scholarly journals TESL Teacher Educators' Professional Self-Development, Identity, and Agency

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 140-155
Author(s):  
Bedrettin Yazan
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teacher Educator ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Identity And Agency ◽  
Self Development ◽  
Writing Assignment ◽  
Professional Self ◽  
Langue Seconde

Using the concepts of identity and agency, this Perspectives article discusses my recent efforts of self-development when designing an identity-oriented Teaching English as a second language (TESL) teacher education course around teacher candidates’ semester-long autoethnography writing assignment called “critical autoethnographic narrative” (CAN). It specifically unpacks the ways I negotiated and enacted my identities of teacher educator and researcher of teacher education while I was incorporating identity as the main goal in teacher candidates’ learning. In closing, this article offers recommendations for TESL teacher educators who consider designing identity-oriented courses and suggests some future research directions. À l’aide des concepts de l’identité et de l’agentivité (ou capacité d’agir), cet article de Perspectives illustre mes récents efforts d’autoperfectionnement alors que je concevais un cours de formation d’enseignantes et enseignants d’anglais langue seconde axé sur l’identité, et ce, autour de l’imposition d’un projet d’écriture autoethnographique d’un semestre appelé « exposé autoethnographique critique » à des candidates et candidats à l’enseignement. L’article révèle spécifiquement la façon dont je suis parvenu à négocier et faire valoir mes identités de formateur d’enseignants et de chercheur en éducation d’enseignants alors que je faisais de l’identité le principal objectif de l’apprentissage des candidats et candidates à l’ enseignement. En terminant, cet article offre des recommandations à l’intention des formateurs d’enseignantes et enseignants d’anglais langue seconde qui songent à concevoir des cours axés sur l’identité, et ce, en plus de proposer des orientations futures en matière de recherche.

Music Teacher Educator Perspectives on Social Justice

2017 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Salvador ◽  
Jacqueline Kelly-McHale
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teacher Educator ◽  
Music Teacher ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Music Teacher Education ◽  
Students With Special Needs ◽  
School Music

Given the shifting demographics in American education, the rising likelihood of students with special needs being taught in inclusive classrooms, and the increasing openness with which students are challenging gender and sex norms, social justice has become a prevalent research topic in music education. This survey sought to investigate the perspectives of music teacher educators with regard to social justice, music education, and music teacher education. Many of the 361 respondents indicated engagement with social justice and shared methods for addressing social justice topics in music teacher education as well as describing limitations that prevented them from doing more. However, about 50% of respondents defined social justice in “difference-blind” terms. A further 10% to 15% of respondents rejected the need to address social justice topics in music teacher education, stated it was not their job, and/or described social justice as a waste of instructional time that should be spent on content. In contrast, 10% to 15% of respondents expressed a desire for assistance understanding more about social justice in school music settings and/or suggestions how to teach about social justice topics in undergraduate music teacher education. This article concludes with a discussion of these findings and suggestions for future research.

scholarly journals Design of a Teacher Education Model that Improves Teacher Educator Efficiency in Processing Teacher Candidate Data

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Ng
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Teacher Educator ◽  
Teacher Candidate ◽  
New Model ◽  
Rich Media ◽  
Education Model

Existing state of the art practice-based teacher education models either rely on heavy teacher educator time commitment to process teacher candidate performance stored in rich media like audio or video, or rely on teacher candidates to voluntarily share experiences with minimal teacher educator interaction with data. Using an iterative design process, I work with teacher educators to gauge interest in and build a new teacher education model that simplifies how teacher educators interact with rich media. The new model builds on Teacher Moments, an online simulator for preservice teachers, and takes advantage of state of the art speech recognition and data visualization technology to help teacher educators learn the contents of rich media generated by teacher candidates without dedicating the time to listen or watch media. In my investigation, I find that there is an interest in such a model and that the new model succeeds in empowering teacher educators with the ability to use teacher candidate data to inform instructional decisions and substantiate discussion point during group debrief sessions.

scholarly journals Towards an Understanding of the Work of Teacher Education Professoriate in India

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-114
Author(s):  
Rajashree Srinivasan
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Development ◽  
Teacher Education ◽  
Education System ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teacher Educator ◽  
School Education ◽  
Work Identity ◽  
Education In India ◽  
New Vision

Reforming the teacher education system has been a key government policy towards improving school education in India. While recent curriculum and governance reforms articulate a new vision of teacher education that underscores a symbiotic relationship between teacher education and school education, it fails to engage enough with the most important participant of the teacher education system—the teacher educator. Changes to curriculum and governance process in the absence of a pro-active engagement of teacher educators with the reforms can do little to influence the teacher education processes and outcomes. The work of pre-service teacher educators is complex because their responsibilities relate to both school and higher education. The distinctiveness of their work, identity and professional development has always been marginalized in educational discourse. This article analyses select educational documents to examine the construction of work and identity of higher education-based teacher educators. It proposes the development of a professional framework of practice through a collective process, which would help understand the work of teacher educators and offer various possibilities for their professional development.

scholarly journals Faculty Use of the Active Learning Classroom: Barriers and Facilitators

10.28945/4142 ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 485-504
Author(s):  
Orit Avidov Ungar ◽  
Becky Leshem ◽  
Adva Margaliot ◽  
Etty Grobgeld
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Active Learning ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teaching Effectiveness ◽  
Teaching Style ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Grounded Theory Method ◽  
Proposed Model ◽  
Technology Pedagogy

Aim/Purpose: The study aimed to examine teacher educators’ perceptions regarding their ability to implement innovative pedagogies following a year during which they used a newly equipped Active Learning Classroom (ALC), designed for teacher training Background: To this end, we asked how participants perceived the effective use of the ALC and how they were able to leverage the use of the ALC to implement innovative pedagogies. Methodology: Using the grounded theory method, we conducted qualitative analysis of data collected from semi-structured in-depth personal interviews. The sample included 22 randomly-selected teacher educators in a single teacher-education college, who had used the ALC over the last year. Average teaching tenure was 22 years. Contribution: As part of the transition to using innovative pedagogies in an ICT (Information Communication Technology) enhanced teaching environment, our proposed model can be used to map teachers’ perceptions and proficiencies, so as to address the specific needs of each group. Findings: Analysis revealed four pedagogic teaching patterns. Based on the TPACK (Technology, Pedagogy, and Content, Knowledge) model as a theoretical framework, we were able to relate these patterns to participants’ strengths and weaknesses in technological and pedagogic knowledge and the ways in which they used the ALC. These patterns testify that there are different levels of use and integration of technology and pedagogy by teacher educators. Recommendations for Practitioners: Enhancing teachers’ knowledge, promoting innovative concepts and removing barriers for ICT usage require integrated technological-pedagogic guidance, which should be provided to the teachers by instructors with integrated TPK (Technology Pedagogy Knowledge). Recommendation for Researchers: The ability to map technological and pedagogic strengths in accord with teaching patterns and styles provides an advantageous and applicable foundation that can be used by any future studies that wish to pursue this line of investigation. Impact on Society: Formulating new strategies in teacher education would effectively make teacher educators the leading force driving the desired transformation, whereby teachers have the skills and knowledge to prepare students to become productive members of society in the 21st century. Future Research: Future studies are encouraged to use our proposed model (which maps technological and pedagogic strengths in accord with teaching patterns) to examine additional questions, for example, what is the relationship between teaching style and teaching effectiveness and can it provide the impetus to attempt to shift teachers’ attitudes and styles?

scholarly journals Practice-Focused Research in Initial Teacher Education

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Abbiss ◽  
Eline Vanassche
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Teacher Education ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teacher Educator ◽  
Initial Teacher Education ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Educational Systems ◽  
Theoretical Contribution

A review of the field of practice-focused research in Initial Teacher Education (ITE) reveals four broad genres of qualitative research: case studies of teacher education programs and developments; research into student teacher experience and learning; inquiry into teacher educators’ own learning, identity, and beliefs; and conceptual or theory-building research. This is an eclectic field that is defined by variation in methodologies rather than by a few clearly identifiable research approaches. What practice-focused research in ITE has in common, though, is a desire on the behalf of teacher educator researchers to understand the complexity of teacher education and contribute to shifts in practice, for the benefit of student teachers and, ultimately, for learners in schools and early childhood education. In this endeavor, teacher educator researchers are presented with a challenge to achieve a balance between goals of local relevance and making a theoretical contribution to the broader field. This is a persistent tension. Notwithstanding the capacity for practice-focused research to achieve a stronger balance and greater relevance beyond the local, key contributions of practice-focused research in ITE include: highlighting the importance of context, questioning what might be understood by “improvement” in teacher education and schooling, and pushing back against research power structures that undervalue practice-focused research. Drawing on a painting metaphor, each genre represents a collection of sketches of practice-focused research in ITE that together provide the viewer with an overview of the field. However, these genres are not mutually exclusive categories as any particular research study (or sketch) might be placed within one or more groupings; for example, inquiry into teacher educators’ own learning often also includes attention to student teachers’ experiences and case studies of teacher education initiatives inevitably draw on theory to frame the research and make sense of findings. Also, overviewing the field and identifying relevant research is not as simple as it might first appear, given challenges in identifying research undertaken by teacher educators, differences in the positioning of teacher educators within different educational systems, and privileging of American (US) views of teacher education in published research, which was counteracted in a small way in this review by explicitly including voices located outside this dominant setting. Examples of different types of qualitative research projects illustrate issues in teacher education that matter to teacher educator researchers globally and locally and how they have sought to use a variety of methodologies to understand them. The examples also show how teacher educators themselves define what is important in teacher education research, often through small-scale studies of context-specific teacher education problems and practices, and how there is value in “smaller story” research that supports understanding of both universals and particularities along with the grand narratives of teacher education.

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.

Exploring Freirean Culture Circles and Boalian Theatre as Pedagogies for Preparing Asset-Oriented Teacher Educators

2019 ◽  
Vol 121 (6) ◽  
pp. 1-38
Author(s):  
Jamy Stillman ◽  
John Luciano Beltramo
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Role Play ◽  
Teacher Educator ◽  
Contingent Work ◽  
Conditions For Learning ◽  
Critical Pedagogies ◽  
Field Notes ◽  
Educator Development ◽  
Audio Video

Background/Context Teacher educator development remains an undertaking that is both understudied and underavailable as an explicit professional path, despite scholarship suggesting that teacher education's transformative potential hinges on teacher educators’ pedagogical work. Purpose, Practice, & Participants This article reports on a qualitative study that explored the development of teacher educators who expressed deep commitments to educational equity for minoritized youth. Fifteen current and prospective teacher educators participated over three years in situated adaptations of two critical pedagogical approaches: Freirean culture circles, where participants engaged in critical dialogue around conflicts encountered in their teacher education work that involved issues of inequity, particularly deficit-based ideas of P–12 students and their families, and Boalian theatre (or teatro), interactive role-play where participants dramatically re-enacted these conflicts and imagined potential responses to them. This study examines the ways in which these critical pedagogical spaces facilitated participants’ development as asset-oriented teacher educators. Research Design & Data Collection This research represents an ethnographic self-study, as the authors engaged in culture circles and teatro as participant-researchers. To study these spaces of critical teacher educator development, the authors collected ethnographic data, which included semistructured interviews with each participant, field notes, and audio/ video recordings of dialogue and role-play, as well as participant written reflections. Findings/Results Through their engagement in culture circles and teatro, participants came to recognize some of the micro-pedagogies of asset-oriented teacher education, grappled with the relational dimensions of teacher learning, became familiar with possible tools of asset-oriented teacher education, and interrogated the social, political, and historical dimensions of the work. In doing so, they understood each area as linked both to specific settings and individuals and as connected to more common dilemmas that may play out across teacher education contexts. Conclusions/Recommendations While cautioning against widespread, mechanistic implementation, the authors recognize culture circles and teatro as offering special promise for the development of asset-oriented teacher educators. In particular, findings suggest that these critical pedagogies support the conditions for learning—particularly spaces that center participants’ identities and experiential conflicts—that can cultivate complex understandings about, and tools for engaging, the contingent work of asset-oriented teacher education. Such spaces seem particularly well equipped to cultivate critical understandings deemed essential for transforming the field of teacher education.

Digital Storytelling in Teacher Education

2011 ◽  
pp. 235-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivian H. Wright
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Digital Storytelling ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Instructional Tool ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Technology Tools ◽  
Learning Productivity

In teacher education programs, there is a consistent need to locate and to recommend to teacher educators, teacher candidates, and in-service teachers, viable technology tools and concepts that can be used in the classroom. Digital storytelling is a concept that is growing in popularity and one which offers versatility as an instructional tool. This chapter presents information and ideas on how to facilitate learning, productivity, and creativity through a variety of digital storytelling classroom uses.

Supporting Teacher Candidates as Social Justice Change-Makers

2021 ◽  
pp. 398-421
Author(s):  
Anne Homza ◽  
Tiffeni J. Fontno
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Children's Literature ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Critical Consciousness ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teacher Educator ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Shared Goal ◽  
Support Teacher ◽  
Future Work

Critical consciousness, teacher agency, intellectual freedom, and equity-informed practices are vital aspects of a collaboration between a faculty member and an educational librarian, whose shared goal is to support teacher candidates' capacity to use diverse children's literature to teach for social justice. In this chapter, teacher educator Homza and head librarian Fontno share ways to help teacher candidates use diverse children's literature to develop their own critical consciousness, explore issues of equity, and teach for social justice in their future classrooms. Grounding their work in conceptual frameworks, the authors discuss their positionalities, how the literature collection is built, and course activities that use diverse children's literature. Teacher candidates' reflections suggest that these efforts have an impact on their critical consciousness and capacity to engage in the challenging work of transformative pedagogy. The authors share implications for other teacher educators and librarians and questions to explore in future work.

Reimagining the Contextualization of a Rural Teacher Educator Preparation Program During COVID

2022 ◽  
pp. 175-194
Author(s):  
Chris Godwin ◽  
Courtney Glavich Mayakis ◽  
Terrie Hampton-Jones
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teacher Educator ◽  
Effective Learning ◽  
Rural Settings ◽  
Training Quality ◽  
Educator Preparation Program ◽  
Problem Solve

Within the rural context of our nation, education has largely been overlooked or ignored within the research. The predominant educational research focuses more upon larger urban areas with a distinct context. Training quality teacher educators within the context of a worldwide pandemic dismisses many established and traditional methods. In order to prepare our teacher candidates within this new context, our EPP revaluated its current practices. Innovation in teacher preparation is clearly at hand and is well within our reach if we use the pandemic as a springboard to reimagine a teaching force equipped to face any challenge and problem-solve to create the most effective learning environment for the students they teach. It is possible and doable and can sustain our public education system in ways that we thought impossible prior to the pandemic. It pushes us out of the rut we find ourselves within. The chapter address strategies to support preservice teachers in rural settings.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document