Reflective peer coaching: Crafting collaborative self-assessment in teaching

Reflective peer coaching is a formative model for improving teaching and learning by examining intentions prior to teaching, then reflecting upon the experience. The goal of reflective peer coaching is to promote self-assessment and collaboration for better teaching and ultimately better learning. There are obvious benefits to colleagues collaborating and sharing ideas, thoughts, and observations. However, many models of assessing teaching effectiveness focus on summative evaluation in which colleagues observe each other once or twice a year and fill out institutional evaluation forms. Rarely do colleagues engage in formative conversations about teaching that are guided by the instructor's personal goals and objectives. Reflective peer coaching necessitates a ten-minute planning conversation prior to the actual lesson and a ten-minute reflective conversation after the lesson. These conversations happen regularly and frequently to build self-awareness and self-assessment of the personal craft of teaching. The following article outlines the dynamics of the reflective peer coaching process as a formative assessment model that leads to better learning through improved teaching.     

浅谈师爱的艺术

爱是教育永恒的主题,师爱是一种艺术,是一种综合的情感,是学生成长和发展的原动力,是成功教育的基石.教育者应该有大爱,有爱的情感、爱的行为和爱的艺术.惟其如此,才能务实成功教育的基石,铸就人民教育的辉煌.     

基层电大教师专业发展:问题及化解

现代远程开放教育以新型的教育模式对电大教师提出了更新、更高的要求,但目前基层电大在教师专业发展问题上,不管是学校层面,还是教师自身层面,都存在不容忽视的问题,必须采取针对性措施进行有效的化解,使基层电大教师在专业知识和能力上得到全面提升,以承担起现代远程开放教育新的教育模式所赋予的全新角色和全新任务。     

Korean EFL teachers’ perceptions of the impact of EFL teacher education upon their classroom teaching practices

This study employed qualitative data collection and analysis methods to investigate the influence of English as a foreign language teacher education programme on Korean teachers’ classroom teaching practices. Six in-service secondary-school teachers participated in semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis was applied to the data collected from these interviews. Findings from the analysis included that: a) most of the teachers were dissatisfied with the largely theory-oriented pre-service teacher education programmes that they attended; b) a major source of influence on their teaching was their experience of in-service teacher training programmes with practical curricula; c) observation of other fellow teachers’ teaching had the strongest impact upon the teachers’ teaching practices; and d) the teachers’ low English proficiency and the washback effect of the Korea Scholastic Aptitude Test hindered the maintenance of the changes brought about by in-service teacher education programmes. This study ends with a discussion of the implications of these findings.     

Teacher Judgments of Student Reading and Math Skills: Associations With Child- and Classroom-Related Factors

The purpose of the study was to examine whether students’ linguistic skills and task-avoidant behavior (i.e., the child-related factors) and the mean level of academic skills (reading comprehension and math) of classmates (i.e., the class-related factor) are associated with teacher judgments of children’s reading comprehension and math skills. The participants were third-grade Estonian-speaking students (n?=?656; age 9?11 years) and their classroom teachers (n?=?51). The results of the structural equation modeling path analyses indicated that teachers tend to judge students showing higher academic and linguistic skills and lower avoidance behavior as higher on the reading comprehension and math skills. In contrast, the classmates’ higher academic skill level was related to lower judgments of individual children’s reading comprehension and math skills by teachers.     

高职教师课程角色浅析

文章探讨了教师角色以及教师在高职教育中课程角色的本质,分析了教师实现课程角色的途径和方式熏提出了教师应转变观念,积极参与课程变革和授课方式的转变,并善于自我评价和自我提高。     

Educating the teacher educator—A Ugandan case study

Who educates teacher educators? How are teacher educators educated and prepared for their roles and tasks? This article uses a review of a two-year full-time Diploma in Teacher Education (DTE) for teacher educators in Uganda to engage with these questions. The article begins with a presentation of the Ugandan teacher education context and a literature review, focusing mainly on teacher educator knowledge, preparation, roles and tasks. It then presents the review process and discusses the main findings that emerged, exploring their implications for the education of teacher educators in Uganda and internationally. The main implications concern the critical role of teacher education pedagogy, context, teacher educator knowledge, tasks and roles, reflective practice, practitioner research, and the background, capacities and education of the educator of teacher educators.     

The scholarship of research in teacher education in a higher education institution in transition: Issues of identity

This paper examines perceptions of professional and organizational identity of teacher educators in a ‘new’ University of Technology in South Africa, resulting from several recent mergers of colleges of education and colleges of technology mainly serving formerly disadvantaged students and schools. The findings show that most staff consider teaching and research as dichotomous. Research activities are seen to satisfy the institutional requirements for securing research funding and producing publications. Professional identities could be strengthened by a faculty-wide debate on the specific profile of teacher education in a University of Technology, resulting also in an agreed research ethos. Peer support in collaborative research groups with a focus on own practice is seen as an opportunity to strengthen research expertise.     

Kindergarten teachers' literacy beliefs and self-reported practices: On the heels of a new national literacy curriculum

This study took place six years after the introduction of a national early literacy curriculum in Israel. We compared the beliefs of kindergarten teachers on the importance of literacy goals with their perception of parents' and the educational system's beliefs. We examined teachers' self-reported practices and how these practices changed with the curriculum adoption. Teachers (N = 120) responded to a closed questionnaire, and 12 of them were interviewed. Incongruence emerged between teachers' own beliefs and the beliefs they attributed to others. This incongruence facilitates understanding of the rationales for their practices and their relationships with parents and professional partners.     

Co-teaching as a context for teachers' professional learning and joint knowledge construction

The study examined two primary teachers' professional learning and joint knowledge construction in the context of co-teaching. The teachers narrated their learning as a collaborative process with serendipitous origins. Shared knowledge construction was crucial in the learning process, as was implementing the resulting new ideas in practice. It is concluded that experiences of co-teaching may support teachers in meeting their professional responsibilities effectively. Professional development programmes need to be sensitive to teachers' individual and collaborative learning experiences to be able better to support them in the natural context of those experiences in particular local and national contexts.