MEd, Faculty of Education, University of the Witwatersrand, 1982

As teachers of writing, we inherit terms, all of which have complicated and ongoing histories. The field of rhetoric and composition has an impressive collection from which to choose: "dialogism," "writing as a way of thinking," "critical thinking," and "writing to learn," to name a few. These terms creep into our vocabulary. We take them into the classroom. / We form and reform our theories of writing as we internalize and make sense of the language we inherit. The challenge is, then, to constantly consider whether our practice reflects our emerging theories and whether our theories are in sync with our practices. Our theoretical understandings most visibly surface when we explain what we value in student writing--the nexus of theory and practice. / In the dissertation, I examine the ways in which our evaluation of student writing can reveal the gaps between our theory and our practices. From these gaps, my own self-examination reveals our stories as teachers, writers, and readers emerge. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-07, Section: A, page: 2503. / Major Professor: Richard Straub. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993.

This study examined the metaphors for teaching of a preservice physical education teacher characterized as a "difficult student." The purpose was to gain an understanding of the perspectives from which this teacher operated and why he was labeled a "difficult student." Metaphors were characterized as frames that reveal how teachers view their profession. No studies of metaphors in physical education were found. The social constructivist and symbolic interactionist perspectives formed the framework for this study. The subject was a 27 year old, white, male, delayed entry student, with experience as an athlete and a coach. Data was gathered during and after the subject's student teaching semester via formal and informal interviews, participant observation, and document analysis. The constant comparative method of data analysis was used. The subject's metaphors for teaching were the teacher as facilitator (including the scholar, presenter, and entertainer metaphors), coach, and friend. The investigation revealed that some of the subject's philosophical views and beliefs about the acquisition of professional knowledge conflicted with those supported by his program. Characteristics of the subject were often consistent with those of delayed entry students. These characteristics and philosophical differences appeared to account for much of the difficulty encountered. The researcher concluded that gaining an understanding of the subject's perspectives earlier in his program could have helped the teacher preparation professors and instructors deal with his differences in a mutually beneficial way. This might have led to a more constructive view of the subject as being "different" rather than "difficult." / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-11, Section: A, page: 3446. / Major Professor: Charles H. Imwold. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.

The purpose of this study was to investigate and analyze how college level Elementary Education majors made meaning, or came to know about elementary teaching and learning, while engaged in the use of the case study method. This research was an attempt to understand how prospective teachers make sense of the problematic situations described in the cases. The research questions included: How do prospective teachers make meaning, or come to know about elementary teaching and learning, while engaged in the case study approach? What meaning emerges from the prospective teachers' dialogue both with peers and the instructor? Is critical thinking exhibited in their reflections on the cases? / The methods employed in this interpretive study involved the collection of qualitative data through participant observation, interviewing, document analysis, and personal journals. A constructivist epistemology was embodied into collection and interpretation of data. / The immersion approach to teaching critical thinking was employed in that specific critical thinking processes were not made explicit but an in-depth understanding and analysis of the content of the cases was promoted. Kurfiss' model was used to assess the prospective teachers' thinking while engaged in the case study approach. / Assertions constituting grounded theory (Strauss, 1989) were generated from this study and subsumed in three emergent themes. (1) Constructing multiple perspectives: the prospective teachers constructed complex ways of viewing their own and others' schools and new ways of viewing problems that occur in teaching. (2) Considering contextual factors in decision-making: the prospective teachers identified and applied contextual information to frame problems and make decisions. (3) Acknowledging and examining beliefs about teaching and learning: the prospective teachers conveyed awareness and reflected on how their beliefs affected the way they taught. / The results of this study suggest that the case study approach used in an environment with small cooperative learning groups, large group discussions, contextually rich cases, and a skilled instructor facilitates prospective teachers' critical thinking and social construction of knowledge about teaching and learning. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-09, Section: A, page: 3176. / Major Professor: Kathryn Scott. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.

The purpose of this study is to describe the student teaching internship in context, with a special focus on the cooperating teacher. Three sentizing concepts were used to help provide a framework and focus for the study: documenting the student teaching internship in practice, focusing on the roles and relationships of the participants within the student teaching triad with special consideration given to the cooperating teacher's roles and relationships, and also developing a research design that explored other understandings and provided opportunities to gather information from unexpected, unplanned occurrences. / Three types of qualitative data collection were used throughout the study: non-participant observations, formal and informal interviews, and document collection (Jacobs, 1987). Data collection and data analysis were concurrent, identifying preliminary categories through analytic induction and constant comparison techniques (Goetz & LeCompte, 1984). After the preliminary data collection, a domain analysis was conducted to insure systematic treatment of the data in manageable units for final analysis (Spradley, 1980). / During data analysis, three major categories emerged organizing the roles and relationships of the cooperating teacher during the internship period: the professional role, the supervisory role, and the social role. Across these organizing domains, two recurring cultural themes were identified which defined the actual curricular practices of the setting: the modification of the formal physical education program and the conflicts, interactions, and negotiations of the major participants. / The findings of this study suggest that current teacher education programs are inconsistent with the context and culture of the real teaching world. Several recommendations for teacher education programs, student teaching, and college supervision were provided along with suggestions for future research in teacher education-physical education. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-10, Section: A, page: 3472. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.

This study examined whether expanding educational opportunity in Indonesia had an eroding effect on the quality of education and explored policy alternatives to maintain educational quality in general and teaching quality in particular. The researcher first analyzed secondary data from the last 10 years to see whether there was a decline in the quality of education. Then, employing in-depth interviews with policy makers at the central level, a policy mediator at the provincial level, and a policy implementer at the school level, the researcher attempted to verify the findings and discover factors to explain them. The study investigated the importance of and changes in teacher qualities: it also assessed the discrepancy between policies for improving teaching quality designed at the central level and their implementation and results at the school level. / The study was conducted in Jakarta, Cirebon, Bandung, Palangkaraya, and Banjarmasin; it involved 39 respondents consisting of decision makers at the ministry, educational officials at the provincial level, deans of teacher training institutions, school supervisors, principals, and teachers. The results show that expenditure per student and educational quality in general declined. The decline is related to the changes in teacher qualities such as competence, distribution, motivation, discipline, and welfare. Also, the policies developed to improve teaching quality are more successful in providing educational means, such as raising teacher qualifications, providing teaching aids, and training, than in achieving educational ends. / Finally, the study recommended systematic improvement through short-term and long-term policy measures involving retraining of teachers, establishment of educational facility banks, reforms in the incentive system, improvement in the teacher distribution system through refining the information system and local authorization, and improving the cooperation and coordination between teacher training institutions and provincial offices of education. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-10, Section: A, page: 3414. / Major Professor: John C. Bock. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.

A comparative study of Florida State University's alternately and traditionally prepared teachers was conducted using participants' grade point averages, their teaching performance as demonstrated on the Florida Performance Measurement System's Summative Instrument, a subjective review of the contents of their Beginning Teacher/Professional Orientation Program portfolios, and the participants' responses to a survey on their preparation program's effectiveness and job satisfaction. / Results of the study showed that there were few statistically significant differences between the alternately and traditionally prepared teachers except in measures of education coursework grade point average, their perception of teacher preparation program effectiveness when considering educational psychology coursework, and in teacher performance appraisal when considering student conduct management. The study found more similarities than differences in the alternately and traditionally prepared teachers' responses relating to their own teaching experiences. The alternately prepared teachers reported being more satisfied with their teaching position than the traditionally prepared teachers. All of the alternately prepared teachers indicated plans to continue teaching, while one-third of the traditionally prepared teachers indicated plans to leave teaching or not teach. / The review of the alternately and traditionally prepared teacher's first-year portfolios revealed substantial similarities between groups in the preparation of portfolios which effectively demonstrate teacher competency. Both the traditionally and alternately prepared teachers successfully completed their Florida Beginning Teacher/Professional Orientation Program and subsequently became fully certified teachers. A conclusion is that both the alternate and the traditional teacher education programs at The Florida State University effectively prepared these teachers to demonstrate teaching competency. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-10, Section: A, page: 3499. / Major Professor: John H. Hansen. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.

This study was a field test of a theoretically developed individualized instructional program (ILP) designed to establish a reliable process for training in selected observational skills and to determine if physical educators as a result of completing the program: (1) can achieve a pre-determined level of mastery on specified observational skills; (2) are differentially affected by training because of experience and entry level behavior; and (3) can use a specified observational instrument to code actual classroom behaviors. Also, perceptions of physical education teachers toward the training method were explored. Twenty-seven volunteer teachers were placed into three groups according to the number of years in the teaching profession. Subjects completed cognitive and observational pre-and posttests, Master Tape Coding Exercises (MYCE) #1 and #2, a demographic data form, and a questionnaire. On the cognitive posttest 67% of the teachers achieved mastery and 22% on the observational posttest. A statistically significant difference was observed between pre-and posttest means but outcomes were not significantly affected by years of experience. On MTCE #2, 26% of the teachers were able to code actual classroom behaviors. Perceptions of the ILP were generally positive and constructive. There was some disagreement on the length and ability of the ILP to hold the subject's interest. The following conclusions were drawn: (1) physical educators can learn cognitive, observational, and application skills through a specially designed ILP; (2) the use of an ILP to develop competence of observers must be targeted to specific populations; (3) selected materials that serve as motivational factors to keep subjects on task are essential to the effectiveness of the ILP; (4) years of teaching experience do not differentially affect the success of subjects in developing / competence in selected observational skills; and (5) subjects differ in the perceptions of the ILP as a training method. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-05, Section: A, page: 1647. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1986.

The goal of this study is to analyze the teaching and learning process in a newly developed biology course for prospective K-5 teachers. The development of this course is part of a grant from the National Science Foundation received in 1991 at the Florida State University with the goal to restructuring science and science education courses for prospective teachers. / Administration of a Classroom Learning Environment Survey (CLES) provides an entrance to the experienced, and preferred learning environments from the students' point of view. Using interpretive research, the investigation follows two students enrolled in the biology course. Dimensions developed in the CLES (like students' involvement in their learning, their autonomy, relevance of the subject matter, and students' commitment) are followed through the study using narrative stories of the two students. The narrative description of the fit or lack thereof between their experienced and preferred learning environment provides critical insights for science education reformers. / The theoretical framework underlying this study is provided by constructivism, and critical theory. Constructivism has two main components: the first affirms that knowledge is built actively by cognising beings in social settings; the other stresses the adaptive function of learning as the individual is the one accountable for his/her personal constructions. Critical theory stresses the notion of the empowered individuals as agents for societal change. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-03, Section: A, page: 0524. / Major Professor: Kenneth G. Tobin. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.

Formative evaluation procedures and instrumentation, devised to give secondary school students the opportunity to provide feedback to their teachers concerning their classroom teaching behaviors, were designed and assessed during this study. The sample consisted of 14 volunteer teachers, from five high schools in north Florida, who taught in a variety of content areas. Approximately 600 students provided ratings and comments as feedback to their teachers during Fall, 1995. / Specifically, the perceptions held by teachers regarding (1) the utility of this process of receiving student feedback and (2) the use of an instrument designed especially for this purpose were examined. In addition, several characteristics of the Student Evaluation of Teachers and Teaching Techniques (SE3T) instrument were studied, including its reliability and construct validity. An alternative classification scheme for the items was also developed. / Teachers believed the overall process of collecting feedback from their students to be quite useful. Most importantly, the process allowed teachers to gain insight into their teaching behaviors and practices for the ultimate purpose of improving their instruction. The information leading to this insight is important in that it came not from an administrator, as is typically done in teacher evaluation, but from a previously unsolicited source. Teachers believed that open and honest student responses were a direct result of specific steps in the process taken to guarantee the anonymity of the students. / The SE3T rating form was comprised of 35 scaled and two open-ended items. Examination of the results revealed that the students were capable of providing consistent ratings of their teachers' performance. A confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the rating form lacked validity when compared to the literature-based theoretical model utilized in this study. However, alternative suggestions for determining construct validity are provided and further investigation is recommended. / Implications of this study for administrators, teachers, and students are discussed. Recommendations for further research include the continued use and assessment of the SE3T rating form, and methods of efficiently assisting teachers in improving instruction in order to capitalize on student feedback. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 57-03, Section: A, page: 1088. / Major Professor: Garrett Foster. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1996.