scholarly journals Motivational Factors for School-Based Teacher Learning: Turkish Pre-Service Teachers’ Experiences and Expectations

2015 ◽  
Vol 117 (9) ◽  
pp. 1-36
Author(s):  
Sarah J. Selmer ◽  
Melissa J. Luna ◽  
James A. Rye

Background/Context This study seeks insights into teachers’ experiences implementing Garden-Based Learning (GBL) in an elementary school. The breadth of studies supporting the use of GBL in K–8 schools in the United States alongside the paucity of studies specific to teachers’ experiences implementing GBL highlights the importance of this work. Purpose Our study uses Remillard's framework for characterizing and studying teachers’ interactions with curriculum materials specifically in the context of GBL. We believe that exploring the dynamic relationship between teachers and a GBL curriculum may help those involved in supporting teachers in implementing GBL to gain a deeper understanding of the complexity of the teacher/GBL curriculum relationship. This research examined teachers’ GBL implementation experiences in order to answer the following research question: How do we describe and characterize teachers’ interactions with GBL curriculum materials? Research Design Twenty teachers employed from one elementary school were interviewed using a semistructured task-based protocol resulting in a teacher-created diagram of supports and challenges he/she encountered while implementing GBL over the past year. The diagram was used as a tool to stimulate and access teachers’ thinking about these supports and challenges in order to provide insight into the teacher and curricular resources at play when implementing GBL. Findings/Results Using a grounded theory analysis of each participant's diagram, we characterized each teacher's participatory relationship with GBL. We found 13% of supports and challenges elicited from all teachers had a teaching and learning focus. On an individual level, supports and challenges had a substantial teaching and learning focus for only two teachers. Thirteen teachers were characterized as having a pragmatic focus. Of the seven teachers characterized to have an experiential focus: supports and challenges focused more so on what students were doing for four teachers and more so on what teachers were doing for three teachers. Conclusions/Recommendations We used Remillard's framework to investigate and characterize the participatory relationship between teachers and the GBL curriculum. The resulting characterizations provide insight for supporting GBL teacher learning contexts and will help guide future research. Based on this study, it is critical that individuals involved in educational change continue trying to understand and develop spaces for teacher learning. These spaces should move beyond traditional professional development focused on teacher participation toward experiences focused on teacher learning within and across their teaching contexts.


2011 ◽  
Vol 62 (5) ◽  
pp. 465-476 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alaster Scott Douglas ◽  
Viv Ellis

Partnerships between schools and universities in England use course handbooks to guide student teacher learning during long field experiences. Using data from a yearlong ethnographic study of a postgraduate certificate of education programme in one English university, the function of course handbooks in mediating learning in two high school subject departments (history and modern foreign languages) is analyzed. Informed by Cultural Historical Activity Theory, the analysis focuses on the handbooks as mediating tools in the school-based teacher education activity systems. Qualitative differences in the mediating functions of the handbooks-in-use are examined and this leads to a consideration of the potential of such tools for teacher learning in school–university partnerships. Following Zeichner’s call for rethinking the relationships between schools and universities, the article argues that strong structural connections between different institutional sites do not necessarily enhance student teacher learning.


2010 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 479-504
Author(s):  
Ken Zeichner

In this paper, I discuss one of the central problems that has plagued college and university-based pre-service teacher education for many years, the disconnect between the campus and school-based components of programs. First, I will draw on my own experiences as a teacher educator and administrator over the last thirty plus years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the literature to lay out various dimensions of this issue. Then, utililizing the concept of hybridity and “third space,” I will discuss a variety of current work in programs across the U.S. that offers much promise in deepening the quality of teacher learning in college and university-based teacher education programs and the ability of teacher education graduates to enact desired teaching practices in complex school settings. This work in creating hybrid spaces in teacher education where academic and practitioner knowledge and knowledge that exists in communities come together in new less hierarchical ways in the service of teacher learning represents a paradigm shift in the epistemology of teacher education programs. I argue that this shift toward more democratic and inclusive ways of working with schools and communities is necessary for colleges and universities to fulfill their mission in the education of teachers. Keywords: Education of teachers; Campus and school-based; Programs across.


2015 ◽  
Vol 66 (4) ◽  
pp. 301-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie L. Knight ◽  
Gwendolyn M. Lloyd ◽  
Fran Arbaugh ◽  
David Gamson ◽  
Scott P. McDonald ◽  
...  

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document