Guiding children's behavior: The issue of compliance

Parents and teachers need to be aware of the principles of development in order to guide children appropriately. The process of guidance begins with attempts to baby-proof the environment, such as arranging the nursery in anticipation of the arrival of the infant. During the infant-toddler stage, adults may view their acts of altering the child's physical environment as their responsibility, not connecting such actions to the development of a discipline plan. In fact, the adults are beginning to develop a positive atmosphere so that the child has a healthy environment in which to grow. Sandy Bailey is Program Coordinator for the Montana Resource and Referral Netword, a statewide program based     

Professional development for iPad integration in general education: Staying ahead of the curve

This faculty development case study focuses on a team of 16 General Education faculty at an urban women’s college during the initial 6 months of the college’s comprehensive implementation of an iPad teaching and learning environment. This article traces the effectiveness of an iPad professional development program through analyses of critical feedback, and makes recommendations for learner-centered faculty development for iPads in Higher Education. We present our conceptual framework, guiding principles and iPad professional development program. The effects of the program were measured using thematic and content analysis of post-session interviews, participant observation, one-to-one interviews and an online discussion forum. The predominant themes were anxiety, having individual needs considered, time considerations, and fundamental questions about expectations in the mobile learning environment. The key recommendation are to attend to collaborative planning, intervention, facilitating authentic professional learning communities and timing of faculty development that is intended to result in integration of new learning tools and environments.     

Developing prospective elementary teachers’ abilities to identify evidence of student mathematical achievement

This study investigated the effects of a classroom intervention on prospective elementary teachers’ ability to evaluate evidence of student achievement of mathematical learning goals. The intervention was informed by a framework for teacher education which aims to provide prospective teachers (PTs) with the skills needed to systematically learn from their own teaching practice. Prospective teachers (N = 160) participated in an intervention aimed at addressing their misconceptions about evidence of student learning. Results revealed that after the intervention, PTs were less likely to consider teacher behaviors to be evidence of student learning and more likely to discount student responses that were irrelevant to a specified learning goal. However, PTs were still likely to take procedural fluency as evidence of conceptual understanding and may have become overly skeptical of student understanding. Implications of the study suggest new ways of developing prospective teachers’ ability to systematically study and improve their teaching.     

Rebuttal

Abstract

The problem of the study was to investigate the relationship between maximum strength and muscular endurance; also the relationship between maximum strength and percentage of maximum strength held before and after an extended period of isometric training. The subjects (N = 60) were divided into two equal groups, control and experimental. The experimental group was further divided into two subgroups of high and low strength. The control group was tested for maximum strength and endurance once at the beginning of the experiment and once after 20 days. The subjects in the experimental group were tested for maximum strength and endurance before they embarked on a 20-day period of isometric training. They held tension for 100 sec. in the morning and again in the afternoon. Periodic tests were on the 5th, 10th, 15th, and 20th day. There was a significant relationship between maximum strength and endurance and a negative and generally significant relationship between maximum strength and percentage of maximum strength held.     

Systematically Improving Lessons in Teacher Education: What's Good for Prospective Teachers is Good for Teacher Educators

Researchers have advocated building a knowledge base for teacher education based on practitioner knowledge. In this article, the authors, two teacher educators, present knowledge gained from their systematic study of two lessons to help prospective teachers learn to study teaching. They offer a detailed look at the lessons' successes and shortcomings as well as potential revisions. They also reflect on their use of a model for systematically studying lessons, sharing details about their learning during this process. This article attempts to provide a visible, tangible product for other teacher educators interested in helping prospective teachers examine evidence of student learning.     

Teacher education futures: today’s trends,tomorrow’s expectations

Education is facing significant political and contextual challenges that will impact its future. This study employs a Delphi methodology to investigate teacher educators’ views of current trends and their consequences for teacher education futures. Interviews were conducted with a sample of expert teacher educators drawn from eight countries. This provided international perspectives on both local and global trends. The data were analysed to identify and elaborate key themes reported by the participants. The article draws on these themes to develop brief narratives around current developments that the teacher educators argue will have a major impact on the future of teacher education. These narratives are used to develop possible scenarios to inform thinking about teacher education futures.     

Teachers' use and perceptions of progress monitoring

Progress monitoring is a set of techniques used to assess students' academic performance on a regular and frequent basis. Different forms of progress monitoring have been used effectively in the field of general special education for more than 20 years. However, to date, limited information about how progress monitoring is being used in the field of deaf education is available. The present study was undertaken to examine how progress monitoring is being used with students who are deaf or hard of hearing and to find out teachers' perceptions about the utilization and value of using progress monitoring. Overall, participants were very positive. They reported that the use of progress monitoring improved students' motivation and helped them better evaluate the effectiveness of their instruction. Participants' primary concern was with the amount of time progress monitoring takes away from teaching. Additional results and recommendations are provided.