The purpose of the study is to determine how coaching can be used effectively to improve instruction and student achievement while exploring teachers’ specific emotions during mathematics education reform initiatives that challenge the teacher’s beliefs about teaching and learning in mathematics. It also examines how teachers incorporate the reform changes into their practice in order for the new instructional practices to have the expected effect. I explored teacher learning which refers to the correct use of reform strategies by mathematics teachers so that they have the intended effects on student achievement with the support of a coach during reform initiatives. Through questionnaires, interviews, observations and archival material, the study determines the relationship between teachers’ specific emotions, teacher learning and teacher coaching in secondary school mathematics classrooms. As a result, the study highlights the issues associated with the implementation of mathematics education reform initiatives and implications. The findings show that mathematics education reforms produce emotional responses that can be described as both negative and positive. For example, some emotions include pride, joy, fear, feeling drained and ineffective. The four teachers in the study experienced these emotions because of factors such as a lack of knowledge of how to implement mathematics reform, beliefs about teaching and learning in mathematics that were inconsistent with the reform initiatives, the nature of coaching, and gains in student achievement and engagement. They also experienced negative emotions because of favorable in-school factors such as an administration that supported teacher efforts to implement mathematics reforms. The study shows that: a) coaching may not help teachers reconstruct their professional self-understanding when it fails to address their self-image issues; b) teacher learning may occur even when the teacher’s beliefs are inconsistent with reform initiatives; and c) even when teacher learning results from coaching, reforms do not present themselves as expected in the classroom. Coaches experienced positive and negative emotions as a result of how well the reforms were being implemented by teachers. The experiences of the two coaches during mathematics reforms indicate a need to support coaches as they help teachers use the reform strategies. The directions for future research are described.

Studies show that teachers lack training and confidence when it comes to intervening effectively in bullying situations. The goal of this study is to respond to the appeals of pre-service teachers for more formal training on bullying, including prevention and intervention strategies. A two-hour PREVNet workshop that provides information on bullying, bullying prevention and bullying intervention is offered in four Canadian Teacher Education classes. Two unique questionnaires, each consisting of simulated bullying incidents in a school context and a set of teacher interventions, were developed, piloted with a group of experienced teachers, and used to assess the effect of the workshop on teachers’ reported interventions in bullying situations. The results of a series of repeated measures ANOVAs reveal a marginally significant effect of the workshop on pre-service teachers’ reported interventions (N = 66), with the greatest improvements revealed in participants’ responses to children who bully.

Problem posing is commonly perceived as a cognitive activity that emerges in the process solving a problem but appears less commonly in the process of classroom instruction. The creation and reformulation of mathematics problems engages students’ thinking and their inquisitiveness in mathematical learning. This dissertation consists of three articles that explore the potential of problem posing for improving the teaching and learning of mathematics. This dissertation study begins with a meta-analytic study of research findings on classroom instruction based on problem posing activities. The Hedges’ g effect size is utilized to measure the effect of the problem posing instruction from 13 published studies. Four learning outcomes are identified from the studies: mathematics achievement, problem solving skills, levels of problems posed, and attitudes toward mathematics. The second article focuses on finding the relationship between problem posing and problem solving. Fifty one middle school preservice teachers participated in this study and completed two tasks related to problem posing and problem solving. Rubrics were developed to assess the written responses that revealed participants’ abilities in solving and posing mathematical problems. A fully mixed methods research design is utilized in article three for examining the effect of a fraction instruction on the level of elementary preservice teachers’ content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and attitudes towards fractions. The instruction focused on using concrete models, problem solving, and problem posing activities for developing elementary preservice teachers’ knowledge of teaching fractions. The results from these studies revealed that problem posing is an effective approach as an inquiry-based instruction for improving students’ learning in mathematics. Research efforts are needed to further the type of studies that can provide teachers with specific approaches in developing and using problem posing strategies in the mathematics classroom.

The teacher trust in clients construct embodies the collective level of teacher trust in students and parents. While teacher trust in clients has been recognized as a positive predictor of student achievement controlling for student demographics, previous studies have not tested the effect of teacher trust on student achievement in suburban elementary schools with large and diverse student populations. This study examined the relationship between teacher trust in clients and student achievement. It also examined collective teacher trust in relation to school demographics. The primary purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between teacher trust in students and parents in relationship to student achievement in reading and mathematics. The secondary purpose of the study was designed to determine if demographic variables had an impact on teacher trust and student achievement. The conceptual framework of trust was based on relationships within and between social groups. Using a sample of 10,464 students nested within 97 participating elementary schools with a large and diverse student populations located in suburban public school districts in South Texas, the researcher determined the level of teachers’ trust in students and parents. Analysis indicated that teacher trust in students and parents reported higher levels of achievement on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills controlling for student ethnicity, economic disadvantaged status, prior achievement, and school size. The within school variance in mathematics achievement explained by the multilevel model was 46%, whereas the within school variance in reading achievement explained by the multilevel model was 24%. The results of the multilevel analysis revealed that between school variance in mathematics achievement explained by the multilevel model was 81%, while the between school variance in reading achievement explained by the multilevel model was 90%. Additionally, the multiple regression analysis indicated that only 72% of the variance in teacher trust was explained by student demographics. Thus, student achievement might be improved through systematic efforts to develop teacher trust in clients. The results of this study suggest improving relationships between teachers, students, and parents can have a positive impact on student performance in reading and mathematics achievement.

This self-study of becoming a critical teacher educator extends the research on blogs as a vehicle of critical self-reflection in teaching and teacher education. While the primary focus of this thesis is a self-study of the process of becoming a teacher educator, the author presents findings based on discursive data collected from blogs produced by teacher candidates in two case studies, which inform this process of becoming. The case studies are represented as two "strands": one carried out in Montréal, Quebec, Canada, at McGill University, and the other carried out near Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Like prior studies involving the use of blogs in teacher preparation, this study examines pre-service teachers' critical engagement with topics and issues endemic to their current field experiences and future careers in K-12 classrooms. The instructional techniques deployed in the case studies adhered to principles of modeling technology integration in order to transform teaching and learning activities by facilitating a learning environment for pre-service teacher candidates informed by the tenets of critical pedagogy. In this vein, this study examines the implementation of a particular instructional strategy, problem-posing pedagogy, as a practice that integrates the use of blogs to aid the achievement of pre-service teacher candidates' "critical self-engagement" as well as contribute to the author's development as a critical teacher educator. / Cette étude d'autoethnographic de devenir un éducateur d'enseignant critique étend ce champ de recherch e sur l'utilisation des blogs comme des véhicules de réflexion pour les enseignants. L'autoethnographie présentée dans cette thèse inclut des conclusions basées sur les données discursives recueillies de blogs produit par les candidats d'enseignant dans deux études de cas. Les deux études de cas sont représentées comme deux "strands": un réalisé à Montréal, Québec; Canada, à l'Université McGill, et l'autre exécuté près de Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, l'Afrique du Sud, à l'Université de KwaZulu-Natal. Cette étude examine l'engagement critique d'enseignants de pré-service avec les réflexions de leurs expériences actuelles de terrain, et carrières futures dans les classes K-12. Les techniques éducatives déployées dans les études de cas ont adhéré aux principes du fait de modeler l'intégration de technologie pour transformer l'enseignement et l'apprentissage des activités en facilitant un environnement d'apprentissage pour les candidats d'enseignant de pré-service, informés par la pedagogie critique. Cette étude examine l'implémentation d'une stratégie éducative particulière, "problem-posing," qui intègre l'utilisation des blogs pour aider la réalisation de candidats d'enseignant de pré-service "l'engagement de soi critique," aussi bien que contribuer au développement de l'auteur comme un éducateur critique.

This inquiry sought to examine the effects of participating in an online discussion forum on the development of knowledge for teaching mathematics. The participants of this study were among the pre-service teachers from a large urban university, chosen as they were completing their mathematics pedagogy course in their teacher-education program and entering a field experience for that academic year. A qualitative analysis of the online discussions of my participants was done under the framework of communities of practice (Wenger, 1998) and Ball et.al's (2008) understanding of the knowledge for teaching mathematics. These theories allowed for themes to emerge that shed light on the development of pre-service teachers as they moved from student to teacher. Pre-service teachers struggle to shed their student-perspective as they move from theory to practice, which ultimately affects their development of knowledge for teaching mathematics. / Cette recherche a voulu étudier les effets d'une participation à un forum de discussion en ligne sur le développement des connaissances pour l'enseignement des mathématiques. Les participants de cette étude sont des étudiants en formation des maîtres du primaire d'une grande université urbaine. Ils ont été choisis en raison de leur cheminement dans leur formation, c'est-à-dire après avoir complété un cours de didactique des mathématiques et en étant en stage dans une classe du primaire. Une analyse qualitative des discussions issues du forum de discussion a été réalisée à l'aide du cadre théorique de la communauté de pratique (Wenger, 1998) et à l'aide du cadre de Ball et al. (2008) portant sur la compréhension des savoirs pour l'enseignement des mathématiques. Ces théories ont permis l'émergence de thèmes qui ont mis en lumière le développement des futurs maîtres lorsqu'ils passent d'une posture d'étudiant à une posture d'enseignant. Les futurs maîtres semblent préoccupés par la perte de leur posture d'étudiant lorsqu'ils passent de la théorie à la pratique, lequel passage affecte ultimement leur développement des connaissances pour l'enseignement des mathématiques.

University teacher education programs struggle to find or create contexts where, rather than risk constituting a "weak intervention", (Burant & Kirby, 2002; Wideen, Mayer-Smith & Moon, 1998), such settings can help students develop a teacher identity that represents their "talents, choices and actions" (Pinnegar, 2005, p. 271). Education students need opportunities before graduation to live, reflect on, tell and learn from the stories teachers experience (Doyle & Carter, 2003), to experience from the beginning of their teacher education program, being "beginning teachers." My study significantly extended the degree of autonomy available to Education students through personally meaningful alternative field experiences. The research question emerged from concerns I heard reiterated over the years by students seeking greater autonomy as "beginning teachers" within their university programs: What kinds of contexts can be created that offer Education students real life, real time, community-based teaching and learning experiences to help them construct their beginning teacher identity? Research contexts involved community partnerships within the framework of a university program but outside of its traditional boundaries, and were self-initiated by beginning teachers. Three Education students (hereafter "beginning teachers") developed pedagogical relationships in 'real life, real time' situations with elementary children who saw them as their real teachers. A community-based learning approach provided time and space for participants to negotiate identities so that "becoming a teacher could be widely recognized as an ongoing process that involves moments of instability and uncertainty" (Farnsworth, 2010, p. 1488). The LiLi/ABC Project brought together aspects of narrative inquiry, intrinsic case study and community-based learning within an action research project that sought to make sense of the distinctive voices and stories that emerged from conversation interviews with beginning teachers. Narratives emerged from audio taped, open-ended conversation interviews with beginning teachers, and audio/videotaping of at least one of their sessions plus beginning teachers' self selected Portfolios of video/audiotapes, photographs, and student work. My study found that the kinds of contexts that helped the beginning teachers construct their identities were the ones they chose, on their own, intuitively, emotionally, pragmatically; where they created distinct pedagogical relationships with distinct students; where they were treated and listened to as real teachers; where the choices they made and the stories they told belonged to them; where their work was their way of becoming a beginning teacher. This study holds out important theoretical and practical implications for the theory and practice of teacher education. Beginning teachers can benefit from: 1) opportunities to create self-initiated projects in alternative contexts and work with small groups of children away from formal observations and assessments; 2) living out their "beginning teacher" stories with a degree of autonomy not usually found in traditional education programs; 3) telling their beginning teacher stories in open-ended sessions that allow them to highlight emotions and discuss pedagogical relationships with their students in unrehearsed situations; 4) discovering who they are as teachers in unrehearsed situations and relationships where they can learn that uncertainty is an inevitable and natural part of their beginning teacher story. The research further contributes to the theorizing of "autonomy" and "self initiated contexts" in teacher education, particularly with respect to the field experience and its relationship to university courses. It also supports the place of narrative and arts-based methods of inquiry in both teacher education as well as research on teacher education and with beginning teachers. / Les programmes universitaires de formation des maîtres s'efforcent de trouver ou de créer des contextes où, plutôt que de risquer d'offrir une « intervention faible » (Burant et Kirby, 2002; Wideen, Mayer-Smith & Moon, 1998), le cadre d'ensemble peut aider les étudiants en éducation à construire une identité d'enseignant qui représente leurs propres « talents, choix et actions » (Pinnegar, 2005, p. 271). Les étudiants en éducation, avant d'obtenir leur diplôme, ont besoin d'occasions de faire eux-mêmes l'expérience de ces épisodes que vivent les enseignants, d'y réfléchir, de les relater, de s'en instruire (Doyle & Carter, 2003). Mon étude a donné un degré d'autonomie considérablement plus grand à des étudiants en éducation en leur permettant de vivre des expériences sur le terrain différentes, plus personnellement significatives. La question de recherche est née des préoccupations qu'au cours des années j'ai plusieurs fois entendu exprimer par des étudiants en éducation désireux d'avoir plus d'autonomie comme « enseignants débutants » dans le cadre de leurs programmes universitaires : Quels genres de contextes peut-on créer pour permettre aux étudiants en éducation de vivre des expériences d'enseignement et d'apprentissage dans la vie réelle, dans le temps réel, dans la communauté, pour les aider à structurer leur identité comme enseignant débutant? Les contextes de la recherche en faisant dans le cadre d'un programme universitaire mais à l'extérieur de ses limites traditionnelles, et ont été complètement auto-initiés par les enseignants débutants. Trois étudiants en éducation (« enseignants débutants ») ont élaboré des relations pédagogiques dans des situations vécues dans la « vraie vie » et le « vrai temps » avec des enfants de niveau primaire qui les considéraient comme leurs vrais enseignants. L'étude LiLi/ABC a réuni aspects de recherche narrative, étude de cas intrinsèque et apprentissage dans la communauté; j'ai également enregistré et filmé au moins une session de chaque étudiant. Les enseignants débutants ont aussi colligé, partagé et expliqué leur propre choix de bandes audio et vidéo, de photographies et de travaux d'élèves pour le portfolio professionnel. Mon étude a fait apparaître que les genres de contextes qui aidaient les enseignants débutants à structurer leur identité étaient des contextes choisis par eux, selon leurs intuitions et leurs émotions, de façon pragmatique ; où les étudiants avaient créé une relation pédagogique distincte avec des élèves distincts ; où les étudiants avaient été traités et écoutés comme de vrais enseignants ; où les étudiants s'étaient approprié les choix qu'ils avaient faits et les récits qu'ils avaient narrés ; où leur travail était leur façon de devenir un professeur débutant. Voici des points qui peuvent être bénéfiques pour les enseignants débutants : 1) occasions de créer des projets auto-initiés dans des contextes différents, et de travailler avec des enfants loin des évaluations et des observations formelles ; 2) vivre leurs histoires d'enseignant débutant avec d'autonomie; 3) relater leurs histoires d'enseignant débutant dans des entretiens non directifs; 4) découvrir qui ils sont en tant qu'enseignant dans des situations et relations spontanées, où ils peuvent apprendre que l'incertitude est et un élément inévitable et naturel de leur histoire d'enseignant débutant. La recherche apporte une nouvelle contribution à l'élaboration des théories de l'« autonomie » et des « contextes auto-initiés » en formation des maîtres, en particulier en ce qui a trait à l'expérience sur le terrain et sa relation avec les cours universitaires. Elle renforce également la place des méthodes narratives et basées sur les arts aussi bien en matière de formation des maîtres que de recherche sur la formation des maîtres et avec les enseignants débutants.

This self-study focuses on critical incidences (CIs) that occurred during three personal and professional periods of one teacher's life: a semester abroad as an undergraduate; an independent fellowship year abroad as a post-graduate; and, as a volunteer serving abroad. Using constant comparison methods to analyze archival documents generated in intercultural educational settings and contemporary data drawn from interviews and surveys with fifty participants, the study concentrates on how CIs did or did not affect the teacher's intercultural competence and identity development. Methods of inquiry utilized include ghostwriting (Rhodes, 2000) and shadowwriting (Clerke, 2009), and introduce a technique called BENCHspeaking to activate co-participants' voices. Five contested identity metaphors that emerge to describe the researcher's personal and professional identity are exposed: homebody, social networker, boundary pusher, opportunist, and goal setter. Teacher educators' ability to cultivate intra-cultural competence, personally and professionally, conclude the research, and pedagogical suggestions and implications for contributing to pre-service and teacher educator identity development are outlined. / Cette étude se concentre sur trois épisodes/ expériences transformatrices professionnelles dans la formation d'un seul professeur/du chercherur: ses études à l'étranger, le stage qu'elle a fait à l'étranger après avoir terminé ses études, et, son service bénévole/comme volontaire à l'étranger. Se servant de méthodes comparatives pour analyser des documents primaires créés dans des milieux interculturels, et l'information tirée des sondages et des entretiens avec 50 participants, l'étude est axée sur la manière dont les expériences critiques ont influencé, ou n'ont pas influencé la compétence interculturelle du professeur et le développement de son identité. Les méthodes utilisées comprennent « ghostwriting » (Rhodes, 2000) et "shadowwriting" (Clerke, 2009), et introduisent une technique appelée "Benchspeaking" pour inspirer l'expression des co-participants. L'étude révèle cinq métaphores qui se manifestent pour décrire l'identité conflictuelle personnelle et professionnelle du chercheur: 1) la femme au foyer/la casanière, 2) la personne qui crée un réseau social/qui a une vie sociale, 3) celle qui pousse/dépasse les limites et les frontières, 4) l'opportuniste, et 5) la personne qui montre la voie et établit des objectifs. L'étude se termine par une discussion de la capacité de l'enseignant à cultiver la compétence inter-culturelle, à la fois dans sa vie personnelle et professionnelle, et offre des suggestions d'ordre pédagogique pour la préparation des enseignants.

This study investigated personalized adaptive learning, teacher education, and self-efficacy to determine if personalized adaptive teacher education can increase self-efficacy. It is suggested that teachers with higher self-efficacy tend to stay in the teaching profession longer. Chapters 2 and 3 are literature reviews on personalizing adaptive learning to determine what common components are used in personalized adaptive learning systems to get a clear understanding of what previous literature suggests building this study on it. Chapter 4 investigates the data collected from 385 teachers to understand better what teachers report on factors that increase their self-efficacy. As a result, it was found that teachers' self-efficacy increases with more training, support, and resources. In chapter 5, a framework was developed based on previous findings, with components of personalized adaptive learning to provide support/help at the right time for teachers to increase their self-efficacy. An empirical study was conducted to validate this framework, where the framework was used as a guide to personalize and adapt summer teacher preservice training and survey teachers on their self-efficacy before and after the training to see its impact on teachers' self-efficacy. However, since summer preservice training was virtual, the framework could not be implemented fully, as we were not able to observe teachers' behaviors and monitor their learning to provide them help and support, as needed and being in the post-COVID-19 year as educators dealing with about two-year learning loss systemwide, seems decreased teachers' self-efficacy. The findings of this study can guide preservice teacher education institutions and decision-makers of teacher education to assess inservice teachers' needs and self-efficacy to help and support them with a more personalized adaptive education to improve their self-efficacy.

The purpose of this case study was to find out how a science teacher employs questions and follow up moves in classroom discourse to facilitate students’ thinking and help them construct scientific knowledge. The study was conducted in a large class setting where the medium of instruction was English although the students were non-native speakers of the language. The teacher participant teaches Year 10 chemistry classes in a Singapore Secondary school. Several lessons covering two topics were observed from one of his classes. / Six lesson episodes that involve a series of teacher-students IRF exchanges were selected from the verbal transcripts of classroom discourse for discussion. These episodes were analyzed interpretively using an analytical framework adapted from Chin’s study. Particular attention was paid to two key aspects of the discourse which facilitated students’ thinking about the scientific concepts, as manifested by students’ verbal responses. These include the initial teacher question and teacher follow up moves in response to the students’ answers. / The findings propose that the use of higher order thinking question (initial question) together with supportive follow up moves facilitate students’ thinking about the scientific concepts at complex cognitive processes such as inferring, comparing, predicting, analyzing and evaluating. Supportive follow up moves involve applying follow up questions that require students to perform various functions such as clarify, elaborate or justify their answers. In addition, the use of these follow up moves can assist the teacher to shift discourse practices towards a class-based discussion. The thesis concludes by suggesting practical advice for science teachers regarding teacher questioning in classroom discourse to facilitate students’ thinking, and providing several recommendations for future research.