A High Impact Practice that Works: Connecting Mentors From the Professional Community to Teacher Education Students

A high impact mentoring program at a community college connected professionals from the special education and early intervention fields with small groups of teacher education students. Two federal grants from U.S. Department of Education funded tuition scholarships and mentoring for 76 Special Education students and 78 Early Childhood Education/Early Intervention students in associate degree programs. The mentor programs consisted of individual monitoring by project staff, consistent contact with a mentor from the professional community and with other students in mentor groups, and structured monthly dinner meetings. Students who participated in the mentoring programs showed increased persistence and higher grade point average when compared with the general population of similar majors. Within each grant-funded population, students who showed low participation in the mentor programming presented lower retention rates and lower GPA than grant-funded students who took full advantage of the mentoring program.     

Teacher Planning,Instruction and Refl ection: What We Know About Teacher Cognitive Processes

The process of teaching is complex and multidimensional. Teaching behaviors and actions are shaped by numerous cognitive decisions made by the teacher before, during, and after instruction. This article examines teacher cognition across the broad field of education and, more specifically, physical education in teacher planning, instruction, and reflection. To date, research has largely examined the areas of planning, instruction, and reflection separately and often in controlled settings. It is suggested that future researchers examining teachers. thoughts and actions employ methodologies, such as case study, that examine the three processes holistically and in the natural teaching environment, thereby linking actual behaviors with the cognitive processes that produced them.     

学习型组织:教师研修共同体的应然样态

在终身学习思潮勃兴、学习型社会构建和基础教育改革深度推进的时代境遇下,能够激发教师自主学习动力与行动的教师研修共同体成为提升教师专业发展水平的良好平台。然而教师研修共同体建设仍面临共同愿景和价值追求模糊、自我与群体效能乏力、团队学习内容泛众游离以及系统行动研究共振力缺失等现实挑战。基于学习型组织"五项修炼"的组织理念和管理策略,可以通过确立共同的发展愿景、实现团队自我与群体效能的正向性、设计精准深刻的学习模块、体验深度的学习历程等途径强化教师研修共同体建设,最终实现教师个体与教师团队的自我超越。     

What the Science Standards Say: Implications for Teacher Education

Journal of Science Teacher Education -     

幼儿园教师是什么——学前教育专业学生对幼儿园教师隐喻的理解

对112名学前教育专业学生的调查显示:他们对幼时幼儿园教师形象的理解普遍是教书匠+保姆,普遍认为当下理想的幼儿园教师形象是妈妈+孩子王+多面手。来自农村的学前教育专业学生对幼时幼儿园教师教学的印象是小学化现象严重。现在的学前教育专业学生普遍认为,富有爱心,能和孩子打成一片,具有多方面的技能是理想的幼儿园教师最重要的素养。     

So,What About the Professional Development of Teacher Educators?

The first part of this paper discusses incentives for teacher educators to engage in professional development. It proceeds by proposing practical examples of how teacher educators' professional development is initiated by the individual teacher educator and takes place outside the teacher education institution. However, systematic professional development is needed within the teacher education institution, as an integrated part of the teacher educators' work responsibilities. The many problems related to professional development are highlighted at the end of the paper. The paper addresses a neglected area in the literature on teacher education.     

教师当何为:杜威的好教师图像阐释

杜威是哲学家,亦是教育哲学家,本身也是教师,是有高度理论思维能力和表达能力的教师。杜威的教育理论是对其教育教学实践切身体悟的结晶,可以说是其个人教育哲学的表达。既有高度的教育理论素养又有教育实践智慧和教育理想追求是杜威对好教师形象的表达。从教育理论素养上讲,好教师应形成个人的教育哲学;从教育实践智慧上讲,好教师应能激发和维持学生的理智兴趣;从教育理想追求上讲,好教师应努力培养有价值的社会成员。     

The Teacher as Researcher: Developing the Skills with Pre-Service Art Specialist Students

This paper details a project which involved a group of art specialist Diploma in Education students, two lecturing staff plus a group of primary school children in a series of planned art activities for two terms. The Saturday Morning Art programme (S.M.ART) was developed to enable the students to systematically focus on art learning in these classes by using largely qualitative research processes within a case study framework. By introducing these pre-service trainee art teachers to research techniques which they can then use, we believe we are preparing them to be self-evaluative and reflective practitioners in the classroom.     

Cognitive-behavioural Approaches for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Teacher Survey

This study provided an investigation of the knowledge, implementation and perspectives of Australian teachers of students with autism spectrum disorder regarding cognitive-behavioural approaches, using an anonymous survey. The sample of 270 New South Wales teachers reported a reasonable level of knowledge and implementation of strategies commonly employed in interventions using cognitive behavioural approaches. A modest difference was found in the knowledge and implementation of surveyed strategies between teachers with and without formal qualifications in special education. Incongruent with research evidence, the respondents perceived that cognitive-behavioural approaches were suitable for students from a very young age and with cognitive levels from typical intellectual ability to moderate intellectual disability. The respondents also used the surveyed strategies for various purposes over and beyond those reported typically in the research literature. Directions for future research are suggested.     

Working on What Works: working with teachers to improve classroom behaviour and relationships

The Working on What Works (WOWW) approach, which is based upon Solution-focused Brief Therapy, was implemented in a mainstream primary classroom over a 10-week period. The focus was on improving behaviour and relationships in class. Results demonstrated an improvement in teacher ratings for targets set by the class teacher compared with baseline. Pupils also set, and rated themselves on class targets. Observation of pupils, and their class-ratings, demonstrated a positive impact for these targets. Longer term follow-up suggested that this positive impact was maintained. It is concluded that WOWW had a positive impact on behaviour and relationships within this classroom.     

Teacher Stress: What It Is,Why It's Important,How It Can be Alleviated

Teacher stress can be conceptualized as an imbalance between risk and protective factors. Stress emanates from risk factors at the personal, interpersonal, and organizational levels. When risk factors exceed protective factors, teacher ability to cope with adversity is inhibited, likely resulting in stress and pernicious consequences. In this paper we draw on empirical evidence as well as our own professional efforts at reducing stress among novice teachers to explain the phenomenon and recommend interventions.