Preservice Teachers’ Experiences Facilitating Writing Instruction in a Juvenile Detention Facility

2017 ◽  
Vol 100 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristine E. Pytash
2017 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Ward ◽  
Heidi Henschel Pellett ◽  
Mark I. Perez

Purpose:The purpose of this study was to explore preservice teachers’ experiences of cognitive disequilibrium (CD) theory during a service-learning project in a study abroad experience.Method:A case study with 8 participants was used. Data sources consisted of: Formal interviews, videos of planning, videos of teaching, videos of reflection sessions, and informal interviews. Data were analyzed utilizing open and axial coding (Corbin & Strauss, 2008). Trustworthiness strategies included: prolonged engagement, multiple data source triangulation, and member checks.Results:Results indicated four themes: “We made it our own thing”, “Summer camp for teachers”, “Struggle and disequilibrium”, and “By the end it was a transformation”.Discussion/Conclusions:CD was ultimately positive for these students. The positive resolution of CD catalyzed a transformative effect on their perceptions of their teaching. This was supported by positive peer interaction.


Author(s):  
Kelley Erin Carpenter Massengale ◽  
Cherese Childers-McKee ◽  
Aerin Benavides

Abstract: Applying transformational critical advocacy research in college instruction can be a powerful way to engage students in challenging inequity in society and promoting positive changes. Few studies systematically measure the impact of such pedagogy on the development of college students’ beliefs about advocacy. In this mixed methods study, we worked with 21 preservice teachers through advocacy letter writing activities and collected data from pre/post surveys and focus group discussions to explore the impact of such pedagogy. The findings indicated that advocacy letter writing was a meaningful activity for preservice teachers, allowing them a professional opportunity to voice their concerns about personally meaningful issues to entities in power. A significant correlation was found between baseline advocacy experiences and baseline advocacy beliefs, suggesting that the teaching of advocacy, when combined with opportunities for meaningful practice, can contribute to shifts in belief about the importance of advocating. 


Author(s):  
Pauline Goh

Preservice teachers can no longer be prepared using conventional teaching approaches as these are inadequate to equip them with the necessary knowledge and skills they require to perform the tasks of teaching effectively. Teacher educators need to use new pedagogies, and narrative pedagogy is seen as a teaching method which can better prepare preservice teachers for the challenging classrooms of today. My study explored nine preservice teachers’ experiences after the enactment of a narrative pedagogical approach in one of their courses within their teacher education program. I used Ricoeur’s framework of the prefigured and configured arena of education to analyse the rich interview and reflective data which emerged. Three themes for the prefigured arena emerged: (a) feeling the sense of responsibility, (b) feeling anxious, and (c) feeling the lack of experience and confidence. Similarly, three themes were found for the configured arena: (a) learning through emotions, (b) learning through insights, and (c) learning through discussion. The preservice teachers have interpreted and discussed “lived” stories and this has shifted the way they think about teaching. The results do offer teacher educators and educational stakeholders a stepping-stone to further pedagogical insight into using narrative pedagogy in teacher education.


2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 124-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Elwood Romig ◽  
Todd Sundeen ◽  
Cathy Newman Thomas ◽  
Michael J. Kennedy ◽  
Jesse Philips ◽  
...  

The National Commission on Writing called for a reform in writing instruction over a decade ago. However, teacher preparation programs still rarely provide sufficient training in writing instruction for teacher candidates. The purpose of this study was to improve the writing instruction of preservice teachers. Participating preservice teachers ( N = 166) from three universities were randomly assigned to learn essential components of the self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) and the “model it” stage via content acquisition podcast (CAP)-TVs, lecture, or a practitioner-oriented article. This randomized control trial found that students in the CAP-TV condition outperformed peers in the article condition on a researcher-created measure of SRSD knowledge. Additionally, participants in the CAP-TV condition outperformed peers in both comparison groups article on a measure of modeling instruction. Results from a perceived cognitive load survey indicated that perceived cognitive load was significantly correlated with outcomes on the knowledge and performance measure for all participants. These results suggested that multimedia tools designed using Mayer’s (2009) cognitive theory of multimedia learning can reduce cognitive load and increase learning outcomes. Teacher educators should consider incorporating CAP-TVs into their coursework when teaching complex instructional strategies.


2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (13) ◽  
pp. 4046-4066 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maud Hickey

The purpose of this long-term qualitative study was to uncover evidence that might support components of positive youth development (PYD) in a music composition program at an urban youth detention center. The constructs of PYD come from self-determination theory—competence, autonomy, and relatedness—and formed the theoretical lens from which the data were analyzed. Over a period of 5 years, more than 700 youth participated in the program and created primarily rap music compositions. Comments from their feedback, as well as interviews, were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Findings point to the emergence of two main categories as reasons for enjoying the program: competence and positive feelings. Creativity also emerged as linked to competence and autonomy as well as the “Good Lives Model” of detainee development. Further research on using culturally relevant and creative music programming as a tool in PYD is discussed.


Author(s):  
Kendra R. Brewster ◽  
Kathleen M. Cumiskey

This chapter examines the experiences of incarcerated girls who participated in a service learning course that paired them with college mentors in a juvenile detention facility. The course defined the girls as agents in social contexts of inequality, rather than as poor girls of color, and honored their voices as they discussed the issues that were most important to their lives in the community. It also provided the opportunity to examine the girls’ experiences of detention in light of their life stories, and to understand girls’ involvement with the justice system and incarceration as a form of abandonment by society, institutions, and families. This chapter highlights the paucity of treatment programs specifically designed for incarcerated girls and describes how practitioners can create moments of healing in a system designed to punish and dehumanize.


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