University Supervisors’ Creative Ability and Their Appraisal of Student Teachers’ Classroom Performance: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

Through a content analysis of university supervisors’ written reports of observations of student teachers’ classroom performance, twenty-three categories of statements made by university supervisors about student teachers and their teaching performance were identified. Scores on the Remote Associates Test and the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking were correlated with relative frequency of use of the content categories. Correlations supported the hypotheses that more creative supervisors will be aware of a greater number of factors in a student teacher’s performance, will tend to use broad general factors in assessing a student teacher’s performance rather than specific, detailed ones, and will be more sensitive to factors involving teacher-pupil relationships than will their less creative colleagues.     

Sixth-grade students’ engagement in academic tasks

Student engagement is important for teachers and researchers because it is associated with student achievement. Guided by self-determination theory, this year-long case study used observations and interviews to examine six students’ behavioral, affective, and cognitive engagement in integrated literacy and social studies tasks. Task differences were rated according to the degree to which tasks were authentic, collaborative, challenging, student directed, and sustained. Results demonstrated that, overall, students were more engaged in tasks that include a higher degree of these elements. In particular, students reported that they were engaged in tasks that included collaboration, new learning, and teacher support.     

Effects of formative feedback on intrinsic motivation: Examining ethnic differences

In this study we investigate the influence of ethnic differences on student motivation when learning from formative feedback. Interpersonal teacher behavior and student motivational needs are used to explain the effects of assessment for learning on intrinsic motivation by comparing students from different ethnic backgrounds. The final study's sample consisted of 558 students from Dutch secondary vocational education. Multi-level structural equation modeling was used to test possible models. Our findings show that modes of feedback (monitoring, scaffolding) and teacher interpersonal behavior are strongly related to predictors of student motivation. In line with self-determination theory, our findings indicated that competence and relatedness mediate the effect of feedback (both monitoring and scaffolding) on motivation. Multi-group analyses showed only small differences for ethnicity, especially in relation to mode of feedback, which led us to conclude that, irrespective of the “Immigrant Paradox”, assessment for learning may facilitate feedback provision for both immigrant and native Dutch students indiscriminately, thereby enhancing motivation to learn. Implications of these findings for learning in classrooms are discussed.     

Self-regulation of timeout duration in the modification of disruptive classroom behavior

The effects of self-determination vs. teacher-determination of timeout duration on disruptive behavior were investigated in a group of 15 students in a special classroom who had learning disabilities and/or behavior problems. There were five phases to the study: In a repeated measures design each subject received timeout for 5 minutes, no timeout, 5 minutes timeout, selfdetermined timeout duration, and student = teacher-determined timeout duration. The overall effect of timeout was to reduce significantly the rate of disruptive behavior. The effects of various timeout conditions did not differ, indicating self-management of timeout duration was just as effective as when the teacher set the timeout duration.     

CULTURAL AND ETHNIC BIAS IN TEACHER RATINGS OF BEHAVIOR: A CRITERION‐FOCUSED REVIEW

Behavior rating scales are indirect measures of emotional and social functioning used for assessment purposes. Rater bias is systematic error that may compromise the validity of behavior rating scale scores. Teacher bias in ratings of behavior has been investigated in multiple studies, but not yet assessed in a research synthesis that focuses on the role of ethnicity and culture. Teacher bias in ratings of student behavior was investigated through a comprehensive literature review that only included studies with a defensible criterion of true behavior against which to compare rating scores. A final total of 13 studies of teacher bias suggested mixed evidence for bias due to student ethnicity and strong evidence of bias due to teacher culture, particularly when positive stereotypes were violated. Limitations and future directions of research are discussed.     

Fulfilment of the basic psychological needs of student teachers during their first teaching experiences

This study focuses on an under-researched area, namely the fulfilment of basic psychological needs of student teachers during their first teaching experiences. Based on the Self-determination Theory of Ryan and Deci [(2002). Overview of self-determination theory: An organismic dialectical perspective. In E.L. Deci, R.M. Ryan (Eds.), Handbook of self-determination research (pp. 3–33). Rochester: The University of Rochester Press] and the work of Epstein [(1998a). Cognitive-experiential self-theory: A dual-process personality theory with implications for diagnosis and psychotherapy. In R.F. Bornstein, J.M. Masling (Eds.), Empirical perspectives on the psychoanalytic unconscious (pp. 99–140). Washington, DC: APA; (1998b). Constructive thinking: The key to emotional intelligence. Westport: Praeger], it could be demonstrated that need fulfilment has a strong influence on student teachers’ teaching experiences, especially in a non-rational way, for instance through feelings and images. Thwarting of the needs appears to be correlated with images showing fight, flight, and freeze tendencies, whereas need fulfilment concurs with flow tendencies. The fulfilment of the need for competence, relatedness, and autonomy in student teachers is considerably less than in experienced teachers. We discuss the consequences for research in this field, and recommendations for teacher education.     

Dr. John R. Emens: President,Ball State University 1945-1968

When your student teacher is planning instruction, you might ask him to state his objectives in behavioral terms. Such statements may make the lesson more meaningful to both the student teacher and his pupils.     

Relation of wait-time and rewards to the development of language,logic, and fate control: Part II-Rewards

In Part I it was shown that by varying the duration of pauses in two locations the length of student statements increased, the number of alternative explanations offered multiplied, and the overall probability of receiving a reply increased. It was noted, as well, that in natural situations where there was a high incidence of teacher sanctioning behavior, regardless of whether it was predominantly positively toned, the verbal performance of students engaged in inquiry appeared to be negatively influenced even when there were reasonable wait-times. That is, even in those rare naturally occurring cases where pauses were longer than the mean of one second, and in experiments where pauses and rewards were independently manipulated if sanctioning behaviors were intense, the positive influence on inquiry of the longer pauses appeared to be somewhat mitigated. It became necessary, then, to study reward patterns in the context of inquiry in order to discover whether, in general, overt verbal rewards which we found occurring with tremendous frequency in natural settings, helped or hindered the progress of student inquiry.     

A Demonstration of the Development of the Concept ‘Biotechnology’ via Pre‐ and Post‐instructional Ideas of Biology Student Teachers

To let student teachers evaluate their pre‐ and post‐instructional ideas, we confronted them with their own ideas on the subject of biotechnology before and after a course with that title. We asked them to compare their own statements before and after the course and used this information for evaluation of the course. The hierarchical concept mapping test has been used for the investigation of associations and reasonings of each student teacher upon the stimulus word ‘biotechnology’. Comments of student teachers have been registered via interviews and written statements. The use of this method as part of a teaching strategy for the improvement of the effectiveness of the course and for the illustration of learning in biology teacher education will be discussed.     

The role of the cooperating teacher in a school-based teacher education program: Benefits and concerns

A school-based teacher education program is described. The focus of this research is the cooperating teacher. Specifically, the role of advisor (cooperating teacher) and the benefits and concerns are examined. Twenty-three advisors completed a questionnaire related to the school-based teacher education program. The benefits were personal and professional development, time to work with specific pupils and plan programs, meeting new people and the pleasure of watching a student teacher develop. The concerns were time constraints and problems with poor student teaching performance.     

Using Questioning to Guide Student Thinking

This case study analyzes ways in which an experienced physics teacher uses questioning to guide student thinking during a benchmark discussion about measurement. Interactional issues involve ways of speaking: Why the teacher decided to ask what he did, when he did, of whom, in what way, and for what purpose. Conceptual issues involves ways of thinking: How students seemed to understand measurement concepts such as calculating an average value. We define a particular kind of question, a reflective toss, that the teacher uses to try to give students responsibility for thinking. A reflective toss sequence typically consists of a student statement, teacher question, and additional student statements. This unit of analysis directs attention to ways in which a teacher question influences student thinking. We analyze reflective tosses in terms of the immediate action plans they instantiated, the emergent goals they served, anal underlying beliefs they embodied during an episode that involved the public refinement of a student's ideas. We propose that teachers may shift toward more reflective discourse by asking questions that help students to make their meanings clear, to consider various points of view in a neutral manner, and to monitor the discussion and their own thinking.     

Student hand-raising as an indicator of behavioral engagement and its role in classroom learning

Hand-raising is an everyday student behavior during classroom discourse. The present study investigates hand-raising as an observable indicator of behavioral engagement and its relation to student achievement. We examine students’ hand-raising behavior during a videotaped lesson in high school classrooms (N = 266 students). Results from multilevel regression modeling linked the frequency of students’ engagement in hand-raising to academic achievement. Further, structural equation modeling was applied to investigate the interrelations between hand-raising, cognitive engagement, and teacher emotional support. Results indicate that hand-raising is associated with cognitive engagement and perceptions of teacher support and suggest that hand-raising may mediate the relation between teacher emotional support and academic achievement. The discussion highlights the utility of student hand-raising as a proxy for students’ active participation and engagement. We emphasize the study’s contribution to the engagement literature.     

Efficacy of Two Tests in Differentiae Ing Potentially Low from Average and High First Grade Achievers

Abstract

Reports of all published factor analyses of student ratings of college faculty were reviewed to determine what common factors had emerged and to identify items likely to be useful in discrimination between teachers. A 39-item form was administered to students of 18 instructors both at the beginning and end of a semester course. Twenty-four items had been included in the form used earlier by Isaacson et al. (5). The current data and those collected by Isaacson et al. were analyzed by multiple discriminant analysis and the results were compared to those obtained by factor analysis. While results of the analyses were generally similar, the differences between the results of multiple discriminant analysis and factor analysis point to differences between student stereotypes of teacher behavior and differences in actual behavior between teachers. For uses in which the primary concern is to compare one teacher with another, the dimensions derived by multiple discriminant analyses seem likely to be more useful.     

Contributors in this Issue

After going through Assertive Discipline training, a student teacher entered her new first-grade class. The mentor classroom teacher did not use Assertive Discipline, but gave permission for the student teacher to use this management system. After teaching students her rules, rewards, and negative consequences—and appropriately implementing Assertive Discipline—it was found that students responded to both the student teacher and the regular classroom teacher in the appropriate ways each expected.     

Reducing Violence in Non-controlling Ways: A Change Program Based on Self Determination Theory

This paper presents and examines the first school change program focusing on violence and caring based on self-determination theory (Deci &; Ryan, 2012 Deci, E. L., &; Ryan, R. M. (2012). Overview of self-determination theory. In The Oxford handbook of human motivation (pp. 85–107). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. [Google Scholar]). The program aimed at promoting teachers' capacity to cope with violence and enhance caring without becoming more controlling. Comparisons of the effects of a 22-month-long program in three intervention schools and three control schools indicated that the program (a) reduced violent student behavior and controlling teacher behavior and (b) enhanced caring student behavior and active teacher response to violence. The results suggest that exposure to self-determination theory (SDT) concepts may promote a firm, yet non-controlling, teacher response to violence. More generally, the results highlight the potential for incorporating SDT ideas in violence reduction programs.     

Academic performance,course completion rates,and student perception of the quality and frequency of interaction in a virtual high school

This study examined the relationship between students’ perceptions of teacher–student interaction and academic performance at an asynchronous, self-paced, statewide virtual high school. Academic performance was measured by grade awarded and course completion. There were 2269 students who responded to an 18-item survey designed to measure student perceptions on the quality and frequency of teacher–student interaction. Quality of interaction was subdivided into three constructs representing feedback, procedural, and social interaction. A confirmatory factor analysis helped to establish the fit of the statistical model for teacher–student interaction. Hierarchical logistical regression indicates that an increase in the quality and frequency of interaction resulted in an increased likelihood of course completion but had minimal influence on grade awarded. The estimated effect for quality and frequency composite items on completion was .83 and .56 respectively. Low practical significance of student–teacher interaction on grade awarded may be the result of mastery-based teaching approaches that skew grades for the completers toward the high end.     

教师创新支持行为、学生创新自我效能感和创造性思维的关系研究

以601名初中生为被试,对教师创新支持行为、学生创新自我效能感和创造性思维的关系进行研究。结果表明：（1）三者之间有显著相关;（2）控制人口统计学变量后,教师创新支持行为和学生创新自我效能感对学生创造性思维有较强的预测作用;（3）学生创新自我效能感在教师创新支持行为和学生创造性思维间起到了中介作用。     

Factors Affecting the Implementation of Argument in the Elementary Science Classroom. A Longitudinal Case Study

This longitudinal case study describes the factors that affect an experienced teacher’s attempt to shift her pedagogical practices in order to implement embedded elements of argument into her science classroom. Research data was accumulated over 2 years through video recordings of science classes. The Reformed Teacher Observation Protocol (RTOP) is an instrument designed to quantify changes in classroom environments as related to reform as defined by the National Research Council (National science education standards. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1996b) and the National Research Council (Fulfilling the promise: Biology education in the nation’s schools, Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1990) and was used to analyze videotaped science lessons. Analysis of the data shows that there was a significant shift in the areas of teacher questioning, and student voice. Several levels of subsequent analysis were completed related to teacher questioning and student voice. The data suggests a relationship between these areas and the implementation of scientific argument. Results indicate that the teacher moved from a traditional, teacher-centered, didactic teaching style to instructional practices that allowed the focus and direction of the lesson to be affected by student voice. This was accomplished by a change in teacher questioning that included a shift from factual recall to more divergent questioning patterns allowing for increased student voice. As student voice increased, students began to investigate ideas, make statements or claims and to support these claims with strong evidence. Finally, students were observed refuting claims in the form of rebuttals. This study informs professional development related to experienced teachers in that it highlights pedagogical issues involved in implementing embedded elements of argument in the elementary classroom.