Thesis advisor: Lisa Patel Stevens / In this dissertation, I share findings generated from a year-long ethnographic and sociolinguistic study of the discursive practices of Black and Latina female preservice teachers, all nonstandard language and dialect speakers, across three settings: the university classroom, the practicum teaching classroom, and a social setting. The aim of the study was to examine how teacher education as a discursive space shapes the linguistic decisions of ethnolinguistic minority preservice teachers—individuals who speak varieties of languages and dialects that are deemed “less than” and “inferior to” dominant language varieties (e.g., African American Language (see Baugh, 1999; Smitherman, 1999); Spanish language varieties (e.g., Anzaldúa, 1987/1999; Zentella, 2004)), and accordingly, are granted lower status in American society (Lippi-Green, 2004). Guiding this inquiry was the understanding that through the study of language, it is possible to reveal the tacit theories and ideologies that persist within dominant spaces and the ways in which such ideologies affect the language choices that ethnolinguistic minority preservice teachers must make in order to acculturate a dominant teacher identity. I captured and examined transcripts of discursive practices evidenced through videotaped and audiotaped speech events, observations, interviews, and archival data (e.g., journal reflections, classroom assignments) using ethnographic research methods and critical discourse analysis (see Chouliaraki and Fairclough, 1999; Rogers, 2004c). My analysis of the data prompted implications for the field of teacher education and for the role of qualitative research methodologies in the study of language, discourse, and identity. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2008. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Curriculum and Instruction.

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Preservice teachers engaging in practicum experiences often express anxiety and uncertainty related to providing discipline and classroom management. This uncertainty seems to increase when the classroom environment, in which they are student teaching, functions in ways that are unfamiliar to them. For most student teachers, the Virginia Tech Child Development Lab School is an unfamiliar environment. The Lab School provides developmentally appropriate opportunities for young children based on a social constructivist, Reggio-inspired, inquiry-based philosophy. The Lab School values constructive guidance as a means of helping young children learn how to regulate their emotions, act in socially-acceptable ways, and become a caring classroom community. This study explores how preservice teachers make sense of and implement constructive guidance strategies within the Maroon Room at the Lab School. Specifically, this study explores the experiences and perceptions of eight undergraduate students who were junior child development majors focusing on early childhood education. Results indicate that although these student teachers had prior coursework in constructive guidance, many felt ill-prepared and uncertain as they entered the Maroon Room. They had difficulty seeing order within the Maroon Room, a classroom of fourteen four- and five-year old children. Through careful observation of the children, their fellow student teachers, and the Head and Supervising Teacher, the student teachers adjusted to the classroom. Regular, on-going conversations about the classroom, the children, and their own dilemmas and uncertainties also assisted in the student teachers negotiation of constructive guidance. Through developing an understanding of and relationships with the children, the student teachers were able to constructively guide the children s development, individually and as a group. Some of the student teachers remained uncertain about their ability to implement some of these strategies in an elementary school classroom. However, most of the student teachers expressed an increased value for and confidence in using the constructive guidance methods used at the Lab School. I offer suggestions for easing future student teachers transition from learning about constructive guidance theoretically to becoming skilled at using constructive guidance. I, further, offer additional ideas of how teacher educators could support student teachers negotiation of constructive guidance. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this study was to examine how two different groups of preservice teachers from two universities identified and described appropriate and inappropriate teaching practices and suggest appropriate changes. The investigation was also designed to provide teacher educators with insights into how to better prepare prospective teachers for their first teaching experience. Participants for this study were 30 undergraduate preservice teachers from two southeastern universities. There were 15 participants from each group, which included 17 males and 13 females. Eight video vignettes were created from the Developmentally Appropriate Practices document developed by NASPE (1992). Two vignettes depicted appropriate practices and six portrayed inappropriate practices. Participants viewed the vignettes during scheduled appointments and were instructed to identify and describe what they saw in the vignettes according to the criterion guidelines developed for this study. Data sources for the investigation were the participants' written responses gathered from the Qualitative Response Chart (questionnaire) and the Debriefing Sheet. The research project attempted to answer the following questions: Were there differences in how University A and University B identified and described appropriate teaching practices in physical education? What were the differences in the teaching practices recommended? To what experiences did the two groups attribute their ability to identify and describe appropriate and inappropriate teaching practices? Results indicated that the amount and kind of experiences provided by the respective teacher education programs did have an impact on how the participants identified and described appropriate teaching practices in physical education. / Ph. D.

Building on the epistemological foundations of constructivism (Creswell, 2014) and qualitative research methodologies, a FADE framework (Reinking and Bradley, 2008) and a case study approach (Merriam, 2002) were selected to develop an understanding of preservice teachers' thinking about student learning during their planning, teaching, and reflection through the lesson study (Lewis, 2009) process. Through qualitative methodology, the triangulation of data occurred using qualitative data sources: (a) pre and post interviews, (b) participatory field notes, (c) research lesson plans, (d) debriefing interviews, (e) field notes created by the preservice teachers. Each data source was analyzed individually and then compared across the case providing a deeper understanding of how preservice teachers think about student learning in the context of lesson study including how: (a) preservice teacher grew their thinking about student learning, (b) preservice teachers were better able to observe and look for evidence of thinking about students' learning, (c) the lesson study process allowed them to work as a team, (d) they associated lesson study with being a positive learning experience. This research provides additional insight into how teacher preparation programs can strengthen preservice teachers learning in classrooms through lesson study (Darling-Hammond, 2009; Lewis, 2009; Lewis et al., 2012). It also provides opportunities for further research on connecting planning, reflection, and teaching practices as well as, how to build connections between mentor teachers, preservice teachers, and teacher preparation programs (Parks, 2009). / PHD / This case study explored the impact of a collaborative learning cycle with preservice teachers in elementary classrooms. The research question was: What was the impact of lesson study on preservice teachers thinking about student learning. Preservice teachers participated in a lesson study cycle where they collaboratively developed goals for students, planned a lesson, one teacher taught the lesson and the others observed, and lastly they reflected on this process as a group and adjusted their lesson based on their thinking about student learning. Each of the lessons was taught in real classrooms with students whom they were familiar. The data suggested that preservice teachers were able to deepen their understanding of thinking about student’s learning and identify it in their work together. The collaborative process enabled them to further their understanding of thinking about student learning by having additional insight to what they observed in their lessons. The cyclical process of lesson study allowed the preservice teachers to attend to additional observations of their students because they were familiar with the lesson, content, and had considered what evidence of student learning they could collect. This study provides insight into how preservice teacher preparation programs could better connect theory to practice through lesson study cycles and provide authentic collaborative learning experiences for preservice teachers that mimics actual teaching in the classroom.

This study investigates the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) assistants in reducing administrative burdens on public school teachers in the United States, where approximately $1.04 billion annually is allocated for teachers to perform non-teaching tasks. As AI technologies advance, their integration into educational settings presents an opportunity to automate 20-40% of administrative activities, reallocating up to 13 hours per week toward more impactful educational engagements. This shift could significantly mitigate teacher burnout, a significant factor in the profession’s high turnover rates. The introduction of the AI chatbot, “EL” (Education and Learning in Inclusive Environments), is posited as a transformative tool designed to assist with routine administrative tasks, potentially enhancing educational efficiency and allowing teachers to focus more on direct student interaction and pedagogical innovation. The quasi-experimental research design employed a T-test, Chi-Squared, and Cohen’s d to analyze the effects of AI assistant usage among pre-service teachers at the University of Central Florida. Through a pretest and post-test approach, the study assessed the effectiveness of EL in creating lesson plans that included accommodations and modifications. Additionally, the research examined the correlation between the frequency of AI assistant usage and the likelihood of pre-service teachers allowing their future students to use AI tools and pre-service teachers use of AI over four weeks. Preliminary results indicate a significant change in the attitudes and practices of pre-service teachers regarding AI, with notable improvements in their familiarity and ethical considerations of AI use in educational settings. The findings suggest that integrating AI assistants like “EL” can effectively support teachers and enhance student learning experiences, highlighting the necessity of including AI literacy in teacher education programs.

Although studies of teacher preparation programs have documented positive changes in mathematical knowledge for teaching with preservice teachers in mathematics content courses, this study focused on the impact of a mathematics methods course and follow-up student teaching assignment. The presumption was that preservice teachers would show growth in their mathematical knowledge during methods since the course was structured around active participation in mathematics, research-based pedagogy, and was concurrent with a two-day-per-week field experience in a local elementary school. Survey instruments utilized the computer adaptive test version of the Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching (MKT) measures from the Learning Mathematics for Teaching Project, and the Attitudes and Beliefs (towards mathematics) survey from the Mathematical Education of Elementary Teachers Project. A piecewise growth model analysis was conducted on data collected from 176 participants at 5 time-points (methods, 3 time-points; student teaching, 2 time-points) over a 9 month period. Although the participants' demographics were typical of U.S. undergraduate preservice teachers, findings suggest that initial low-level of mathematical knowledge, and a deep-rooted belief that there is only one way to solve mathematics problems, limited the impact of the methods and student teaching courses. The results from this study indicate that in (a) number sense, there was no significant change during methods (p = .392), but a significant decrease during student teaching (p < .001), and in (b) algebraic thinking, there was a significant decrease during methods (p < .001), but no significant change during student teaching (p = .653). Recommendations include that the minimum teacher preparation program entry requirements for mathematical knowledge be raised and that new teachers participate in continued professional development emphasizing both mathematical content knowledge and reform-based pedagogy to continue to peel away deep-rooted beliefs towards mathematics.

Science is an area of study with unique particularities concerning what “counts” as scientific practices where some learners are legitimized, while other learners are not. Such is the case for preservice elementary teachers (hereafter PSETs) –a population characterized by the literature as being in-need of science intervention. However, most of the literature deficiently conceptualizes PSETs’ science learning, so I sought for ways to refigure their learning positively. Drawing from Van Horne and Bell’s (2017) constructs of practice-linked and disciplinary identity, I offer that PSETs have nuanced, complex science identities that are influenced by their lived experiences inside and outside the classroom. To investigate the lived experiences of PSETs both inside and outside the classroom, 10 video-recorded, focus-group interviews were done while PSETs were undertaking an undergraduate chemistry-content course. Students were asked about their relationships with science as past elementary and high school students, as well as current undergraduate students. Students were also asked how they perceived their learning in the chemistry-content course. The research questions this work seeks to answer are:<div><br><div>• How do PSETs construct their science practice-linked identities?</div><div>• How does Fundamentals of Chemistry afford identity resources that contribute to PSETs’ science practice-linked identities?</div><div><br></div><div>The data was coded for themes surrounding their science identities, teaching identities, and learning of each individual PSET. Using narrative analysis, I synthesized three allegories, “I am a science person,” and “I am not a science person,” and Ambiguous which aim to elucidate the spectrum of ways PSETs navigate science learning as a science person, a non-science person, and an unsure person. In addition to the PSETs’ stories, I also analyzed how the chemistry-content course curriculum afforded PSETs with identity-building resources that helped science learning as current students and as future elementary teachers. I found that PSETs’ science identities formed before the course impacted the ways they participated in the chemistry-content course (practice-linked identity), but the curriculum offered students opportunities to renegotiate their science identities and practice science in ways that felt more legitimate to themselves and their prospective careers. Overall, I hope this work informs how instructors can design courses that are sensitive towards the needs of their students and highlight the importance of having a curriculum that affords students with the chance to re-engage with disciplinary practices in which their identities are legitimized as meaningful for their learning.If science determines practices that “count,” science must also acknowledge whose practices are accounted.<br><div><br></div></div></div>