This qualitative study gave insight on the benefits that a university literature course for future Spanish teachers could contribute to preservice teachers as part of their preparation program. Nine university students participated in this study as they were the ones enrolled in this first-time offered university literature course for Spanish teachers. Data were collected from pre- and post-questionnaires, journals, and course observations. The findings suggested that the preservice teachers grew in pedagogical content knowledge, literary content, resources and strategies, and felt an overall sense of preparedness to use literary sources in their future classrooms

Research about preservice teachers' beliefs indicates that the educational beliefs they have developed over time will have an impact on not only how they respond to the various experiences they have while enrolled in a teacher education program, but also their receptiveness to future professional development opportunities. I investigated the developing and emerging beliefs regarding reading and its instruction of four preservice elementary teachers during their participation in two university reading methods courses and the accompanying field-based experiences in the elementary teacher education program that was the site of my study. Two purposes framed the qualitative, longitudinal design of my study. One purpose was to examine the participants' prior, university-, and field-based experiences with reading and its instruction and the meaning they attached to these experiences. The second purpose was to learn how the participants incorporated into their developing belief systems as teachers of reading the various conceptions regarding reading development and its instruction they brought to and encountered during their university coursework and field experiences. Data sources included interviews, archival documents from the courses (reading philosophies, belief survey and autobiographical reading histories), reading expert surveys, reflexive philosophies and personal pedagogies. Results, presented in portraits for each participant, indicated that the participants created fictive images of the teachers they wanted to be that served as the lenses through which they interpreted both their university- and field-based experiences that were the focus of my study. When discussing their action agendas for teaching reading in the future, each participant relied on the fictive image she had created of herself as a teacher of reading. Consistent with existing research in this area, prior and field-based experiences with reading and its instruction seemed more influential in the development of these preservice teachers' beliefs than were the reading "methods of teaching" courses or instructors. A key implication, consistent with the National Commission on Excellence in Elementary Teacher Preparation for Reading Instruction (2003, 2007) recommendations, is for teacher educators to operate from and enact a clear vision of what reading instruction consists of across the elementary grade levels and content areas.

Questioning is an instructional strategy that serves many purposes for teachers and students. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the questioning sequence of moving from low- to high-level questions to support students’ reading text-based comprehension.After engaging in didactic instruction and practice in the TeachLivE™ Lab, teacher participants implemented low- and high-level question sequences during reading instruction with elementary students. Teacher performance was measured as a rate of question sequences in a multiple baseline design across two participants. Students’ verbal responses were assessed based on how they related a personal experience back to the text.Based on the findings, teachers effectively improved the use of questioning sequences.This instructional practice made a significant impact on low performing students. Overall students increased the quantity of c-units and accuracy.

Preservice teachers of reading develop their beliefs and understanding of reading pedagogy in diverse ways. While they do gather some knowledge and understanding from their university preparation courses and their practicum experiences in classrooms, a less transparent source of emerging understandings of reading pedagogy is their own experiences with reading instruction as students. Using a qualitative case study methodology, this dissertation study investigated how three preservice teachers interested in early childhood education developed understandings of reading pedagogy. Data collected included three interviews; two prompted reflective writings on their evolving understandings; observation in the participants’ reading processes course; and an interview with the course instructor. Findings indicated that preservice teachers’ biographies influenced both their understanding of how to teach reading and their attitudes toward it. Also, they favoured practicum experience over university coursework as a source of knowledge, and experienced tensions when their own beliefs contradicted the ideas espoused in the university course. In general, preservice teachers’ beliefs and experiences prior to starting their teacher education program caused resistance toward research-based theories and practices related to reading. Findings imply that teacher educators need to be explicit in providing many opportunities for their students to discuss and make sense of their epistemological understandings in relation to areas of tension with reading pedagogy. / Graduate

As teaching is a highly complex activity, so too is learning to teach. One pedagogy which has been shown to promote teacher learning is the use of small group discussion. This thesis examines the experiences of seven preservice secondary teachers at a New Zealand university who met weekly during their second practicum to discuss their experiences at their placement schools. Individual interviews conducted with five of the participants revealed that students felt positively about the weekly meetings. The preservice teachers appreciated 1) being able to hear about the experiences of other preservice teachers 2) tell others about their teaching 3) being able to seek advice and potential solutions to problems 4) the sense of personal connection and emotional support they gained during the weekly sessions. The students reported that the weekly meetings allowed them to think about their teaching from the perspective of others, and gave them time to reflect about their experiences while on practicum. This study situates these findings within the literature on initial teacher education and offers suggestions for future research using this pedagogy.

We know little about how English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) preservice teachers’ prior experiences and beliefs shape their learning process in teacher preparation programs, particularly in the area of second language (L2) reading instruction although research on preservice teachers’ antecedents has offered insights into our understanding of how they learn to become teachers (Johnson, 1992, 1994; Wilson, Floden, & Ferrini-Mundy, 2001). This inquiry was designed to contribute to such knowledge. The participants were nine ESOL pre-service teachers enrolled in an ESOL program of a large urban university in the southeastern region of the United States. Using modified versions of Language Teaching/Learning Beliefs Questionnaire (Brown & Rogers, 2002), of Multidimensional TESL Theoretical Orientation Profile (Johnson, 1992) and of the Theoretical Orientation of Reading Profile (Deford, 1985), reflective essays submitted during admission, observations, interviews, videotapings, and focus group, the study explored answers to questions regarding the influence of ESOL preservice teachers’ antecedents on their learning in coursework and field experiences over three semesters. The inquiry stemmed from the framework of constructivism (Crotty, 1998), of introspection and retrospection (Scarino, 2005), and of How People Learn (Donovan & Bransford, 2005). Data were analyzed using grounded theory and constant comparative techniques (Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Lincoln & Guba, 1985). Findings indicated that faculty used various strategies to address teacher candidates’ background for conceptual change and development of professional dispositions. Programmatic decisions to select teacher candidates with specific background in learning an L2 were beneficial but teacher preparation programs may need additional instruments to tap candidates’ entering beliefs more effectively. Although some aspects of the participants’ prior experiences were not beneficial, these experiences generally contributed to their understanding of ESOL education, visions of L2 instruction, and the development of professional dispositions as related to culturally responsive and socially just teaching in important ways. Also, participants’ views of reading, visions of reading instruction, reading instruction in field experiences, and their understanding of literacy theory and pedagogy were primarily influenced by their first language reading experiences. Finally, participants were less confident in articulating a vision of L2 reading instruction because of limited L2 reading prior experiences.

Given the growing cultural and economic diversity of today’s students, this qualitative case study investigates how 4 social studies preservice teachers taught for critical multicultural citizenship during their student teaching semester. The tenets of critical citizenship emerge out of the intersection of critical pedagogy and multicultural education. These tenets for critical multicultural citizenship education include seeking out and challenging gaps in democracy, promoting critical reflection and consciousness, and advocating for collective action to transform institutional injustices. This case study traced perspectives held by participants about the nature of democracy and citizenship and explored how these preservice teachers enacted these views in their classroom teaching. Data collection measures included five observations, reflective journals, three interviews, and other assignments related to the participant’s student teaching coursework. Findings suggest that these participants, all preservice teachers of color, adopted views and teaching practices that aligned with critical multicultural citizenship; however, participants struggled to overcome constraints in their student teaching contexts in order to teach for this kind of citizenship. / text

This dissertation examines the content of a required classroom management course to determine how preservice teachers are prepared for managing problem behaviors. Qualitative content analysis of interviews with four adjunct classroom management course instructors, their course syllabi, textbooks, assignments and projects, ancillary course materials, fieldwork, and formative assessment revealed how the topic of problem behaviors is incorporated and implemented in the design of the course and how the topic is addressed in the textbooks and other course materials selected for the course. The complexities of scholarly research, individual course instructors’ personal beliefs about classroom and behavior management and problem behaviors, and the implications of those personal beliefs upon text selection and course content that guide the preservice teacher’s developing philosophies to meet the challenges of today’s diverse educational settings provide the foundation for this interpretive analysis. Findings suggest that, regardless of the documented need for additional preservice teacher preparation in managing student behavior in general and problem behavior specifically, course content on problem behaviors in the classroom management course depends upon the course instructors’ personal beliefs about classroom and behavior management that developed through their personal knowledge, experience, and preferences. Academic freedom serves as a centerpiece of university professor and student rights. Academic freedom must support academic responsibility in the design, implementation, and evaluation of curriculum, preparation of course materials, complementary course offerings, and a competent and judicious treatment of the subject. Findings of this study reveal that the university’s academic responsibility for providing a “competent and judicious treatment of the subject” relies upon the personal beliefs of the individual course instructor. / text

My dissertation research explored the experiences of mathematics anxieties in women elementary preservice teachers while learning mathematics as K-12 students and while learning to teach mathematics. Previous studies conducted in mathematics teacher education have emphasized the importance of preservice teachers' mathematical knowledge for teaching, as a confident and competent mathematics teacher is a vital necessity in the classroom (Beilock, Gunderson, Ramirez, & Levine, 2010; Gavin & Reis, 2003; Huebner, 2009). As evidence of elementary preservice teachers' anxiety, I analyzed three women preservice teachers' oral and written narratives about their experiences with learning mathematics and learning to teach mathematics, which I collected over eighteen months at key moments in their teacher preparation program. My findings have revealed that for some women elementary preservice teachers, mathematics anxiety may be an issue or concern that remains consistent and recurs for decades. In fact, the multiple stories that the three preservice teachers had to tell indicated that their experiences in learning mathematics led them to develop a unique coping strategy to deal with mathematics anxiety. They continued to utilize their strategy repeatedly across their experiences as a student learning mathematics and learning to teach mathematics, even when the strategy sometimes failed to protect them from stress, embarrassment, and demoralization. Moreover, these coping strategies appeared to become so powerful that when the women confronted situations in which they felt expected to know mathematical content that they did not understand, they used their unique strategies for coping with mathematics anxiety rather than seriously attempting to learn that content. In this manner, these coping strategies often appeared to have injurious effects on their mathematics learning. Given that my study only included three participants, I suggest future research that mathematics teacher education researchers may want to consider. I also propose ways in which mathematics teacher educators might address issues of mathematics anxiety in elementary teacher preparation programs.

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to document and examine the beliefs held by preservice elementary teachers prior to entering a teacher education program concerning the nature of mathematics and their perceptions about the effective use of information and communication technology (ICT) for mathematics instruction. Through an online questionnaire (N=132) followed by interviews of purposefully selected respondents (n=8), the following questions were addressed: (1) What beliefs do preservice elementary mathematics teachers hold upon entering teacher education programs regarding the nature of mathematics? (2) What beliefs do preservice elementary mathematics teachers hold upon entering teacher education programs about how ICT should be used in the classroom? and (3) How do preservice elementary mathematics teachers’ beliefs about the nature of mathematics relate to their views about the use of ICT in teaching mathematics? Video-elicitation was used in the interviews to determine how respondents perceived various uses of interactive whiteboards. Respondents were grouped based on their beliefs about the nature of mathematics and their reactions to the videos that they were shown. It was discovered that interview respondents who held contrasting views about the nature of mathematics also held differing beliefs about teaching and learning as well as the benefits of ICT. Respondents who saw mathematics as a set of fixed naturally occurring rules, an Absolutist view, favoured teacher directed use of ICT to support the transmission of knowledge. On the other hand, those who viewed mathematics as a human construct, a Fallibilist image, were more in favour of ICT use to support student mathematics investigation and talk. The existence of a potential hidden curriculum was also discovered. Although all interview participants were shown the same videos, respondents in the two groups perceived roles of the teacher and students in the videos that were aligned with their beliefs about the nature of mathematics and teaching and learning. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2012-06-29 13:00:17.205