Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 232-262). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 151-158).

Not available / text

This multiple case study (Merriam, 1988) examined the relationships between the life stories of six high school English teachers and the ways those teachers think about and practice writing instruction. Multiple interviews were conducted with each participant over a period of two months, during which the participants shared stories from their lives and talked about themselves as writing teachers. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, broken into story units, and analyzed using the constant comparative method (Strauss and Corbin 1990). Classroom observations and artifacts served as additional forms of data. The perspective that teachers' personal narratives can contribute to an understanding of the complex influences that help shape their beliefs about teaching and their resulting classroom practices was used to inform the analysis (Clandinin and Connelly, 2000; Goodson and Cole, 1993). Findings suggest that the participants frequently perpetuate or act against specific past writing experiences in educational settings by intentionally adopting or avoiding the practices themselves as part of an ongoing process of identity construction; the participants' beliefs about the essential nature of writing ability influence the ways they think about their students and interact with them during writing instruction; and the predominant themes in the participants' life stories are consistent with the professional teaching identities they construct in their classrooms. This study suggests a strong relationship between the life stories of high school English teachers and their beliefs and practices, which indicates a need for university-based teacher-educators involved in English education programs and inservice professional development to empower teachers to reflectively, intentionally, and effectively integrate the personal and the professional in writing instruction. / text

This inquiry is a phenomenological exploration of the development of two student teachers undergoing their practicum experience in my secondary classroom. It examines the changes in identity that the student teachers underwent and how those changes came about. The goals motivating this inquiry were (1) to understand the process through which the transition from student teacher to teacher occurred, and (2) to understand what influence the people surrounding the student teachers, such as the cooperating teacher and the supervisor, had on the process. The analysis closely follows Wenger's (1998) work in Communities of Practice and Schon's (1983, 1987) work in Reflective Practice. The data consists of audio-taped de-briefing sessions attended by the student teachers and the cooperating teacher, the cooperating teacher's Reflective Log, and a student teacher's journal. The inquiry supports the idea that the practicum experience in and of itself is important in the dramatic change in identity that student teachers experience. Also important is the "close accompaniment" of student teachers by the cooperating teacher in order to enact the reflective dialogue by which student teachers learn to become teachers.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Toronto, 2004. / Adviser: Jim Cummins.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Toronto, 2005.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Toronto, 2005.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 274-283) Also available in print.

Thesis (M. A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.