THROUGH OUR EYES: HELPING EMERGING TEACHERS SEE THEMSELVES

Preservice teachers benefit from opportunities to intentionally and systematically evaluate their practice. Teachers Observational Tools (TOTs) described in this article are useful instruments that effectively guide teaching interns’ and their coaching teachers’ observations. They give education students opportunities to draw conclusions and evaluate their own work rather then relying on coaching teachers’ opinions. These tools are appealing to constructivist teacher educators. These observational techniques have been used effectively by students preparing to teach young children, but could be used effectively by those working with students of all ages. They are popular with preservice teachers and their supervisors and have, additionally, made an important contribution to our University's professional development school partnerships.     

Assessment of Early Developing Phonological Awareness Skills: A Comparison of the Preschool Individual Growth and Development Indicators and the Phonological Awareness and Literacy Screening–PreK

Research Findings: Assessing the development of early literacy skills is necessary in order to identify children with delays, provide appropriate intervention, and monitor progress. The purpose of the current study was to compare the data obtained from 2 curriculum-based assessments of phonological awareness skills in a sample of low-income, urban preschoolers. Participants included 227 children from Head Start and other community-based preschool classrooms located in a midwestern city. The Preschool Individual Growth and Development Indicators (IGDIs) and the Phonological Awareness and Literacy Screening–PreK (PALS-PreK) were administered in the fall and spring of the year. Results suggested that the PALS-PreK was more advantageous than the IGDIs in terms of providing meaningful data for this group of children. The IGDIs appeared to be more appropriate for developmentally advanced preschoolers in this population. Practice or Policy: There remains a critical need for assessments of emergent literacy that are appropriate for diverse groups of preschool children and can feasibly be used for monitoring development.     

Consultation With Professional Peers: A National Survey of the Practices of School Psychologists

There is an increasing need for education professionals to keep abreast of new research and developments in their fields. The peer support group, which is characterized by the sharing of expertise and knowledge, the provision of mutual support, and joint problem solving among professional colleagues, has been advanced as promising means of promoting professional growth and development. This article reports the results of an exploratory national survey of school psychologists' involvement in peer support groups (PSGs) that was undertaken to identify the potential contributions of such activities to improving professional practice. Nearly 64% of the respondents indicated involvement in a PSG at some point in their careers, with almost 50% currently participating in one. Several benefits were attributed to group membership, and it was suggested that further research efforts are needed to clarify the essential components that contribute to group effectiveness.     

Centrality of enactive experiences,framing, and motivation to student teachers’ emerging professional identity

Professional identity has emerged as a common theme in teacher development research, and the student-teaching practicum is often identified as foundational to identity development. In the context of the student-teaching practicum, interactions with cooperating teachers and pupils are believed to comprise the press for professional identity development, though theory-based explanations are often neglected in the literature, and findings are not always consistent. To address this issue, we used grounded theory to articulate a model explaining the relations among three constructs important to the process of identity development of student teachers (n = 14). Our findings are organized around a model that highlights the phenomenon of “negotiating who I am as a teacher,” which helps us describe differences between student teachers who changed identity vs. those that did not, and psychological and contextual reasons for renegotiation of identity. Discussion focuses on comparisons with previous models and possible implications for teacher education.     

Goal orientation towards teaching (GOTT) scale

Goal orientation theory has been widely investigated and found to affect many motivation and behavior variables in relation to student learning and work performance. However, unlike the motivational construct of self-efficacy, researchers have yet to investigate whether this theory can be applied to the field of teaching and contribute to the explanation for trends in instructional behavior and motives. The purpose of the present study was to develop an instrument to begin the exploration of teachers’ goal orientation towards teaching. From a three-phase research design consisting of scale development, score validation, and convergent/discriminant validation, results provided support for the development of, and validity of scores on, a Goal Orientation towards Teaching (GOTT) Scale. Although further validation is needed, future researchers and practitioners can use the GOTT scale to investigate how teachers’ goal orientation towards teaching can impact student learning, teaching effectiveness, pedagogical learning, and even professional morale.     

让MOOCs更有意义:在谎言、悖论和可能性的迷宫中沉思

大规模开放网络课程(MOOCs)是一种以开放访问和大规模参与为目的的在线课程。MOOCs作为一种新的教育技术,包括cMOOCs和xMOOCs两种,前者以联通主义理论为基础,强调知识创新与生成;后者以行为主义理论为基础,关注知识重复。两者在教学理念上差异很大,用同一术语表述很容易使人混淆。同以往各种形式的信息技术一样,MOOCs在本质上是一系列操作符号的工具,同时也是基于互联网的低成本教育材料分发和共享的工具,因此在对待MOOCs变革传统高等教育这一问题上应该理性。目前媒体、商业集团和高校机构对xMOOCs的关注处于一种狂热状态,缺乏系统而理性的学术研究,主要体现出四个谎言和悖论:一是学校品牌是教学质量的象征,而实际上它们的声誉是由其研究赢得的,并非教学质量,xMOOCs的低完成率为传统高校所不齿;二是多数xMOOCs机构对成功通过课程考试的学生只提供证书,不生成学分,对比传统学校教育,意味着对学生学业的认证取决于招生而不是课程学习;三是xMOOCs是一种新的教学法并支持个性化学习,而实际上他们采用的是一种过时的行为主义教学法;四是xMOOCs一方面期望和推崇"让知识成为人类共同财产"的理想,却又一方面在积极探索能够盈利的商业模式。MOOCs在炒作背后应该回归理性的发展轨迹,其对传统教育的真正变革应该是将xMOOCs置于全世界公众的视野中,迫使这些机构重视教学和教学法,并将教学作为其核心使命。     

Conservation of stained glass windows with protective glazing: Main results from the European VIDRIO research programme

The methodology of protecting the European stained glass windows against environmental risk (e.g. meteorological factors, air pollution, microorganisms) by means of an external glazing is not new. In spite of many scientific studies carried out in the last 20 years, some questions were still up for discussion. The European VIDRIO (2002–2005) project gave an answer to these questions. The research carried out by the different project partners established a new multidisciplinary approach aimed at evaluating the efficiency of the protective glazing systems and their effects on stained glass windows conservation, and finally at assessing the most appropriate strategy to preserve stained glass windows. Scientific results showed that the so-called isothermal glazing (i.e. ventilation by the air coming from the inside of the building) protected efficiently the ancient stained glass window from environmental attack (i.e. rain, pollutants, condensation, thermal shocks) with very limited secondary effects. The scientific research highlighted that its efficiency was strongly related to the technical design of the protective system. In particular, the ventilation and the size of the interspace had to be carefully considered. The research developed within the VIDRIO project was turned into general recommendations to the owners and practitioners on the best practice for the stained glass windows future conservation.