scholarly journals "Who We Are Matters": Exploring Teacher Identities Through Found Poetry

2008 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 195-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth J. Meyer
Keyword(s):  
Staff Development ◽  
Educational Research ◽  
Teacher Identity ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Multiple Identities ◽  
Classroom Teachers ◽  
Development Programs ◽  
Policy Initiatives ◽  
Found Poetry ◽  
Curricular Interventions

This paper presents the use of found poetry as a means for exploring teacher identity and argues for its broader use in educational research for studying and representing teachers’ identities and values. This project is grounded in narrative inquiry and feminist standpoint theories and presents three identity poems created with teachers working in Canadian secondary schools. The author suggests that by gaining a better understanding of how teachers understand themselves and their multiple identities in the classroom, scholars, teacher educators, and school leaders can better formulate curricular interventions, staff development programs, and policy initiatives that will work more effectively with classroom teachers to improve students’ experiences in school.

Learning the anthropology of development: the university as a site of knowledge construction and identity formation

Journal ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanya Jakimow
Keyword(s):  
Identity Formation ◽  
Lifelong Learning ◽  
Knowledge Construction ◽  
Multiple Identities ◽  
Classroom Teachers ◽  
Practical Skills ◽  
Student Reactions ◽  
A Site ◽  
The University ◽  
Anthropology Of Development

Recent work exploring student reactions to the anthropology of development highlights the importance of going beyond simply imparting practical skills, or alternatively delivering content that offers an unrelenting critique (Djohari 2011; Handler 2013). In this paper, I argue that by casting an anthropological eye on the classroom, teachers can provide a learning environment in which students transform into reflective ‘novice’ practitioners equipped for lifelong learning. This involves making explicit the processes of knowledge construction in the classroom, and by extension, the development field. It entails providing the resources through which students can become social beings in the development sector, with attention to expanding the possibilities for the formation of multiple identities. 

scholarly journals “I Do Belong Here”: Identity Perceptions of Postgraduate Music Education Majors

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-70
Author(s):  
Crystal Sieger
Keyword(s):  
Identity Development ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Teacher Identity ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teaching Profession ◽  
Music Teacher ◽  
Music Teacher Identity ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
Axial Coding ◽  
Music Education Majors

Students choosing to enter the music teaching profession after having already obtained undergraduate degrees in other music fields may experience unique forms of socialization and teacher identity development. Participants were four students enrolled in a 3-year master’s program with a music teacher licensure component. Through individual and focus group interviews, participants shared their perspectives on program experiences, course elements, and interactions with peers and professors as important influences on their developing music teacher identity. I examined the data for emerging patterns and applied open and axial coding to the most prominent responses, resulting in themes centered on participants’ socialization experiences, desire for independence, need for self-justification, and “outsider” status among peers. To combat lack of peer recognition or support, participants developed strong, collaborative relations with each other. Implications for music teacher educators are considered.

scholarly journals Assessing pre-service teachers’ professional identity construction in a three-phase teacher education program in Iran

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fariba Haghighi Irani ◽  
Azizeh Chalak ◽  
Hossein Heidari Tabrizi
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Professional Identity ◽  
Identity Construction ◽  
Education Program ◽  
Teacher Identity ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teacher Education Program ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Problem Solving Skills

Abstract The critical role of teachers suggests that assessing teacher identity construction helps teacher educators understand the changes in teachers and design materials in harmony with their needs in teacher education programs. However, only a few studies have focused on assessing pre-service teachers’ identity in the long term in Iran. To address this gap, the contribution of a pre-service teacher education program consisting of three phases, namely engage, study, and activate to the professional identity construction of eight pre-service teachers in an institute in Tehran was assessed. Pre-course and post-course interviews, two reflective essays, ten observation notes, and two teaching performances were gathered over a year and analyzed as guided by grounded theory and discourse analysis. Findings revealed two significant changes in the participants’ identities when they transitioned from engage to study and from study to activate phases that yielded study phase as the peak of the changes. Overall, three major shifts were identified in the participants’ identities: from a commitment to evaluation towards a commitment to modality, from one-dimensional to multi-dimensional perceptions, and from problem analysis to problem-solving skills. Current findings may facilitate teacher identity construction by designing local programs matching the needs of pre-service teachers. It may also assist teacher educators by assessing the quality of teachers’ performance and developing teacher assessment tools.

scholarly journals Reframing Professional Development Through Understanding Authentic Professional Learning

2009 ◽  
Vol 79 (2) ◽  
pp. 702-739 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Webster-Wright
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Educational Research ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
Development Programs ◽  
The Past ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Alternative Conceptualization ◽  
Professional Development Programs ◽  
Evaluating Professional Development

Continuing to learn is universally accepted and expected by professionals and other stakeholders across all professions. However, despite changes in response to research findings about how professionals learn, many professional development practices still focus on delivering content rather than enhancing learning. In exploring reasons for the continuation of didactic practices in professional development, this article critiques the usual conceptualization of professional development through a review of recent literature across professions. An alternative conceptualization is proposed, based on philosophical assumptions congruent with evidence about professional learning from seminal educational research of the past two decades. An argument is presented for a shift in discourse and focus from delivering and evaluating professional development programs to understanding and supporting authentic professional learning.

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.

scholarly journals Challenges and encouraging educational practices: Observations from field experiences

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Belete Mebratu
Keyword(s):  
Classroom Management ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Classroom Teacher ◽  
Field Experiences ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Classroom Teachers ◽  
Development Programs ◽  
Course Work ◽  
Need Support ◽  
Management Changes

This study is an analysis of the reported observations of teacher candidates about the challenges and encouraging practices at schools following their field experiences visits required to meet course work and licensure for teaching.  The findings of the study indicate that the participants of the study observed that classroom teachers face the challenges of too much workload, meeting the needs of too many students who need support, lack of resources, classroom management, changes of curriculum and policies, and meeting the needs of diverse students. The candidates, however, are encouraged by their observations of the use and applications of a wide variety of instructional approaches, the prevalence of a culture of a community of learners and co-operations, discipline systems, applications of technology and inspiring teachers’ professionalism and commitment to make differences in the lives of their students. Ways of addressing the observed challenges include measures of providing support staff and assistants to the classroom teacher, supplying classrooms with adequate resources, efforts to involve parents and guardians in the education of their children and in the affairs of schools, refocusing teacher education programs on those reported areas of challenges classroom teachers face, and ongoing in-service trainings and professional development programs for teachers.  

scholarly journals Evidence-informed teaching and practice-informed research

2021 ◽  
Vol 35 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 199-208
Author(s):  
Leila E. Ferguson
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Educational Research ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Research Evidence ◽  
Educational Practice ◽  
Epistemic Cognition ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Teachers Beliefs ◽  
Roles Of Teacher ◽  
Do So

Abstract. In this commentary, I seek to join the ongoing conversation about evidence-informed educational practice that has been threaded through this special issue. I do so by drawing on related insights from the fields of teachers' beliefs and epistemic cognition and considering the roles of teacher education and educational research in improving (preservice) teachers' use of educational research. In particular, I focus on the merits of explicit research-based practice in teacher educators' teaching and ways that they can encourage preservice teachers' interactions with educational research in class, and methods of changing the beliefs that may underlie (preservice) teachers' engagement with educational research evidence, and finally, the need for clearly communicated research, including details of implementation.

scholarly journals ELT Student Teacher Identity Construction: Exploring Teacher Roles and Domains of Expertise

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 113
Author(s):  
Nafiye Cigdem Aktekin ◽  
Hatice Celebi
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Identity Construction ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Teacher Identity ◽  
English Language ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teacher Education Program ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Teacher Roles

In this study, we direct our focus to identity construction in an English language teaching (ELT) teacher education program. We explore the teacher roles in which student teachers are struggling to position themselves comfortably and the teacher expertise domains (subject matter, didactics, and pedagogy) that they are dedicating themselves to improving. To address our research focus, we have collected reflections and survey responses from 18 student teachers in an ELT education department. Our findings indicate that ELT student teachers find it difficult to position themselves as experts in and about the English language and that they feel a need to be equipped with expertise first and foremost in the subject matter, and then in didactics, followed by pedagogy. These results imply that in ELT teacher education, certain language ideologies are still prevalent and need to be dealt with by teacher educators for transformative outcomes in education.

scholarly journals A base de conhecimentos e a identidade de mentores participantes do Programa de Formação Online de Mentores da UFSCar-Brasil

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula Grizzo Gobato ◽  
Aline Maria De Medeiros Rodrigues Reali
Keyword(s):  
Beginning Teachers ◽  
Knowledge Base ◽  
Content Knowledge ◽  
Education Program ◽  
Teacher Identity ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Pedagogical Knowledge ◽  
Experienced Teachers ◽  
Specific Content

O objetivo deste artigo é analisar a base de conhecimentos de professores experientes e participantes do Programa de Formação Online de Mentores da UFSCar-Brasil, bem como responder à seguinte questão: quais dos conhecimentos específicos, pedagógicos e sobre a função de mentor, que o auxiliarão a desempenhar a nova função, podem ser apreendidos nos professores experientes, participantes do Programa de Formação Online de Mentores? O Programa é responsável pela formação de mentores, sua proposta curricular é flexível e foca o desenvolvimento profissional de professores experientes. A investigação qualitativa baseou-se na análise descritivo-interpretativa das narrativas presentes em quatro atividades, realizadas durante o processo formativo, de quatro participantes. Foram analisados conhecimentos pedagógicos gerais, conhecimentos de conteúdo específico, conhecimentos pedagógicos do conteúdo, conhecimentos sobre formação e atuação docente e, por fim, conhecimentos sobre a função de gestor, de mentor e da escola. Como resultado, percebe-se que a base de conhecimentos atribuída ao mentor se assemelha à dos profissionais gestores e formadores de professores, ainda que a prática da mentoria e em sala de aula seja importante para que a base seja continuamente remodelada e aperfeiçoada para melhorar o desempenho do mentor e, possivelmente, dos professores iniciantes por ele acompanhados. Palavras-chave: Programa de Formação Online de Mentores; Identidade docente; Base de conhecimentos para o ensino ABSTRACTThis article aims to analyze the knowledge base of experienced teachers and participants of an Online Mentor Education Program from UFSCar Brazil and to answer the question: what specific, pedagogical and mentoring skills, that will assist the mentor to fulfill a new role, are evidenced by the experienced teachers participating of Online Mentor Education Program? This mentor training program has a flexible curriculum and focuses on the professional development of experienced teachers. The qualitative research was based on the descriptive and interpretative analysis of four narratives from four selected participants from a wider group and written during the training. It analyzed pedagogical knowledge, specific content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge content, knowledge about training and teaching practice and knowledge of the manager role, mentor and school. As results, the data analysis shows that the mentor knowledge base resembles the professional managers’ and teacher educators’. However, teaching and mentoring practice is important so that this knowledge base is continuously remodeled and improved, thus improving the mentors’ performance and, possibly, of beginning teachers accompanied by them.Keywords: Online Mentor Education Program; Teacher identity; Knowledge base for teaching

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