Relationships between emotional climate and the fluency of classroom interactions

This study examined emotional climate in relation to the teaching and learning of grade 7 science. A multi-method and multi-theoretic approach used sociocultural frameworks as a foundation for interpretive research, conversation analysis, prosody analysis, and studies of nonverbal conduct. Emotional climate varied continuously throughout a lesson. Dialogues occurred and afforded learning when interactions between the teacher and students were fluent and included humour and collective effervescence. Emotional climate was negatively valenced when the teacher and/or students endeavoured to establish and maintain power by restricting others’ participation to spectator roles. The teacher’s endeavours to maintain and establish control over students were potentially detrimental to teaching and learning, teachers and learners. This type of teaching gradually evolved into a form we referred to as cranky teaching, whereby the teacher and her students showed signs of frustration and the enacted teaching and learning roles lacked fluency. The methods we pioneered in the present study might be helpful for other teachers who wish to participate in research on their classes to ascertain what works and should be strengthened, and identify practices and rituals that are deleterious and in need of change.     

Assessment and the co-regulation of learning in the classroom

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the processes of regulation of student learning that are associated with formative assessment in the classroom. It discusses the concept of co-regulation and presents a model of co-regulation developed in a situated perspective on classroom learning. This model conceptualises co-regulated learning as resulting from the joint influence of student self-regulation and of sources of regulation in the learning environment: namely, the structure of the teaching/learning situation, the teacher’s interventions and interactions with students, the interactions between students, and the tools used for instruction and for assessment. Examples of research showing how co-regulation functions are discussed, in particular students’ use of tools for self-assessment and peer assessment, and the role of teacher–student interactions that encourage active student participation in formative assessment.     

Study of Self: The Self as Designer in Online Teacher Education

In this article we describe our engagement in self-study as part of an examination of design-based research for education. We focus on graduate-level online teacher education as an example of how self-study provided a means of examining deeply our teaching and our roles as teacher and designer in the learning environment. We posit that online learning environments are particularly well suited for self-study to enhance design perspectives because the interactions between teacher and students are informed by personal context and mediated by technological tools. The graduate students in our courses were teacher leaders in literacy or mathematics who were learning how to support professional development for other teachers. Throughout our self-study research we found ourselves drawing upon our previous design research experiences, which aided our ability to engage in self-study: We were part of the classroom system, focusing on our roles within the teaching and learning process as designers of the online learning environment. Three key design principles resulted from our self-study process: focusing on systems of learning and teaching, designing pedagogical tools and products, and using iterative processes. Engaging in self-study enhanced our understanding and implementation of synchronous online instruction, particularly regarding our use of technological tools to enhance student learning and support learning communities.     

论合作学习法在高职英语课堂教学中的应用

合作学习是一种以学习者和教师互动为主要取向的教学理论与策略体系。本文从合作学习的理论基础、基本要素出发,论述合作学习在高职英语教学中的分组策略、评价策略和有效的组织管理等基本特征,探讨合作学习在高职英语教学中的恰当应用,提倡在高职英语教学中运用合作学习法培养技术应用型人才。     

因材施教,灵活多变——英语教学方法与学习风格初探

因材施教是每一位教师必须遵守的教学原则。在英语教学中,教师往往会面临这样一个问题:如何使自己的教学方法适应学生不同的学习风格和学习目的?本文通过对比,论述了两种不同的教学方法,即“以教师为中心”的教学方法和“以学习者为中心”的教学方法所各自拥有的优势和不足。由于学习者之间的差异,本文认为:作为一位专业的英语教师,我们必须充分考虑学生不同的英语学习风格和方法,并采取灵活多变的教学方法来使自己的教学风格与学生的学习风格尽可能地协调和统一,只有这样才能提高教学质量,提高学习者的语言学习效率。     

Framing Quality: Annotated Video-Based Portfolios of Classroom Practice by Pre-service Teachers

In this paper we describe the use of peer learning teams creating annotated video-based portfolios to improve the quality of teacher–child interactions of undergraduate majors in early childhood and family studies. We used the intentional teaching framework (Hamre et al. in Handbook of early education. Guilford Publications, New York, 2012a) to create a course that moved students through the process of “knowing,” “seeing,” “doing,” and “reflecting & improving.” Forty-four undergraduate early childhood students formed eleven peer learning teams of four. We started the course by teaching the teacher–child interaction skills that are considered to be high-quality and linked to positive child outcomes (knowing). After learning to reliably identify (seeing) high quality instruction using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System, the students created video portfolios featuring their own adult-child interactions (doing). These portfolios, featuring short salient examples of six different dimensions of quality instruction, were posted to a website and shared with their peer learning team. Each team member then commented on the extent to which she or he believed the students’ example was high quality. The portfolios and the peer coaching learning team (PCLT) process have improved our ability to document change in interactions as well as the students’ abilities to see their own growth (reflecting & improving). Further, it allows us to tighten the connection between course content and practical application as well as providing us with an alternative to on-site supervision of practicum students, which can be challenging due to budget constraints. Finally, we hope that sharing this activity will encourage others to integrate video-based technology into their coursework as a means to demonstrate positive change in students’ learning.     

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.

     

Is teacher judgment accuracy of students’ characteristics beneficial for verbal teacher-student interactions in classroom?

To support individual learning, teachers have to accurately judge student characteristics such as pre-achievement and self-concept of ability as pre-requisites for learning (Corno, 2008). This study investigated whether teacher judgment accuracy in interplay with student characteristics was predictive for verbal teacher-student interactions. A video study of N_S = 348 students in N_C = 18 mathematics classrooms was conducted. Multilevel analyses showed that student self-concept was predictive of verbal teacher-student interactions. In addition, adaptive teacher questions were observed for students with lower pre-achievement. Conclusions with regard to adaptive functions of teacher judgment accuracy in the process of teaching are drawn.     

合作学习在高职英语教学中的必要性探析

传统的教学模式一直占据着高职英语的主导地位,课堂教学以教师为中心,忽视学生个性、学习风格和学习策略潜能的发挥,重应试教育、轻素质培养,使学生厌倦英语学习。为了解决这些问题,调动同学们的学习积极性,要采用不同的教学方法去激发学生的英语学习兴趣。合作学习是在英语教学中组织学生进行小组学习活动,以学生为主体,教师变导师,引导同学们以小组的形式努力完成教师所布置的任务。实践表明,合作学习使学生的英语听说能力、实践能力、交流合作能力都有明显提高。     

浅谈在泛读教学中对学生学习兴趣的培养

在英语泛读教学中,培养学生学习英语的兴趣至关重要。泛读是一门实践课,教学是双向活动,只有激发学生学习英语的兴趣,才能调动其主观能动性,提高泛读教学的效果。     

Aligning the Cultures of Teaching and Learning Science in Urban High Schools

This paper analyzes teaching and learning in urban science classrooms in which most of the students are African American and from low-income homes. Their teachers are also racial minorities and yet they struggle to teach successfully across cultural boundaries. The first set of case studies involves a male teacher who taught in a high-energy way that produced structures for students to get involved in the doing of science. His verbal fluency and expressive individualism, involving emphatic gestures, rhythmic use of his body, and voice intonation maintained student participation. A second case study examines successful interactions among the students, involving an argument over competing models for chemical valence. Whereas the students interacted successfully, the teacher was frequently out of synchrony in terms of amplitude, pitch, and non-verbal actions. The key implication is the necessity for teachers and students to learn how to interact successfully in ways that produce positive emotional energy, a sense of belonging to the class, and a commitment to shared responsibility for one another's participation. Aligning the cultures of teaching and learning offers a possibility that fluent interactions will occur, afford success, and facilitate the learning of science.     

“教学存在感”及实现路径辨析

"教学存在感"阐释了教学环境下建立良好学习体验的核心要义,其理论视角对于网络教学、面授教学以及混合教学中改进教学质量、提升学习体验具有指导价值,可作为建立有效教学的抓手。"教学存在感"是"社会存在感"在教育领域的投影,是指学生感知到的教师对其学习的指导和关注,该描述性定义揭示了有效教学过程的本质,适用于在各种情形下确定有效教学的特征。对"教学存在感"定义及其内涵的辨析,有助于理解其存在现实差异的原因,进而揭示影响其强弱的因素:一是教师对专业知识的精通程度,二是教师对教学方法的了解程度,三是教师建立学习共同体的能力。因此,教师可以从扩展专业知识的渊博程度、与学生沟通教学用意、提高教学的针对性等方面提升"教学存在感"。与此同时,为避免因过于强调"教学存在感"而带来的教师工作量激增,可采取如下策略控制实现"教学存在感"的工作量:一是采取有规划更新教学内容的策略以降低更新工作量,二是采取预防为主的策略降低答疑工作量,三是采取学生互助的策略降低回帖工作量,四是采取覆盖抽样的策略降低一对一交流工作量。     

基于经验学习圈的不同教师群体教学行为改进特征

教师的教学行为对教学效果会产生直接影响,教学行为改进是一个动态的过程并且具有群体性特征。本研究基于经验学习圈理论,对71名教师在2年持续教学行为改进过程中的350节视频课例,采用内容分析法,探究新手教师、胜任教师和成熟教师三类群体的教学行为改进特征。研究发现:基于经验学习圈2年的持续教学行为改进过程取得了显著的改进效果,三类教师均能够较好地改进问题的开放性;讨论后汇报和鼓励学生提出问题是三类教师在教学行为改进中共同的难点;经验学习中的反思性观察和抽象概括两个阶段对教师教学行为的正向改进作用比较小;三类教师群体的教学行为改进着力点明显不同,成熟教师最难改进的教学行为和最难改进的研修阶段与新手教师和胜任教师不同,新手教师与胜任教师存在不同的教学行为改进难点和相同的最难改进阶段。根据上述不同教师群体的教学行为改进特征,可以进一步优化与完善教师教学行为的改进方法与策略,形成更加精准地教学行为改进支持服务与改进依据,丰富教学行为改进的有关研究。     

Not a stale metaphor: the continued relevance of pedagogical content knowledge for science research and education

Recently, theorists have raised concerns that pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) has become “a stale metaphor” that disregards diversity and equity, offers little to help teachers address students’ misconceptions, and portrays knowledge as “in the head” versus in practice. We refute these notions using grounded theory to specify ways one 7th-grade science teacher enacted PCK to advance student learning. With the definition of PCK as knowledge at the intersection of content and teaching, we utilised a framework for science PCK to explore instructional decision-making. Interviews conducted over three years revealed specific ways the teacher enacted PCK by designing and delivering instruction built on each of the seven conceptual science PCK components. The teacher enacted PCK to plan and deliver instruction that was responsive, adaptive, and considerate of changing needs of students and the changing classroom landscape. She infused PCK into instructional decision-making, instructional interactions, and mentoring of a student teacher, modelling the translation of educational theory into practice and habits of mind necessary for expert teaching. This enactment actively refutes Settlage’s critiques, and depicts PCK as a vibrant and effective stance for teaching that enhances learning.     

Grappling with teaching design and technology: a beginning teacher's experiences

This paper reports on an investigation into the first time implementation of a technology education unit of work by a beginning primary school teacher. The researchers monitored the teacher's implementation of the unit across a 6 week period using an interpretivist research approach. A variety of data sources were drawn upon including teacher and student interviews, video and audio recordings of small group and whole-class interactions, and student-developed artefacts. Providing appropriate learning activities to assist students to develop understanding about patterns and shapes incorporated into buildings and other structures to enhance strength and stability was a challenge faced by the beginning teacher. However, she drew support from a teaching resource, which provided guidance and structure for the teaching of technology concepts and processes related to strength and stability of structures and materials. The resource helped her to develop learning activities that were appropriate to the topic and to the needs of the students in her class. Implications of the study relate to the needs of teachers grappling with teaching design and technology for the first time and the support that they can gain from predetermined planning and teaching models and well-developed teaching resources.     

Students’ Perceptions of Their Science Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge

Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is a type of teacher knowledge to be developed by a teacher. PCK is said to contribute to effective teaching. Most studies investigated the development of PCK and its influence on students’ learning from the teachers’ perspectives. Only a limited number of studies have investigated the components of science teachers’ PCK that helped students’ learning from the perspective of students. Thus, it is the aim of this study to investigate the level of science teachers’ PCK from students’ perspective, in particular whether or not students of different achieving ability had different views of teachers’ PCK in assisting their learning and understanding. Based on the PCK research literature, six components of PCK have been identified, which were as follows: (1) subject matter knowledge, (2) knowledge of teaching strategies, (3) knowledge of concept representation, (4) knowledge of teaching context, (5) knowledge of students, and (6) knowledge of assessment in learning science. A questionnaire consisting of 56 items on a five-point Likert-type scale were used for data collection from 316 Form Four students (16 years old). One-way analysis of variance revealed that the differences in science teachers’ PCK identified by students of different achieving abilities were statistically significant. Overall, students of various academic achieving abilities considered all the components of PCK as important. The low-achieving students viewed all the components of PCK as being less important compared to the high and moderate achievers. In particular, low-achieving students do not view ‘knowledge of concept representation’ as important for effective teaching. They valued the fact that teachers should be alert to their needs, such as being sensitive to students’ reactions and preparing additional learning materials. This study has revealed that PCK of science teachers should be different for high and low-achieving students and knowledge of students’ understanding plays a critical role in shaping teachers PCK.     

利用课堂提问实现情感、态度、价值观的培养

课堂提问作为师生互动的主要方式之一,在教学中起着重要作用,不仅可以检验学生认知结果,调节课堂氛围,而且在学生情感、态度、价值观培养方面也担当着重要角色。问题的质量、教师的反馈都有可能诱发学生不同的情感体验,而学生经历的情感体验是否满足其心理需要,是否积极向上,将在很大程度上影响学生情感、态度、价值观的形成。     

Understanding teachers’ pedagogical choice: a sociological framework combining the work of Bourdieu and Giddens

Understanding teachers’ pedagogical choice provides a new insight into the influences on student achievement. This paper presents a sociological framework developed from the work of Pierre Bourdieu and Anthony Giddens that identify the complex social interactions which surround teacher’s work. The framework examines teachers’ potential to act knowledgeably and intentionally and how this action also leads to unintended consequences of those actions. This is important, as both the intentional action and the associated unintended consequences affect the teacher’s classroom practice and the learning of students. Application of the framework to examine the influences on teachers’ pedagogical choice is presented through two school case studies from Victoria, Australia. The environment that encourages teachers to actively review their teaching practice is revealed. It was through reflective collaborative discussions that teachers reviewed their current classroom practices and trial or implement different pedagogies to enhance the learning of young people in their classrooms.     

论初级汉语口语教学中的教师定位

培养学生的语言交际能力是对外汉语口语教学的根本目的。在口语能力培养的初级阶段．教师遵循“以教师为核心,以学生为中心,以学习目标为导向”的教学原则,在启蒙期、构建期、发展期分别以朋友、顾问、导演这三种不同的角色定位出现,采取有效的教学手段和方法,帮助学生实现“表达和应用”的学习目标。     

Preservice teacher perceptions of preparedness for teaching: Insights from survey research exploring the links between teacher professional standards and agency

In this article we explore the use of teacher professional standards in an initial teacher education programme and preservice teacher perceptions of their preparedness for teaching using a survey of 54 first- and second-year preservice teachers in a graduate-entry programme. The survey asked the preservice teachers to respond to 16 questions based on professional standards as well as their knowledge of student learning, professional identity and teaching as a career path. The preservice teachers’ responses were analysed using a mixed methods approach that relied on quantitative methods, but was supplemented by qualitative analysis of short-answer responses. Our analyses hypothesised about possible links between the preservice teachers’ responses and the extent to which they perceived they were classroom and career ready. The themes of teachers, teaching and student learning are used to present and discuss the results, while the notion of agency as achievement is used to deepen possible understanding about their meaning and implications. We conclude that the preservice teachers appeared to benefit from learning about professional standards throughout their programme but appeared to lack confidence in: engaging professionally with others such as parents/carers; setting objectives for all students with different backgrounds; and implementing lesson sequences that engage students and promote learning. Most doubted teaching as their future career. Finally, we discuss implications for: adopting standards-integrated initial teacher education programme approaches; preservice and early-career teacher professional learning needs; and future research opportunities, which include using innovative methodologies and conceptual frameworks.