Pedagogical in-Service Courses and Novice Teachers' Professional Development

Current study aims to investigate the effect of in-service training courses on novice teachers’ professional development. Moreover, the study seeks to examine the types of in-service courses that novice teachers need. The study population is 30 English high school teachers with teaching certificates in the southern district of Israel. The instrument of the study is an online questionnaire with additional open-ended questions. Study findings showed that 47% of the participants prefer courses in social interaction and educational knowledge. However, few participants showed an interest in self-esteem related courses. The researcher advises novice teachers to priorities their needs in social interaction and educational knowledge courses in order to steadily develop professionally. Moreover, further studies need to be explored in order to examine the effect of pedagogical in-service training courses on veteran teachers' professional development and compare the data between two studies.

Teachers’ Working Hours During the COVID-19 Pandemic

This study uses nationally representative data for the United States from the Basic Monthly Current Population Survey to document how teachers’ hours of work have changed in 2020 and 2021 relative to typical labor supply levels and to the hours worked by other college-educated professional workers. Controlling for demographics, teachers’ hours decreased early in the pandemic, but throughout the 2020–2021 school year teachers have been working more than usual. The increase is slightly more pronounced for veteran teachers and for females. The findings emphasize the increased demands of the teaching profession during the global pandemic.

Book Review: Manolescu, D. (2019). Tips. A Guidebook for Teaching Excellence in ESL

The Guide for Teaching Excellence in ESL provides several demonstrations of the connection between language and culture. The book outlined the history behind words, the development of languages and alphabets, and the relationship between language and culture. Dan Manolescu recognized the student needs and core competencies that teachers must demonstrate to improve learning outcomes for students learning English. The book provided references to establish sources of information to support the author's work and approach to ESL instruction. He used his knowledge and experiences to create a comprehensive work that may benefit those new and veteran teachers who support ESL students. The author's knowledge of language and teaching is very evident throughout the book. The author signals the importance of performing an environmental scan when providing instructional tips to students because excellence can be achieved and is vital to building knowledge.

How Portuguese Schools Navigated through THE Pandemic First Wave: Views from Headteachers

The transition from emergency remote teaching schemes to effective online learning ones has posed just as much similar as specific challenges to different countries and regions during school closures of the COVID-19 pandemic first wave. In Portugal, the specific challenge of a notably aged teaching workforce that admits being underprepared for pedagogically meaningful use of digital technologies in education has become more evident. Focusing on the views of seven interviewed schools’ headteachers, this paper presents and discusses the reported facilitators and barriers/constraints of their schools’ transition from emergency remote teaching to online learning, during the first pandemic wave and relates those factors with the particular issues of veteran teachers’ engagement with online learning. The paper introduces the rekindle+50 project under which the data collection and analysis took place and underlines the extreme importance of continued investment in teacher professional development and collaboration to enhance more effective use of online learning tools and platforms in times of uncertainty.

Veteran Teachers’ Understanding of “Balanced Literacy”

The term balanced literacy was popularized in the mid-1990s to describe a middle ground in terms of text selection, instruction, skills, and strategies. The intention was to merge the promising elements of whole language and phonics. Interactions with educators and literacy leaders across the country currently suggest that a term that had been seemingly well defined 20 years ago had become more vague. This descriptive study polled 25 veteran teachers to identify commonalities among their definitions and instructional applications.

“Doing diversity”: a narrative examination of veteran teachers’ renewed agency through intersectional teaching

Purpose This paper aims to examine how two White teachers, experienced and award-winning veteran educators, navigated issues of race, class and privilege in their instruction, and ways that their efforts and shortcomings shaped both teacher agency and classroom spaces. Design/methodology/approach This study’s methodology centers participants’ experiences and understandings over the course of two years of interviews, classroom observations and discussion groups. The study is conceptually informed by Sara Ahmed’s argument that social justice is often approached as something that education “can do,” which is problematic because it assumes that successful enactment is “intrinsic to the term.” Discussing and/or intending social justice replaces real change, and those leading the conversations believe that they have made meaningful differences. Instead, true shifts in thinking and action are “dependent on forms of institutional commitment […and] how it [diversity/social justice] gets taken up” (p. 241). Findings Using an in vivo coding approach – i.e. using direct quotations of participants’ words to name the new codes – the authors organized their findings into two discussions: “Damn – Every Time I’m with the Kids, I Just End Up Feeling Frozen”; and “Maybe I’m Just Not Giving These Kids a Fair Shake – Maybe I’m the Problem”. Originality/value The participants centered a participatory examination of intersectionality, rather than the previous teacher-mandated one. They “put into action” -xplorations of intersectionality that were predicated on students’ identities and experiences, thus making intersectionality a lived concept, rather than an intellectual one, and transforming students’ and their own engagement.

Unexpected Opportunities

In the spring of 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the nation's schools closed. Students and families were asked to shelter-in-place and the nation's schools were charged with the challenge of educating students through online modalities. Novice and veteran teachers alike needed to quickly assimilate to virtual teaching and online learning modalities. Students were asked to adjust from face-to-face lessons to screenshots of material from within the confines of their homes. Parents were asked to assume the roles of teacher assistant, tutor, and learning support, all while juggling other personal or work challenges. Leading and coordinating all of these efforts in towns and cities across our nation were school leaders, many of whom may have felt lacking in their own skill set related to online teaching. This research study will explore the perceptions of these leaders. Almost 50 North Carolina leaders shared their perspectives on their own experiences. Conclusions from this research will be pertinent in recommending steps and considerations for future events of this magnitude.

Teacher Induction That Works

For over 25 years, the CADRE Project has developed both new (or beginning) and veteran teachers. This induction program's success is linked to the collaboration between one university and multiple local school districts. Nearly 100% of CADRE participants have remained in education, and over half of them have moved into leadership roles. During summer 2018, the researchers distributed 675 online surveys to past participants. Responses yielded a 65% response rate. Analysis produced the following three themes: empowerment, retention, and leadership. The researchers propose a conceptual framework showing the interaction among the three themes and connect the themes to collective efficacy. The researchers close by outlining future directions for research and recommendations for other induction programs.