scholarly journals A Study of Classroom Inquiry and Reflection Among Preservice Teachers Candidates

2016 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 575-595 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheryll Duquette ◽  
Leah Dabrowski
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Student Learning ◽  
Differentiated Instruction ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teacher Educator ◽  
Elementary Classrooms ◽  
Classroom Observations ◽  
Instructional Coaches ◽  
Classroom Inquiry

The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of four preservice teachers who used classroom inquiry and reflection to solve problems when implementing differentiated instruction in elementary classrooms during a practicum. Data from classroom observations, individual reflections, and discussions with a teacher educator were analyzed inductively. The findings show that the preservice teachers were able to describe their situations and reflect individually and collaboratively to analyze and resolve problems related to instruction, discipline, and student learning. The results extend our understanding of how teacher educators, mentors, or instructional coaches may provide preservice teachers with individualized support that can facilitate inquiry and reflection during their practica.

Critical Thinking, Critical Doing

2021 ◽  
pp. 1136-1156
Author(s):  
Nicholas E. Husbye ◽  
Julie Rust ◽  
Beth A. Buchholz ◽  
Christy Wessel Powell ◽  
Sarah Vander Zanden
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teacher Educator ◽  
Core Competency ◽  
Teaching Process ◽  
Peer Reviews ◽  
Worked Example ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Instructional Routines

This chapter outlines five instructional routines utilized by teacher educators to support the development of not only critical thinking but critical doing for future educators. The five routines—collaborative facilitation, behind-the-glass peer reviews, lesson play, virtual peer coaching, and rehearsals—are both described and expanded in a worked example using data from undergraduate coursework for pre-service teachers in literacy education. Individual routines foreground and background particular elements of the teaching process; however, all maintain an emphasis on critical thinking and doing as a core competency. Importantly, these instructional routines were found to be most effective when (1) preservice teachers are given opportunities to engage in multiple iterations of each routine and (2) preservice teacher doing is surrounded by substantial amounts of teacher educator feedback.

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.

Learning formative assessment in the field

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 197-216
Author(s):  
Su Gao ◽  
Katrina Liu ◽  
Marilyn McKinney
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Formative Assessment ◽  
Student Learning ◽  
Teaching Practices ◽  
Essential Element ◽  
Elementary Classrooms ◽  
Mentor Teachers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Reflective Conversations ◽  
Reflective Conversation

Purpose It is suggested that mentor teachers engage in reflective conversations with preservice teachers to develop formative assessment as a teaching skill. However, there is minimal evidence documenting this process. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the process and impact of reflective conversation on preservice teachers’ learning about implementing formative assessment in the classroom. Design/methodology/approach This study draws on two dyads of mentor and preservice teachers to examine the role of conversation in helping preservice teachers learn to use formative assessment in elementary classrooms in the USA. A comparative case study method is used to analyze and synthesize the similarities, differences and patterns across both cases. Findings Qualitative data indicate that reflective conversations enable preservice teachers to reflect on their teaching practices and learn how to conduct formative assessment. However, a lack of critical reflection in the conversations results in generic solutions that do not focus on specific aspects of student learning. Practical implications This study suggests that mentor teachers using reflective conversation to guide preservice teacher’s critical analysis of their prior assumptions and teaching practices while referencing actual student learning is an essential element in learning to use formative assessment in the classroom. Originality/value This study contributes to the line of research that explores conversation between mentor and preservice teachers and provides an empirical analysis of conversations focused on learning to use formative assessment in elementary classrooms.

Critical Thinking, Critical Doing

2019 ◽  
pp. 319-340
Author(s):  
Nicholas E. Husbye ◽  
Julie Rust ◽  
Beth A. Buchholz ◽  
Christy Wessel Powell ◽  
Sarah Vander Zanden
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teacher Educator ◽  
Core Competency ◽  
Teaching Process ◽  
Peer Reviews ◽  
Worked Example ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Instructional Routines

This chapter outlines five instructional routines utilized by teacher educators to support the development of not only critical thinking but critical doing for future educators. The five routines—collaborative facilitation, behind-the-glass peer reviews, lesson play, virtual peer coaching, and rehearsals—are both described and expanded in a worked example using data from undergraduate coursework for pre-service teachers in literacy education. Individual routines foreground and background particular elements of the teaching process; however, all maintain an emphasis on critical thinking and doing as a core competency. Importantly, these instructional routines were found to be most effective when (1) preservice teachers are given opportunities to engage in multiple iterations of each routine and (2) preservice teacher doing is surrounded by substantial amounts of teacher educator feedback.

Did it count?: Preservice teachers’ reflections on teaching with primary sources

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 280-294
Author(s):  
Deborah Lynn Morowski ◽  
Theresa M. McCormick
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Student Learning ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Field Experiences ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
Elementary Classroom ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact

Purpose During field experiences, preservice teachers often are asked plan and teach a lesson and then to reflect on their teaching. The purpose of this paper is to examine the guided reflections of 66 preservice teachers after they planned and implemented a primary source-based lesson in an elementary classroom. The project occurred during the preservice teachers’ enrollment in a social studies methods course. Design/methodology/approach This qualitative study utilized a fieldwork approach as the methodological framework. This approach provided data that allowed the researchers to develop a deeper understanding of the preservice teachers’ experiences. Data were analyzed using Bogdan and Biklen’s (1998) content unit of analysis. Descriptive and interpretive coding schemes were used to analyze data using a priori categories of successes and challenges. Findings The preservice teachers were able to engage in technical and practical reflection, considering strategies used in the classroom and their effects on student learning, but they were unable to reflect at the critical level, thinking about moral and ethical decisions. The themes and subthemes that many of the preservice teachers identified as successes, others identified as challenges. Originality/value This study highlights the importance of preservice teachers engaging with primary sources, as well as with frequent, meaningful, and ongoing field experiences. Teacher educators need to provide multiple opportunities for teacher candidates to reflect broadly and deeply on their teaching practice and student learning. Additional research needs to be conducted to assess the impact of preservice teachers use of primary sources in the elementary classroom.

scholarly journals “Do it all but don’t kill us”: (Re)positioning teacher educators and preservice teachers amidst edTPA and the teacher strike in West Virginia

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 151
Author(s):  
Melissa Sherfinski ◽  
Sharon Hayes ◽  
Jing Zhang ◽  
Mariam Jalalifard
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
West Virginia ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teacher Educator ◽  
Phenomenological Analysis ◽  
Teacher Pay ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Accountability Policy ◽  
Analysis Of Narratives ◽  
Roll Out

We explore how two “happenings” representing different political, social, historical and economic influences converge to shape the narratives of preservice teachers and teacher educators in West Virginia. These happenings are the 2017-2018 edTPA roll out and the teacher strike of February 2018. We use the framework of sensemaking to explore preservice teacher and teacher educator identity/agency using a phenomenological analysis of narratives accessed through narrative portfolios, artifacts, and interviews with pre-service teachers, mentors (supervising teachers), and teacher educators. We found that the confluence of these political moments reinforced a neoliberal orientation for both preservice teachers and teacher educators, positioning preservice teachers to expect teacher educators to intensively support the edTPA and ensure their success while silencing the collective history and moral imperative of protest. Preservice teachers and some mentors reframed the edTPA as a pathway to increased teacher pay/meritocracy by linking it with the National Boards, yet there were pockets of resistance within this among both preservice teachers and teacher educators. These findings are important for informing educational policy and practice around both corporate involvement in assessment/accountability policy and preservice teachers’ and teacher educators’ roles in protest at this moment when both are expanding simultaneously.

Teacher Educator Technology Integration Preparation Practices Around TPACK in the United States

2020 ◽  
pp. 002248712094984
Author(s):  
Rick Voithofer ◽  
Michael J. Nelson
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Student Learning ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teacher Educator ◽  
The United States ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Qualitative Survey ◽  
Complex Integration ◽  
Survey Responses

Given the strong influence of teachers educators’ pedagogical modeling on new teachers’ capacity to use technology to support student learning, this study sought to answer two interrelated questions: (a) How are teacher educators and teacher education programs currently working to prepare teachers to integrate technology? and (b) How are teacher educators implementing the TPACK (complex integration of technological [T], pedagogical [P], and content [C] knowledge [K]) model? The evidence to answer these questions was derived from an analysis of quantitative and qualitative survey responses from 843 teacher educators from approximately half ( n = 541) of the accredited teacher education programs in the country. The results showed that teacher educators are increasingly integrating technology across the curriculum, that there is a fairly low level of TPACK adoption, and that conceptions of TPACK vary greatly. The study helps to better understand these teacher educator practices in relationship to the literature on preparing teachers to use technology to support student learning.

Investigating How Rehearsals and Teacher Educator Feedback Influences Preservice Teacher Development

2018 ◽  
pp. 613-634
Author(s):  
Rajeev K. Virmani
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Teacher Development ◽  
Student Teaching ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Teacher Educator ◽  
Methods Course ◽  
Class Discussion ◽  
Whole Class Discussion ◽  
Whole Class

This chapter examines how three secondary mathematics preservice teachers and two teacher educators rehearse and enact the core teaching practice of leading a whole-class discussion in a math methods course and in student teaching placements. Findings indicate that there was substantial variation in the three preservice teachers' opportunities to practice key aspects of leading a whole-class discussion, the type of feedback they received from the teacher educators, and the authenticity of the rehearsal. The opportunity to approximate practice and receive feedback played a significant role in the generative nature of the preservice teachers' enactments of a whole-class discussion in their student teaching placements.

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.

Pushing the Boundaries from the Inside

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Colleen Conway ◽  
Shannan Hibbard
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Music Teacher ◽  
Adaptive Expertise ◽  
Music Teacher Education ◽  
Classroom Relationships ◽  
School Based

This chapter situates the study of music teacher education within the larger body of music education and teacher education research. It problematizes the terms teacher training, teacher education, and best practice and introduces the concept of teaching as an “impossible profession.” Goals of teacher education, including reflective practice and adaptive expertise, are discussed. The chapter outlines the challenges that music teacher educators face as they try to prepare preservice teachers for the realities of P-12 school-based music education while instilling in these new colleagues a disposition toward change. It concludes with narratives that examine teachers’ descriptions of classroom relationships throughout the lens of presence in teaching as a way to remind teacher educators of the importance of their work to push the boundaries of music teacher education in order to serve the profession at large.

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