Investigating effects of the quality of field experiences and personality on perceived teaching skills in German pre-service teachers for secondary schools

Quality of field experiences during teacher education as well as individual characteristics of student teachers are considered important for the development of teaching skills. In the present study we investigated both organizational and individual predictors of self-rated teaching skills in student teachers for secondary schools in Germany (N = 443). As predictor variables for teaching skills after a field experience we assessed the perceived quality of the internship as well as personality traits, as control variables prior educational experiences and academic abilities. The assessed quality feature “linking theory and practice” explained more variance in the prediction of teaching skills than personality traits.     

Chinese teachers' attributions and coping strategies for student classroom misbehaviour

In this study, we investigated Chinese teachers' attributions and coping strategies for classroom misbehaviour across grade levels. A total of 244 teachers (Grades 1–12) from the Chinese mainland participated in this survey. Results indicated that Chinese teachers first attributed misbehaviour to student characteristics, such as being “lazy, not making enough effort”, and second to “bad learning habits”. Looking across grade levels, elementary teachers first blamed student learning habits while secondary teachers blamed student effort. With regard to coping strategies, inconsistencies were found across grade levels and between teachers' perceptions and actions. The majority of sampled elementary teachers tended to choose “praising good students” as the most effective and often-used strategy, while secondary teachers believed in “talking after class”. In fact, “talking after class” was viewed to be more effective as grade level increased. However, teachers reported that they did not actually use the strategy of “talking after class” very often when coping with misbehaviours.     

Knocking on the door to the teaching profession? Modeling the entry of prospective teachers into the workforce

We use a unique longitudinal sample of student teachers (“interns”) from six Washington state teacher training institutions to investigate patterns of entry into the teaching workforce. We estimate split population models that simultaneously estimate the impact of individual characteristics and student teaching experiences on the timing and probability of initial hiring as a public school teacher. Not surprisingly, we find that interns endorsed to teach in “difficult-to-staff” areas are more likely to find employment as public school teachers than interns endorsed in other areas. Younger interns, white interns, and interns who completed their student teaching in suburban schools are also more likely to find a teaching job, all else equal. Prospective teachers who do their internships at schools that have more teacher turnover are more likely to find employment, often at those schools. On the other hand, few of the characteristics of an intern's cooperating teacher are predictive of workforce entry. Finally, interns with higher credential exam scores are more likely to be hired by the school where they did their student teaching.     

Preservice teachers' conceptions of teaching using mobile devices and the quality of technology integration in lesson plans

This study explored the relationships among preservice teachers' conceptions of teaching using mobile devices and the quality of technology integration in lesson plans. A total of 47 preservice teachers in Taiwan who had experienced designing their own lesson plans and teaching materials (ie, eBooks and applications) for teaching using mobile devices (ie, smart phones and tablet PCs) participated in this study. The results showed that four qualitatively different conceptions of teaching using mobile devices were identified, namely “technology support,” “knowledge transmission,” “learning facilitation,” and “supporting students to learn.” This study also found that the teachers who had more constructivist perceptions of teaching using mobile devices, such as facilitating students' understanding in a convenient way or supporting student learning in a more active way, appeared to attain better quality technology integration in their lesson plans than those teachers with traditional conceptions.     

Teacher-Student Similarity in an Educational Skills Course

An investigation of the effects of student-teacher similarity in an educational skills course revealed that student satisfaction and performance were more influenced by teacher characteristics than by an interaction of teacher-student characteristics. No one teacher characteristic predominated as a source of influence; however, for characteristics on which teachers were divided into “average” and “low” (low being valued as more positive) groups, it was always the “average” group which emerged as the positive influence. Intercorrelations of the personality characteristics and performance measures are presented and implications for teacher selection are discussed.     

The Learning Consortium: A School‐University Partnership Program. An Introduction

ABSTRACT

Induction experiences of beginning teachers in schools that were classified as more effective or less effective on the basis of student achievement are compared. Classroom observations, interviews, and a “Beginning Teacher Questionnaire” were used to obtain information from teachers in the two groups. Three areas of socialization were examined: assistance, monitoring, and team‐building. Results indicate that historically more effective schools were more supportive of their beginning teachers. In addition, outcome data regarding teacher performance provides evidence of more effective teaching among teachers in more supportive schools, even though initial teacher effectiveness, levels of experience, and educational attainment were not different for the two groups.     

立足两个课堂 服务一个中心——货币银行学课程教学模式的探索与实践

课程设计是课程教学的关键环节,开放教育的教学环境和教学对象和普通高校有着不同特点,如何针对教学环境和教学对象各自特点,结合各课程的教学目标不断满足学生自主性学习的要求,是一个非常有研究价值的课题。货币银行学课程教学模式依据对话理论的基本原理,结合不断提高学生的个性化、自主性学习的教学目标,立足“实时”和“非实时”两个课堂,把教学资源溶解其中,结合多种媒体的教学手段,实现师生之间的有效互动,促进教学活动有效展开。     

The roles of the cooperating teacher and university supervisor in learning to teach

This paper examines “guided teaching” relationships between student teachers and their university supervisors and cooperating teachers, and the influence of these relationships on learning to teach. With few exceptions, the cooperating teachers and university supervisors in the study played limited roles in the process of learning to teach. Exceptions were a small number of cooperating teachers who believed that they could and should play and active role in student teachers' learning, conducted longer and more frequent conferences with their student teachers, and provided more extensive feedback. Based on these findings, we suggest changes in the roles of the university supervisor and cooperating teacher designed to maximize the likelihood that student teaching will be teacher education and will help student teachers explore new ways of teaching.     

The Effect of Selected Media Feedback upon the Interactive Behavior of Student Teachers

Abstract

The problem involved in this study was to ascertain whether student teachers receiving supervisory feedback with the aid of video and/or audio tape replay demonstrate a greater change in their classroom verbal interactive behavior than student teachers who receive supervisory feedback with no video or audio feedback. Evidence indicates that those receiving video feedback utilize less “direct teaching influence” and more “indirect teaching influence” as categorized by Flanders’ Verbal Interaction Analysis System, Within the audio group, the magnitude of change in the student teachers’ instructional behavior was not statistically significant. The magnitude of the directional change was greater for those students receiving video or audio recorded feedback than the magnitude of change in the control group.     

Four women's stories of “failure” as beginning teachers

This study focused on the “failure” experienced by four novice teachers. While only one actually “failed” student teaching, each perceived herself as a “failure” in the classroom, and all four chose alternate careers upon completion of the assignment. Drawing on literature identifying patterns in women's thinking and modes of learning, we examined the difficulties these women encountered, focusing on their own perceptions of those problems. We identify alternative patterns of supervision which might have allowed these capable women to do more than “survive” their initial teaching experiences, and we argue for more gender-balanced conceptions of teachers' growth and development.     

Correlates of teacher appraisals of student behaviors

The purpose of this study was to assess whether burnout and personality were linked to the perceived severity of 24 undesirable student behaviors among experienced and trainee teachers. Results indicated that teaching experience, student gender, and type of behavior were important determinants of their perceptions. Burnout had a significant effect on the severity ratings of antisocial and oppositional/defiant behaviors, suggesting that the more stressed teachers are, the less tolerant they become of such challenging and aversive behaviors. With regard to personality, severity ratings of students' undesirable behaviors were associated with high levels of conscientiousness and neuroticism. Findings indicate that burnout and personality provide a lens through which teachers appraise the severity of students' behaviors. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 42: 79–89, 2005.     

大学数学小班化教学改革实施的实证研究--以四川大学为例

通过实证研究、调查研究及比较研究法,对2011年以来四川大学大学数学课程教学班级、教师及学生人数、学生成绩等相关数据进行分析,发现教学班级数量不断增加,班级人数不断减少,但是距离30人的小班教学还有较大差距;大班、小班中学生成绩受课程及其难度的影响较大;师生对小班化教学的期望存在差异,“大班授课,小班研讨”的实施出现异化。建议正确认识适合中国国情、适合大学数学课程特点的小班化教学;加强高校教师教育,促进高校教师教学理念、教学方式方法转变;新进适量的教师,鼓励大学数学在职教师多上课,鼓励教授为本科生上课;有效推行“大班授课,小班研讨”,不断提升助教教学和管理能力。     

The Impact of a Professional Development Program on Teachers' Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching,Instruction, and Student Achievement

In this paper, we describe findings from a three-year evaluation of a well-developed mathematics professional development program that is commercially available on a wide scale. The professional development is designed to improve teachers' mathematical knowledge for teaching and to enable them to elicit more student thinking and reasoning during mathematics lessons. Specifically, it focused on helping teachers (a) learn more mathematics, (b) understand how children learn math, (c) use formative assessment to develop insight into what specific students know and do not know, and (d) develop effective classroom instructional strategies that enable student problem solving. Participants included 105 fourth- and fifth-grade teachers teaching in 19 low-income schools within a single district. Teachers were randomly assigned within schools either to a “business as usual” control group or to receive the professional development. The training consisted of a week-long summer institute and four to six in-service days during the school year. The training was run by full-time trained associates. We find some limited evidence of positive impacts on teachers' mathematical knowledge for teaching, but no effects on instructional practice or student outcomes.     

Current realities in the student teaching experience: A preliminary inquiry

The experiences of 22 student teachers completing a final 10-week teaching practice in secondary schools were obtained by ethnographic interviewing. Their developing sense of “belonging” to the teaching community in their schools was the dominant theme. Recognition by teachers as a colleague and confirmation of teacher status by pupils were major dimensions of this feeling. On the basis of the student narratives, the teaching practice acts most powerfully as an initiation into “teacherhood”, focused particularly on the classroom and the subject department. The sympathetic and supportive environment of colleagues was especially important in meeting the mentoring needs of the student teachers. It was concluded that initial professional education needs to take more account of the dominant emotional needs of students.     

中小学卓越教师的培养机制及实践探索

从教学科研能力、人格等方面分析了卓越教师的特点及传统教育培养体系相对封闭、培养模式相对单一、教师专业化程度不高等弊端。为了加快新手型和熟手型教师向卓越型教师的转变,必须将"影子教师"制度化,进行学校间的合作;将教研交流常态化,着力提升教师队伍的教研素养;利用"国培计划"项目,加快教师成长步伐等措施。     

Teachers' situation-specific mastery experiences: teacher,student group and lesson effects

Following a model on the cyclical nature of teacher (“trait”) self-efficacy and context-, task- and situation-specific (“state”) mastery experiences (TSSME), we investigated the variability and effects of lesson characteristics (e.g. lesson sequence), student group characteristics (e.g. proportion of students receiving free school meals) and teacher characteristics (e.g. teacher experience) on teachers' situation-specific mastery experience. Forty-three teachers reported on 1,055 lessons in 385 student groups using electronic questionnaires in Personal Digital Assistants during a period of 2 weeks. Two domains of TSSME (support of learning and organisation of classrooms) and perception of students (engagement and behaviour) were found. Multilevel models found roughly a quarter of the variance in TSSME between teachers, a quarter between student groups and half between lessons. Student group characteristics differentially predicted TSSME. Perceived student engagement was more predictive of TSSME than perceived student behaviour. More experienced and high-efficacy teachers had higher TSSME. The findings have implications for our understanding of teachers' everyday practice with different student groups.     

What makes a good educator? The relevance of meta programmes

This paper reports the results of a qualitative study which explores the relevance of meta programmes to students' perceptions of teaching quality. Meta programmes are a model of personality preferences from the discipline of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP). Research into teaching effectiveness indicates that students rate as important ‘hygiene factors’ such as the teacher's ‘knowledge of the subject’ as well as less tangible qualities including ‘ability to communicate’ and ‘student–teacher rapport’. This study reveals the need for similar qualities but, in some cases, presence of these ‘hygiene factors’ was insufficient; students cited other factors related to personality. Some students were found to like the approach of certain teachers whilst other students rated the same teachers less favourably. When questioned as to why, factors emerged that relate to the distinct teaching style adopted by these teachers that appeared to suit particular students and not others. This study suggests that a teacher's meta programmes influence the approaches adopted in their teaching and these styles suit students with matching meta programme preferences. Where students have different meta programme preferences from the teacher, then, even where the ‘hygiene factors’ are met, this leaves the student dissatisfied. There is potential for teachers to adopt teaching approaches more appropriate for the meta programme profiles of their students. Also, on the part of the students, an increased awareness of their meta programme preferences offers the potential to improve their learning experience.     

Investigating the “black box” of effective teaching: the relationship between teachers’ perception and student achievement in a large urban district

Given the international need to improve student learning, there is nothing more important than classroom teachers. Obtaining a deeper understanding of effective classrooms is a priority if educational reform efforts are to succeed in any educational system around the world. In the last decade, educational researchers have expanded the knowledge base about the impact of teachers, but far less is known about what effective teachers do that make such a positive difference. This investigation focuses on the relationship between attributes of effective teaching, as perceived by both more and less effective teachers, and fourth grade reading achievement results of their students. This investigation used value-added modeling methods as the first step for identifying the more and less effective fourth grade teachers (N?=?261) and their students (N?=?6,962). Survey research methods were used to compare the perceptions about characteristics of effective teaching for teachers previously identified—in the value-added model—as (a) more effective and (b) less effective. Findings indicated that the more effective teachers value classroom management and organization as the number one characteristic of effective teaching; that, in turn, enables the more effective teachers to focus classroom time on student learning. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

Turkish grade 10 students' and science teachers' conceptions of nature of science: A national study

This study aimed to assess grade 10 Turkish students' and science teachers' conceptions of nature of science (NOS) and whether these conceptions were related to selected variables. These variables included participants' gender, geographical region, and the socioeconomic status (SES) of their city and region; teacher disciplinary background, years of teaching experience, graduate degree, and type of teacher training program; and student household SES and parents' educational level. A stratified sampling approach was used to generate a representative national sample comprising 2,087 students and 378 science teachers. After establishing their validity in the Turkish context, participants were administered a questionnaire comprising 14 modified “Views on Science‐Technology‐Society” (VOSTS) items to assess their views of certain aspects of NOS. A total of 2,020 students (97%) and 362 teachers (96%) completed the questionnaire. Participant responses were categorized as “naïve,” “have merit,” or “informed,” and the frequency distributions for these responses were compared for various groupings of participants. The majority of participants held naïve views of a majority of the target NOS aspects. Teacher views were mostly similar to those of their students. Teacher and student views of some NOS aspects were related to some of the target variables. These included teacher graduate degree and geographical region, and student household SES, parent education, and SES of their city and geographical region. The relationship between student NOS views and enhanced economic and educational capitals of their households, as well as the SES status of their cities and geographical regions point to significant cultural (specifically Western) and intellectual underpinnings of understandings about NOS. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 1083–1112, 2008     

中小学精英主义的教学倾向及其分析

由于教学过程中的公平易被人忽视,所以中小学长期存在的精英主义教学倾向难以引起教师及社会的应有关注。中小学精英主义的教学倾向主要表现为"因材施教"的曲解、"勤能补拙"的隐喻及"圈子文化"的排斥。克服中小学精英主义的教学倾向需要教师、社会及家长通力合作,以多元视角看待学生智力,促进学生群体间平等对话,给予"非精英"更多关照,从而保证每位学生都得到更好的发展。