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abstract: This mixed methods study explores the work of five small writing communities formed within a university-based preservice English language arts writing methods course. Fifteen preservice English language arts teachers took part in the study and participated across five peer writing groups. The study shares the instructional design of the course as well as the writing activities and practices that took place within the groups over the course of one 15-week semester. The study draws on Wenger’s (1998, 2009) theory of communities of practice as well as activity theory (Engeström,1999, 2001; Russell, 1997) to understand the social supports, practices, and learning activities that assisted these preservice teachers as writers and as teachers of writing. The qualitative data included writing surveys, writing samples, and participant interviews as well as pre and post writing self-efficacy surveys as quantitative data. This study documents the affordances and constraints of peer writing groups in methods courses for preservice English language arts teachers and how these groups may influence their identities and practices as writers and as teachers of writing. These findings provide insight into ways we might strengthen the preparation of English language arts preservice teachers as teachers of writing and build communities of practice within preservice training courses and programs. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation English 2019

Previous research indicates that pre- and in-service teachers are not receiving adequate training to implement data-informed instructional decision making. This is problematic given the promise this decision making process holds for improving instruction and student learning. At the same time, many educators do not see the value of different types of assessment data (e.g. accountability data), and lack the knowledge, skills, and confidence to use available data to guide instructional decisions. The purpose of this study was to conduct a formative evaluation of an online training designed to improve Iowa pre- and in-service teachers’ perceptions about data, data knowledge, skills and confidence working with data. The training along with a data literacy test was administered online to 29 pre-service teachers from two Iowa universities. A pre-post design was used to assess changes in these data constructs. Results indicated that participants’ perceptions about external accountability data improved significantly after completing the training, as did their confidence working with data. However, most participants’ data performance were relatively stable pre-post training. A content analysis of responses pre-post revealed qualitative changes in some participants’ thinking about data. Participants rated the value, effectiveness and quality of the training and complementary materials. Ratings were mostly positive, with participants signifying the training and materials as valuable and effective for enhancing their understanding of data as well as their confidence working with data. Participants also identified opportunities for improving the training. The author concludes with a discussion of the results, implications for future research, and how the study adds to the existing literature and informs practice.

Over the last five years, there has been an increased number of computers in schools and teachers' colleges in Jamaica. In addition, recently revised national policy documents have indicated the need to infuse technology into the curricula of all schools. Despite these investments in computers, however, there has been little corresponding development in training teachers to use computers and emerging technologies as teaching learning tools. The purposes of the study were three-fold: (a) to describe the current state of technology integration in Jamaica's teacher training programs (b) assess the extent to which teachers' college faculty and pre-service teachers perceived themselves as prepared to teach with computers, as well as their perceived computer proficiency; and (c) to use data gathered in the study to inform an action plan for integrating technology into Jamaica's teacher training programs. To gather required data, a survey design was employed because the study required collection of data from a large number of persons located in diverse sections of the island. Data were collected from three distinct groups of participants in three teachers' colleges in Jamaica. These included six teachers' college administrators--two principals and four vice-principals, 121 teachers' college faculty, and 268 final-year pre-service teachers. Data were gathered through interviews with college administrators and IT faculty, questionnaires administered to college faculty and pre-service teachers, and focus group discussions with pre-service teachers. The results indicate that, in general, teacher training programs in Jamaica have not systematically incorporated technology in the college curricula. In addition, to a large extent, teachers' college faculty and pre-service teachers did not perceive themselves as prepared to teach with computers. These respondents also reported low levels of proficiency with various computer tools. In response to the urgent need to integrate technology into Jamaica's teachers' college curricula, the author proposes a new VIBES conceptual framework as an action plan specifically designed to facilitate technology integration into this setting. VIBES is comprised of five components: Vision, Infrastructure, Behaviour, Experience, and Support, hence the acronym. Each component of VIBES is required in teacher training programs if technology is to be systematically incorporated into the college curricula.

Throughout the last decade (1999-2009) Florida's Bureau of Exceptional Education Student Services, in partnership with Institutions of Higher Education created the Florida Virtual ESE program to develop and deliver online professional development courses. The state also provided tuition support for teachers to participate in online professional development coursework to earn credentials necessary to be considered Highly Qualified. Online course delivery is thought to be a cost-effective approach to the provision of professional development for in-service teachers. However, there is a need to examine what it takes to create meaningful online learning experiences that facilitate the goals and objectives particular to the field of special education. Thus, this study explored the nature and qualities of the instructor's and six graduate-level exceptional student educators' experience in one Virtual ESE course entitled: Educating Students with Autism. This study utilized Portraiture Methodology because it provided a systematic framework to develop understandings of lives, pedagogy, or cultural institutions. The products from this genre of research approach are compelling, empirically grounded, and meaningful portraits (Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997). Data collection for this study included: semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, document reviews, and analysis of artistic and photographic data. These data documented different aspects of each individual's experience in the online course and the relation of the course to her teaching practice. Portraits developed as a result of this inquiry were grounded in the following: (a) participants' general understanding of the nature and purpose of the course, (b) their understanding the online pedagogical tools used for instruction, (c) their perceptions of the online discussion boards (synchronous and asynchronous), and (d) their concerns. These experiences were woven into portraits that highlight the importance of themes including, but not limited to, relationships, course design and content. The final portraits illuminated idiosyncratic issues that emerged within the context of student's professional and personal lives and impacted their engagement in the online course.

Since the merging of special education and regular mainstream education into a unified system now known as inclusive education, this concept has kept many educators divided. However, it appears that inclusive education has now become the preferred option where children with special needs are given equal opportunity to learn with their peers in inclusive classrooms and an environment where they can freely interact with one another. While the seed of inclusive education had been sown and effectively implemented in most developed countries, it has yet to sprout in the Solomon Islands. It has been suggested that the success of inclusive education depends very much on teachers and their attitudes. Because of that, teachers need adequate training in inclusive education so that they can effectively implement inclusion in their classroom, thus highlighting pre-service training of teachers as an essential factor which may enhance inclusive education in the Solomon Islands. This study was based on an interpretive research paradigm. A qualitative research approach methodology was used. Teacher educators and pre-service teachers from a teacher training college were identified to be the focus of this study. It aimed to investigate their attitudes, knowledge and understanding on special and inclusive education and to find out if the current training is making adequate provision for these two approaches to occur. The primary source of data collection was the use of semi-structured interviews, done through face to face interview followed by a focus group interview. Interview questions were developed for both teacher educators and pre-service teachers. The focus group interview involved all participants. According to the literature, school organisation, leadership, pre-service training and staff development together with policy and funding are just some factors that can contribute to the success of inclusive education. The results suggested that teacher educators and pre-service teachers appeared to have limited knowledge and understanding on what constitutes special education and inclusive practices. There was also a lack of sound policy at the government level that would pave the way for inclusive education in the Solomon Islands. This situation had created a gap between inclusive education policy and practices in the country. Because of lack of policy at the nation level, it had also affected the way other institutions like the School of Education perceived inclusive education. This was evident in that, the notion of educating children with special needs in an inclusive classroom and environment was never introduced to pre-service teachers in the course of their pre-service training at the School of Education (SOE). That was the hallmark of this study. This study suggests that firstly, it is very important for teachers to understand the importance of teaching children with special needs in an inclusive environment. Secondly, this notion of teaching children with special needs in inclusive classroom should be introduced into the curriculum of pre-service training for beginning teachers. Thirdly, all stake holders need to have a change of mindset to create a positive attitude to special education and inclusive practices.

This thesis is concerned with the concept of social justice. It is a concept increasingly used in educational literature, yet infrequently well theorized. However, if one of the key aims of education is the development of active and informed citizens who will work to further democratic processes and thereby a more just society, then teacher educators and policy makers need to develop in pre-service teachers a well considered sense of justice and a desire to teach for social justice. The problematic here is the highly contested nature of the meaning of social justice. Given the lack of a universally agreed upon understanding of what social justice means, a useful avenue of research is how do teachers, who are meant to carry out the above aims of education, understand social justice and what are possible implications of these understandings? Research of this nature is rare however, it is argued here that such research is important as the manner in which teachers understand social justice will have implications for the way in which they teach, the content they choose to present to their students, and their view of what a just society may look like. Accordingly, the aim of this thesis is to explore the understanding a sample of final year secondary pre-service teachers studying Studies of Society and Environment (SOSE) in a School of Education in a university in the State of Queensland, Australia, have, of the concept of social justice. The range of understandings of social justice held by this sample of pre-service teachers are then evaluated against a well known but infrequently well articulated (within the educational context) theory of social justice, that is, Justice as Fairness by John Rawls. Pre-service secondary teachers of SOSE, that is, social science teachers, were chosen for this research on the basis that it is they, who, by the nature of their subject disciplines, for example, history, geography, sociology, economics and political philosophy, are most likely to have greater opportunities to engage with issues of social justice, citizenship, and democracy within their teaching. Based on this assumption, teachers of SOSE should possess a greater knowledge of social justice compared to other teachers. While the focus of this research is on pre-service teachers of SOSE, it is incumbent on teachers of all discipline areas to work towards developing active and informed citizens who will work to expand and support democratic processes, as set out in the aims of education. As such, this research is relevant not only to social science teachers, but rather to all teachers. In order to carry out the above aim I modify and breakdown the complexity of Rawlsian theory to a number of more easily understood aspects or focal points of social justice and argue that the resulting conceptual framework is in line with both the aims of education previously stated and the widely accepted belief of Australia as an egalitarian society. Such a task, which has not previously been done within an educational context, seems timely as under the dominant neo-liberal ideology and the increased prominence given to difference theorists of social justice, issues of economic equality appear to have fallen off the agenda in recent governmental and educational social justice research and discourse. A phenomenographic research approach was used to ascertain the range of understandings a theoretical sample of 15 final year pre-service secondary teachers of SOSE had of social justice. Data were obtained from one-off semi-structured interviews. Phenomenographic research typically groups the pre-service teacher‟s responses into different categories or understandings of social justice. In this study, pre-service teachers displayed three qualitatively different ways of experiencing or understanding social justice. In brief, they characterized or understood social justice as: (1) providing equal opportunity; (2) as providing equal participation; or (3) as active citizenship. These categories may then be hierarchically arranged against the previously constructed Rawlsian framework. For example, in Category 3 (active citizenship), pre-service teachers understanding of social justice had more in common with the Rawlsian framework (indicating a deeper understanding of social justice) than either Category 1 or 2. Accordingly, Category 3 was ranked the highest under the above criteria followed by Category 2 and then Category 1. When compared with the Rawlsian framework, pre-service teacher‟s understandings of social justice were found to be lacking by varying degrees between the three categories in three key areas: social justice as a focus on structural inequality; social justice as a focus on a more egalitarian society; and social justice as a focus on active citizenship and the promotion of democratic processes. The implications of these omissions are discussed in terms of teaching for social justice, and promoting a more just and democratic society. In particular, the egalitarian nature of a Rawlsian framework directs future educational research, policy engagement, and teacher education on social justice to issues of poverty and inequality and their impact on the educational outcomes of low-income students in Australia and on the direction in which Australian society is heading. Accordingly, a case is made for the use of a Rawlsian framework of social justice in teacher education courses. However, such a framework is not to be regarded as the end point to debates of social justice, but as a useful starting point to a more substantive engagement with issues of social justice as they may apply to pre-service teacher education, and educational research and policy.

Drawing on portraiture methods, this case study is an exploration of the experiences of pre-service teachers who participated in a music-integrated literacy methods course during their first semester in an elementary teacher preparation program. The study is a response to previous researchers’ findings that arts-integrated university courses hold the most impact on the teaching practices of pre-service teachers when included early in their preparation programs and that pre-service teachers are more hesitant about music integration than the integration of other art forms. Data collected over the course of one semester included course assignments, reflective journals, a survey designed to measure teacher attitudes toward the use of the arts in teaching, observations of teaching practices in the field, audio-recorded debriefing sessions after each teaching observation, and audio-recorded semi-structured interviews. Six participants were observed in their field placements and six participants were interviewed; two participants were included in both the observation and interview groups. Data analysis included the use of In Vivo and axial coding as well as Impressionistic Records. Four major themes regarding pre-service teachers’ experiences in a music-integrated literacy methods course were identified: (a) pre-service teachers’ thinking as learners in a music-integrated literacy methods course doesn’t transfer to their teaching practices, (b) previous training in music impacts how pre-service teachers envision their future arts-integrated teaching, (c) pre-service teachers’ actual practice doesn’t mirror their envisioned practice, and (d) pre-service teachers desire more supportive field experiences that allow freedom to integrate the arts and place less emphasis on testing mandates. Further, pre-service teachers who have experienced a music-integrated literacy methods course see music as an effective tool for teaching literacy concepts to their students. This study provides an in-depth understanding of pre-service teachers’ experiences in a music-integrated literacy methods course and highlights their voices as heard in the data.

In the Teaching Principle (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics [NCTM], 2000), it explained that development and utilization of pedagogical content knowledge required teachers to continually increase their knowledges of mathematics content and pedagogy. This study researched the amalgamation of multi-faceted factors and inter-relatedness of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), content knowledge for teaching mathematics (CKTM), and mentoring support perceptions throughout elementary and middle level student teachers’ and interns’ initial full-time teaching experiences. In the first article 13 elementary and seven middle grade student teachers’ are examined based on differences between pedagogical content knowledge and content knowledge for teaching mathematics. Standardized difference scores were calculated and compared using multivariate contrasts on certification level. Results showed statistically significant differences (p < .01) on all three CKTM domains but no statistically significant differences were found on any of the five Classroom Observation and Assessment for Teachers (COPAT) domains. Both groups had the highest mean difference in the CKTM number/concept domain. COPAT results showed middle grade level pre-service teachers primarily had all positive mean differences, in comparison to the elementary level pre-service teachers, which had all negative mean differences. In the second article the mathematics mentoring support perceptions of 11 first year teachers who participated in a year-long urban internship program were examined. Semi-structured interviews revealed that district and grade level campus mentors provided the most mathematics instruction and pedagogically-based support to both groups of interns. Middle school level interns relied more on their team of mathematics teachers and elementary level interns received more mathematical content support from their district mentor than did middle level interns. Pedagogical support was greatest in the areas of lesson design and implementation of classroom management strategies. In the third article 14 elementary and six middle level student teachers were observed and interviewed on general and content-specific pedagogical skills and perceptions. Results indicated both groups of student teachers perceived themselves as most competent in having lesson plans ready, routines evident, and utilizing studentcentered instruction. Conversely, both groups felt least competent in getting students on task quickly, using a variety of teaching strategies, using critical thinking skills, and handling inappropriate behavior effectively.

This research study aims to investigate how cooperating teachers (CTs) in Partnership Schools working with pre-service teachers (PTs) from Universities in Ankara and Bursa reflect on challenges they face according to their own perceived roles and responsibilities in the process of implementing their complicated and demanding work to contribute to pre-service teacher training in schools. The present study specifically focuses on cooperating teachers&amp / #8217 / perceived challenges in relation to the feedback process and their cooperation with pre-service teachers to fulfill their roles and responsibilities to understand the nature of cooperating teachers&amp / #8217 / work, and how such recognition and understanding could empower all the parties involved- cooperating teachers and pre-service teachers with the aim of making the school experience more beneficial for pre-service teachers. The results of data collection show that CTs need further training in almost all aspects of their work directly related to the teaching learning environment in schools. Areas of their work that need improvement are also introduced, and recommendations to cope with challenges are presented.