learning ◽  
The Impact

Purpose Quality management systems are being used more frequently in educational institutions, although their application has generated a certain amount of disagreement among education experts, who have at times questioned their suitability and usefulness for improving schools. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to this discussion by providing additional knowledge on the effects in educational institutions of implementing quality management systems. Specifically, this study investigates teachers’ and managers’ perception of the impact that quality management systems have on one essential dimension of schools, the teaching–learning processes, with impact being understood as sustained medium- and long-term organisational change. Design/methodology/approach The responses were analysed and classified into a set of sub-dimensions linked to quality management processes in a total of 29 Spanish primary and secondary education schools that have used such systems for at least three years. Findings The results showed that, according to the respondents, the following sub-dimensions were improving as a result of implementing quality management plans: teaching and learning processes, the analysis of student results, tutoring, consideration of attitudes and values and assessment processes. Conversely, quality management systems did not seem to have a clear impact on the teaching methodologies used by teachers or on family involvement in student learning. In fact, the perceived impact in these sub-dimensions varied among teachers of public and private schools as well as when comparing different regional autonomous communities. Originality/value As the main objective of a school is to guarantee student learning, one of the essential purposes of school quality assurance systems is to perform all the activities aimed at ensuring high levels of student performance.

Rhetorically speaking: on white preservice teachers’ failure to imagine an anti-racist English education

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
S.R. Toliver ◽  
Heidi Hadley
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
English Education ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Content Type

Purpose This paper aims to identify how white preservice teachers’ inability to imagine an equitable space for Black and Brown children contributes to the ubiquity of whiteness in English education. Further, the authors contend that the preservice teachers’ responses mirror how the larger field of English education fails to imagine Black and Brown life. Design/methodology/approach Using abolitionist teaching as a guide, the authors use reflexive thematic analysis to examine the rhetorical moves their preservice teachers made to defer responsibility for anti-racist teaching. Findings The findings show preservice teachers’ rhetorical moves across three themes: failure to imagine Black and Brown humanity, failure to imagine a connection between theory and practice, and failure to imagine curriculum and schooling beyond whiteness. Originality/value By highlighting how preservice teachers fail to imagine spaces for Black and Brown youth, this study offers another pathway through which teacher educators, teachers and English education programs can assist their faculty and students in activating their imaginations in the pursuit of anti-racist, abolitionist teaching.

Equitable Teaching and the Core Practice Movement: Preservice Teachers’ Professional Reasoning

2020 ◽  
Vol 122 (11) ◽  
pp. 1-40
Author(s):  
Britnie Delinger Kane
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Student Teacher ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Design Research ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Student Thinking ◽  
The Core ◽  
Collaborative Analysis ◽  
Core Practice

Background/Context The Core Practice movement continues to gain momentum in teacher education research. Yet critics highlight that equitable teaching cannot be reduced to a set of “core” practices, arguing that such a reduction risks representing teaching as technical work that will be neither culturally responsive nor sustaining. Instead, they argue that preservice teachers need opportunities to develop professional reasoning that takes the specific strengths and needs of students, communities, and subject matter into account. Purpose This analysis takes up the question of how and whether pedagogies of investigation and enactment can support preservice teachers’ development of the professional reasoning that equitable teaching requires. It conceptualizes two types of professional reasoning: interpretive, in which reasoners decide how to frame instructional problems and make subsequent efforts to solve them, and prescriptive, in which reasoners solve an instructional problem as given. Research Design This work is a qualitative, multiple case study, based on design research in which preservice teachers participated in three different cycles of investigation and enactment, which were designed around a teaching practice central to equitable teaching: making student thinking visible. Preservice teachers attended to students’ thinking in the context of the collaborative analysis of students’ writing and also through designed simulations of student-teacher writing conferences. Findings/Results Preservice teachers’ collaborative analysis of students’ writing supported prescriptive professional reasoning about disciplinary ideas in ELA and writing instruction (i.e., How do seventh graders use hyperbole? How is hyperbole related to the Six Traits of Writing?), while the simulation of a writing conference supported preservice teachers to reason interpretively about how to balance the need to support students’ affective commitment to writing with their desire to teach academic concepts about writing. Conclusions/Recommendations This analysis highlights an important heuristic for the design of pedagogies in teacher education: Teacher educators need to attend to preservice teachers’ opportunities for both interpretive and prescriptive reasoning. Both are essential for teachers, but only interpretive reasoning will support teachers to teach in ways that are both intellectually rigorous and equitable. The article further describes how and why a tempting assumption—that opportunities to role-play student-teacher interactions will support preservice teachers to reason interpretively, while non-interactive work will not—is incomplete and avoidable.

Librarians, step out of the classroom!: how improved faculty-led IL instruction improves student learning

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Meagan Lacy ◽  
Alexandra Hamlett
Keyword(s):  
Student Learning ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Student Survey ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Actual Application ◽  
Faculty Teaching ◽  
Survey Results ◽  
The Impact

PurposeIn most higher education institutions, information literacy (IL) instruction is usually considered the purview of librarians, not disciplinary faculty. However, a small but growing body of research indicates that students learn the research process best when these skills are taught in the context of a course or a discipline. For this reason, teaching faculty should share ownership of IL instruction — but how? In this case study, community college librarians explain how they successfully trained faculty to integrate IL into their English Composition courses and teach IL independently.Design/methodology/approachUsing a multimethods approach, the investigators draw on faculty interviews, student surveys, and content analysis of student essays to evaluate the impact of faculty-led IL instruction on student learning after one semester.FindingsFaculty reported that their instruction of IL was improved, and students work better as a result of their collaboration with the librarians. Compared to previous semesters, faculty perceived gains in terms of students’ ability to synthesize and cite evidence in their writing. Student survey results indicate perceived gains in their IL skills, but an assessment of their written work reveals a discrepancy between this perception and the actual application of these skills.Research limitations/implicationsBecause there is no control group, no conclusions can be drawn as to whether faculty-led IL instruction is as effective as librarian-led IL instruction or whether students’ academic performance improves due to faculty teaching IL. However, the purpose of this study is primarily descriptive. It addresses how other libraries may create a culture of shared ownership of IL instruction on their campuses.Practical implicationsThis study offers an alternative model to library instruction and suggests ways instruction librarians can prioritize their outreach and instructional efforts to maximize impact on student learning.Originality/valueWhile much has been written about how librarians can improve IL instruction, few studies mention the role of faculty. This case study starts the conversation.

scholarly journals The First Field Experience: Perceptions of ESOL Pre-Service Teachers

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 15
Author(s):  
Babak Khoshnevisan ◽  
Mojgan Rashtchi
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Field Experience ◽  
Developmental Stages ◽  
Field Experiences ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Experience Teaching ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Pedagogical Competence ◽  
Constant Comparative Analysis

Researchers have recognized pre-service teachers’ field experiences as a pivotal element for enhancing teaching practices. Research indicates pre-service teachers usually are optimistic about teaching. However, when pre-service teachers encounter complexities in classrooms, their optimism fades. There is little research about ESOL pre-service teachers’ perceptions of field experiences. In this inquiry, we focused on pre-service teachers’ perceptions of their first field experience with ESOL students in a southeastern United States public school. We selected a multiple case study to conduct this qualitative research. We collected the data through student interviews, field experience reports, and the participants’ journals before and after the field experience. Our discoveries through constant comparative analysis centered on ESOL pre-service teachers’ perceptions of field experience, teaching strategies and pedagogical competence, and development stages of teachers. The findings of the present study indicated that field experience serves as a catalyst to facilitate the learning process for ESOL pre-service teachers. Teacher educators can adopt field experiences to challenge preservice teachers. Field experiences can be helpful tools in the developmental stages of teachers. These experiences can help preservice teachers gain insight into the culturally sensitive strategies required for ESOL courses. The findings of this study proved Khoshnevisan’s (2017) developmental stages of teachers.

scholarly journals Summer schools in library service at Aberystwyth (1917-1928)

2015 ◽  
Vol 64 (6/7) ◽  
pp. 489-502 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Mathias
Keyword(s):  
50Th Anniversary ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Library Service ◽  
National Library ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The People ◽  
Information Studies ◽  
Summer Schools ◽  
The University

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the courses in library service jointly developed and run by the University and the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth, between 1917 and 1928. Design/methodology/approach – An historical approach is adopted and use has been made of relevant extant primary sources held in the National Library, as well as various notices and reports of the courses published in the journals of the time. Findings – Strong similarities between the Summer Schools in Library Service of 100 years ago and the degree programmes currently offered via distance learning by the Department of Information Studies have been indicated. Research limitations/implications – Due to the nature of the research and the reliance on the survival of primary source material, it has not been possible to trace a complete set of Directors’ Reports, which would have offered greater insight into the content of the later Summer Schools as well as the people who attended these courses. Originality/value – The year 2014 marks the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the College of Librarianship Wales, (which has evolved into the Department of Information Studies at Aberystwyth University). However, the roots of this educational establishment can be traced back nearly 50 years earlier to the University’s Summer Schools in library service. This is a largely unexplored subject but represents the first step towards the establishment of the current Department of Information Studies.

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