scholarly journals The Inadequacies of Assigning “My Philosophy of Education” Statements in Teacher Education Courses

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Colin Bakker ◽  
Kate Dubensky ◽  
Lyndze Harvey ◽  
Graham P. McDonough
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Social Constructivism ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Philosophy Of Education ◽  
Teaching Profession ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
The Status ◽  
Political Realities ◽  
Education Courses

In teacher education programs, there is a prevalent belief that having teacher candidates compose personalized ‘my philosophy of education’ (MPE) statements is a valuable exercise that prepares them for the teaching profession. This paper argues that the prevailing intentions for, and common practice of, assigning these MPE statements to teacher candidates are problematic because they distort both the discipline of philosophy and the purpose of philosophy of education courses. The argument’s first section situates the practice of assigning MPE statements within the context of teacher education programs’ strong commitments to social constructivism and the reflective practitioner, and relates the problems associated with those commitments. It then reviews literature that describes the common properties and practices of assigning MPE statements. The second and third sections then develop the arguments that MPEs rely on and reinforce distortions of philosophy as a discipline and misconceptions about the purposes of philosophy of education courses in teacher education programs. Those two arguments share a theme that MPE statements reduce philosophy and philosophizing about education to declaring and clarifying an unexamined personal commitment, and hence drift toward enabling relativism. Finally, the conclusion relates how, in conjunction with those distortions, the use of MPE statements has acquired the function of certifying a teacher’s suitability to fit within the status quo. This situation, it claims, unfortunately distracts candidates and others in the teaching profession from developing their critical philosophical skills in responding to the epistemic, moral, and political realities of education and schooling.

Blending Digital Content in Teacher Education Programs

2018 ◽  
pp. 713-736
Author(s):  
Patricia Dickenson ◽  
Cynthia Sistek-Chandler
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Online Learning ◽  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Digital Content ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Current Trends ◽  
The Status

Teacher Education programs worldwide are engaging in a digital conversation around best practices for supporting and teaching teacher candidates in the creation of digital content for a 21st century blended classroom. This chapter examines the status of teacher preparation in technology and explores current trends for instructors of the NextGen educator. Further the authors share how 21 Century Skills and global competencies among pre-service teachers can be applied in an online learning environment in teacher education programs.

Blending Digital Content in Teacher Education Programs

2018 ◽  
pp. 2166-2188
Author(s):  
Patricia Dickenson ◽  
Cynthia Sistek-Chandler
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Online Learning ◽  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Digital Content ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Current Trends ◽  
The Status

Teacher Education programs worldwide are engaging in a digital conversation around best practices for supporting and teaching teacher candidates in the creation of digital content for a 21st century blended classroom. This chapter examines the status of teacher preparation in technology and explores current trends for instructors of the NextGen educator. Further the authors share how 21 Century Skills and global competencies among pre-service teachers can be applied in an online learning environment in teacher education programs.

Blending Digital Content in Teacher Education Programs

2016 ◽  
pp. 286-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Dickenson ◽  
Cynthia Sistek-Chandler
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Online Learning ◽  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Digital Content ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Current Trends ◽  
The Status

Teacher Education programs worldwide are engaging in a digital conversation around best practices for supporting and teaching teacher candidates in the creation of digital content for a 21st century blended classroom. This chapter examines the status of teacher preparation in technology and explores current trends for instructors of the NextGen educator. Further the authors share how 21 Century Skills and global competencies among pre-service teachers can be applied in an online learning environment in teacher education programs.

Key Competencies in Linguistically and Culturally Sustaining Mentoring and Instruction for Clinically-based Grow-Your-Own Teacher Education Programs

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Kibler ◽  
René Pyatt ◽  
Jason Greenberg Motamedi ◽  
Ozen Guven
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Action Learning ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Language And Literacy ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Grow Your Own ◽  
Mentoring Practices ◽  
Instructional Competencies

Grow-Your-Own (GYO) Teacher Education programs that aim to diversify and strengthen the teacher workforce must provide high-quality learning experiences that support the success and retention of Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) teacher candidates and bilingual teacher candidates. Such work requires a holistic and systematic approach to conceptualizing instruction and mentoring that is both linguistically and culturally sustaining. To guide this work in the Master of Arts in Teaching in Clinically Based Elementary program at Oregon State University’s College of Education, we conducted a review of relevant literature and frameworks related to linguistically responsive and/or sustaining teaching or mentoring practices. We developed a set of ten mentoring competencies for school-based cooperating/clinical teachers and university supervisors. They are grouped into the domains of: Facilitating Linguistically and Culturally Sustaining Instruction, Engaging with Mentees, Recognizing and Interrupting Inequitable Practices and Policies, and Advocating for Equity. We also developed a set of twelve instructional competencies for teacher candidates as well as the university instructors who teach them. The instructional competencies are grouped into the domains of: Engaging in Self-reflection and Taking Action, Learning About Students and Re-visioning Instruction, Creating Community, and Facilitating Language and Literacy Development in Context. We are currently operationalizing these competencies to develop and conduct surveys and focus groups with various GYO stakeholders for the purposes of ongoing program evaluation and improvement, as well as further refinement of these competencies.

How the Match Gets Made: Exploring Student Teacher Placements across Teacher Education Programs, Districts, and Schools

2021 ◽  
pp. e20200014
Author(s):  
Elise St. John ◽  
Dan Goldhaber ◽  
John Krieg ◽  
Roddy Theobald
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Student Teaching ◽  
Student Teacher ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Mentor Teachers ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Effective Teacher ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
K 12

Emerging research finds connections between teacher candidates’ student teaching placements and their future career paths and effectiveness. Yet relatively little is known about the factors that influence these placements and how teacher education programs (TEPs) and K-12 school systems match teacher candidates to mentor teachers. In our study of this process in Washington state, we find that TEPs and K-12 systems share overarching goals related to successful student teacher placements and developing a highly effective teacher workforce. However, distinct accountabilities and day-to-day demands also sometimes lead them to prioritize other objectives. In addition, we identified informational asymmetries, which left TEPs questioning how mentor teachers were selected, and districts and schools with limited information with which to make intentional matches between teacher candidates and mentor teachers. The findings from this study inform both practice and research in teacher education and human resources. First, they illuminate practices that appear to contribute to informational gaps and institutional disadvantages in the placement of student teachers. Additionally, they raise questions about what constitutes an effective mentor teacher and provide researchers and policymakers with better insight into the professional realities of teacher educators and K-12 educators, as well as those of district human resource (HR) coordinators, which is important given their differing accountabilities and distinctive positionings in the education of teacher candidates.

scholarly journals ADVISING FUTURE TEACHERS IN AN ERA OF EDUCATIONAL REFORM

1987 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-82
Author(s):  
Martha McMillian
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Education Reform ◽  
Educational Reform ◽  
Reform Movement ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Academic Advisors ◽  
Future Teachers ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
The Status

Academic advisors and counselors of future teachers can have a great impact on the status of education and its reform by attracting top-notch students into the field and by providing encouragement to those who select teaching as their career. Consequently, advising in teacher education programs should elicit top priority in funding and rewards. In this article, several suggestions are outlined for teacher education advisors who wish to become leaders in the education reform movement and who are concerned about dealing more effectively with students entering the profession of teaching.

scholarly journals Cultivating Agentic Teacher Identities in the Field of a Teacher Education Program

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee Anne Block ◽  
Paul Betts
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Education Program ◽  
Teacher Identity ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Teacher Education Program ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Strong Connection ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
The University

Teacher candidates’ individual and collaborative inquiry occurs within multiple and layered contexts of learning. The layered contexts support a strong connection between the practicum and the university and the emergent teaching identities. Our understanding of teacher identity is as situated and socially constructed, yet fluid and agentic. This paper explores how agentic teaching identities emerge within the layered contexts of our teacher education program as examined in five narratives of teacher candidates’ experience. These narratives involve tension, inquiry, successes and risks, as teacher candidates negotiate what is means to learn how to teach, to teach and to critically reflect on knowledge needed to teach. We conclude that navigating teacher identity is a teacher candidate capacity that could be explicitly cultivated by teacher education programs.

Teaching Diversity to Preservice Teachers: Encouraging Self-Reflection and Awareness to Develop Successful Teaching Practices

2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marla S. Sanders ◽  
Kathryn Haselden ◽  
Randi M. Moss
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Professional Education ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Culturally Diverse ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Diverse Schools

AbstractThe purpose of this article is to promote discussion of how teacher education programs can better prepare teacher candidates to teach for social justice in ethnically and culturally diverse schools. The authors suggest that teacher education programs must develop teacher candidates’ capacity to teach for social justice through preparation programs that encourage critical reflection and awareness of one’s beliefs, perceptions, and professional practice. The authors ask the following questions: How can teacher educators provide structures in professional preparation programs that will produce reflective practitioners? How might we prepare teacher candidates who are constantly thinking about how they perceive their students and their families and how those perceptions affect the way they relate to students? Through a discussion of five case scenarios, the authors discuss prior research on preparing teachers for culturally diverse schools and offer suggestions for improving professional education programs.

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