Evidence that Teacher Interactions with Pedagogical Contexts Facilitate Chemistry-Content Learning in K-8 Professional Development

In many innovative science content professional development (PD) courses for teachers, science concepts are situated within pedagogical contexts, or in other words, science content is incorporated within contexts relevant to teaching and student learning. Pedagogical contexts are often used because they are believed to be engaging for teachers and to support content transfer to the classroom. However, few studies have investigated how pedagogical contexts serve to impact teacher engagement and science content learning. This qualitative case study examined K-8 in-service teachers?? interactions with pedagogical contexts in a chemistry PD course. Findings indicate that teachers??: (1) contribution of teaching experiences helped create a collegial learning environment, (2) sharing of concerns from classroom teaching directed content discussion and learning objectives, and (3) reflection on teacher and learner roles in the PD classroom led to persistence in chemistry-content learning. Implications for PD instructor use of pedagogical contexts in science content based PD are discussed.     

Effective Practices for Mentoring Beginning Middle School Teachers: Mentor's Perspectives

In order to improve student achievement, school systems must provide new teachers with support to become effective teachers more quickly. Educators frequently use mentoring to support new teachers and reach the goals of improved classroom performance as well as teacher retention. The intention in this study was to provide insights into the mentoring of beginning teachers working in the middle grades. In this exploratory case study, three elements of a mentoring model deemed necessary for the implementation of effective mentoring for middle school teachers are presented. First, the mentor must forge a trusting relationship with the new teacher. Second, the mentor must support and guide the new teacher in creating a classroom environment that is supportive of learning. Third, the mentor must be able to support and guide the new teacher in instructional strategies appropriate to the content and context of the classroom. Furthermore, this research highlighted a need for mentors to receive ongoing training in classroom management, instructional practices, and relationship building in order to remain effective mentors. Without effective trained mentors programs will fail to meet their goals of improving instruction and retaining teachers past their induction year.     

Envisioning collaboration: including ESOL students and teachers in the mainstream classroom

The inclusion of language learners and the imperative to meet the needs of English language learners in the mainstream classroom call upon teachers of English for speakers of other languages (ESOL teachers) and mainstream teachers to work together; however, little research has been done in US contexts to understand collaborative efforts between ESOL and mainstream teachers. Research thus far has focused on the inclusion of English language learners (ELLs), but this paper argues that we need to look more closely at the inclusion of teachers of ELLs, by examining how three ESOL teachers and three of their mainstream counterparts envision their work as collaborative. We found that when pairs envisioned their work as collaborative, they created a synergy that constructed a broader network of resources for ELLs by bringing together more people, materials, ideas and abilities than either teacher was able to generate alone. This network allowed both teachers in the pair to become part of a larger conversation, and connected both teachers to others who were working to foster the academic success of ELLs.     

Integrating Differentiation in English Education Methods Courses: Learning from the Perceptions and Experiences of Teacher Candidates

The practice of inclusion as a response to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act means that English teachers teach students who demonstrate a wide range of abilities in the same classroom. This qualitative study explored the developing attitudes toward differentiation of English education teacher candidates participating in a methods course cotaught by an English education professor and a special education professor. Findings revealed that their pedagogical beliefs were influenced by having knowledge of individual students, proactively engaging with professional concepts, and attending to students' affective needs in academic contexts. The teacher candidates in this study were able to discuss differentiation, but they struggled to implement it in practice; therefore, we argue that instruction on differentiation must be explicitly integrated into English methods courses. Using cognitive flexibility theory, we suggest ways teacher educators can help future teachers develop advanced knowledge of differentiation to meet the needs of their future students.     

Book Reviews

The paper argues for a redrawing of the relationship between research, teaching and teacher education. One obstacle is the view, still held by many teachers, that research has little relevance for everyday practice. At the same time the teacher‐researcher movement is flourishing. If the movement is to be more than an energetic but divisive challenge to the tradition of university‐based research, then the notion of ‘research’ as conducted by practising teachers and its possible contribution to the common store of educational knowledge needs to be examined and clarified. Teacher research ‐or the less challenging but possibly more realistic habit of reflection‐on‐action through classroom enquiry ‐ is an important means of sustaining professional curiosity and focusing professional dialogue. Attitudes and habits supportive of research need to be encouraged in courses of initial teacher education which are all too often dominated by concerns of short‐term survival rather than long‐term professionalism.     

Walking Our Talk: The Imperative of Teacher Educator Modeling

If teacher educators are to be effective, they must be sure that their own professional house is in order. To that end, effective teacher educators must be absolutely clear about their professional mission. In addition, they must also have the appropriate background and training to be effective in their mission. Further, they must bridge the chasm between theory and practice as they prepare teacher candidates by keeping current in K–12 contemporary classroom practice. Finally, they must model what it means to be an accomplished classroom teacher for their pre-service teachers including the professional option of earning National Board certification. Only when teacher educators meet these four demanding criteria can we feel with reasonable certainty that they are living up to their job.     

Using iPads as a learning tool in cross-curricular collaborative initial teacher education

Mobile technologies are becoming more and more prevalent in learning environments. This means that teacher education must keep pace with the use of mobile technologies. Baran (2014) argues that the ‘greatest added value of mobile learning vis-a-vis PC learning lies in the aspects that extend classroom interaction to other locations via communication networks’. (p. 18) This article outlines a pilot study developed to support collaborative working between the English and science pre-service teachers, in which mobile technologies were used to extend students interactions outside the classroom, using iPads in authentic, fieldwork situations.     

Student teachers’ beliefs about the teacher’s role in inclusive education

The main aim of this research is to examine the basic features of student teachers’ professional beliefs about the teacher’s role in relation to teaching mainstream pupils and pupils with developmental disabilities. The starting assumption of this analysis is that teacher professional development is largely dependent upon teachers’ beliefs about various facets of their professional work. These concepts strongly influence the way that teachers teach and the way that they develop as teachers. The participants in the research are 314 student teachers at the Faculty of Teacher Education of the University of Zagreb who are being prepared to teach in lower grades of primary school. The beliefs were explored using a metaphor technique derived from cognitive theory of metaphor. The differences between beliefs about the perceived teacher role in general, and the perceived teacher role in the education of pupils with developmental disabilities were analysed. The results indicate that the dominant belief about the teacher’s role in teaching mainstream pupils is of the teacher as a transmitter of knowledge, while the findings regarding the dominant belief about the teacher’s role in teaching pupils with developmental difficulties appeared to be self-cantered orientation. No differences were found between student teachers at different study levels. The findings are discussed in the light of the curriculum of initial teacher education.     

Teaching the Teachers: Dismantling Racism and Teaching for Social Change

As a response to the attacks on ethnic studies in Arizona and the move to ban certain books, this essay presents theoretical and pedagogical reflections from two professors and addresses the ways teacher preparation programs can offer a resistance. Based on the authors’ experience in teacher preparation programs, one in the humanities and the other in mathematics, they discuss fundamental concepts that undergird social change methodology from Gloria Anzaldúa (la facultad and conocimiento) and from Isabel Gunning’s work (World Traveling). Ultimately, our premise is that teachers of teachers can impact the curricula in significant ways that result in dismantling racism and in teaching that is focused on positive social change. We posit that the university classroom where future teachers are trained must address (1) Equity issues, (2) Cultural identity or cultural framing, and (3) Culturally relevant strategies and teaching, modeled by the university professor.     

西北少数民族地区农村学校教师专业发展现状与培训需求调查研究——以甘肃省临夏回族自治州H县三个学区为例

研究以问卷调查法、访谈法以及课堂观察法为基本研究方法,对甘肃省临夏回族自治州H县3个学区8所学校教师专业发展现状与培训需求进行了相关的调查。调查发现,边远学校师资民族成分多元,学历水平不高,学校办学满意度一般,课堂教学中新课改理念尚未落实,教师专业能力亟待提高,课堂教学质量与效率有待提高,学生学习水平整体不理想。就培训而言,教师参加高层次培训少,培训内容与形式多元,培训效果一般。因此,西北少数民族地区农村学校要积极推进"优质学校"发展计划,加强聚焦课堂的校本教研的质量与效率,以教育信息化促建高效课堂,加大教师培训力度,加强学生学习方式的转变。     

课堂教学文化重建困境探析

通过对一所小学问题式教学实践的现实考察发现,尽管教师接受了许多新课程培训,但教师内心对传统教学观念的高度认同和坚守使得问题式教学实践缺乏实效性,同时也表明课堂教学文化的重建之路困难重重。课堂教学文化的重建关键在于教师教学观念的重塑,然而要改变教师的教学观念,并不能仅靠对教师的知识培训和技能训练来实现,必须确立一种整体观,改变教师生存于其中的学校场景和生活场景,为教师观念的转变提供外部支持。     

Enhancing Teacher Performance: The Role of Professional Autonomy

Current teacher accountability initiatives such as those included in the “No Child Left Behind” legislation in the United States create particular difficulties that impact deleteriously on the performance of professional educators. The quality of public education is undermined when teachers are held accountable to an external authority rather than to themselves, their colleagues, and their professional associations. In this article, and in response to this concern, we argue that for teachers to strengthen their classroom performance, policy renewal is required on two separate fronts: first, we must restructure teachers’ working conditions to support autonomous professional activity related to education; and second, teachers, both individually and collectively, must accept the concomitant responsibility to pursue personal professional development to improve their pedagogical work.     

Teacher misbehaviour: an analysis of disciplinary orders by the General Teaching Council for England

This article presents findings from a documentary analysis of 300 disciplinary orders against teachers from the General Teaching Council (GTC) for England. While the extant literature concerning teacher misbehaviour focuses primarily on pedagogical practice, this article draws on the wider organisational misbehaviour paradigm and views teachers as professional employees rather than just classroom practitioners. As such, teachers are embedded within the complexity of organisational systems, procedures and interrelationships as well as being regulated by professional standards. The analysis found that teachers were disciplined for misbehaviours both internal to the employing school and also activities, primarily criminal, that were external to their employment. The article argues that the professional regulation of teaching, being accountable inside and outside of work and the emotional labour of teaching should define teacher misbehaviour as separate from generic organisational misbehaviour frameworks. Furthermore, it argues that, while the GTC viewed teacher misbehaviour as a product of the individual, organisational contexts are also important antecedents of activities that are considered deviant.     

‘I do not think I actually do it well’: a discourse analysis of Australian senior secondary teachers’ self-efficacy and attitudes towards implementation of differentiated instruction

Differentiated instruction is a proactive teaching model and philosophy with demonstrated potential to cater for diverse learners and create inclusive classrooms. There is little research, however, into the implementation of this approach in the senior secondary classroom. Teachers’ implementation of differentiated instruction has been shown to be linked to teacher attitudes and self-efficacy in other settings. This study investigated the impact of teachers’ self-efficacy and attitudes towards the implementation of differentiated instruction in the senior secondary context across two Australian states with a total of five participating teachers. The A (Affective) B (Behaviour) C (Cognitive) model was employed to define teacher attitudes from interviews concerning differentiated instruction. Findings indicated that teacher knowledge was a major factor influencing differentiation, in addition to attitude and self-efficacy. The discourse analysis demonstrated that teachers held a greater knowledge of differentiation strategies than the concepts that underpin the differentiated instruction framework. Additionally, time constraints and feelings of failure in implementing differentiation strategies impacted teacher attitudes. Teacher knowledge, attitude and self-efficacy were interrelated and impacted on teachers’ implementation of differentiated instruction in the senior secondary classroom. Implications for professional development to address student needs through differentiated instruction in the inclusive senior secondary classroom teacher are discussed.     

The mainstream primary classroom as a language-learning environment for children with severe and persistent language impairment – implications of recent language intervention research

Many UK children with severe and persistent language impairment (SLI) attend local mainstream schools. Although this should provide an excellent language-learning environment, opportunities may be limited by difficulties in sustaining time-consuming, child-specific learning activities; restricted co-professional working, and the complex classroom environment.
Two language intervention studies in mainstream Scottish primary schools showed children with SLI receiving intervention from speech and language therapists (SLTs) or their assistants made more progress in expressive language than similar children receiving intervention from education staff. Potential reasons for this difference are sought in the amount of tailored language-learning activity undertaken; how actively school staff initiated contact with SLTs; and the language demands of the classroom. Tailored language learning appears to be a differentiating factor.
A language support model, reflecting views of teachers and SLTs about encouraging language development for children with SLI within the ecology of the mainstream primary classroom, is also outlined.     

安徽省中小学教师教育在基础教育发展中的历史贡献

通过对安徽省中小学教师教育历史发展演变的研究,探讨教师教育在基础教育发展中的历史贡献。可以看出,教师教育自新中国成立以来(尤其改革开放后),培养了大批新教师和在职教师。中小学教师队伍建设与基础教育发展紧密结合、互相促进。其贡献主要表现在促进中小学教师专业成长、引领学生全面发展、提升课堂教学水平和持续改善基础教育质量等方面。     

BENEFITS OF INTERGENERATIONAL STAFFING IN PRESCHOOLS

This article reports on a national study of older adults working in childcare as volunteers or aides. Observations, interviews, and a rating scale were used to identify the unique contributions of older adults who have not been formally trained as early childhood educators. Findings showed that the nurturing presence of the older adults brought a familial dimension to these settings that complemented what younger, trained teachers provide in the classroom. Although their behaviors are not always consistent with professional standards for early childhood educators, they make a significant and unique contribution that enriches all participants. The authors make recommendations for training and support to include older adults effectively in preschool classrooms as part of an intergenerational caregiving team.     

观念与策略：基于传播学视角的互动式课堂教学构建

＂课堂沉默症＂的普遍存在,一方面可以归因为学生的惰性,更为重要地是由于课堂教学传播中＂教师独白＂的大量存在。构建充满活力与魅力的互动式课堂教学,首先需要教师更新师生观、课堂观、教学价值观及教学效果观等课堂教学传播观念;其次要求创新课堂教学传播策略,即精选教学材料、组合教学方法、创设教学情境、巧用＂峰谷技巧＂、拓宽交流渠道和注重教学反馈等。只有这样才能达到预期的课堂教学效果。     

绩效评价：教师专业发展的引领和激励

探讨并分析了教师绩效结构的五个维度,即师德、学科素养、课堂教学、学生学习和班主任工作。提出教师绩效评价必然将教师的专业发展与学生的全面发展相联系;必须基于教育教学改善、专业思考和协商参与,增进教师对教育教学的理解并改善实践;必须促使教师从个体竞争走向团体竞争。     

少数民族教师专业成长的文化困境与出路——兼论民族文化课程资源开发的意义

当前课程改革给少数民族教师专业成长带来了双重困境,使他们面对传统课程理念与新课程理念、学习主流文化与传承民族文化的双重矛盾。少数民族教师在专业成长过程中,需要把本民族文化与其他民族文化通过某种合理的方式融合起来。而民族文化课程资源的开发利用可以帮助教师实现多种课程文化的整合,从而实现教师专业成长和促进民族教育事业的双赢。