Liminal States of Disorienting Dilemmas: Two Case Studies of English Teacher Candidates

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 231-250
Author(s):  
Matthew L. McConn ◽  
Donna Geetter
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Student Teaching ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
English Teacher ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Beliefs About Teaching

Research has shown that progressive methods taught in teacher education programs have little impact on traditional approaches teacher candidates encounter during their internship semester. To understand how to better address this disconnect with regard to preparing teacher candidates, the study reported here used instrumental case studies to examine two secondary English teacher candidates’ beliefs about teaching literature before, during, and after their student teaching semester. Through theoretical frameworks on learning processes, the researchers discovered discrepancies within the student teachers’ stated beliefs, lesson plans, videos of teaching, and their responses to interview questions. These discrepancies reveal both unexamined assumptions and a state of liminality, reflecting the process of transformation in their learning. The researchers suggest that education programs look at potential implications that are inherent in a state of liminality with regard to pedagogical content knowledge to better prepare teacher candidates for their experience in teacher education programs.

How the Match Gets Made: Exploring Student Teacher Placements across Teacher Education Programs, Districts, and Schools

2021 ◽  
pp. e20200014
Author(s):  
Elise St. John ◽  
Dan Goldhaber ◽  
John Krieg ◽  
Roddy Theobald
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Student Teaching ◽  
Student Teacher ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Mentor Teachers ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Effective Teacher ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
K 12

Emerging research finds connections between teacher candidates’ student teaching placements and their future career paths and effectiveness. Yet relatively little is known about the factors that influence these placements and how teacher education programs (TEPs) and K-12 school systems match teacher candidates to mentor teachers. In our study of this process in Washington state, we find that TEPs and K-12 systems share overarching goals related to successful student teacher placements and developing a highly effective teacher workforce. However, distinct accountabilities and day-to-day demands also sometimes lead them to prioritize other objectives. In addition, we identified informational asymmetries, which left TEPs questioning how mentor teachers were selected, and districts and schools with limited information with which to make intentional matches between teacher candidates and mentor teachers. The findings from this study inform both practice and research in teacher education and human resources. First, they illuminate practices that appear to contribute to informational gaps and institutional disadvantages in the placement of student teachers. Additionally, they raise questions about what constitutes an effective mentor teacher and provide researchers and policymakers with better insight into the professional realities of teacher educators and K-12 educators, as well as those of district human resource (HR) coordinators, which is important given their differing accountabilities and distinctive positionings in the education of teacher candidates.

Teacher Candidate Apprenticeships: Assessing the Who and Where of Student Teaching

2019 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 218-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
John M. Krieg ◽  
Dan Goldhaber ◽  
Roddy Theobald
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Student Teaching ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Teacher Turnover ◽  
Cooperating Teachers ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Washington State ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Race Ethnicity

We use comprehensive data on student teaching placements from 14 teacher education programs (TEPs) in Washington State to explore the sorting of teacher candidates to the teachers who supervise their student teaching (“cooperating teachers”) and the schools in which student teaching occurs. We find that, all else equal, teachers with more experience, higher degree levels, and higher value added in math are more likely to serve as cooperating teachers, as are schools with lower levels of historical teacher turnover but with more open positions the following year. We also find that teacher candidates are more likely to be placed with cooperating teachers of the same gender and race/ethnicity, and are more likely to work with cooperating teachers and in schools with administrators who graduated from the candidate’s TEP.

scholarly journals Introducing the Co-teaching Model in Teacher Education Clinical Practice

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-20
Author(s):  
Lisa D. Murley ◽  
Rebecca R Stobaugh ◽  
Charles S Evans
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Clinical Practice ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Student Teaching ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Teaching Experience ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Teaching Model ◽  
Teaching Models ◽  
Regulatory Changes

With national and state regulatory changes related to clinical practice within teacher education programs a reality, one university examined the outcomes of co-teaching model trainings required for stakeholders, both higher education faculty and P-12 educators. The training participants indicated the co-teaching model could increase student teacher preparedness while also positively impacting P-12 student learning. Nearly a year after the co-teaching training, one university surveyed student teachers on their co-teaching experience prior to and during student teaching. While there were increase mean scores of all the co-teaching models, results pointed to questions of whether teacher candidates were engaged in lower-level impact co-teaching models, which involved teacher candidates observing and assisting.

The Promises and Realities of Implementing a Coteaching Model of Student Teaching

2018 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
pp. 265-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Soslau ◽  
Jennifer Gallo-Fox ◽  
Kathryn Scantlebury
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Student Teaching ◽  
Situated Learning ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Necessary Conditions ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Teaching Expertise ◽  
Clinical Educators ◽  
Pupil Learning

Within a sociocultural framework, we use situated learning theory to explore the use of a coteaching approach during student teaching. Coteaching is a model for learning to teach where clinical educators and teacher candidates teach alongside one another and share responsibility for pupil learning. Teacher education programs have adopted this model for student teaching because there is evidence that coteaching supports pupil learning and coteacher learning. This study of coteaching in three teacher education programs, within the same university, examined opportunities afforded for teacher candidates’ development of growth competence, adaptive teaching expertise, and collaborative expertise. Data analysis from the nested, cross-case qualitative study enabled us to examine opportunities for candidate learning afforded by coteaching during student teaching, posit recommendations on using coteaching, explain the necessary conditions, and discuss the model’s current limitations.

scholarly journals Diversity in Coherence: Strengths and Opportunities of Three Programs

2017 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
pp. 192-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esther T. Canrinus ◽  
Kirsti Klette ◽  
Karen Hammerness
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Teacher Education ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Field Placement ◽  
Potential Improvement

Although teacher educators may perceive their program and courses to be coherent, the question remains to what extent student teachers also are able to perceive the linkages within their programs. Coherence within teacher education programs is important for teacher candidates to build understanding of teaching. Our study draws upon survey data from 269 teacher candidates, in three different teacher education programs, located in three different countries (Norway, Finland, United States [California]) and compares these candidates’ perceptions of the coherence of their teacher education programs. Candidates from a program that has explicitly been working on constructing a coherent program over a period of 15 years do report significantly more coherence, yet, across the programs, there remains room for improvement regarding the coherence between field placement and campus courses. We conclude with the suggestion that potential improvement of program coherence lies within greater communication and collaboration between the various stakeholders within teacher education.

Key Competencies in Linguistically and Culturally Sustaining Mentoring and Instruction for Clinically-based Grow-Your-Own Teacher Education Programs

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Kibler ◽  
René Pyatt ◽  
Jason Greenberg Motamedi ◽  
Ozen Guven
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Action Learning ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Language And Literacy ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Grow Your Own ◽  
Mentoring Practices ◽  
Instructional Competencies

Grow-Your-Own (GYO) Teacher Education programs that aim to diversify and strengthen the teacher workforce must provide high-quality learning experiences that support the success and retention of Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) teacher candidates and bilingual teacher candidates. Such work requires a holistic and systematic approach to conceptualizing instruction and mentoring that is both linguistically and culturally sustaining. To guide this work in the Master of Arts in Teaching in Clinically Based Elementary program at Oregon State University’s College of Education, we conducted a review of relevant literature and frameworks related to linguistically responsive and/or sustaining teaching or mentoring practices. We developed a set of ten mentoring competencies for school-based cooperating/clinical teachers and university supervisors. They are grouped into the domains of: Facilitating Linguistically and Culturally Sustaining Instruction, Engaging with Mentees, Recognizing and Interrupting Inequitable Practices and Policies, and Advocating for Equity. We also developed a set of twelve instructional competencies for teacher candidates as well as the university instructors who teach them. The instructional competencies are grouped into the domains of: Engaging in Self-reflection and Taking Action, Learning About Students and Re-visioning Instruction, Creating Community, and Facilitating Language and Literacy Development in Context. We are currently operationalizing these competencies to develop and conduct surveys and focus groups with various GYO stakeholders for the purposes of ongoing program evaluation and improvement, as well as further refinement of these competencies.

scholarly journals Cultivating Agentic Teacher Identities in the Field of a Teacher Education Program

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee Anne Block ◽  
Paul Betts
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Education Program ◽  
Teacher Identity ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Teacher Education Program ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Strong Connection ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
The University

Teacher candidates’ individual and collaborative inquiry occurs within multiple and layered contexts of learning. The layered contexts support a strong connection between the practicum and the university and the emergent teaching identities. Our understanding of teacher identity is as situated and socially constructed, yet fluid and agentic. This paper explores how agentic teaching identities emerge within the layered contexts of our teacher education program as examined in five narratives of teacher candidates’ experience. These narratives involve tension, inquiry, successes and risks, as teacher candidates negotiate what is means to learn how to teach, to teach and to critically reflect on knowledge needed to teach. We conclude that navigating teacher identity is a teacher candidate capacity that could be explicitly cultivated by teacher education programs.

Teaching Diversity to Preservice Teachers: Encouraging Self-Reflection and Awareness to Develop Successful Teaching Practices

2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marla S. Sanders ◽  
Kathryn Haselden ◽  
Randi M. Moss
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Professional Education ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Culturally Diverse ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Diverse Schools

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.

A University-Community Partnership in Teacher Education From the Perspectives of Community-Based Teacher Educators

2018 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 140-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorena Guillen ◽  
Ken Zeichner
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Pacific Northwest ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Research University ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Community Based ◽  
The Pacific

This article examines the experiences of a group of nine community-based mentors of teacher candidates who partnered for several years through a local, community-based organization with the graduate elementary and secondary teacher education programs at a research university in the Pacific Northwest. Following a brief discussion of the history of partnerships between teacher education programs and local communities, we report the findings of a study of the perspectives of these community mentors on their work with teacher candidates and university teacher educators.

Using Mobile Technology for Student Teaching Observations of Special Education Candidates

2015 ◽  
pp. 114-127
Author(s):  
Josh Harrower ◽  
Cathi Draper Rodríguez
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
Student Teaching ◽  
Mobile Technology ◽  
Video Conferencing ◽  
Teacher Preparation Programs ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Pre Service Teacher

Student teacher supervision has been an important part of teacher preparation almost since the inception of teacher education programs. The goal of this type of supervision is to strengthen the skills of the pre-service teacher. Providing this type of observation can be difficult for teacher preparation programs and university faculty. Many factors, including large numbers of students in teacher education programs and student placements in remote schools, contribute to this. In order to make the most effective use of faculty and pre-service teacher time, other options for providing this support need to be explored. The rapidly developing field of mobile technology (e.g., iPads, iPhones, Smart Phones) can be used to facilitate student teaching observations. This chapter discusses how teacher preparation programs can implement candidate field supervision using video conferencing via mobile technology to increase the ability to conduct observations in schools and in a more efficient manner. It also explores the security of video conferencing applications and the issues related to using video conferencing in special education classrooms, where student confidentiality is heightened.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document