Maybe Someday the Twain Shall Meet: Exploring Disconnections between Methods Instruction and "Life in the Classroom (original) (raw)
Related papers
Reading …, 2004
This article describes a study that examined the role that theory and practice play in the preparation of new teachers. It presents multilayered observational, anecdotal, and performance data relating to a group of undergraduate "interns" in an elementary teacher education program in an urban location in the United States. These data lend support to the hypothesis that a new teacher's understanding of the relationship between theory and practice influences the way she positions herself as a professional, the stance she takes in developing curriculum, and whether she comes to see herself as a change agent who can make a difference in the lives of children. Observational data obtained for four interns during their student teaching experience and two years later when they were teaching on their own are presented. The authors conclude that education is theory all the way down, and that teacher educators have a particular obligation to address theoretical issues in their work with future teachers.
The Sixth International Conference on Self- …, 2006
The word self in common use refers to something bounded by skin and a skull. By contrast, the self-study of the inherently relational practices of teacher education is often social in orientation. So the theme of Collaboration and Community: Pushing Boundaries through Self-Study was one readily agreed upon as appropriate for a celebration of a decade of coming together for collaborative conversations in lively community at the Castle Conferences. These proceedings would not be possible without many kinds of collaboration. The summaries of the papers presented at the Sixth International Conference on Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices include many in which the authors collaborated in research and in writing, a few of which represent multiple pairs or groups of collaborators. Many of the single authors describe partnerships or focus closely on the community built by professors working together with preservice or inservice teachers. Every step, from the call for proposals to distribution of the proceedings at the Castle, has benefited from collaboration.
Disrupting My Teaching Practices: A Teacher Educator Living as A Contradiction
Studying Teacher Education, 2020
As a teacher educator, I became concerned that my practice did not reflect my constructivist perspective. This realization disrupted my belief about my teaching efficacy. I understood that teacher education is often criticized for not sufficiently preparing teachers. Was I part of the problem? As a result, I initiated this study to examine my practice to identify how I might align my beliefs and practice. Using a self-study approach, I analyzed my teaching practices in a high school science classroom and during a science teacher education course. Brooks and Brooks' guiding principles of constructivism provided the lens, and qualitative coding mechanics provided the basis for analysis. Finally, using a modified Theory of Planned Behavior, the findings revealed that I struggled to initiate meaningful constructivist-oriented activities in a high school setting. In a subsequent teacher education course, I exhibited a deeper understanding and application of constructivist-oriented pedagogies. The results lead to recommendations for my continual development, for other teacher educators who discover that they are also living as a contradiction, and for graduate schools who prepare teacher educators.
WHAT IS THIS WORK CALLED TEACHING
Educational Theory, 1998
Teacher education has rarely challenged young people and instilled a sense of mission. Rather, it is most often a theory-laden, inconsistent rubrichelpful but insufficient without the modeling of the call and the passion that make teaching worthwhile. In William Ayers's To Become a Teacher and David Hansen's The Call to Teach, the teacher and teacher educator can find provocative challenges to the essentialist concept of teaching.' Both Ayers and Hansen explore the challenge and uncertainty, the personal creativity and commitment, and the uniquely individual aspect of each teacher's practice. Hansen provides the ethnographer's nuanced judgment as he sketches the practice of four teachers. Ayers assembles the voices of a varied group of educators and thinkers who share a deep commitment to the practice of teaching.
This article, inspired in part by the Levine report that criticizes teacher education programs in the United States for being out of touch with practices that work in real classrooms, is a self-study that explores the rift between educational theory, particularly theory that pushes for social constructionist, child-centered approaches to teaching, and teaching practices in majority African-American, inner-city schools. The authors conducted this year-long self-study to answer the question: What could the college's education program do to improve preparation for teaching in inner-city schools? Through their year-long collaboration in a middle-school writing classroom in an inner-city charter school, the authors examined what a prospective teacher learned in his education program that helped and hindered him and then explored how the successful approaches he developed as a new teacher could be incorporated into the college's preservice program.
Exploring the Final Step of Teacher Education: A Study of Student Teachers' Use of New Practices
2013
This dissertation and graduate degree have been, in every sense, the most difficult journey on which I have ever embarked. I have never worked harder or longer to complete anything. Yet, as I think back over these six years, I can claim only a small portion of the sacrifice as my own. Many of my colleagues, fellow students, friends, and family have provided the support, advice, companionship, and love necessary for such an undertaking. I want to thank the University of Michigan School of Education for giving me the opportunity to study under passionate people and learn so much about the value and necessity of teacher education. I want to thank my doctoral committee for their friendship and support throughout my years here. I will always remember my time with Maris Vinovskis, who provided me outstanding advice in such a comedic fashion. I am thankful for the opportunity to study history under Jeff Mirel, with his wealth of knowledge and the resources he provided. I am grateful to Elizabeth Moje for including me in her remarkable work and always encouraging me and making my work much more thoughtful. Finally, Bob Bain has been the best mentor I could have ever asked for. His uncanny timing in showing patience, encouragement, or the occasional much-needed rebuke has always blown me away. Bob had faith in my ability to succeed long after I had lost it. iv I also want to thank my good friends, who listened to my complaints and helped my family when we needed it. Thanks especially to Nick Muehling and Joe Schafer, you have been my best friends during these last six years. Thanks also to Sandy Muehling, Sharon