Rewriting Field-Based Literacy Practicum Experiences

2022 ◽  
pp. 179-201
Author(s):  
Melissa Summer Wells

High-quality, field-based practicum experiences provide learning opportunities foundational to future teachers' pedagogy that coursework alone cannot replicate. However, access to these field-based placements for preservice teachers can be limited at times, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic. This chapter explores how one instructor of an intermediate literacy course, which carries a 20-hour field-based practicum requirement, rewrote a traditional field-based literacy experience to design a virtual practicum experience. Following a review of the literature, this chapter is divided into three key parts: (1) design elements of a virtual literacy practicum, (2) preservice teacher perceptions of a virtual literacy practicum, and (3) comparisons of preservice teachers' experiences in a traditional in-person literacy practicum to a virtual literacy practicum. Finally, suggestions for re-writing traditional field-based literary practicum experiences will be provided.

Author(s):  
Mary N. Gichobi ◽  
Todd Dresser ◽  
Nathan Kraftcheck

This chapter examines preservice teachers' (PSTs) perceptions on the design of both an online and face-to-face mathematics content course for elementary and middle school preservice teachers. The chapter describes the instructor's design goals, considerations, and describes PSTs' experiences in the process of completing the course. Further, the chapter describes the features of the course that provided productive learning opportunities for PSTs. Drawing from PSTs' reflection after completing an online course and face-to-face course, the chapter compares PSTs' experiences and learning outcomes from the online course compared to a traditional face-to-face course. Finally, the authors explicate the affordances and constraints encountered by both the instructor and the students as they completed the online course.


Author(s):  
Jared R. Rawlings

Authentic teaching opportunities are important for all preservice teachers, and service-learning opportunities within community music settings support preservice music teacher development. The purpose of this chapter is to document a service-learning opportunity within a community music school and showcase the benefits and challenges of a partnership between a music teacher preparation program and this school. After defining service learning and describing how it is utilized in music teacher education, the chapter uncovers the following topics: establishing a community music partnership, designing a service-learning opportunity, and evaluating the outcomes of service-learning programs. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the implications of and recommendations for utilizing a multi-tier service-learning program alongside a preservice music teacher curriculum.


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.


Mathematics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (22) ◽  
pp. 2842
Author(s):  
Ji-Eun Lee ◽  
Woong Lim

This study presents an analysis of 95 lesson play scripts—hypothetical dialogues between the teacher and a student—written by 32 preservice teachers (PSTs). Writing lesson scripts was part of the assessment design activities to elicit and respond to students’ thinking. The findings present the types and frequencies of teacher talks/moves in fraction-related tasks during a stage of lesson plays, such as launch, active elicitation, and closure. Our analysis indicates a wide range in the number of turns taken by the PSTs, while there is little correlation between the number of turns and effectiveness at eliciting and responding to student thinking. The study also confirmed that some unproductive talk moves were still present in the lesson play context, although the PSTs had plenty of time to craft a script. This study drew implications of PSTs’ prior perceptions, experiences, knowledge, and needs in mathematics teacher education regarding the ways to create learning opportunities for them to elicit and respond to student thinking.


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.


Author(s):  
Anne Scott

Asynchronous online discussions potentially maximise the learning opportunities in tertiary education. In this chapter the design, implementation and evaluation of online discussions for developing high-order thinking skills with large groups enrolled in a preservice teacher education program are discussed. The development and evaluation of a tool indicates it is possible to examine the intellectual quality of online discussions and considering these written responses in terms of awareness, regulation and evaluation provides the facilitator with useful insights about students’ thinking. A framework for auditing the activities facilitating the online discussions for potential learning opportunities is also recommended. Findings indicate that preservice teachers do engage in productive professional discourse which transform their learning when appropriate activities are used.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (21) ◽  
pp. 9050
Author(s):  
Ching Sing Chai ◽  
Yuli Rahmawati ◽  
Morris Siu-Yung Jong

This paper presents Indonesian preservice teachers’ experiences in designing a Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics-Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (STEM-TPACK) learning website. The framework of TPACK was expanded to include all STEM subjects for the synthesis of the theoretical/design framework. The STEM-TPACK framework is further epitomized as a replicable website to support preservice teachers in designing STEM lesson activities. The framework is also employed to examine preservice teachers’ efficacies and experiences in learning how to design the learning website. Thirty-seven second- and third-year Indonesian preservice teachers from science, mathematics, computer science, and engineering backgrounds formed interdisciplinary groups to design the STEM-TPACK website based on the current secondary school curricula. Data were collected from TPACK-STEM questionnaires, interviews, reflective journals, and observation. The preservice teachers’ efficacy for their STEM-TPACK developed significantly, with large effect sizes, after they co-designed the websites. The results also indicate that the preservice teachers faced challenges in communicating their discipline-based content knowledge when developing the STEM projects. Contextualizing and connecting their content knowledge with real-world design challenges was also difficult for them. Consequently, the preservice teachers realized that teaching is a complex matter, especially when they need to integrate the different disciplines for STEM education. However, this was viewed in a positive light for professional development. This study implies that preservice teachers may benefit from learning by design, employing the TPACK framework in the social setting of interdisciplinary STEM communities.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document