Training Teachers in Mixed‐age Classrooms: effects of a staff development programme

A quasi‐experimental, treatment‐control group investigation was designed to test the effects of the staff development programme Dealing with Mixed‐age Classes. Research findings from mixed‐age glasses, effective teaching and classroom management and organisation were translated into teacher behaviours. Following seven three‐hour workshops teachers in mixed‐aged classes implemented self‐designed plans to increase selected research‐derived teaching behaviours and pupils’ time‐on‐task. Based on pre‐ and post‐training classroom observations, a significant treatment effect was found for pupils’ time‐on‐task levels in mixed‐age classrooms and for teacher behaviours regarding effective instruction, lesson design and execution, classroom organisation and management.     

Teacher interpersonal competence for Dutch secondary multicultural classrooms

In the Netherlands, as in many European countries, classrooms display a growing cultural diversity. There are only very limited empirically supported data on the interpersonal competence teachers need in Dutch classrooms and studies from other countries cannot be generalized because of differences in the composition of the student population. This paper reports on an exploratory study in two schools on teachers' experiences in multicultural classes followed by an in‐depth case study of one expert teacher. We use this study to answer the question to what degree this teacher displays interpersonal competence (teaching behaviours, knowledge and attitudes) specific for teaching in multicultural classrooms by comparing this teacher's competence with generic interpersonal teaching competence. The teacher studied seems to be aware of special needs of students from different cultures and to use this knowledge to apply specific teaching strategies and interpersonal cues to create a positive classroom atmosphere and to cater for needs of diverse students. Further, the results indicate that many elements of this teacher's interpersonal competence in teaching a multicultural class can be considered aspects of generic teaching competence. It seems that the multicultural classroom puts heavier demands on this competence than a less diverse classroom.     

Teachers’ views on effective classroom management: a mixed-methods investigation in Western Australian high schools

Teachers’ views about teaching, learning and school experiences are important considerations in education. As the central participants in classroom interactions, students and teachers naturally have strong views about what it takes to manage learning and surrounding behaviours effectively. With this in mind and because we believe that ignoring the thinking of either of these stakeholders would be to the detriment of teaching and teacher education, we focused on hearing and understanding teachers’ voices about teaching, learning and classroom management. Our aim was to further clarify teachers’ perspectives on how educators create quality learning environments as well as gathering their views of various disciplinary interventions, their perceptions of challenging students and their sense of efficacy for classroom management in order to inform both policy and practice in teacher education. A survey was conducted with 50 secondary school teachers to capture their views on their classroom experiences. Follow up interviews with teachers identified by students as effective in their classroom management provided consistent reports that effective classroom managers build positive relationships with their students, manage their classrooms by establishing clear boundaries and high expectations, and engage students in their learning.

     

The Relationship Between Teacher Behaviours and Student Talk in Promoting Quality Learning in Science Classrooms

This paper distils 24 years of classroom research into promoting quality learning in science classrooms to develop an overall framework for better understanding and describing both the learning and the teaching approaches that stimulate and support it. For me, quality learning is characterised by adjectives such as informed, purposeful, reflective, intellectually active, metacognitive and independent. Central to quality learning is the role of talk, and central to promoting talk which promotes quality learning are certain teacher behaviours. I first focus on the ways that teachers behave in the classroom in order to promote, react to and use student talk. These behaviours are summed up in a list of twelve principles for quality teaching. Each of these principles requires, as well as appropriate teacher behaviours, the use of effective teaching procedures. I then focus on four kinds of student talk that exemplify informed, purposeful, reflective and intellectually active thinking. These variously involve students’ existing ideas and explanations; increasing student ownership of practical activities; constructive challenges to the teacher (or text’s) idea, and lateral, reflective ‘thinking’ questions.     

Virtually in the Middle: Alternative Avenues for Parental Involvement in Middle-Level Schools

The incidence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is increasing in the United States. The rate of diagnosis, combined with the trend towards more inclusive classrooms, means that general education teachers will most likely be teaching some students with ASD. In their teacher preparation course in special education, pre-service teachers learned about characteristics of students with ASD by reading literature with positive portrayals of individuals with ASD. In conjunction, pre-service teachers received instruction on teaching strategies to use in the classroom for students with ASD. By combining good literature with instruction in inclusive teaching practices, teacher educators can model the use of disability literature in the classroom to the benefit of all students.     

Inclusive practices at the teacher and class level: the experts’ view

One concern for teachers and schools is how to implement inclusion. This paper examines its implementation at the teacher and class level in Styria, (a state in Austria). To do so, a qualitative study with expert interviews was conducted. Twenty-five experts from seven schools and four Centres for Inclusion and Special Education were interviewed. This paper highlights four areas: (1) teachers’ attitudes; (2) co-teaching; (3) individualised instruction; and (4) classroom composition. The results showed that for the inclusion process to be successful, positive attitudes towards inclusion of children with special educational needs are critical. Furthermore, negative attitudes towards inclusion can change if resources and support systems are available. Like every change process, high reliability is necessary to promote inclusion. The special education teacher was seen as an important resource, thus meaningful cooperation between the general and special education teacher was considered as a first step in implementing inclusive education. The use of differentiated teaching methods, along with individual initiatives, were other indispensable practices. According to the experts, these differentiated teaching instructions are implemented better in heterogeneous classrooms, meaning that a classroom composition that corresponds to the normal heterogeneity of the student population is seen as an essential part of teaching.     

Moving Fiercely Linear Preservice Teachers into the Joys of Integrating Art in the Classroom: An Artist Residency in a University Early Childhood and Special Education Program

How can artist residencies for preservice teachers plant seeds for future classrooms? Teacher educators and a teaching artist describe a two-tiered residency in an early childhood and special education program that transformed preservice teachers' attitudes toward visual art and arts integration. Findings are based on teaching artist and instructor reflections as well as a qualitative analysis of student journal entries. Preservice teachers who had no prior art training and were resistant toward abstract painting began to enjoy it and appreciate the value of art for children's learning. They came to recognize visual art as a tool to support social development and children with special needs, understood the importance of process in children's art experiences, and considered ways to integrate art throughout the curriculum. We urge teacher educators and teaching artists to incorporate artist residencies into teacher education programs to prepare future teachers to integrate the arts into the classrooms of tomorrow.     

Capturing and assessing evidence of student teacher inquiry: A case study

In this paper, we present five principles underlying teacher inquiry and report a case study during which student teachers in a US teacher education programme used evidence-based decision support, an inquiry method designed to help teachers analyse and adapt their own teaching through the use of a video analysis tool. This case study examined interplay among tools designed to guide teaching practice, student teachers’ own self-guided inquiry, and feedback from cooperating teachers as they made instructional decisions. Preservice teachers initially accepted the guidance provided by teaching analysis tools, but abandoned the tools in favour of informal self-assessments and feedback from cooperating teachers when they assumed teaching responsibilities in their own classrooms. We discuss the role of external support and video evidence in guiding preservice teacher inquiry.     

Piloting autism intervention research with teachers in mainstream classrooms

Although there is a recognised need for effective practices to support students on the autism spectrum in mainstream schools, there is a research to practice gap in the area of autism and education, whereby evidence-based intervention may take decades to translate into mainstream classroom practice. Thus, current recommendations are that, rather than presenting mainstream school teachers with interventions developed and tested in clinical or special education settings, a participatory research process should be used to facilitate implementation in real-world mainstream classrooms. This article reports on a case study that aimed to refine a structured teaching intervention package for use in mainstream classrooms, while at the same time tailoring research methods for evaluating the package in these settings. The outcomes of the project are presented with respect to (a) the development and refinement of the intervention package in consultation with a mainstream classroom teacher and (b) the lessons learned during the process that other clinical researchers, teachers, and clinicians could apply when implementing educational interventions in mainstream settings.     

From scientific practice to high school science classrooms: Transfer of scientific technologies and realizations of authentic inquiry

The Biology Workbench (BW) is a web‐based tool enabling scientists to search a wide array of protein and nucleic acid sequence databases with integrated access to a variety of analysis and modeling tools. The present study examined the development of this scientific tool and its consequent adoption into the context of high school science teaching in the form of the Biology Student Workbench (BSW). Participants included scientists, programmers, science educators, and science teachers who played key roles along the pathway of the design and development of BW, and/or the adaptation and implementation of BSW in high school science classrooms. Participants also included four teachers who, with their students, continue to use BSW. Data sources included interviews, classroom observations, and relevant artifacts. Contrary to what often is advocated as a major benefit accruing from the integration of authentic scientific tools into precollege science teaching, classroom enactments of BSW lacked elements of inquiry and were teacher‐centered with prescribed convergent activities. Students mostly were preoccupied with following instructions and a focus on science content. The desired and actual realizations of BSW fell on two extremes that reflected the disparity between scientists' and educators' views on science, inquiry science teaching, and the related roles of technological tools. Research on large‐scale adoptions of technological tools into precollege science classrooms needs to expand beyond its current focus on teacher knowledge, skills, beliefs, and practices to examine the role of the scientists, researchers, and teacher educators who often are involved in such adoptions. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 48: 37–70, 2011     

‘Inclusion in Practice’: Programme Practices in Mainstream Preschool Classrooms and Associations with Context and Teacher Characteristics

This study observed the extent to which teachers supported the inclusion of children with disabilities into mainstream classrooms and involved monitoring 52 mainstream preschool settings in Greece. The association between programme quality, context and teacher characteristics was also tested. Findings showed that the quality of inclusion ranged from ‘low’ to ‘minimal’, with teachers more frequently implementing practices that only partially promoted participation for children with disabilities in academic and social classroom activities. The analysis also revealed that the quality of programming was not influenced by the model of special education provision, the group size, the number of children with disabilities, the training teachers had in special education or their teaching experience. The results are discussed both at a national and international level, revealing areas that need further examination into preschool inclusion quality.     

“Exploring this whole thing of social justice” narrative as a tool for critical sociocultural knowledge development in teacher education

Many teacher education programs provide teachers with opportunities to read, write, and discuss critical pedagogy, with the hope that such work will allow them to develop more equitable and just teaching practices. Yet, there often remains a gap between the theoretical discussions of teaching and learning in teacher education classrooms and the pedagogical practice in those teachers’ K-12 classrooms. In this study, we examine how one teacher, Gabriela, used narratives to make connections between her third-grade classroom and the critical concepts she was exploring in a teacher education course. Embedded within an ethnographic case study of an inservice teacher education program, we used a discourse analytic approach to examine both the sociocultural knowledge and the identities Gabriela constructed through narrative as she engaged with issues of language, race, and power within the course. We consider some of the affordances of narrative in this space, including how it allowed Gabriela to integrate her understandings of multiple course topics, to position herself in multiple ways as a teacher, and to disrupt her existing understandings of race and racism in the classroom. This analysis suggests that critically oriented teacher education programs might more intentionally make space for narrative to connect critical theory and pedagogical practice.     

Predictors of developmentally appropriate classroom practices in kindergarten through third grade

This study was designed to (a) test the psychometric properties of a new observation measure of developmentally appropriate classroom practices in kindergarten through third-grade classrooms, and (b) determine how well classroom and teacher characteristics predict developmentally appropriate classroom practices. Teacher-reported and observational data from 69 classrooms provided support for construct validity, internal consistency, and interrater agreement of the Assessment of Practices in Early Elementary Classrooms (APEEC) measure. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that classroom characteristics (grade, class size, number of children with disabilities), teacher characteristics (education level, years of experience) and teacher beliefs (developmentally appropriate beliefs and developmentally inappropriate beliefs) accounted for 42% of the variance in observed classroom practices. With all variables in the model, teacher education, grade, and beliefs in developmentally appropriate and inappropriate practice accounted for most of the variance in observed classroom practices.     

Negotiating authority through jointly constructing the course curriculum

Understanding how authority is negotiated in teacher education classrooms can inform efforts to foster democratic teacher education practices and prepare future teachers to teach democratically. We know very little, however, about how authority is negotiated in different classroom contexts, particularly in teacher education settings. This qualitative study examined how authority was negotiated in an undergraduate teacher education course in which I – as the teacher of the course – involved students in actively determining the content, method, and assessment of the course through jointly constructing the course curriculum. Using self-study methodology to understand more deeply the problems embedded in my practice as a beginning teacher-educator, I generated themes from the data using the constant comparative method. The findings suggest that deriving legitimacy from mutually recognized sources, working from shared purposes, and confronting students’ deeply rooted familiarity with authoritarian teaching practices present potential frameworks for negotiating authority in teacher education – while illuminating the challenges of teaching democratically in authoritarian contexts. Such insights are important for helping future teachers experience alternatives to conventional teaching while accounting for the complexity of learning to bring democratic values to life in classrooms at all levels.     

Finding balance: impact of classroom management conceptions on developing teacher practice

A sociocultural perspective on teacher learning was used to investigate how three beginning teachers’ conceptions of classroom management affected their developing teaching practices. Students were followed from student teaching through their first 2 years of teaching. Data sources included interviews, classroom observations, and teacher education portfolios. Although all three teachers shared common conceptions of management as establishing positive learning environments, only two of the teachers were successful in doing so. Four key ideas shared by these two teachers served as pedagogical tools that framed their decision-making and scaffolded their early practice. These four conceptions are linked to a course on classroom management not taken by the third teacher. Implications of these findings for teacher education are discussed.     

The work of classroom assistants in special and mainstream education in Finland

The contribution of teaching assistants, learning support assistants or classroom assistants is becoming increasingly important in inclusive and specialist classrooms. In this article, Marjatta Takala, professor in special education at the University of Helsinki, describes her research into the work of 14 classroom assistants working in a mix of mainstream and special schools in Helsinki, Finland. The results reveal that the tasks undertaken by assistants are different in mainstream and specialist settings and vary also according to the ages of the children involved. The assistants spent more of their time, for example, working directly with children if they worked in mainstream schools. Assistants in special schools, by comparison, spent more time assisting the teacher. Further, assistants working among older children spent more time waiting or simply listening to the lesson than those working with younger children, who seemed to be more actively involved with supporting learning. Marjatta Takala analyses her results by the full range of tasks encountered; according to three broad types of work; and in terms of the planning and co-operation undertaken by assistants and teachers at the class level. Her discussion will be of interest to anyone concerned with the development of support in the classroom and the education of both teachers and teaching assistants.     

Getting Real: Exploring the perceived disconnect between education theory and practice in teacher education

This article, inspired in part by the Levine report that criticizes teacher education programs in the United States for being out of touch with practices that work in real classrooms, is a self-study that explores the rift between educational theory, particularly theory that pushes for social constructionist, child-centered approaches to teaching, and teaching practices in majority African-American, inner-city schools. The authors conducted this year-long self-study to answer the question: What could the college's education program do to improve preparation for teaching in inner-city schools? Through their year-long collaboration in a middle-school writing classroom in an inner-city charter school, the authors examined what a prospective teacher learned in his education program that helped and hindered him and then explored how the successful approaches he developed as a new teacher could be incorporated into the college's preservice program.     

体育课堂中的有效教学

随着教育理念的不断发展更新,提高课堂教学的有效性已经成为现代学校教育重视教学质量的重要表现,随之作为学校教育工作重要组成部分的体育课堂的有效教学也就成为体育教师必须迎接和面对的重要问题。体育教学是依附于身体活动来实现的特殊教学活动。如何提高体育课堂的教学质量,使学生能够在有限的时间内达到更好的健身和学习效果,对于体育教师来说也是个重要的挑战。体育教学是通过身体运动为主要手段来实现的,要想提高体育教学的有效性,而又不把体育课堂变成训练课,还需要各位体育教师多动脑。     

“Promoting Acceptance” or “Preparing Warrior Scholars”: Variance in Teaching for Social Justice Vision and Praxis

A growing body of research explores theoretical models of teaching for social justice in P-12 classrooms and in teacher education. However, many of these models fail to account for the relationship between teachers’ social justice frameworks and their classroom practices. In this article, I use vignettes drawn from a recent study of secondary English Language Arts teachers to illustrate how differences in social location and sociopolitical emphasis affect teachers’ approaches to justice-oriented curriculum, pedagogy, and social action. This article concludes with implications for teaching and teacher education, including strategies for using these findings in preservice classrooms.     

Teachers’ Literal and Inferential Talk in Early Childhood and Special Education Classrooms

Research Findings: This study examined preschool teachers’ literal talk (LT) and inferential talk (IT) during shared book readings in early childhood education (ECE) and early childhood special education (ECSE) classrooms. We aimed to characterize and compare teachers’ LT and IT in these 2 classroom contexts and determine whether differences in LT and IT are predicted by classroom type, teachers’ educational background, or children’s average language skills. We examined the shared book reading activities of 52 teachers (26 ECE classrooms, 26 ECSE classrooms). Results revealed that ECSE teachers used significantly more LT and showed more variability in their LT and IT than ECE teachers. ECSE classroom type predicted teachers’ use of LT when we controlled for teacher education and children’s language skills, whereas teacher education predicted teachers’ use of IT when we controlled for classroom type and children’s language skills. Practice or Policy: These findings have implications for best practice guidelines and policies, particularly for ECSE environments.