This project examined the life narratives of four veteran teachers, each of whom began their careers before the onset of the Standards Era and were still teaching in 2013. Seeking to surface both their ways of resilience and negotiations of their identities as teachers through their decades-long careers, the question is positioned in the neoliberal turmoil of high-stakes accountability, national curriculum standards, and widespread, large-N assessment, to determine if resilient, long-career teachers exhibit particular characteristics and support systems that enable their accomplished status. Using the postmodern, interpretivist methodologies of portraiture and oral history, richly contextualized narratives for each teacher were crafted as an initial analysis. A secondary analysis revealed three manifestations of identity: the socially constructed identity, the bureaucratically informed identity, and the emotionally shaped identity. Findings suggest that having a fully developed and robust set of identities might encourage teacher resilience and longevity, supporting existing bodies of research, and that storytelling is an important aspect of identity development and maintenance. An additional finding was the absence of adversity through veteran teachers’ careers, which pushes against current research on resilience, as it positions resilience against adversity. An interesting question remains, which is in what ways might these veterans have renamed themselves—through the development of multiple and fluid identities—and renamed the challenges and disruptions of their world of work so that they might continue in the classroom. As school leaders typically rely on the knowledge base of seasoned veterans—to inform curriculum development, novice teacher support, and professional learning communities—it seems important to consider the power of storytelling in those venues. In conclusion, the author suggests that the addition of research from the field of knowledge creation, usage, and stewardship could be useful to future research of veteran teachers and the ways their professional knowledge might be better leveraged for improved educational outcomes. / text

In this study, 114 kindergarten through third grade teachers were surveyed using The Survey of Preparedness and Knowledge of Language Structure Related to Teaching Reading to Struggling Students to investigate how teachers perceived their preparedness to teach emergent and struggling readers, their knowledge level in the areas of phonemic awareness and phonics, their certainty of their knowledge level, and the extent they were able to define and apply this knowledge. Two groups of schools were compared. In one group, 60 teachers were using a school-wide, code-based reading program (CBRP), and in the other group 54 teachers were not (NCBRP). Both groups averaged 63% on the survey, and no significant differences existed between the two groups on levels of preparation or knowledge base. CBRP teachers believed they possessed more knowledge than the NCBRP teachers, although, they did not. The majority of teachers did not possess the necessary code-based reading knowledge, concepts, or skills to teach beginning and struggling readers. Thus, teacher preparation programs continue to fall short in providing teachers with adequate training on English language structure.

Orientador: Samuel de Souza Neto / Banca: Marcos Garcia Neira / Banca: Flavia Medeiros Sarti / Resumo: O presente trabalho investigou a manifestação dos saberes docentes na prática pedagógica de professores de Educação Física, tendo como objetivo averiguar na docência de professores de Educação Física iniciantes e experientes a mobilização dos saberes docentes, considerando o processo de construção do conhecimento. Neste contexto foi considerado como objeto de estudo aspectos das trajetórias sociais desses professores, trazendo subjacente a elas a perspectiva de um habitus, como uma identidade que vai se constituindo. Tratou-se de um estudo de natureza qualitativa, do tipo descritivo, que teve como técnicas: observação, fonte documental e entrevista semi-estruturada. Os participantes foram quatro professores de Educação Física, classificados em iniciantes e experientes de acordo com o tempo de docência na área, sendo o trabalho de campo realizado em escolas públicas da rede municipal de uma cidade do interior do estado de São Paulo. Os dados foram apresentados em três eixos temáticos - "A escola como espaço social de formação, produção de sentidos e reprodução de estruturas pedagógicas"; "Entre o habitus de aluno e o habitus de professor: a manifestação dos saberes docentes", "O habitus profissional do professor de Educação Física Mediante tais eixos, constatou-se que na constituição docente as vivências percebidas na socialização primária com a Educação Física escolar e o esporte influenciaram a escolha pela profissão. Contudo, o ingresso no magistério foi principalmente justificado pela estima aos professores universitários, pelas disciplinas específicas do curso e pelos estágios. Na constituição do habitus professoral, as ações didáticas, a hexis corporal, e a postura revelaram um habitus social e uma manifestação plural dos saberes docentes (profissionais, disciplinares, curriculares e experiências)... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: In the current study researched the expression of the teachers knowledges in pedagogic practice of Physical Education's teachers, proposal orientated by the aim of discovering the mobilization of that teachers knowledges among beginners and experts Physical Education's teacher, considering the process of construction of the knowledge. In this context, as object of study, it was relevant the social aspects in the life of the teachers, not ignoring the underlying perspectives of a habitus related to the continuous process of construction of the educational identity. This study had a qualitative and descriptive nature, and the manipulated techniques were the observation, the research in documental sources and the semi-structured interviews. The participants were four teachers, classified in beginners and experts, in agreement with period of teaching in the area. The fieldwork took place at public schools of a municipal district of São Paulo. The information came in three thematic lines, that is: "The school as social space of formation, production of senses and reproduction of pedagogic structures"; "Between student's habitus and teacher's habitus: the expression of teachers knowledges"; and "The professional habitus of the teachers of Physical Education". By such lines, it was verified that in the educational constitution the existences noticed in the primary socialization with the school physical education and the sport influenced the choice for the profession. However, the entrance in the teaching was mainly justified for the esteem to the academicals teachers, for the specific subjects of the course and for the apprenticeships. In the constitution of the professorial habitus, the didactic actions, the corporal hexis, and the posture revealed a social habitus and a multiple manifestation of teachers knowledges. About the time of career in the teaching, it was... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

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This dissertation explores curriculum and instruction in the world history classroom through two manuscripts. These manuscripts describe the effects of educational policy and environmental contexts on the work of world history teachers. The first study analyzes the world history curriculum, and the second study looks at how curriculum was enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, these studies make visible trends of continuity and change in the world history curriculum and teacher decision-making. The first manuscript is a qualitative analysis of the representation of women and gender in Virginia's world history curriculum. This study examines the representation of women and gender in the curriculum by analyzing curricular choices and discourse within the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOLs) and the Curriculum Frameworks. Through content analysis and critical discourse analysis, the study identifies a lack of inclusivity in the world history curriculum and addresses how language reproduces gender stereotypes and negates the contributions of women in comparison to their male counterparts. This study is important for two reasons. First, it adds to the literature on teaching world history which is a lesser researched content area in social studies. Second, it examines how curriculum can influence inclusivity and representation in the historical narrative. This study was recently published in the Iowa Journal for the Social Studies. The second manuscript is a qualitative case study that explores the educational and environmental contexts created by the COVID-19 pandemic and how these contexts affected the curricular-instructional decisions and pedagogical practices of four world history teachers. Initially, I planned to study the effects of teacher knowledge, specifically content knowledge, on the teacher-curriculum relationship. However, the focus shifted to teacher-decision making during the pandemic. This research is vital and useful because it addresses how teachers tried to continue as normal during uncertain times. Data collection included classroom observations, participant interviews, and analysis of instructional materials. Findings reveal that teachers relied on the continuity of the curriculum while changing methods of instructional delivery, adapting classroom assessment practices, and modifying existing assignments. The most promising finding of the study reveals that teachers employed formative assessments to check for understanding and the presence of remote students. Teacher decisions show evidence of pedagogical content knowledge, knowledge of students, and knowledge of contexts. The research shows that teachers made curricular-instructional decisions in reaction to pandemic educational contexts, but these choices often aligned with the research on effective and wise practice in areas like classroom assessment. / Doctor of Philosophy / As a former world history teacher and current teacher educator, I am interested in making the work of classroom teachers visible. In Virginia, world history educators are expected to teach the standardized world history curriculum. I recognized that the world history curriculum was dominated by men but did little to address the issue until I had the opportunity to develop and teach a women's studies course at Christiansburg High School. My knowledge of different types of curricula and curriculum as educational policy grew during my doctoral program. The first study grew out of a class assignment for feminist research methods. I found that men vastly outnumber women, but more importantly, that the wording of the curriculum reproduces gender stereotypes by describing the achievements of women as inferior to those of men. This study shows that the Virginia world history curriculum remained relatively consistent from 2008 to 2015 and the most significant changes reduced inclusivity instead of expanding the curriculum. This study is important because it addresses how women continue to be marginalized and underrepresented in the world history curriculum. The COVID-19 pandemic introduced students and teachers to a series of new and shifting educational and environmental contexts. I originally planned to study how world history teachers navigated the teacher-curriculum relationship, designed their planned curriculum, and then analyze the enacted curriculum or what occurred in the actual classroom. However, it was impossible to escape the educational contexts resulting from the pandemic when conducting my study. Therefore, the second study evolved to focus on the effects of pandemic educational and environmental contexts on the instructional decisions and classroom practices of world history teachers. I discovered that despite their lack of experience with remote instruction, teachers made curricular-instructional decisions that were illustrative of effective and wise practice.

The diploma thesis will deal with the professional vision of teachers as one of the actual concepts of didactics, given to art education. It is based on the knowledge that professional's thinking does not take place only in terms but also through images. It will deal with vocational vision in connection with professional knowledge and action in close relation to the teaching reflection. In the research part the student will participate in the analysis of concrete art lesson recorded by video study method. She will study and compare the comments of student teachers at the observational concepts and sub-processes. In the practical part student will create and carry out own art project that will respond to selected categories of the observed video study. She will apply it to the skills of primary school pupils. She will reflects in detail implemented project in relation to the analyzed concepts. Keywords reflection, art education, didactics of art education, discourse, teacher, student, teacher learning, Professional development, professional vision, teacher knowledge, video cases, analysis, concept

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Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / David S. Allen / Margaret G. Shroyer / Ongoing, effective professional development is viewed as an essential mechanism for eliciting change in teachers’ knowledge and practice in support of enacting the vision of NCTM’s Principles and Standards of School Mathematics. This case study of the Infinite Mathematics Project, a Title IIB MSP professional development initiative, seeks to provide a qualitative examination of the characteristics and strategies used in the project and their impact on teacher learning and practice. The project embodied many features and strategies of effective professional development such as: mathematics content focus; sustained over time; reform activities (e.g., lesson study, teacher collaboration); active learning opportunities (e.g., implementing an action plan; developing differentiated instruction activities for a mathematics classroom); coherence with NCTM and state standards; and collective participation by IHE facilitators and participant K-12 teachers from partner districts. The findings reveal teachers gained both content knowledge (knowledge about mathematics, substantive knowledge of mathematics, pedagogical content knowledge, and curricular knowledge) and pedagogical knowledge (knowledge about strategies for differentiating instruction in a mathematics classroom, for supporting students’ reading in the content area, for fostering the development of number sense, for implementing standards-based teaching, and for critically analyzing teaching). The study also provides some evidence that the project had an impact on teaching practice. In addition, an implication of the study suggests the positive impact of Title IIB MSP partnership requirements.

This study aimed to investigate what constituted the professional practical knowledge of EFL experienced teachers in the Egyptian context and what the sources of their knowledge were. It also aimed to examine the relationship between the teachers’ knowledge and the contextual factors intervening in action. By delineating its focus as such, the study responds to call for reconceptualising the core of the knowledge base of teaching to focus on teaching as a knowledge-based activity and an act of common sense and reasoning, the pedagogy by which teaching is done, and the context in which it is done. The study was carried out using multiple methods for collecting qualitative and quantitative data. This design was chosen to investigate the participants’ views of professional practical knowledge and to construct their different understandings and interpretations which they brought with them. Questionnaires completed by 236 EFL experienced teachers, semi-structured interviews conducted with 14 of them and stimulated recall classroom observation data with three of them were the data collected for the current study. Although it provided a parsimonious view, quantitative questionnaire data made an important contribution to the bricolage of information built up during the study. A more in-depth understanding was gained from qualitative data using responses to the open-ended section of the questionnaire, interviews and classroom observation. Based on quantitative and qualitative data analyses, six core areas of teacher knowledge were constructed from the participants’ responses and accounts. These were: subject matter, pedagogy, students, classroom learning environment, curriculum and self. The findings also revealed a variety of sources which shaped the teachers’ professional practical knowledge including: experience, teacher education, university study in the subject department, student and peer feedback, in-service training, expert advice, student output and postgraduate study. The findings also revealed that the relationship between teacher knowledge and practice was reflected in two ways. The first was that teacher knowledge represented an operative model which underpinned practice. The second was that it informed the classroom decisions. However, not all teacher knowledge found application in practice. A variety of intervening contextual challenges were revealed to deter the actualisation of teacher knowledge in action such as the EFL exam policy, lack of time, support and resources, mismatch between teacher purposes and students’ expectations and needs, and large class size. These findings were discussed in relation to existing research evidence and context. Implications for pre-service and in-service teacher learning were also drawn based on the findings of the study.