Affirming Cultures,Communities and Experiences: Teaching for Social Justice in Teacher Education Literacy Courses

In this article we share several activities we use in our teacher education literacy courses that incorporate a social justice lens. For each activity we suggest resources, offer examples we have created and used in our teaching, and share research to support each activity. The activities build on each other, with the intent of increasing preservice teacher knowledge of how to teach for social justice by moving beyond awareness and understanding lived experiences of students to affirming cultures and experiences of all students, creating inclusive and equitable classrooms. By experiencing teaching from this stance in our courses, we hope that our preservice teachers take up and teach from a social justice stance in their future classrooms.     

Professional identity of teacher educators in the digital era in light of demands of pedagogical innovation

The study examines teacher educators' perceptions regarding pedagogical innovation. 27 semi-structured interviews were analyzed using three modes of existence composing their professional identity with regards to pedagogical innovation: being, the conceptual component; doing, the practical component; and having, the environmental support component. Findings show that the "being" component is the dominant mode of existence and is strongly connected to construction of professional selves. Also, demands of the digital era compel teacher educators to re-examine their professional identity vis-à-vis technology-integrated teaching. Institutional support was vital for professional identity construction. Findings assist in understanding professional identity construction of innovative teacher educators.     

Estimating scale,diversity, and professional training of environmental educators in the U.S.

After decades of growth in environmental education (EE) in the US, the number of practitioners in the field remains unknown. A national study was conducted to estimate the field’s size through an online consumer survey panel stratified by race, ethnicity, and geographic region representing the US adult population. In addition to demographic data, three categorical questions assessed self-perceptions as environmental educators, the paid/unpaid nature of their work, and educational background in EE. Near one-fifth of the sample identified as environmental educators. Sample estimates of the overlap of environmental educators in formal education, non-formal, and unpaid (volunteer) work and their population numbers were used to calculate a conservative estimate of approximately 3.9 million environmental educators in the US Racial minority groups comprised 47% of the total number of environmental educators, indicating they were over-represented among those who consider themselves environmental educators compared to the general population. These results counter traditional assumptions that EE itself is not diverse, suggesting that inclusive practices may require more attention to who is currently excluded in organizations with low representation of minority communities.     

实行中小学继续教育教师资格认定制度之我见

实行中小学继续教育教师资格认定制度是保证中小学教师培训质量、实现中小学教师继续教育培养目标的有效途径。10年来,我国教师资格制度的实施和对继续教育理论研究的深入为实施中小学继续教育教师资格认定制度提供了实践和理论支持。因此,应尽早建立独立的继续教育教师资格认证机构,设立科学合理的继续教育教师资格认定标准,建立开放的继续教育教师资格认定机制。     

Professional Development of Counselor Education Students: An Exploratory Study of Professional Performance Indicators for Assessment

Although training standards for counseling students emphasize the importance of student evaluation, there is a lack of research that specifically describes how counselor educators may systematically assess the professional development of counselors-in-training. This exploratory study sought to determine a set of performance indicators for each of five identified components of professional development to provide counselor educators with an initial framework for assessing the professional growth of master's-level counseling students.     

产妇社区健康指导与效果评价

目的探讨社区产妇健康指导的效果。方法将在我院正常分娩的106例产妇作为实验组,以家庭访视的形式进入社区,采用讲授、示范、视听等方式进行健康指导,及时收集反馈信息,进行效果评价。将另一段时间正常分娩的101例产妇作为对照组,按照常规方法给予保健指导。结果实验组相关知识掌握率达95.3%,母乳喂养率达98%,对护理服务满意率达99%,与对照组比较差异具有统计学意义(p<0.05)。结论采用以家庭访视为主要形式的社区产后健康指导,既能满足产妇及家属各方面的需求,又能提升产妇的自我保健能力及家属对我们的信赖度。     

幼儿教师专业成长内涵的诠释

幼儿教师专业化的核心是教师的专业成长。幼儿教师的专业成长就是个体从一个“普通人”转变为“教育者”的过程。从静态角度分析,幼儿教师专业成长的内容是其专业素质结构的形成,即幼儿教师应达到的素质要求;从动态角度分析,幼儿教师的专业成长实际经历了不同的阶段。     

Really teaching lamaze: putting ideas into action

The column contains concrete suggestions for preparing women to tap into their inner wisdom for their inherent when giving birth.     

Developing principles of physical education teacher education practice through self-study

Background: The articulation of specific principles of teacher education practice allows teacher educators to make explicit the beliefs, values, and actions that shape their practice. Engaging in processes to articulate the principles that guide practice is beneficial not only for teacher educators and their colleagues but also for students. There are, however, few examples of principles that guide physical education teacher educators' practices. Self-study of teacher education practice (S-STEP) methodology offers one way of examining and articulating principles of practice. In this study, I make connections across several S-STEP research projects I have conducted individually and with colleagues, and share the principles that guide my practice with the physical education teacher education (PETE) community.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to articulate my principles of practice using S-STEP. Specifically, I ask: (a) How can the articulation of my principles of practice reflect broad understandings of PETE? and (b) How can sharing principles of practice encourage debate and discussion amongst members of the PETE community? To what extent do the principles articulated have resonance for others?

Participants and data collection: Six published self-studies as well as the raw data from those studies provided the data for this research. The raw data used in those studies consisted of self-generated data and data generated by others. Self-generated data consisted of written reflective journal entries gathered over five years and recorded audio conversations with two critical friends. Data generated by others consisted of semi-structured interviews conducted with two cohorts of pre-service teacher candidates: one consisting of 10 pre-service primary generalist teachers the other of 9 pre-service physical education specialists. Three interviews were conducted with each participant. Exit slips (informal evaluations) were also gathered from the specialist cohort.

Data analysis: First, elements of the previously conducted self-studies were synthesised to identify general themes and outcomes that represented principles of practice. Second, in several instances, the raw data were revisited to verify and contextualise quotes and excerpts, and consider the extent to which the data captured the principles that were being articulated.

Findings: Three central principles were identified that shape my understanding of a pedagogy of PETE: (a) building community is the foundation of practice, (b) not just modelling – explaining and reflecting upon modelling, and (c) identity matters. Identifying these principles has enabled me to better enact social constructivist approaches to learning, make explicit my personal and professional knowledge to myself, students, and colleagues; find meaning in my practice, and; begin sharing my partial understanding of practice with others in the teacher education community to generate debate and discussion.

Conclusions: Self-study encourages teacher educators to share their knowledge so that it may be discussed, challenged, and critiqued to further collective understandings of teacher education practice. In this spirit, these principles are not offered as an exhaustive list of all that guides PETE practice, but as suggestive of possibilities that might reflect shared understandings of teacher education and thus have the potential to influence policy.