Intersectionality can advance an understanding of the gap created by the lack of an integrated treatment of diversity in teacher preparation research. Intersectionality is a frame that explores the complexities of the interactions of markers of difference. It holds great potential as a concept for preservice teachers’ understanding of diversity because it can inform collaborative efforts with diverse stakeholders and facilitate preservice teachers’ understanding of diverse learners. The researcher uses the term “intersectional competence” to describe preservice teachers’ understanding of diversity and how students, families, and colleagues have multiple sociocultural markers that intersect in nuanced and unique ways. In this study, the researcher drew from the literature on intersectionality in special education and the research on collaborative teacher preparation to identify preliminary indicators of the intersectional competence construct. The purpose of this study is to identify the indicators that best capture intersectional competence and to develop and validate an instrument that uses these indicators to measure preservice teachers’ intersectional competence. The instrument included two subsets of items. Subset A was a survey designed for preservice teachers to self-report their intersectional competence and Subset B consisted of items of a case-based measure of preservice teachers’ intersectional competence. A mixed-methods sequential exploratory design was applied to develop and validate the instrument. In the qualitative phase, the researcher began by collecting data that strengthens the theoretical basis for validating the instrument (i.e., interviews with focus groups, consulting with experts, and cognitive interviews or pre-testing). The second stage of the study involved the quantitative analysis of the results of pilot testing the items in subsets A and B.

abstract: While the literacy narrative genre has been studied in first-year composition and methods of teaching courses, investigations of the literacy narrative as a multimodal project for pre-service teachers (PSTs) of English Language Arts remain scarce. This research shares a qualitative classroom-based case study that focuses on a literacy narrative project, redesigned as a Multimodal Writing History Memoir (see Appendix 1), the first assignment in a required writing methods course in a teacher training program for English Language Arts (ELA) teachers at a large public university in the southwest. The study took place during the fall semester of 2019 with 15 ELA undergraduate pre-service English Education or Secondary Education majors. The study described here examined the implementation and outcomes of the multimodal writing history memoir with goals of better understanding how ELA PSTs design and compose multimodally, of understanding the topics and content they included in their memoirs, to discover how this project reflected PSTs’ ideas about teaching writing in their future classrooms. The memoir project invited pre-service teachers to infuse written, audio, and visual text while making use of at least four different mediums of their choice. Through combined theoretical frames, I explored semiotics, as well as pre-service teachers’ use of multiliteracies as they examined their conceptions of what it means to compose. In this qualitative analysis, I collected students’ memoirs and writing samples associated with the assignment, a demographics survey, and individual mid-semester interviews. The writing activities associated with the memoir included a series of quick writes (Kittle, 2009), responses to questions about writing and teachers’ responsibilities when it comes to teaching composition, and letters students wrote to one another during a peer review workshop. Additionally, my final data source included the handwritten notes I took during the presentations students gave to share their memoirs. Some discoveries I made center on the nuanced impact of acts of personal writing for PSTs, some of the specific teaching strategies and areas of teaching focus participants relayed, and specifically, how participants worked with and thought about teaching multimodal composition. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation English 2020

This mixed methods study investigates how Japanese non-native English speaking teachers’ (NNESTs) efficacy and identity are developed and differentiated from those of native English speaking teachers (NESTs). To explore NNESTs’ efficacy, this study focuses on the contributing factors, such as student engagement, classroom management, instructional strategies, self-perceived English proficiency, their teaching and teacher education backgrounds, culture related to teaching, and so on. For the portion of teacher identity, this study analyzes four perspectives: their role identity, professional identity, teacher education and professional development, English proficiency. After the data were collected from Japanese NNESTs, they were compared and contrasted with their NESTs’ counterparts. The primary goal of this study is to identify the characteristics of Japanese NNESTs’ efficacy and identity and investigate how their individual, educational, cultural, and other social factors influence their efficacy and identity development. Forty six (46) Japanese NNESTs and one hundred and two (102) NESTs who were teaching in the junior high, high school, and college levels in Japan participated in a survey. Five Japanese NNESTs and six NESTs from the three types of grade levels were interviewed. Data analysis procedures comprised a statistical analysis of the survey data and a theme analysis of the interview data, and both data sets were integrated to discover the mixed method findings. There were several major findings from this research. First, there was a positive correlation between Japanese NNESTs’ efficacy, particularly efficacy for instructional strategies, and self-perceived English proficiency. Therefore, higher English proficiency can be a predictor of a higher level of overall teacher efficacy and efficacy for instructional strategies. Second, although Japanese NNESTs’ efficacy for student engagement was lower than efficacy for classroom management and instructional strategies, they demonstrated various strategies for increasing their students’ motivation. Third, their Japanese use in instruction influenced their teacher identity, and being a language model and a behavioral role model was reflected on their Japanese NNESTs’ identity. Finally, college NESTs showed significantly higher teacher efficacy compared to different groups. Both Japanese NNESTs and NESTs’ efficacy and identity were formed by their previous teaching experiences, various roles as teachers, perceptions of Japanese educational system, culture, and students. The conclusion includes suggestions and implications for administrators, teacher educators, and Japanese NNESTs.

The purpose of this study was to identify essential features of Epistemic Orientation toward Teaching Science (EOTS) and to explore the relationships between EOTS and instructional practices. This study proposes a new concept, EOTS: defined as a teacher's set of interrelated beliefs that are developed and used when teaching science, and are shaped by the Nature of Knowing in General, the Nature of Knowing in Science, the Nature of Learning, and the Nature of Teaching. The essential elements of EOTS were identified through a comprehensive literature review and refined through a multiple-case study. The participants of the study were three exemplary fifth grade teachers who had been implementing an Argument-based Inquiry (ABI) approach, called Science Writing Heuristic (SWH), for more than three years and were highly devoted to encouraging their students to engage in science practices addressed in Next Generation Science Standard. Data were collected from multiple sources including semi-structured interviews, Video-Stimulated Recall interviews, classroom observations, researchers' field notes, and classroom artifacts. Data was systematically coded, and each belief and practice analyzed in-depth. The results identified eleven interconnected beliefs held in common by all three teachers. Among the eleven elements, How to Learn was the core belief that was most connected to the others and also aligned well with the Source of Knowing, How to Learn, Evidence-based Argument, and How to Teach; this idea established a strong structural foundation for the EOTS. In addition, some elements were explicitly presented when the teachers made instructional decisions, while others were only presented implicitly. In addition, prominent patterns of instructional practice were evident across the three cases. The teachers did not plan how to teach in advance, rather they made instructional decisions based on their epistemic orientations. In particular, they emphasized a conceptual understanding of the big ideas in science by making connections between students' ideas and the big ideas in science. Constant negotiation (construction and critique) was another pattern observed throughout the lessons. In creating effective learning conditions for conceptual understanding and constant negotiation, teachers used language practices and social, group-work as epistemic tools to help students construct and critique knowledge. Moreover, physical resources, such as physical materials and time, were used in a way that encouraged students to engage in science practice. More importantly, the way in which classroom practices and dialogue were managed relied heavily on the essential elements of ETOS. Specifically, How to Learn and Control of Learning influenced the student-centeredness of their instructional practices. This study provides several implications for teacher education and research. Teacher-education programs should focus energy on shaping teacher ideas about learning, and address the epistemic foundations of science practices. Further investigation into the essential elements of EOTS, and the relationship between these elements and instructional practices must be pursued with diverse subjects, contexts, and methodologies, to develop a fuller understanding of how these elements work as a whole.

The purpose of this study is to explore the writer identity of four preservice teachers from a large midwestern University. I utilized the narrative inquiry methodology. I interviewed participants four times: Once in January 2019, January 2020, March 2020, and May 2020. I also asked participants to submit a visual metaphor and reflection. Additionally, I observed participants teach in the secondary classroom. Primarily, the findings reveal that participant writer identities largely influence their secondary writing pedagogy. The findings also indicate that participant writer identities were strongly influenced by their k-12 English teachers. Lastly, the findings suggest that participants experienced trouble navigating tensions in writing instruction. The implications suggest that teacher educators can highlight identity work in teacher education courses to strengthen writer identity. Similarly, I recommend in the Implications section that teacher educators design activities to strengthen preservice teachers’ writer identities so they can strengthen the writer identity of future secondary students. The implications also underscore how teacher educators can highlight the tensions that preservice teachers may encounter as a secondary writing instructor, and how to navigate such tension. This study complements the research on writing teacher education and provides new possibilities to effectively prepare writing instructors.

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There is a pervasive reading crisis in the United States. Critics, including policymakers, educators, literacy scholars, and professional educational organizations have openly accused university teacher preparation programs of not preparing candidates to deliver effective reading instruction. This qualitative study used narrative inquiry to explore ways in which teacher candidates' participation in a research-based university clinical practicum contributed to their pedagogical understanding of literacy instruction. Conceptually this study was based on constructivism and the ideas of Dewey, Freire, Vygotsky, and Schon. Data collection included multiple interviews and observations to determine how teacher candidates' participation in clinical practicum affects their assumptions about literacy instruction. Interpretive initially emanated from inductive analysis involving a typological framework, and proceeded to an in-depth level of interpretation and data transformation and member-checking to verify participants' evolving stories. Results of the study indicated that the clinical experience imbued teacher candidates with the confidence, skills, and knowledge to affect the literate lives of all children. Further, interpretation of findings revealed that teaching a child to read gave preservice teachers opportunities to explore multiple teaching approaches for ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse learners, while working through paradigmatic barriers and preconceived beliefs. Ultimately, this study helped the teacher candidate realize that the work of an emissary for social change begins with a commitment to increase the quality of life for the children they teach through masterful and responsive teaching.

The utilization of educational data by teachers' at the classroom level to plan lessons and assessments is limited. Professional development is one tool that can be used to build data literacy in teachers. This study assessed how professional development in data based decision making impacted educators' efficacy and use of educational data. This research was based on constructivists learning theories and used professional development as a model for changing teachers' instructional practices. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of professional development in data-based decision-making on teacher efficacy and use of data at the classroom level. A one group pretest posttest quantitative study was used on a sample group of public school educators (N=226) from a school district in the Northeastern US. Surveys were administered before and after the intervention to determine if a significant difference in the efficacy and use of data to plan instruction resulted from professional development in data-based decision making. A Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon test was used to analyze the data. The analysis indicated no significant difference in teacher efficacy (W=27.50; p=1.00) but did show a significant increase in the use of data at the classroom level (W=70.00; p=.003). Based on this study, professional development is an effective tool for increasing the use of data-based instructional methods at the classroom level; however, it is not effective in changing teacher efficacy. This study contributes to positive social change by promoting meaningful conversations about the power of professional development models in data-based decision making as an effective means to change teaching practices.

Creativity has been included in student learning and model teaching standards with little systematic attention on the preparedness of current practitioners to implement such expectations. This qualitative case study is conducted to discover what knowledge and skills teachers perceived to be necessary to implement practices that foster and develop student creativity with a strong sense of self-efficacy. A purposeful sample of 58 teachers from 4 Arkansas A+ (ARA+) network schools shared their perceptions of how creativity-fostering professional development (PD) influenced their sense of self-efficacy to foster creativity and answer the research questions. Data were collected using questionnaires, individual interviews, and focus groups and analyzed through comparative analysis of open-ended responses. Findings showed that teachers who reported attending ARA+ PD had a positive influence on their sense of self-efficacy to foster creativity through shared applicable ideas and permissible risk taking. Establishing infrastructure for the creative process was determined to be the most salient knowledge and an increase in flexible thinking was the most salient skill. Conclusions drawn from teachers' experiences could provide an opportunity for positive social change through insightful recommendations. Creativity-fostering strategies, such as brainstorming procedures, were recommended for both professional interactions and for classroom instruction. Conclusions and proposed recommendations promote a deeper understanding of how efficacious beliefs towards creativity integration among practitioners could improve systematic efforts to address the imperative call for teachers to develop creativity skills within students.