Learning to teach mathematics and to analyze teaching effectiveness: evidence from a video- and practice-based approach

Although emerging consensus exists that practice-based approaches to teacher preparation assist in closing the distance between university coursework and fieldwork experiences and in assuring that future teachers learn to implement innovative research-based instructional strategies, little empirical research has investigated teacher learning from this approach. This study examines the impact of a video- and practice-based course on prospective teachers’ mathematics classroom practices and analysis of their own teaching. Two groups of elementary prospective teachers participated in the study—one attended the course and one did not. Findings reveal that the course assisted participants in making student thinking visible and in pursuing it further during instruction and in conducting evidence-based analyses of their own teaching. Conclusions discuss the importance of teaching these skills systematically during teacher preparation.     

Computer-Mediated Communication Environments in Teacher Education: Computer Conferencing and the Supervision of Student Teachers

The use of computer conferencing environments with student teachers and their supervisors was implemented during teaching practice and evaluated for four teacher education programs. Computer conferencing can be contrasted with the more common supervision methods, such as face-to-face conferences between the student teacher and the cooperating teacher, or between a group of student teachers and their supervisor at the teacher education institute. In our evaluation, we focused on participants' opinions of computer conferencing and their participation, activities and educational outcomes. During their field experiences, student teachers used computer conferencing primarily to exchange emotional support when they recognised similar experiences among their peers. It was less used for reflecting on their teaching and exchanging pedagogical content knowledge, including instructional methods and designs, classroom management strategies, general and instructional theories, and aspects of the teaching profession. This finding led to the conclusion that more attention should be paid to the structure of student teachers' learning environment, because more coaching and instruction of student teachers in their systematic and reflective use of computer conferencing leads to more varied and extensive communication     

A Study of Effective First-Grade Literacy Instruction

Literacy instruction in first-grade classrooms in five U.S. locales was observed. Based on academic engagement and classroom literacy performances, the most-effective-for-locale and least-effective-for-locale teachers were selected. The teaching of the most-effective-for-locale teachers was then analyzed, including in relation to the teaching of the least-effective-for-locale teachers. The classrooms headed by most-effective-for-locale teachers were characterized by excellent classroom management based on positive reinforcement and cooperation; balanced teaching of skills, literature, and writing; scaffolding and matching of task demands to student competence; encouragement of student self-regulation; and strong cross-curricular connections. In general, these outcomes did not support any theory that emphasizes just one particular component (e.g., skills instruction, whole language emphasis) as the key to effective Grade 1 literacy; rather, excellent Grade 1 instruction involves multiple instructional components articulated with one another.     

高校教师翻转课堂教学模式的需求性分析

翻转课堂通过颠倒传统课堂的方式让学生参与学习,在信息化的环境中,课堂教学被转移到课堂之外,学生可在线自由地安排学习时间,并进行学习交流和合作.为使翻转课堂能有效的实施,老师必须具备一系列的技术技能、理论知识和教学方法、策略的指导,通过此研究,一个基于网络环境下的教学模式为有兴趣实施翻转课堂的老师提供了信息,结果表明此种教学模式对于绝大多数的参与教师来说是愿意接受和使用的,并能在实际运用过程中提升其知识水平和自信度,于此同时在线学习社区的建立,对初用教师的教学指导,以及广泛地分享实际教学经验也是推动其发展的重要支撑因素.     

‘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.     

Harnessing the power of fantastic attempts: Kindergarten teacher perspectives on student mistakes

Now, more than ever, American students at all grade levels face intense pressure to increase academic performance—including kindergarteners. Given that prior research has well established that mistakes and corrective feedback are key elements of the learning endeavor, it is critical to closely examine teachers’ mistake-related experiences within the current educational context. The author reports on an interview study of 25 public school kindergarten teachers, who articulate in their own words how they perceive and respond to student mistakes in practice. Five central themes drawn from thematic analysis reflect commonly reported ways that teachers strive to respond to mistakes in their real-world classrooms: differentiating responses to the learner, building a positive classroom culture, facilitating student self-correction, adjusting instruction, and considering outside factors. The author concludes with a discussion connecting these themes to existing research and considering implications for research, policy, and classroom teaching.     

混合式学习在信息技术课程中的应用

伴随现代教育技术的发展,信息技术课程内容不断更新,教师在进行信息技术课程信息化教学时,应当采用混合式学习理念设计信息技术教学方案。这样不仅有利于学生系统地学习结构化的良构知识,还有利于学习非结构化的劣构知识,激发学生自主建构知识的能动性,培养其高阶思维能力。同时,它还能促进师生情感交流,使教师较易把握课堂教学节奏,及时掌握学生学习反馈信息。     

A Survey of the Instructional Practices of Grade 5 Teachers Nominated as Effective in Promoting Literacy

Grade 5 teachers, who were nominated by their supervisors as effective in educating their students to be readers and writers, responded to questionnaires about their practice. The teachers claimed commitments to (a) extensive reading at the heart of their reading instruction; (b) diverse instructional activities (e.g., whole-group instruction, small-group instruction, cooperative grouping, individual reading); (c) teaching of both word-level and higher order (e.g., comprehension, critical thinking) skills and processes; (d) development of student background knowledge; (e) student writing, including teaching of mechanics and higher order composition skills (e.g., planning, drafting, revising as a process); (f) extensive evaluation of literacy competencies using diverse assessments; (g) integration of literacy and content-area instruction; and (h) commitment to practices that promote student motivation for reading and writing. Excellent literacy instruction is a balanced articulation of many components, including whole language experiences and skills instruction.     

From Public Education to Educational Publics

Students tend to comprehend little and lose focus of classroom instruction when their teachers fail to use instructional strategies that match students’ learning styles. Differentiated instruction can alleviate or eliminate this disengagement. This article describes a case involving a child having difficulty learning and shows how differentiated instruction was used to help this student learn. The author describes the theories on which differentiated instruction is based and provides practical strategies teachers can use to implement this method of teaching.     

Enhancing teachers’ counselling skills: student teachers’ views on a teachers’ education programme

The purpose of this small‐scale study is to investigate the outcomes of a brief teacher education programme by exploring student teachers’ views. The teacher education programme aimed to provide teachers with the opportunity to develop qualities and skills that facilitate communication and to enhance teachers’ competence to apply social and emotional (SEL) programmes’ intervention activities in the classroom. According to student teachers’ estimations, the teacher education programme provided them with new knowledge and experiences in communication and counselling, which they felt they could use in teaching practice. Besides, teachers reported that the programme enabled them to develop their self‐awareness and to adopt a non‐directive attitude during the implementation of SEL programme’s activities.     

State-mandated accountability as a constraint on teaching and learning science

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of state-mandated policy, emphasizing control through performance-based instruction and student test scores as the basis for determining school accreditation, on the teaching and learning of science. The intended consequence of instigating the rational theory of management by one state is to improve their current level of student literacy. However, some contend that the implementation of the policy has results that are not intended. The identification of the tension between the intended and unintended results of centralized policy making is the basis for examining a specific case in which the rational model is implemented. One hundred and sixty-five seventh-grade science students and four teachers are participants in the study. Qualitative analysis is the research methodology used as a means to provide detailed information about the contextual nature of the classroom processes. The intention is to identify and describe features of the behavior setting that influence the behavior of the teachers and their students. Three assertions generated during the field work were: Teachers redefine the goals of science instruction as the acquisition of facts and isolated skills, teachers alter their usual instructional behavior to implement uniform instructional procedures, and the teacher/student classroom interaction constrains students' opportunities to learn science. The implications of the study indicate that the state-mandated policy has results that are in opposition to the intended results. Instead of improving the practices of teachers, the implementation of the policy constrains and routinizes the teachers' behavior, causing them to violate their own standards of good teaching. They feel pressured to “get through” the materials so students will score well on tests. The classroom interaction is structured in such a way as to inhibit students from asking questions of their own. As a result, students' opportunity to express curiosity and inquiry—central processes in scientific thinking—are constrained. These unintended consequences of the implemented state policy, instead of improving science teaching and learning, continue to reduce science instruction to the literal comprehension of isolated facts and skills.     

“It isn’t necessarily sunshine and daisies every time”: coplanning opportunities and challenges when student teaching

As a model for learning to teach, coteaching places two or more student teachers and cooperating teachers in a classroom. Effective coteaching requires coplanning, and this case study examines how six coteachers planned instruction for three environmental science classes. Using sociocultural theory, the study provides insight into the complexity and challenges in coplanning such as using collective knowledge to produce lesson plans, identification of teaching resources, the importance of communication between coteachers during planning and the enactment of lessons, and teachers’ time as a limited resource. Coplanning provided learning experiences for student and cooperating teachers through reflective discussions that proposed ideal forms of practice and the alignment of teaching to achieve that goal.     

Discipline orientations of pre‐service teachers before and after student teaching

This study examined the classroom discipline orientations of pre‐service elementary teachers both before and after the student teaching experience. Prior to beginning and immediately after completing their full‐time student teaching experience, pre‐service teachers (N = 220) from three southeastern universities in the USA completed a discipline belief instrument which identified their preferred model of classroom discipline. The results showed that the student teaching experience significantly increased beginning teachers’ preferences toward a more assertive discipline model (Rules and Consequences) and decreased their preferences toward the humanistic discipline model (Relationship–Listening). These results demonstrate that the student teaching experience may be creating a dissonance in prior knowledge and beliefs, and experiences of pre‐service teachers in classrooms. The results of the study suggest that teacher education programs can help pre‐service teachers transition more smoothly into classroom teaching by providing a school–university partnership as well as more lessons and advice on handling specific classroom management situations.     

The Effects of Instructional Training on University Teaching Assistants

This study addressed the need for empirical tests of the global instructional design (ID) model as a toolkit for classroom teachers in authentic settings; and the performance improvement challenge of finding effective, efficient methods of professional development for preparing graduate assistants to teach. Participants were eighteen teaching assistants (TAs) with primary instructional responsibilities at a large Midwestern university. Twelve were given a training intervention in instructional design, while the other six served as a control group. The intervention was based on the iterative, five‐phase ADDIE model, and principles from educational psychology. Dependent measures were TAs' ID knowledge, teaching self‐efficacy, satisfaction with knowledge and strategies, perceived teaching competence, teaching performance and teaching effectiveness, and their students' engagement and perceived learning. All of the study's seven hypothesized relationships were found statistically significant. The intervention, though brief, measurably increased the ID knowledge of participating TAs, along with their teaching‐related self‐perceptions, and student outcomes. Instructional design emerges as a potentially powerful training tool for organizing teachers' and trainers' knowledge related to the complex practice of classroom instruction.     

Promoting cognitive and social aspects of inquiry through classroom discourse

We investigated how Chinese physics teachers structured classroom discourse to support the cognitive and social aspects of inquiry-based science learning. Regarding the cognitive aspect, we examined to what extent the cognitive processes underlying the scientific skills and the disciplinary reasoning behind the content knowledge were taught. Regarding the social aspect, we examined how classroom discourse supported student learning in terms of students' opportunities to talk and interaction patterns. Our participants were 17 physics teachers who were actively engaged in teacher education programs in universities and professional development programs in local school districts. We analyzed one lesson video from each participating teacher. The results suggest both promises and challenges. Regarding the cognitive aspect of inquiry, the teachers in general recognized the importance of teaching the cognitive processes and disciplinary reasoning. However, they were less likely to address common intuitive ideas about science concepts and principles. Regarding the social aspect of inquiry, the teachers frequently interacted with students in class. However, it appeared that facilitating conversations among students and prompting students to talk about their own ideas are challenging. We discuss the implications of these findings for teacher education programs and professional development programs in China.     

Using an Attribution Support Tool to Enhance the Teacher Efficacy of Student Science Teachers

To increase the teacher efficacy of student teachers, they need positive classroom experiences: mastery experiences. These mastery experiences have to be created by the student teachers themselves. Therefore, student teachers need a tool to better understand problematic teaching experiences and help them create positive classroom experiences. Nine student biology teachers used this attribution support tool when reflecting on multiple lessons taught in classes they considered difficult. They scored their lessons and filled in a teacher efficacy questionnaire after each lesson. The results show that teacher efficacy increased and the number of failures during the lessons decreased; on average, the self-awarded marks per teacher per lesson increased, indicating an increase in mastery experiences. Therefore, the attribution tool seems to be a promising tool for student teachers to enhance their teacher efficacy and to support reflection on problematic teaching experiences.     

Effects of a Pre‐service Teacher Preparation Programme on Effective Instruction

A quasi‐experimental, treatment‐control group investigation was designed to test the effects of a pre‐service training course on effective instruction. Research findings from teacher effects research and cognitive strategy instruction were translated into two direct instructional models: one model for explicit or well‐structured skills and one model for implicit skills or higher‐level thinking strategies. Following a course on effective instruction from their teacher educators, student teachers implemented standardised lessons to apply selected research‐derived teaching behaviours and to increase pupil engagement rates. Based on trained observers’ pre‐and post‐training classroom observations, a significant treatment effect was found for student teachers’ teaching behaviours regarding effective instruction and for pupil engagement rates. Ratings from supervising teachers also showed that the student teachers who participated in the course on effective instruction used the recommended instructional skills after completion of the course significantly better than prior to the course.     

Effects of formal teacher education upon student teachers' cognitions regarding teaching

This study considered the issue of the effectiveness of formal teacher education upon student teachers' conceptual repertoires concerning teaching. Two main constructs were employed —dimensions of teaching and types of knowledge drawn upon in making decisions about teaching. The effects of practice teaching, curriculum and instruction patterns, and stage in program upon dimensions of teaching and types of knowledge are reported. It was concluded that formal teacher education experiences did have significant effects upon the cognitive development of the student teachers involved.     

Implementation and effects of explicit reading comprehension instruction in fifth-grade classrooms

In this intervention study, teachers tried to implement four instructional principles derived from the literature on research-based, explicit reading comprehension instruction in their fifth-grade classrooms. The principles focused on relevant background knowledge, reading comprehension strategies, reading-group organization, and reading motivation. Results indicated that during a five-month intervention period, students in the intervention group increased their strategic competence and comprehension performance relative to controls. However, no effect was found on reading motivation. The overall pattern of results is explained in relation to the implementation quality of the four instructional principles, with implementation data indicating that the principles of reading-group organization and reading motivation were particularly difficult for the teachers to translate into classroom practice.     

Investigating effective teaching methods for a place-based teacher preparation in a rural community

In this article, I argue for the need to improve teacher preparation (TP) courses for elementary education student teachers to teach English-language arts (ELA). In particular, these TP programs need to support student teachers in delivering culturally responsive pedagogy within rural classrooms. Twenty-three student teachers participated in this research, which was aimed at investigating effective teaching pedagogy both within a place-based TP course and within teaching experiences within a rural border county. The student teachers took a course in literacy methods for 16 weeks, taught ELA in elementary schools using specific methods, and participated in videotaped collaborative reflections. Data collection for the study involved the student teachers’ responses to reflective questions, field notes, and evaluative essays. The findings suggested that providing student teachers with project-based, cooperative, inquiry-based activities, as well as opportunities for collaborative reflection during their university classes provided a learning context for the student teachers that connected ELA instruction to the economic situations of the rural communities. In addition, the findings indicated that the activities prepared the student teachers to develop the skills to relate instruction to people, culture, and social practices of rural the communities, value pupils’ local knowledge and community resources, and learn from diverse perspectives and experiences of their peers.