Title: A Sharp Contrast: First-Year Teachers With and Without Teacher Preparation
Six beginning teachers answered survey research questions about their first year of teaching in this study. Three of the teachers were fully certificated teachers who had completed student teaching experiences and three were college graduates without certification and with little or no teacher education preparation. Their answers about preparedness, stress, and job support indicated contrasts that match literature on teacher preparation. more »« less
Ben-Dor, Naama; Buchbinder, Orly
(, Proceedings of the 46th annual meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (PME-NA))
Kosko, K; Caniglia, J; Courtney, S; Zolfaghari, M; Morris, G
(Ed.)
Transitioning from a teacher education program to autonomous teaching is a complex process, fraught with challenges. This transition involves developing identities and teaching practices that allow novice teachers to reconcile the reformed teaching world of their teacher preparation program with the more traditional world of school teaching. In this paper, we follow the identity formation of one beginning teacher, Olive, by examining her narratives about her pedagogical actions as she transitions from being a pre-service teacher (PST) to being an intern (INT) to becoming a new teacher (NT). As PST, Olive’s narratives about her current and desired actions aligned with reform actions; as INT, a gap opened between her current traditional actions and desired reform actions; and as NT, the gap narrowed as she modified her desired narratives to more traditional ones. We discuss our findings and their scientific significance.
Ni, Lijun; McKlin, Tom; Hao, Han; Baskin, Jake; Bohrer, Jason; Tian, Yan
(, ICER 2021: Proceedings of the 17th ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research)
null
(Ed.)
Motivation: Recent efforts to expand K-12 computer science education highlight the great need for well-prepared computer science (CS) teachers. Teacher identity theory offers a particular conceptual lens for us to understand computer science teacher preparation and professional development. The emerging literature suggests that teacher identity is central to sustaining motivation, efficacy, job satisfaction, and commitment, and these attributes are crucial in determining teacher retention. While the benefits associated with a strong sense of teacher identity are great, teachers face unique challenges and tensions in developing their professional identity for teaching computer science. Objectives: This exploratory study attempts to operationalize computer science teacher identity through discussing the potential domains, proposing and testing a quantitative instrument for assessing computer science teachers’ professional identity. Method: We first discussed the potential domains of computer science teacher identity based on recent teacher identity literature and considerations on some unique challenges for computer science teachers. Then we proposed the computer science teacher identity scale, which was piloted through a national K-12 computer science teacher survey with 3,540 completed responses. The survey results were analyzed with a series of factor analyses to test the internal structure of the computer science teacher identity scale. Results: Our analyses reveal a four-factor solution for the computer science teacher identity scale, which is composed of CS teaching commitment, CS pedagogical confidence, confidence to engage students, and sense of community/belonging. There were significant differences among the teachers with different computer science teaching experiences. In general, teachers with more computer science teaching experience had higher computer science teacher identity scores on all four factors. Discussion: The four-factor model along with a large national dataset invites a deeper analysis of the data and can provide important benchmarks. Such an instrument can be used to explore developmental patterns in computer science teacher identity, and function as a pedagogical tool to provoke discussion and reflection among teachers about their professional development. This study may also contribute to understanding computer science teachers’ professional development needs and inform efforts to prepare, develop, and retain computer science teachers.
White, K; Hofkamp, K; Donovan, R
(, Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE))
Cohen, J; Solano, G
(Ed.)
From teaching with technology to teaching through technology: this is an important shift that educator preparation programs must embrace as we continue to develop teachers who can facilitate meaningful learning experiences across a variety of delivery modalities. Drawing on the data from our three-year mixed methods research, the authors describe a programmatic model for preparing teacher candidates to implement digital pedagogy while ensuring that learning opportunities are equitable, accessible, and inclusive of all learners. This paper first identifies the Essential Elements of our critical digital pedagogy model for facilitating learning in hybrid, hyflex, and online environments. Second, we describe how we have integrated these Essential elements across the three phases of our teacher preparation programs, with a particular focus on the two asynchronous online workshops we have integrated into students’ clinical experiences. Third, we identify a set of indicators used to provide feedback to preservice teachers as they demonstrate their critical digital pedagogy during their student teaching semester. We present the research findings that examine how this programmatic approach impacts teacher candidates’ knowledge, skills, and dispositions for transforming teaching and learning through technology. We conclude with a discussion of how the programmatic model and research findings may impact the broader field of teacher education.
Elementary teachers often feel underprepared to teach integrated STEM (iSTEM) and describe their preservice teacher preparation as ineffective. The purpose of this study is to investigate the extent to which semester-long STEM methods courses influenced elementary preservice teachers’ (PSTs) iSTEM teaching self-efficacy and identify how the sources of self-efficacy influenced their beliefs and confidence in teaching iSTEM. Participants included 131 PSTs at a large midwestern research-intensive public university in the United States. Quantitative data sources included the Self-Efficacy for Teaching Integrated STEM instrument administered as a pre-and post-test. The qualitative data collection included two semi-structured interviews with 10 selected participants. Findings suggest that PSTs experienced growth in iSTEM teaching self-efficacy through their STEM methods coursework. Sources that emerged as contributors toward enhanced confidence to teach iSTEM were enactive mastery, emotional arousal, vicarious experiences, and verbal persuasions. The implications for preservice teacher preparation programs and future research on iSTEM teaching self-efficacy are discussed.
Preservice teachers (PSTs) need to be able to use ambitious teaching practices to help support their students’ productive engagement in scientific practices such as analyzing and interpreting data or using evidence-based reasoning to support their claims. Approximations of practice are one way in which teacher educators can support their PSTs to develop their skills in enacting ambitious teaching practices. In this study, we report on the use of a suite of three online, simulated approximations of practice where secondary PSTs practiced facilitating discussions focused on engaging students in argumentation. Using information from both PSTs’ and teacher educators’ perspectives, we examined their main takeaways from each simulation experience, how learning from one simulation was used to prepare for the next simulation, PSTs’ perception of the simulations’ authenticity, and their views about whether they would recommend using this online suite of simulations in future teacher preparation courses. Findings suggested that teacher educators and PSTs alike noted a variety of main takeaways, including understanding the importance of planning and asking good questions. Furthermore, they recommended the suite for use in future teacher education courses. Implications of the work for productively integrating online simulations into teacher education settings are discussed.
Clement, Mary C, and Cochran, Jill A. A Sharp Contrast: First-Year Teachers With and Without Teacher Preparation. Retrieved from https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10231974. The Delta Kappa Gamma bulletin 87.1
Clement, Mary C, & Cochran, Jill A. A Sharp Contrast: First-Year Teachers With and Without Teacher Preparation. The Delta Kappa Gamma bulletin, 87 (1). Retrieved from https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10231974.
Clement, Mary C, and Cochran, Jill A.
"A Sharp Contrast: First-Year Teachers With and Without Teacher Preparation". The Delta Kappa Gamma bulletin 87 (1). Country unknown/Code not available. https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10231974.
@article{osti_10231974,
place = {Country unknown/Code not available},
title = {A Sharp Contrast: First-Year Teachers With and Without Teacher Preparation},
url = {https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10231974},
abstractNote = {Six beginning teachers answered survey research questions about their first year of teaching in this study. Three of the teachers were fully certificated teachers who had completed student teaching experiences and three were college graduates without certification and with little or no teacher education preparation. Their answers about preparedness, stress, and job support indicated contrasts that match literature on teacher preparation.},
journal = {The Delta Kappa Gamma bulletin},
volume = {87},
number = {1},
author = {Clement, Mary C and Cochran, Jill A},
editor = {Merz, J}
}
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