Using a grounded theory approach to investigate the multidimensional reflections of two Reading Recovery teachers, this inquiry responds to calls for research on reflection and provides information for the field of education in understanding the nature of teachers’ reflections and how they inform teaching practices. Reading Recovery is a progressive intervention program which brings the lowest performing readers and writers to average levels of achievement in twelve to twenty weeks through daily, thirty minute one-on-one tutoring sessions that follow the same lesson pattern daily. Reading Recovery teachers are carefully trained to use reflection to design, implement, and observe children’s reading and writing practices to accelerate their reading and writing skills. To investigate the nature of participants’ reflections and how those reflections informed their teaching practices the data sources, collected over eight weeks, for each participant included field notes from seventeen observations, two semi-structured interview transcripts, thirty-six course documents, and two member checks transcripts. Open coding, memoing, and axial coding were used to examine all data sources. Further, each of the three dimensions of reflection, time, type, and context, were accounted for to fully explore participants’ reflections. Three interrelated major themes connected to the nature of Reading Recovery teachers’ reflectivity and practice were identified: (1) participants’ reflections are situated within the contextual framework of Reading Recovery and inform practices by serving as a roadmap to scaffold individualized instruction and examine personal philosophies of teaching and instructional assumptions; (2) Teacher identity as a reflective practitioner is a natural outcome participants and fosters the interconnectedness of practice and automaticity in their reflective practices; and (3) Systematic observations of the child during instruction focus on actions of the child and themselves as a teacher and serve as a trigger for reflection in a data-driven response sequence linking theory to practice. This study offers insight into how reflective practices of teachers of reading may be fostered through teacher education and into their own teacher development by linking their theoretical perspectives to their teaching practices.

The purpose of this study is to examine the coaching interactions of two literacy coaches and four classroom teachers in order to explore how these interactions serve to support teacher learning. The analysis of the study describes how the coaches support teacher reflection and teaching for processing strategies during guided reading lessons. The literature review suggests that reflective practice (Schön, 1996) involves thoughtfully considering one’s own experiences while being coached by a professional in the discipline. I conducted observations and interviews for two cycles of teaching and coaching sessions per teacher coach dyad, for a total of eight guided reading lessons, 16 pre/post conferences, and conducted interviews with each teacher and literacy coach. The research questions for this study are: 1. How does the discourse found within the coaching interactions support teachers in their learning as described by the coaches? 2. How does the discourse found within the coaching interactions support teachers in their learning as described by the teachers? 3. What patterns of discourse are seen within coaching interactions? a. How do the interactions support teacher reflection during the dialog? b. How do the interactions support the teachers’ understanding of teaching for processing strategies within small group reading instruction? 4. What if any are the differences related to training and knowledge of the coaches? The findings of this study are presented through: (a) case studies; (b) the participants’ descriptions of coaches supporting student and teacher learning; and (c) a description of the characteristics and interaction patterns within pre-and post-conferences. My analysis showed that these coaches support reflection-on-action through their post- conferences with teachers and that the support varies with the expertise of the literacy coach. Analysis of the data revealed that these teachers believe that literacy coaches support them in the following ways: (a) by giving them feedback; (b) giving them confidence; (c) making connections to learning theory; (d) praising their teaching; (e) helping foster teacher reflection; (f) identifying professional texts; (g) providing language to use while teaching reading and writing; and (h) identifying observable evidence of how the teachers’ supported student learning.

Novice teachers experience a unique set of challenges as they enter the field of professional teaching. While extensive research regarding the reflective practice of expert teachers exists, there has been a shortage regarding the relationship between reflective practice and novice teachers. This study investigated this relationship and how reflective practice in novice teachers is specifically affected by the novice teachers' perception of the audience to their reflective dialogues.This qualitative study employed three case studies of novice teachers in their first year of professional teaching. Each case was constructed using data gathered through extensive field notes, in-depth interviews, and collection of written artifacts produced by the subjects. In addition, secondary subjects were observed and interviewed regarding their perceptions of the reflective process of the novice teachers. This data was analyzed in an iterative process and coded for themes to create individual cases as well as expedite cross-case comparisons. The novice teachers in this study exhibited important commonalities in the sources they chose for reflective dialogues and their attitudes regarding those sources. Important themes emerged regarding their perception of audience that affected the topics they chose to discuss in their dialogues. In addition, the nature of the authenticity of their dialogues was investigated and findings emerged indicating various layers of authenticity including: truthfulness, relevance, timeliness, and accuracy. Findings in this study assist in understanding the process of acclimation for beginning teachers and their progression from novice towards the tacit knowledge and practice of an expert teacher. The investigation also drew conclusions regarding the role of administrators, mentors, peers, induction programs, and non-professional support as they related to the assistance of novice teachers.

As video has become more accessible, there has been an increase in the use of video for teacher reflection. Although past studies have investigated the use of video for teacher reflection, there is not a review of practices and processes for effective use of video analysis. The first article in this dissertation reviews 52 studies where teachers used video to reflect on their teaching. Most studies included in the review reported that video was a beneficial feedback method for teachers. However, few studies discussed how video encourages teachers to change their practices. The second article in this dissertations investigates the how video influences the teacher change process. The study found that teachers did change their practices as a result of using video analysis. Teachers reported that video analysis encouraged them to change because they were able to: (a) focus their analysis, (b) see their teaching from a new perspective, (c) feel accountable to change their practice, (d) remember to implement changes, and (e) see their progress.

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Calls for history teachers to adopt inquiry methods continue to go unabated in educational research and curricular initiatives. In recent years, there has been increased recognition of the important role teacher reflection plays in managing the uncertainty that accompanies such pedagogy in history classrooms. Accordingly, this dissertation was situated within theories of reflection and reflective teaching, which acknowledge teaching to be endemically problematic and teachers as autonomous in their curricular- instructional decisions and thereby resistive to certainty-driven models of history teaching. This dissertation sought to investigate the reflections of inquiry-oriented history teachers by examining how and upon what they reflect throughout a unit of study. Using an interpretive multiple-case design with video-stimulated recall methodology, reflective interviews were conducted with participants in four different schools within the same urban public school district. A cross-case analysis of the data led to several key findings. First, the process of reflection for teachers in practice revealed itself to be more affective and messy than conventional rational models of reflection found in the literature. Second, the results showed that history teachers’ reflections were prioritized in accordance with their values and sense of purpose. Third, the inclusiveness of teachers’ classroom environments and curricular-instructional decisions were a focal point of their reflections. Fourth, the teachers’ reflections were influenced by their understandings of their school cultures, with three of the four teachers finding their school norms and policies as oppositional to the promotion of inquiry methods with their students. Finally, the findings showed that reflection aided teachers’ examination of assumptions embedded within their professional routines and pedagogical decisions, particulary with regard to the selection and use of the essential questions that framed their units. This dissertation highlights the need for more and better reflective opportunites for pre- and in-service history teachers and for better research that might yield further insights into the nature of inquiry-based history teaching.

Socioscientific issues, SSI, can briefly be described as societal issues in which science plays a role. Dealing with SSI in science education is a means to prepare and empower students for active and responsible participation in a complex, democratic society. The implementation of SSI-based teaching calls for classroom practices in which scientific evidence alongside for example social and ethical perspectives are considered. Discourse-based teaching activities are emphasized as a means to provide opportunities for students to practice negotiations of SSI and explore diverse viewpoints on the issues. Dealing with SSI in science teaching is recognized as a challenging task for science teachers. This thesis aims to provide knowledge to support the implementation of SSI-based science teaching. Three studies involving two upper secondary school science teachers are performed to achieve this aim. The first study makes use of video-stimulated discussions to investigate the two teachers’reflections on their classroom practices while they implement SSI throughout an academic year. The second study utilizes the concept positioning as a tool to identify and describe the ways in which one teacher’s interactions with students during group work make available different parts for the students to play as participants, when dealing with SSI in the classroom. The third study makes use of the concept communicative approach to investigate how the two teachers’ management of classroom discussions sets conditions for the consideration of multiple perspectives relevant to SSI, including the students’ viewpoints. The results provide knowledge useful when making considerations about the design and enactment of teaching activities in relation to specific educational goals. The results suggest that a specific challenge with designing and enacting SSI-based teaching activities is to balance between controlling and directing the teaching activities to promote specific learning goals and providing space for students’ participation and perspectives. The results of employing the analytical tools elucidate how this challenge can play out in classroom practice and contribute with knowledge of the ways in which teachers’ discursive practices play a role in addressing this challenge. Strategies to support teachers’ implementation of SSI-based teaching that take account of teachers’ existing practices are discussed.

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A disparity in the mathematics performance between students with disabilities (SWDs) and students without disabilities in K-8 grades in international schools may lead to a lack of opportunities for SWDs to take advanced mathematics classes and enter mathematics-related college programs and careers. This problem may be increased if K-8 teachers of SWDs do not use social-constructivist-based practices needed for effective mathematics teaching. The purpose of this bounded qualitative exploratory case study was to explore the constructivist-based practices teachers applied in the mathematics K-8 classrooms for SWDs. Vygotsky's social-constructivism theory was used to guide this study. The research question addressed which social-constructivist principles were used to instruct K-8 SWDs to learn mathematics. Eight K-8 mathematics teachers from 5 international schools were purposefully chosen and volunteered to complete a qualitative questionnaire and to participate in a semistructured interview. Data were analyzed thematically using a priori, open, and axial coding strategies and related to the conceptual framework. Teachers reported building relationships with SWDs to guide and use differentiated instruction, fostering student efficacy, and integrating real-world context and activities in their mathematics instruction. Based on the findings, it is recommended that teachers use self-reflection to align their teaching practices with social-constructivist principles and use self-reflection and feedback opportunities with SWDs to discuss student learning. This endeavor may contribute to positive social change when administrators encourage teachers to use self-reflection and self-assessment of their mathematics instruction to lead SWDs to increased motivation, engagement, and learning, which may result in more options for college majors and career paths for SWDs.

The beliefs that teachers have about teaching and learning have an influence on the practices that teachers implement. This is particularly relevant, although not exclusively, to teaching practices that meet the needs of Māori students in our bicultural learning environments of New Zealand. There is a growing amount of research to support the use of student voice data, the benefits of which can be seen at a school level, at the classroom teacher level as well as for the individual students themselves. This research project focused on exploring the impact of students sharing their thoughts and opinions about their learning, (i.e.: student voice data) on influencing teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning. In doing so it explores effective facilitation of this process in a bicultural learning environment. In particular it investigates the potential of a combination of specific tools, notably student focus groups and coaching conversations with teachers to influence teachers’ beliefs. This study took place in two low decile schools in Christchurch. It involved focus groups of Māori and non-Māori primary-aged students, alongside teacher reflective interviews being conducted on repeated visits. Its findings identified approaches for accessing authentic student voice in a bicultural learning environment. The thoughts and opinions shared by Māori students highlighted a focus on their own learning as well as celebrating their culture. Teachers reacted to student voice by making connections to their classroom programmes, and by accepting or dismissing more provocative statements. These reactions by teachers helped emphasize the most helpful methods for reflecting on this data. Their reflections, used alongside a specially designed ‘Teacher Belief Gathering Tool’, ascertained that teachers’ beliefs were both reaffirmed and changed through guided reflection and coaching conversations on student voice data. Teachers’ knowledge of effective teaching and learning, their motivation for changing their teaching practices, as well as witnessing success were all considerable factors in teachers changing their beliefs.