Teaching as Interaction: Challenges in Transitioning Teachers’ Instruction to Small Groups

Although small group instruction is often endorsed in teaching young children, teachers are rarely given explicit instruction on how to move instruction into small groups where effective adult-child interactions can take place. This study examines how 14 early childhood educators transitioned their instruction from whole to small group teaching after participating in a year-long program of professional development. The results indicate teachers’ previous definitions of “teaching as dissemination” interfered with their ability to take on new roles, design tasks, and manage time. Implications include the need for teacher educators to focus on how teaching through interaction shifts these aspects of the teaching process.     

Teachers’ Perceptions of their Mentoring Role in Three Different Clinical Settings: Student Teaching,Early Field Experiences,and Entry Year Teaching

The purpose of this study was to determine the differences in mentoring across three different clinical settings: student teaching, early field experiences, and entry year teachers. Eighteen teachers with mentoring experience in all three clinical settings were selected and interviewed. The teachers’ expectations for teacher development, mentoring relationships, and mentoring strategies differed across all three clinical settings. In addition, their confidence, their relationship with mentees, and their mentoring strategies were influenced by two features of the clinical setting: (a) the amount of time for mentoring interactions, and (b) the expectations for the mentee. To improve mentoring, the authors recommend (a) lengthening clinical experiences, (b) providing support for creating positive relationships, and (c) providing professional development specific to each of the three clinical settings.     

From Earth to Heaven: Using ‘Newton’s Cannon’ Thought Experiment for Teaching Satellite Physics

Thought Experiments are powerful tools in both scientific thinking and in the teaching of science. In this study, the historical Thought Experiment (TE) ‘Newton’s Cannon’ was used as a tool to teach concepts relating to the motion of satellites to students at upper secondary level. The research instruments were: (a) a teaching-interview designed and implemented according to the Teaching Experiment methodology and (b) an open-ended questionnaire administered to students 2 weeks after the teaching-interview. The sample consisted of forty students divided into eleven groups. The teaching and learning processes which occurred during the teaching-interview were recorded and analyzed. The findings of the present study show that the use of the TE helped students to mentally construct a physical system which has nothing to do with their everyday experience (i.e. they had to imagine themselves as observers in a context in which the whole Earth was visible) and to draw conclusions about phenomena within this system. Specifically, students managed (1) to conclude that if an object is appropriately launched, it may be placed in an orbit around the Earth and to support this conclusion by giving necessary arguments, and (2) to realize that the same laws of physics describe, on the one hand, the motion of the Moon around the Earth (and the motion of other celestial bodies as well) and, on the other hand, the motion of ‘terrestrial’ objects (i.e. objects on the Earth, such as a tennis ball). The main difficulties students met were caused by their idea that there is no gravity in the vacuum (i.e. the area outside of the Earth’s atmosphere) and also by their everyday experience, according to which it is impossible for a projectile to move continuously parallel to the ground.     

Veterans’ Transitions to Community College: A Case Study

Veterans on college campuses are not new; however, the recent influx of veterans returning home from war-time service present challenges to the colleges they attend. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the transition process experienced by veterans leaving military service and attending community college for the first time. This study sought to understand the process veterans experience as they leave overseas deployment in support of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and negotiate the various changes such a transition entails. Using Schlossberg's (1984 Schlossberg , N. K. ( 1984 ). Counseling adults in transition: Linking practice with theory . New York , NY : Springer . [Google Scholar]) Theory of Adult Transitions as the guiding framework, three themes emerged regarding how veterans manage this transition: academic experiences, personal relationships and connections, and benefit bureaucracy. These findings could be used to help community colleges better serve this special population.     

Transitioning to learning outcomes at the coalface: An academic’s quantitative evaluation at the course level

Implementation of learning outcomes in Universities has not been seamless – their alignment with assessments requires faculty to specify learning outcomes and show transparent evaluation of this alignment. Difficulties arise transitioning from grading within a range of pre-existing assessment formats to grading common learning outcomes across those different formats. Experiencing this, we performed a quantitative evaluation of students completing an academic literacy course. We aimed to see if student achievement was determined by assessment format or by learning outcomes, and then to identify whether achievement of a learning outcome was equivalent across assessment formats. A twostep cluster analysis identified three clusters of students: high, medium, and low achievers. Strongest predictors of cluster-membership were learning outcomes assessed in the written essay, however scores for each learning outcome when assessed across assessment formats correlated poorly. Faculty should ensure consistent standards in learning outcomes achievement when assessed across different formats, or clearly separate learning outcomes.     

Learning to Teach with Two Mentors: Revisiting the “Two-Worlds Pitfall” in Student Teaching

Research on learning to teach repeatedly cites the disjuncture in teaching practices promoted across universities and K–12 schools. Much of the literature that is focused on this “two-worlds pitfall” (Feiman-Nemser & Buchmann, 1985 Feiman-Nemser, S. and Buchmann, M. 1985. Pitfalls of experience in teacher preparation. Teachers College Record, 87(1): 53–65. [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) describes the influence of cooperating teachers' more traditional teaching practices on teacher candidates' developing practice. This article, however, provides a case study of a student teacher whose commitment to social constructivist practices was reinforced by the intersection of competing views of teaching and mentoring that collided during her student teaching. We highlight the significant impact of the cooperating teacher's approach to mentoring—more so than teaching—on a student teacher's developing practice. We conclude with recommendations for supporting student and cooperating teachers to develop shared understandings of the purpose of student teaching and mentoring and to engage in educative dialogues about teaching that support the cross-institutional negotiations inherent in mentoring and learning to teach.     

Research University STEM Faculty Members’ Motivation to Engage in Teaching Professional Development: Building the Choir Through an Appeal to Extrinsic Motivation and Ego

This paper reports on a qualitative, grounded-theory-based study that explored the motivations of science and engineering faculty to engage in teaching professional development at a major research university. Faculty members were motivated to engage in teaching professional development due to extrinsic motivations, mainly a weakened professional ego, and sought to bring their teaching identities in better concordance with their researcher identities. The results pose a challenge to a body of research that has concluded that faculty must be intrinsically motivated to participate in teaching professional development. Results confirmed a pre-espoused theory of motivation, self-determination theory; a discussion of research literature consideration during grounded theory research is offered. A framework for motivating more faculty members at research universities to engage in teaching professional development is provided.     

How to Develop the Students’ Interest in English Teaching

It is the key for teachers how to develop the students’ interest because interest is the best teacher.This paper discusses how to develop the students’ interest.     

Elementary Teachers’ Teaching for Conceptual Understanding: Learning From Action Research

This study reports teachers’ learning through action research on students’ conceptual understanding. The study examined (a) the teachers’ views about science teaching and learning, (b) the teachers’ learning about their teaching practices and (c) the conditions that supported the teachers’ learning through action research. A total of 14 elementary in-service teachers’ course discussion, self-video reflection, action research reports, and learning reflection were analyzed. Findings revealed that (a) the teachers in this study commonly espoused the importance of probing and utilizing students’ preconceptions in science teaching, but they demonstrated various levels of epistemological understanding of student learning and teaching, (b) the teachers experienced the action research as a means to evaluate science teaching methods and changing their teaching practices, and (c) the teachers identified sharing goals, problems, and solutions as an essential supporting condition for their learning through action research. Implications for professional development and further research are discussed.     

Making the Move to Online Teaching: One Reluctant Professor’s Informal Self-Study

In my search for my identity as an online teacher, I did an informal self-study to determine if my online classes are equivalent to my face-toface classes. I compared student work and student evaluations from 14 courses: seven online and seven face-to-face. When I compared the quality of student work from both formats, I found it indistinguishable. When I compared the type of comments on student evaluations, they were indistinguishable as well. There seemed to be no discernible difference between me as a face-toface teacher and me as an online teacher. Based on the students’ perceptions and coursework, their learning and enjoyment of learning did not seem to be tied to whether I was in the room with them or not.     

Teachers’ interpretations of texts-image juxtapositions in textbooks: From the concrete to the abstract

The paper examined expert literature teachers’ coping with a novel textbook, integrating literature with visual arts, which is a particular interdisciplinary case of text-image relations in textbooks. Examination was performed within the framework of teachers’ responses to curricular changes and of theory regarding strategies of interdisciplinary instruction. Data regarding teachers’ coping was collected via video recorded deep interviews and analysed qualitatively using the phenomenological approach. Findings revealed four phases of a recurring pattern of performance: (a) retrieving prior knowledge about texts, (b) cycles of processing and refinement (comprising comparing-identifying-matching, making meaning of elements in contexts, eliciting themes and deeply examining artworks’ devices), (c) mindful evaluation of the juxtaposition, and (d) pedagogical reasoning. Four potential roles of the textbook visual artworks, for promoting literature learning, were inferred. The study shed some light on the involvement of teacher cognition and culture of teaching in the reading, evaluating, and adapting of novel curricula. A deeper understanding of the factors involved in the introduction of novel materials, examined from a cognitive perspective, may inform teachers’ professional development and curriculum developers as well as promote implementations of curricular reforms.     

From Jatz to God’s Boy: On the Greatness of Gatsby

As the spokesman of the Jazz Age,F.Scott Fitzgerald presents readers a panoramic view of the 1920s American life with his publications.Considered as his best-written book and the most widely read one,the success or greatness of The Great Gatsby,to a large degree,owes to the protagonist–Jay Gatsby.Through a brief literature review,this paper mainly focuses on the analysis of the greatness of Gatsby from three aspects-the consummate hero of intense will and belief,the notion of"Appearance made Real"and his endeavors in the pursuit of spiritual values.     

From performativity to professionalism: lecturers’ responses to student feedback

Student evaluation questionnaires are used to measure academics’ performance in most English universities. Academics are assumed to respond professionally to student feedback, making appropriate improvements to their teaching. This paper describes a small-scale study into lecturers’ responses to student feedback. The evidence from semi-structured interviews suggests that the process is complex and is influenced by lecturers’ perceptions, beliefs and feelings. A typology of lecturers’ responses is developed, linked to concepts of performativity and professionalism, and consisting of four possible reactions: shame, blame, tame (the students) and reframe (the negative as something positive).     

From ‘Year 9 dropout’ to doctoral candidate: An autoethnographic journey of becoming (with friends)

ABSTRACT

In this article, I am joined by two academic colleagues to explore my personal narratives and experiences as a doctoral student, and to explicate the challenges and achievements of my pathway into doctoral studies. Positioning itself within the growing field of doctoral research, the article focuses on an exploration of three vignettes which identify important points in my unfolding stories of formation in becoming a doctoral student as an older person. This autoethnographic study draws on Transformative Learning Theory and the critical discourse understandings of Gee to examine my stories of becoming from school-leaver at 15 to doctoral student over four decades later. The study has three implications. First, it is important to recognise and appreciate alternate pathways to doctoral education. Second, that there is a need to better understand the complex formation of doctoral students within an academic research community; especially in regard to those from diverse or challenging backgrounds. Finally, the significance of seeing doctoral education as identity work and work of the soul, built as much on affective experiences and reflexivity as learning to perform and write as an academic, is key.     

Transitioning to the classroom: reflections of second‐career teachers during the induction year

In recent years teacher educators have witnessed an increase in the number of alternative pathways to university‐based teacher education for prospective teachers. One option is for second‐career teachers to enter post‐baccalaureate programs in education; however, the experiences of second‐career teachers are largely unexplored in the international literature. The purpose of this study was to investigate the teaching beliefs that post‐baccalaureate students brought into a graduate level teacher certification program, and the extent to which those beliefs persevered or changed during their first year of teaching. Written philosophy statements and semi‐structured interviews from the three participants were analyzed to identify emerging themes. Outcomes, presented in the form of vignettes, suggested that second‐career teachers experienced many of the same contextual pressures as baccalaureate teachers and struggled adapting to the teaching profession and implementing their stated teaching beliefs. Implications include continued research on second‐career teachers as they represent a distinct population entering the teaching profession.     

Teachers’ Journeys: A Case of Teachers of Learners Aged Five to Six

South Africa’s esteem is low with regard to current learner achievement in mathematics. Results from international studies, such as TIMMS and SACMEQ, continuously indicate that South African learners perform below international benchmarks in mathematics. Research and evaluation studies assert that teacher practices and poor early mathematics stimulation influence this state of affairs. Hence, this article reports on a study that explored the developmental progression of Grade R teachers’ mathematics knowledge and general knowledge of teaching participating in a professional development intervention. In this article I report on data collected after a two-day workshop conducted with the teachers. The video recordings of 14 teachers’ self-selected lessons were collected and transcribed, using a lesson observation tool, and analysed by means of thematic analysis. The findings indicated that teachers’ knowledge of number sense forms a strong foundation for improving the quality instruction of number knowledge. The first step seen to be taken by these teachers to engage the learners was the question and answer approach. The lessons of those who tried to let learners engage lacked structure and resulted in chaos. Demonstration and drill were used to develop the learners’ content knowledge. The teachers’ practices were inadequate as far as developing conceptual understanding is concerned; and their classroom management skills were not sufficiently developed to include all learners in their mediation. In instances where all the learners participated, the teacher directed the participation and did not allow for learner-to-learner engagement. It is crucial to note that they showed potential for growth and willingness to learn despite the limited or minimal the training they received.     

From rejection to ‘renuwel’ to renewal: Chairperson,faculty, and the research imperative

Faculty renewal can be better understood and implemented when the resonant meanings of the term renewal are more fully appreciated. The essay integrates an etymological history of that word with several concrete programs that a Chair and Department can undertake to increase the production of quality faculty research. The shifting and multiple definitions of this term since the time of Chaucer suggest its dynamic, varied applicability today in any practical attempt to increase our colleagues' productivity. The essay also describes four archetypal examples of faculty in need of research renewal, and each example is related to the development of literary history, to various psychologies of success and failure, and to the unusual workings of a research committee.Peter Balbert received his graduate degrees from Cornell University. He is currently professor of English and chair of the English Department at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. The author of three books on D.H. Lawrence, his essays on modern and contemporary fiction and on university administration have appeared in many academic journals and anthologies.