Pedagogic Hermeneutic Orientations in the Teaching of Jewish Texts

In this study, twelve expert teachers of Jewish Thought in Israeli high schools were observed and interviewed, in order to examine their ideas regarding the proper way to approach and teach Jewish canonical texts. Using qualitative analysis, I identified a central component of these teachers' Pedagogic Content Knowledge and named it their Pedagogic Hermeneutic Orientation (PHO). A teacher's PHO consists of his or her knowledge and beliefs about the way texts should be interpreted in class and about the roles of the teacher and the students in this process. Five different PHOs are described in the article to demonstrate the nature of teachers' orientations. I suggest that instruction and professional development of teachers should be constructed to support teachers in developing a thoughtful PHO. Developing this kind of professional discourse can facilitate the development of common concepts and criteria even if flexible and open to discussion—regarding acceptable practices for instruction of Jewish texts in high schools.     

The PISA Tasks: Unveiling Prospective Elementary Mathematics Teachers’ Difficulties with Contextual,Conceptual, and Procedural Knowledge

The aim of this mixed methods study was to investigate the difficulties prospective elementary mathematics teachers have in solving the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2012 released items. A mathematics test consisting of 26 PISA items was administered, followed by interviews. Multiple data were utilized to provide rich insights into the types of mathematical knowledge that a particular item requires and prospective teachers’ difficulties in using these knowledge types. A sample of 52 prospective teachers worked the mathematics test, and 12 of them were interviewed afterwards. The data-sets were complementary: the quantitative data showed that PISA items could be categorized under contextual, conceptual, and procedural knowledge and indicated the most frequent difficulties in the combined contextual, conceptual, and procedural knowledge items. The qualitative data revealed that few prospective teachers could give mathematical explanations for conceptual knowledge items, and that their contextual knowledge was fragmented. Educational implications were discussed.     

Teachers’ professional development: a theoretical review

Background and purpose:?The article reviews studies that focus on the professional development of teachers after they have completed their basic teacher training. Teacher professional development is defined as teachers’ learning: how they learn to learn and how they apply their knowledge in practice to support pupils’ learning. The research question addressed in the article is: How do experienced teachers learn?

Main argument:?The review is framed by theories within the constructivist paradigm. From this perspective, knowledge is perceived as the construction of meaning and understanding within social interaction. The social surroundings are seen as decisive for how the individual learns and develops. It is argued that courses and lectures, or ‘times for telling’, and teachers’ development of a metacognitive attitude are decisive factors for teachers’ learning within a constructivist frame of reference.

Sources of evidence and method:?To attempt to answer the research question, a search was conducted of the subject of pedagogy in the ISI WEB of Science (search undertaken 9 August 2011) using the search strings ‘teacher learning’, ‘teacher development’ and ‘teacher professional development’, and covering the period from 2009 to 2011 to probe the most recent decade of research. Articles that dealt with basic education, primary and secondary school, were selected, and articles that dealt with learning using digital tools and the internet and newly trained teachers were rejected. A set of 31 articles was selected from this search. To ensure width and depth of coverage, this was supplemented by a selection of review studies and research on further education in respect of teachers’ learning. The texts were analysed by means of open and axial coding, developing main and sub-categories.

Conclusions:?The review of articles shows that both individual and organisational factors impact teachers’ learning. Teacher co-operation has importance for how they develop, and some of the teachers can lead such learning activities themselves. Moreover, a positive school culture with a good atmosphere and understanding of teachers’ learning, in addition to co-operation with external resource persons, may impact the professional development of teachers. The article concludes with the reflection that learning in school is the best arena for further development of teachers.     

Selection,Frequency, and Functions of Literary Texts in Finnish General Upper-Secondary EFL Education

Although the number of studies on literature in language education has increased in the past two decades, the subject is still in need of empirical research. This case study examines literary texts, their selection, frequency, and functions in Finnish general upper-secondary English as a Foreign Language (EFL) education. The data was collected from 21 Finnish EFL teachers using a survey, and the content was thematically analyzed. In these contexts, literary texts had a marginal role. The texts were mostly twentieth-century poetry and novels. Selections by teachers were primarily based on the texts. Often students chose texts independently. Literature was mainly used to teach language, particularly reading skills, and secondarily as content. In light of EFL teaching, the results suggest a need for a conceptual expansion of literature, the wider use of literary texts with visual components, and the use of literary texts for developing students’ intercultural competence.     

Rewriting the History of Subject English through the Lens of ‘Literary Sociability’

ABSTRACT

This essay offers readings of three significant texts within the history of subject English: The Teaching of English in England (1921), The Education of the Poetic Spirit (1949), and Growth Through English (1967). These texts each yield valuable insights into what students and their teachers can learn through their exchanges with one another within the social space of the classroom, especially the conversations that centre on the reading and writing they do together. Those insights, however, become more readily available to us if we resist accepted accounts of the history of subject English and attempt to read these texts anew. All three texts provide important intellectual resources in the struggle against neoliberal tendencies in educational thinking. The very attempt to engage in a responsive and nuanced dialogue with them over the historical divide that separates us constitutes a significant form of resistance to the instrumentalist thinking that characterises neoliberal ideology.     

An analysis of prospective teachers’ knowledge for constructing concept maps

Background: Literature contends that a teacher’s knowledge of concept map-based tasks influence how their students perceive the task and execute the creation of acceptable concept maps. Teachers who are skilled concept mappers are able to (1) understand and apply the operational terms to construct a hierarchical/non-hierarchical concept map; (2) identify the legitimacy of the constructed concept map by verifying its graphical structure and its educational utility; and (3) determine the inherent ‘good’ and ‘poor’ qualities of the resulting graphical structure to reiterate the ‘good’ qualities and to coach and provide feedback to alleviate ‘poor’ qualities.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the nature of prospective teachers’ knowledge underpinning the technique used to construct concept maps and thus, explicate their facility to construct concept maps.

Sample, Design and Methods: Data consisted of 200 concept maps constructed by prospective teachers in an elementary science methods course.

Results: Analysis revealed that the prospective teachers had predominantly constructed either hierarchical and/or non-hierarchical concept maps. It is likely that their maps reflect the teaching that they themselves would have experienced in their science classrooms during their own education. Additionally, most of these concepts maps only contained the root concept and subordinate concepts and lacked directional linking lines, linking phrases, labelled lines and propositions.

Conclusions: We argue that teacher educators need to assess their prospective teachers’ understanding of concept mapping in relation to the legitimacy (the nature and quality) of the end-products (graphical structures) of such practices. Prospective teachers also need to understand the educational utility of concept mapping in terms of how these end-products impact and/or effectuate learning.     

Post-Bullock

This paper reports on a small-scale study which examined children's knowledge of fiction and non-fiction genres on starting school and how this knowledge had changed after two terms in a reception class. It also considers how the teacher's reading of texts to the class may have influenced children's development.     

Representational Classroom Practices that Contribute to Students’ Conceptual and Representational Understanding of Chemical Bonding

Understanding bonding is fundamental to success in chemistry. A number of alternative conceptions related to chemical bonding have been reported in the literature. Research suggests that many alternative conceptions held by chemistry students result from previous teaching; if teachers are explicit in the use of representations and explain their content-specific forms and functions, this might be avoided. The development of an understanding of and ability to use multiple representations is crucial to students’ understanding of chemical bonding. This paper draws on data from a larger study involving two Year 11 chemistry classes (n = 27, n = 22). It explores the contribution of explicit instruction about multiple representations to students’ understanding and representation of chemical bonding. The instructional strategies were documented using audio-recordings and the teacher-researcher’s reflection journal. Pre-test–post-test comparisons showed an improvement in conceptual understanding and representational competence. Analysis of the students’ texts provided further evidence of the students’ ability to use multiple representations to explain macroscopic phenomena on the molecular level. The findings suggest that explicit instruction about representational form and function contributes to the enhancement of representational competence and conceptual understanding of bonding in chemistry. However, the scaffolding strategies employed by the teacher play an important role in the learning process. This research has implications for professional development enhancing teachers’ approaches to these aspects of instruction around chemical bonding.     

Using HBO’s The Wire to Foster Critical Cosmopolitanism in Preservice English Teachers

ABSTRACT

HBO’s The Wire (2002–2008) is often regarded as one of the best television shows ever aired. Through reiterative viewings and a critical content analysis of the show, Iargue that The Wire should be used as an anchor text in preservice English education courses in order to foster cosmopolitan literacies in preservice English teachers. I offer that viewing The Wire in its entirety, coupled with a bioecological adolescent development frame as well as ethical and moral considerations toward biases toward the Other could offer preservice English teachers the critical space to unpack their biases before entering the classroom. I posit that The Wire could serve to foster the educational cosmopolitanism tenets of criticality, historicity, dialogicity, and reflexivity in future English teachers.     

Prospective teachers’ teaching experience: teacher learning through the use of video

Background: Future teachers need to observe, interpret and analyse teaching during the initial teacher education period. The use of videoed teaching and learning in teacher education promotes reflection, and analysing videos of teaching is helpful in learning effective classroom practices that prospective teachers mostly do not have the chance to observe during fieldwork experiences. The analysis of videos of teaching can be seen as a way to enhance the development of prospective teachers’ professional vision, which, in turn, improves instruction. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine prospective teachers’ reflections on video examples depicting their own teaching experiences. It aimed to create a professional development environment to facilitate the prospective teachers’ reflection on their own videos and those of their peers to improve their professional vision. Sample: This study was conducted with over 200 (in 31 groups) third-year prospective mathematics teachers in a university in Western Turkey. The student teachers, receiving training to teach first- to fourth-grade elementary school pupils, were taking a teaching methods course. Design and methods: In the first week of the semester, the student teachers, working in groups, were assigned mathematics topics to teach the elementary school pupils. During the semester, each group prepared by trying out their activities in front of other student teachers in other groups. At the end of the semester, one student teacher from each group presented a short lesson related to their mathematical topic to the elementary school pupils. This lesson was videotaped, then later it was watched and discussed by the student teachers. Of the student teachers who undertook the teaching in the videos, 22 volunteers agreed to be interviewed. All groups of student teachers provided written reflections on their experience. Selected videos of the class discussions about the videos of teaching were also used for triangulation. The data were analysed to identify the issues the prospective teachers reflected upon. A content analysis technique was employed. Results: The data indicated that the prospective teachers were able to reflect on several issues related to effective teaching, connect their theoretical knowledge to their practice and consider issues related to pupil learning and difficulties. Conclusion: The findings suggested that the use of video, together with discussions between the student teachers, had the potential to create promising learning opportunities for prospective teachers.     

Rhetorical meta-language to promote the development of students’ writing skills and subject matter understanding

Background: Feedback is one of the most significant factors for students’ development of writing skills. For feedback to be successful, however, students and teachers need a common language – a meta-language – for discussing texts. Not least because in science education such a meta-language might contribute to improve writing training and feedback-giving.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to explore students’ perception of teachers’ feedback given on their texts in two genres, and to suggest how writing training and feedback-giving could become more efficient.

Sample: In this study were included 44 degree project students in biology and molecular biology, and 21 supervising teachers at a Swedish university.

Design and methods: The study concerned students’ writing about their degree projects in two genres: scientific writing and popular science writing. The data consisted of documented teacher feedback on the students’ popular science texts. It also included students’ and teachers’ answers to questionnaires about writing and feedback. All data were collected during the spring of 2012. Teachers’ feedback, actual and recalled – by students and teachers, respectively – was analysed and compared using the so-called Canons of rhetoric.

Results: While the teachers recalled the given feedback as mainly positive, most students recalled only negative feedback. According to the teachers, suggested improvements concerned firstly the content, and secondly the structure of the text. In contrast, the students mentioned language style first, followed by content.

Conclusions: The disagreement between students and teachers regarding how and what feedback was given on the students texts confirm the need of improved strategies for writing training and feedback-giving in science education. We suggest that the rhetorical meta-language might play a crucial role in overcoming the difficulties observed in this study. We also discuss how training of writing skills may contribute to students’ understanding of their subject matter.     

Analyzing prospective teachers’ images of scientists using positive,negative and stereotypical images of scientists

Background and purpose : This study details the use of a conceptual framework to analyze prospective teachers’ images of scientists to reveal their context-specific conceptions of scientists. The conceptual framework consists of context-specific conceptions related to positive, stereotypical and negative images of scientists as detailed in the literature on the images, role and work of scientists.

Sample, design and method : One hundred and ninety-six drawings of scientists, generated by prospective teachers, were analyzed using the Draw-A-Scientist-Test Checklist (DAST-C), a binary linear regression and the conceptual framework.

Results : The results of the binary linear regression analysis revealed a statistically significant difference for two DAST-C elements: ethnicity differences with regard to drawing a scientist who was Caucasian and gender differences for indications of danger. Analysis using the conceptual framework helped to categorize the same drawings into positive, stereotypical, negative and composite images of a scientist.

Conclusions : The conceptual framework revealed that drawings were focused on the physical appearance of the scientist, and to a lesser extent on the equipment, location and science-related practices that provided the context of a scientist’s role and work. Implications for teacher educators include the need to understand that there is a need to provide tools, like the conceptual framework used in this study, to help prospective teachers to confront and engage with their multidimensional perspectives of scientists in light of the current trends on perceiving and valuing scientists. In addition, teacher educators need to use the conceptual framework, which yields qualitative perspectives about drawings, together with the DAST-C, which yields quantitative measure for drawings, to help prospective teachers to gain a holistic outlook on their drawings of scientists.     

A ‘Multimodal Ecology of Text’ in Advanced Level English Language examinations? The incorporation of graphology and ‘embodied’ facsimile texts in unit test papers and their assessment since 2001

In this paper we compare the representation of texts in a sample of Advanced Level English Language examination papers set over the past decade in order to explore the changes in ‘what constitutes English and its assessment’. Prior to the year 2000, texts used in most A Level Language examination papers were usually typeset in a word processed format stripped of original font, layout, accompanying images, and colour, and devoid of the material marks of the texts' ‘history’ and materiality. From 2001, the texts for AQA B examination papers¹ have been reproduced in facsimile form to include the original graphology used. This shift in production in the materiality of embodiment has led to a corresponding shift in assessment in the codes of recognition of what constitutes English text, and what counts as English response. The sample of texts that we discuss present an ‘ecology of text’ and an ‘ecology of texts and literacy practices’ on a ‘continuum of multimodality’: from the heavily edited, word processed, linguistically circumscribed texts of the 1990s examination papers, through to the more visually‐dependent texts of 2004 with their manner of writing, typographic detail, colour, and sometimes even complete with creases and stains. Taking a multimodal approach to these texts, we discuss the implications of this change for what is being required of students analysing texts for examination assessment and more broadly for the subject ‘English’ ‐ ‘what English is’. We also consider how this shift problematizes the English work of students, teachers, examiners, and the institutions in which these agents operate.     

Reading the Multimodal Ologies: New Literacy Challenges or Old Wine in New Bottles?

In this article, the Ologies series of books are interrogated with a focus on whether they present new challenges for the reader or merely require previously acquired skills. The multimodal texts are unusual in that they combine non-fiction with fantasy while including tactile elements such as flaps, pull-outs and items to stroke. Ways of approaching multimodal texts are discussed with reference to the work of Kress, van Leeuwen and Moss. Finally, reference is made to Mackey’s research on multimodal platforms, applying her terms ‘playing the text’, the notion of ‘performance’ and ‘engaging in the rules of the game’. The conclusion leaves the question posed in the title open and suggests further research into actual readers will reveal more.     

Do Parents Foster Self‐Esteem? Testing the Prospective Impact of Parent Closeness on Adolescent Self‐Esteem

Close parent–child relationships are viewed as important for the development of global self‐esteem. Cross‐sectional research supports this hypothesis, but longitudinal studies provide inconsistent prospective effects. The current study uses data from Germany (N = 982) and the United States (N = 451) to test longitudinal relations between parent–child closeness and adolescent self‐esteem. The authors used self‐, parent‐, and observer‐reported parent–child closeness and self‐reported self‐esteem from ages 12 to 16. Results replicated concurrent correlations found in the literature, but six longitudinal models failed to show prospective relations. Thus, the longitudinal effect of parent–child closeness and self‐esteem is difficult to detect with adolescent samples. These findings suggest the need for additional theorizing about influences on adolescent self‐esteem development and longitudinal research with younger samples.     

New Forms of Partnership Between Schools and Teacher Education Institutes in The Netherlands

Teacher educators are not satisfied with their relations with the schools. In Holland, student teachers go to schools for their teaching practice and obtain the topics of their research projects from their practical experiences. Cooperating teachers are trained to supervise the student teachers during their practice periods. In this paper three attempts to improve the relationship between schools and teacher education institutes are described, analysed and the advantages given for the different partners (student teachers, teacher education, schools). The conclusion is that for the professional development of prospective teachers well organised and complete partnerships between schools and teacher education institutes are crucial.     

Storyboarding shakespeare: learners' interactions with storyboard software in the process of understanding difficult literary texts

Abstract

In the spring term of 2000, a small-scale research project was undertaken by the authors to investigate the ways in which secondary schoolaged children and their teachers might use an example of state-of-the-art educational software within their ongoing study of William Shakespeare's Macbeth, and the nature of the impact such use might have on teaching and learning. The piece of software in question was a prototype of Kar2ouche®– a storyboard tool which provides the user with the capability to create, capture, store, retrieve and interact with a range of images and texts. The development of the software and the classroom-based research into the implications for teaching and learning of advanced uses of information and communications technology in the classroom are funded by Intel. This article describes three trial lessons using Kar2ouche® and reports on two distinct ways in which this technology made a valuable contribution to pupils' learning by encouraging them to explore beneath the surface of the text of the play in order to gain a deeper understanding of plot, mood, atmosphere and character motivation. The article also addresses the notion of interactivity in educational software and the central importance of the teacher in light of these findings     

Neuromyths and Their Origin Among Teachers in Quebec

Previous studies have revealed that “neuromyths,” which are misconceptions about the brain, show a high prevalence among teachers in different countries. However, little is known about the origin of these ideas; that is to say, the sources that may influence their presence among teachers. This research aims to identify the prevalence of five frequent neuromyths among teachers in Quebec (belief in neuromyths and reported practices) and the reported sources of these beliefs (e.g., reading popular science texts). A total of 972 teachers from Quebec responded to an online questionnaire. Results show a lower prevalence than previous studies (although it remains high), and that the main sources cited by participants are related to cognitive biases and university training. To our knowledge, this study is the first to report data supporting the idea that cognitive biases are related to the prevalence of neuromyths.