Browsing by Subject "First-year teachers"
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Item First-year teachers’ perceptions of writing and writing instruction in their primary classroom : three case studies(2011-05) McDonnold, Kathleen Whitby; Roser, Nancy; Bomer, Randy; Hoffman, James V.; Maloch, Anna E.; Schallert, Diane L.This interpretive case study is an investigation of three first-year teachers’ perceptions of student writing and writing instruction in second grade classrooms. The portrayals describe each teacher’s early experiences with literacy and their professional path that led them to the classroom. The case studies also present the knowledge and the resources these three teachers report drawing on during their first year as a professional. A description of the each classroom and an account of writing instruction further contextualizes the interpretation of the perceptions about student writing and writing instruction each teacher. Classroom observation and interview data were collected during the spring semester of these three teachers first year as a professional in the classroom. Data analysis was ongoing and inductive (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Recurring themes and patterns across the cases were used to build representations that most exemplified each teacher’s perceptions. The findings in this study suggest that novice teachers draw from multiple sources of knowledge as they teach writing for the first time. The findings also suggest that the strongest influences on beginning teachers’ writing instruction are their own experiences as a writer, their assigned mentor, and their grade-level team members. From the classroom observations and debriefing interviews, the findings further suggest that beginning teachers assume writing ideas come from teachers and that there is a particular writing process that is to be followed systematically. The findings also suggest that beginning teachers believe public displays of student work should be perfect and therefore place great importance on the conventions and mechanics of writing. The implications for this study and suggestions for future research relate to the potential for first year teachers to draw from multiple sources in their teacher education programs, the potential for school-based mentoring programs where mentor teachers receive training to support their work with new teachers especially as it impacts their practice and develops their expertise as they teach writing, and the potential for first year teachers to take the initiative for their own professional development as they continue to improve their practice teaching writing.Item Technology integration and novice teachers : looking at technology use of novice teachers in the context of their first year of teaching(2006-08) Abate, Lisa Marie; Resta, Paul E.The aim of this study was to examine first year teachers' experiences incorporating instructional technology into their teaching through the lens of Technology-Pedagogical Content Knowledge. Technology-Pedagogical Content Knowledge is a fairly new concept drawn from the concept of Pedagogical Content Knowledge, originating with Shulman. Participating teachers were graduates of a Southwestern University's College of Education laptop initiative that required all College of Education students to purchase a laptop. The laptop was used throughout their pre-service teaching course work. The first graduating cohort of this initiative was surveyed during their first full year of teaching. Ten of those surveyed then participated in interviews and journal writing related to their technology integration experiences. Results indicated that for the most part these new teachers are not facing access and support related barriers to technology use, though time constraints are still an issue. Results also indicated that the teachers are using technology in their instructional activities, and are continuing to grow in their technology integration skills. The basis in technology use from their College of Education combined with the technology-supportive school atmosphere in which they teach appears to be an environment that is fostering teachers who are willing to experiment with technology integration and are planning how to integrate it more in the coming school year. Their understanding of the connections between technology, content and pedagogy, their t-PCK, are developing and transforming. Impact on the field includes a greater understanding of how teachers come to design lessons for technology integration as well as a greater understanding of how graduates from teacher preparation programs with an emphasis on technology integration are able to apply their skills upon entering the teaching field.Item Toward the wisdom of practice : curricular decision making among novice primary grade teachers in standards-based schools(2010-05) Bauml, Michelle Marie; Goldstein, Lisa S., 1963-; Field, Sherry L.; Salinas, Cynthia; Svinicki, Marilla; Brown, KeffrelynCurricular decision making is foundational to teachers’ practice—every facet of the instructional process is the result of teachers’ decisions. For new teachers, learning to make curricular decisions that will satisfy institutional, public, and professional demands and facilitate learning in their classrooms can be especially challenging given today’s standards-based educational climate. In the primary grades, teachers find themselves having to manage competing demands of accountability and their own beliefs about effective instruction for young children. Despite the field’s renewed interest in studying teachers’ thinking as it relates to post-NCLB curricular decision making, few studies examine curricular decision making among beginning primary grade teachers who share the same accountability issues as their more experienced colleagues. Utilizing case study methodology, this investigation explored how five novice primary grade teachers approached curricular decision making for the core content areas within accountability-driven Texas public schools. Data included classroom observations, interviews and post-observation conversations, lesson planning think-alouds, and curricular documents. Cross-case analyses indicate that participants' curricular decision making was characterized by professional judgment in response to various dilemmas they encountered while attempting to address personal, professional, administrative, and organizational expectations. In many ways, the standards-based contexts in which participants taught made teaching especially difficult for these teachers who were only beginning to accumulate the wisdom of practice. Findings also suggest that participants' curricular decisions were informed by a combination of internal and external influences. Most significantly, curricular decisions were deeply rooted in who teachers are and who they hope to become as professional educators. Professional identity permeated all five teachers' approaches to curricular decision making, from the types of decisions they chose to address to the actual decisions they made in the classroom. Concomitantly, these teachers' conceptions of the teaching profession helped shape the nature of their curricular decisions. The study also reveals that professional colleagues played a strong role in guiding curricular decisions among the participants, although not all support offered to novices was necessarily beneficial for their development as effective decision makers. Finally, the study raises questions about incongruities between teacher preparation programs and the expectations graduates will face as beginning teachers.