An evaluation of BYU's Local TESOL Minor Internship program shows the strengths and weaknesses of this academic internship program. Students are required to complete 150 hours of TESOL-related work outside of their courses. The interns volunteer in different English-teaching programs in the area. Internship hours include the time in the classroom, preparation, materials development, as well as the time in the Linguistics 496R course. The interns are required to have most of their minor classes finished before they complete their internship so that their internship can be a capstone to and an application of what they have learned thus far. This MA evaluation project reports findings of a formal program evaluation of BYU's Local TESOL Internship program, which has been in place for four years. It specifically looks at how effective the internships are by addressing the program's criteria which are: The internship enhances the student's education, reflects what the students have been taught in their TESOL minor classes, helps the interns become more confident teachers, helps the interns feel more prepared to teach ESL, and creates ties with the community. The paper presents quantitative data collected from surveys of past and present interns as well as program administrators. It also presents qualitative data from the same surveys as well as from summary papers in which the interns have discussed their internship experience. The evaluation also offers suggestions and recommendations for the program, as well as future research recommendations.

A team of graduate students from Brigham Young University under the supervision of the main author Dr. Lynn Henrichsen collaborated on creating a book, as well as a website, Basic Training and Resources for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (BTR TESOL). The entire project consists of 10 sections with nearly 50 units addressing topics that novice teachers should know before teaching English to non-native speakers. The BTR TESOL program provides basic material for untrained novice teachers that will help them to be better prepared to face the challenges and responsibilities of teaching English. This write-up describes the creation of two units titled "Basic Principles of Second Language Acquisition" and "Communicative Language Teaching and Information Gap Exercises." The first unit, "Basic Principles of Second Language Acquisition," educates novice teachers about some of the basic theoretical concepts of second language acquisition that can be applied directly to teaching. It also includes a discussion of variables that can affect second language acquisition. The second unit, "Communicative Language Teaching and Information Gap Exercises," introduces novice teachers to basic principles of the communicative approach and the steps involved in the creation and implementation of information gap exercises. Both units include an opening scenario and a list of the objectives of the unit. Following the main content, there is an audio or video segment related to the theme of each unit as well as reflection questions. The final section directs readers to resources where they can go to learn more about the subject.

This teaching experiment used design-based research (DBR) to document the norms and practices that were established with respect to fractions in a mathematics content course for prospective elementary teachers. The teaching experiment resulted in an instructional theory for teaching fractions to prospective elementary teachers. The focus was on the social perspective, using an emergent framework which coordinates social and individual perspectives of development. Social norms, sociomathematical norms, and classroom mathematical practices were considered. A hypothetical learning trajectory (HLT) including learning goals, instructional tasks, tools and imagery, and possible discourse, was conjectured and implemented in the mathematics class. Video tapes of the class sessions were analyzed for established norms and practices. Resulting social norms were that students would: (a) explain and justify solutions, (b) listen to and try to make sense of other students' thinking, and (c) ask questions or ask for clarification when something is not understood. Three sociomathematical norms were established. These were expectations that students would: (a) know what makes an explanation acceptable, (b) know what counts as a different solution, and (c) use meaningful solution strategies instead of known algorithms. Two classroom mathematical practices with respect to fractions were established. The first was partitioning and unitizing fractional amounts. This included (a) modeling fractions with equal parts, (b) defining the whole, (c) using the relationship of the number of pieces and the size of the pieces, and (d) describing the remainder in a division problem. The second practice was quantifying fractions and using relationships among these quantities. This included: (a) naming and modeling fractions, (b) modeling equivalent values, and (c) using relationships to describe fractions. Finally, recommendations for revising the HLT for a future teaching experiment were made. This will contribute toward the continuing development of an instructional theory for teaching fraction concepts and operations to prospective elementary teachers.

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No description available.

No description available.

Teacher absenteeism, retirement, and attrition have led to a widespread shortage of substitute teachers throughout the United States , resulting in the hiring of individuals who lack teacher certification and educational pedagogy. In the past decade, West Virginia joined many other states confronted with the decreased substitute teacher pool and the hiring of non-certified individuals in the classrooms. With the <i>highly qualified teacher</i> requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), focus was situated on the adequate qualifications of substitute teachers. Many substitute teachers do not have the educational pedagogy or teacher certification necessary to be considered <i>highly qualified</i> by the NCLB. Mandatory training for non-certified substitute teachers lacking proper certification and educational pedagogy became the focus to <i>qualify</i> these individuals for the classroom. This study focuses on the self-efficacy of non-certified individuals attending the substitute teacher training in the Regional Education Service Agencies (RESAs) in the state of West Virginia to determine if their self-efficacy beliefs change after two days of mandatory substitute training or after classroom experience. The Teacher's Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES) developed by Tschannen-Moran and Woolfolk-Hoy (2001) was the instrument used to measure the self-efficacy of non-certified substitute teachers. Findings indicate that the teaching self-efficacy of non-certified substitute teachers significantly increased from pre-training to post-training, but significantly decreased from post-training to post-teaching experiences. Additionally, findings revealed that age and gender did not have a significant influence on self-efficacy from pre-training, to post-training, to post-teaching. Finally, applications and ramifications of these results are then discussed. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this thesis is to indicate the scope of the health services that an elementary school needs and to show how these services might be made most fruitful in terms of tangible results.

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the role of colleges of education in the North West Province. Put differently it wished to determine to what extent colleges of education in the North West Province as institutions are adjusted to their real potential environments so that adjustments could be made if necessary. In order to be able to investigate teacher training in the North West Province, a literature survey was conducted to determine the core criteria regarding quality and efficiency in teacher training. The instruments used in the planning process are explained and the one which deals with strategic planning in an education system is used to plan the functioning of colleges of education in the North West Province to comply with the identified core criteria. A detailed consideration of the functioning of colleges of education in the North West Province is introduced by a brief overview of the evolving pattern of the South African teacher education and a review of proposals to unify higher education and to broaden the role of colleges. The literature study on the historical background of teacher education in South Africa revealed that it has been a fragmented and inefficient system in which teachers were inequitably distributed across South Africa. An investigation into the functioning of colleges of education in the North West Province is based on the components of the education system as entailed in the chosen strategic planning in education model mentioned earlier. The opinions of experts and stakeholders in the field of the role of colleges of education in the North West Province were obtained through the empirical study done according to the steps of strategic planning in education. The findings obtained after data interpretation were then compared with the information from the literature study. The following trends were identified amongst others: Firstly that there is a great need for in-service or further training to upgrade the qualifications of practising teachers. Secondly, that there is a great need for properly trained teachers for the technical, mathematics and science subjects and also that there is a need for trained teachers to assist with non-formal programmes. An analysis and evaluation of the identified trends revealed that colleges of education can play a larger and more important role and would be in a position to utilise their facilities and skills more effectively if they made the necessary adjustments. In sketching the future possibilities for colleges of education in the North West Province it was shown that colleges of education will function more cost-effectively if they diversify their function to include other tasks than the training of teachers, like carrying out the function of community colleges. / Thesis (MEd)--PU for CHE, 1998

ABSTRACT AN ASSESSMENT OF THE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT NEEDS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE INSTRUCTORS WORKING AT A STATE UNIVERSITY Eksi, G&uuml / l M.S., Department of Educational Sciences Supervisor: Assist. Prof. Dr. Yesim &Ccedil / apa Aydin December 2010, 88 pages The main purpose of this study was to assess the professional development needs of the English language instructors working at a state university in Istanbul. Ninety-two instructors teaching preparatory classes constituted the population of the study. Within that needs assessment, the instructors&rsquo / perceptions of professional development, the most common professional development activities instructors practice, factors that hindered instructors from attending professional development activities, the most difficult skill to teach and assess, the areas of teaching English where instructors needed a professional development program, and the instructors&rsquo / preferences for delivery methods and formats of the professional development programs were identified. This study also examined the role of year of teaching experience, workload of the instructors, department the instructors graduated, and instructors&rsquo / perceptions of professional development programs in predicting the professional development needs of the instructors. Findings indicated that participants had positive perceptions of professional development. The most common professional development activity type was found to be &ldquo / Sharing experiences with colleagues.&rdquo / The most important factor which hindered participants from attending professional development was determined as &ldquo / inconvenient date/time.&rdquo / The most difficult skill to teach and to assess was reported as &ldquo / Writing.&rdquo / It was found out that the area where the degree of need was the highest was &ldquo / New theories and practices of English language teaching.&rdquo / Most of the participants reported that they preferred professional development activities to be optional workshops at their own institutions. A trainer or an expert from an outside institution was the most preferred speaker type. Findings also showed that instructors preferred sessions which took up to 60 minutes, held on weekday mornings once a month. The result of the regression analyses indicated that only year of teaching experience was significant in predicting professional development needs of the instructors. Year of teaching experience was negatively correlated with the needs indicating that as the teachers got more experience, their degree of professional development needs decreased.