How teachers can use the professional evaluation standards

Conclusion Teachers need formal and working knowledge of educational evaluation for their work in traditional schools as well as in schools in the future. In the form of principles, the professional evaluation standards provide educational evaluation knowledge that teachers can use to acquire the working knowledge they want and can use. Professional development programs can help teachers grasp the substance and intent of educational evaluation principles, but the principles alone cannot empower teachers or build a system of profound knowledge shared within the organization and used to move it toward its goals. An investment in teachers through professional-development programs is important if teachers are to conduct evaluations and use evaluation results together as a routine part of doing business. An investment in teachers through professional-development programs must attend to the social and technical aspects of a change effort. The learning about evaluation and their principles must be organizationally valued and the learning nurtured and sustained.     

Home-based school teachers in Afghanistan: Teaching for tarbia and student well-being

Teachers in community-based or home-based schools in Afghanistan play a critical role in extending access to education to children who are unable to access the government schools, especially girls. These teachers—men and women—are nominated by the community to teach, without necessarily having teaching experience or even completing their own education. Whilst they may feel under-confident about their teaching skills and need ongoing professional development and support, these teachers nonetheless have a strong sense of their roles in the community, especially with respect to guiding children in their faith and promoting children's ‘tarbia’ (moral and ethical character) and well-being. This paper draws on qualitative data collected though the Healing Classrooms Initiative of the International Rescue Committee (IRC). Using interview and questionnaire responses it presents home-based school teachers’ experiences and beliefs about education and the role of the teacher, and discusses how these constitute alternative qualifications in the context of early reconstruction in Afghanistan.     

The books teachers use

Children's Literature in Education -     

Explicating the influences that explain intention to use technology among English teachers in China

Given the paradox between pervasive promotion of technology use in English teaching and lack of studies about teachers’ technology acceptance in China, this study aims to examine intentions of English teachers in China to use technology in their classroom teaching. Based on the technology acceptance model, eight variables including perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEU), attitude toward use, behavioral intention (BI), computer self-efficacy (CSE), technology complexity (TC), facilitating conditions (FC), and constructivist teaching beliefs (CTBs) were incorporated to examine relationships among these variables. Data were collected from 183 English teachers at 5 Chinese universities via a self-report questionnaire and analyzed using a structural equation model. Results indicated that the proposed model has a good fit. Three variables – PU, FC, and CTBs were found to be significant predictors of attitude toward use, while PEU and TC were not. Additionally, PU, CSE, and CTBs are significant antecedents for teachers’ BIs to use technology. This study contributed to the understanding of technology acceptance theories by contextualizing the current study to Chinese educational context. It also provided valuable references for technology-related policy-making and teachers’ professional development.     

How biology teachers can respond to Intelligent Design

Teachers of biology and related subjects are increasingly meeting objections from students and their parents to the teaching of evolution and the exclusion of what is called the theory of Intelligent Design. This paper attempts to draw together arguments and evidence which may be used by such teachers. Four lessons are drawn from the 1982 judgement against Creation Science in Arkansas for those opposing attempts to introduce the theory of Intelligent Design into school science programs: that a wide definition of science is the most useful; that religion is not the enemy; that science teachers should trust their own expertise; and that alternative theories should not be excluded.     

过年忙 忙过年

小寒大寒,立春过年。日子过得就是这么快,转眼间又要过年了。按理说,“年”是一个节日,是一个可以休息和娱乐的假期,其实不然。有人曾经问我过年是什么感觉,我说就是一个字：忙!年味是忙出来的,大家都在忙着过年,越忙年味就越浓。     

Knowledge management support for teachers

Business organizations worldwide are implementing techniques and technologies to better manage their knowledge. Their objective is to improve the quality of the contributions people make to their organizations by helping them to make sense of the context within which the organization exists; to take responsibility, cooperate, and share what they know and learn; and to effectively challenge, negotiate, and learn from others. We consider how the concepts, tools, and techniques of organizational knowledge management can be applied to the professional practices and development of teachers. We describe a framework for knowledge management support for teachers where the sharing of concrete knowledge scaffolds the attainment of more abstract levels of knowledge sharing. We describe the development of a knowledge management support system emphasizing long-term participatory design relationships between technologists and teachers, regional cooperation among teachers in adjacent school divisions, the integration of communication and practice, synchronous and asynchronous interactions, and multiple metaphors for organizing knowledge resources and activities. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation, REC-0106552.     

Attitude of students in exemplary programs toward their science teachers

Student attitudes concerning their science teachers at third, seventh, and eleventh grade are compared. Samples of students were drawn from those enrolled in NSTA's exemplary programs and other students drawn from classrooms of a random selection of teachers who are also NSTA members. Some of the affective items from the Third Assessment of Science, National Assessment of Educational Progress, were used for the study. Results indicate significantly more positive attitudes of students from the exemplary programs in the following ways:

• (1) pleasure with student questions;
• (2) desire for students to explore their own ideas;
• (3) “liking” of science (at the elementary school level);
• (4) ability and “knowledge” of it to make science study exciting.

     

浅谈新教师如何提高课堂教学技能

课堂教学技能在教师教学技能中占重要地位。本文从课前准备、教学语言、问题讲解三方面分析新教师如何提高课堂教学技能,希望对新教师的教学实践有一定的帮助。     

在开放教育中教师如何有效地推进成人素质教育

开放教育的培养目标决定了在开放教育教学过程中必须重视实施素质教育。实施素质教育关键在于教师,因此教师在开放教育中应积极地推进成人素质教育,做到在面授课堂和网上课堂的教学中渗透素质教育、在形成性考核作业的设计上融入素质教育和在期末考试中体现素质教育。     

语文教师如何走进新课程

基础教育新课程改革实验正在紧张而有序地进行着。随着实验的推进 ,各校将分期分批使用新教材。最早使用新教材的教师是 2 0 0 1年 ,而最晚使用新教材的教师将到2 0 0 8年。在这一轮基础教育课程改革中 ,每一位教师都将面临如何走进新课程的问题。语文教师应如何走进新课程呢 ?一、了解新课程教师成长的一般规律 ,尽早从“旁观者”成为“参与者”新课程教师的成长 ,都要经历从“无知”到“知” ,由“不会”到“会”的过程。在未接触新课程之前 ,对新课程可能一无所知 ,这很正常。通过读书、培训、实践 ,对新课程的了解越来越多 ,把握越来越…     

How teachers can improve their classroom interaction with students: New findings from teachers themselves

Teachers are the most important agents in shaping education for students and to bring change and innovation in educational practices. There is a lack of knowledge about how teachers learn and transfer their knowledge into practice in the classrooms. Teacher educators have repeatedly argued that classroom management is a critical pedagogical skill that teachers must master in order to maximize classroom interaction. This study aims to contribute to the understanding of how lower secondary school teachers learn and improve classroom interaction in the context of an educational intervention. Three aspects of classroom interaction are addressed: emotional support, classroom organization and instructional support. The sample contained 81 teachers from 14 Norwegian lower secondary schools reporting, through digital logs, on learning experiences with respect to classroom interaction. Moreover, they reported on the types of learning activities they undertook. Findings indicated that teachers’ improvement in classroom interaction was, to a large extent, dependent on their own, or their colleagues’ strong knowledge of classroom interaction. The results of the study add to our understanding of teachers’ knowledge and skills within classroom interaction and how teachers can improve their knowledge, e.g., through reflection on situations in the classroom. Still, the authors suggest a stronger emphasis on the integration of research based knowledge and teacher learning strategies to support teachers to reach their full teaching potential.     

Computer literacy of Turkish preservice teachers in different teacher training programs

This paper reports on an investigation into the sophomore and senior preservice teachers’ computer literacy in different teacher training programs and to determine relationship between grades and the teacher training programs in terms of their computer literacy. The study used case study research methodology, and the sample consisted of 276 preservice teachers. The ‘Computer Literacy Scale’ comprising 24 likert-type questions was employed. The inferential statistical tests were used to analyze obtained data for comparing groups on the scores collected in multiple subtests. The results suggest that there was no difference between sophomore and senior preservice teachers’ computer literacy. For computer literacy, the order of rank is basic skills, application software skills, computer awareness and programming skills, respectively. Undergraduate programs only have developed basic skills of preservice students and have not had the impact on other skills or sophisticated computer literacy. The MANOVA inferential statistics findings proved these results. It is suggested that content of the computer literacy skills and computer course(s) should be improved and re-designed by including computer literacy skills.