Browsing by Subject "teacher education"
Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
Results Per Page
Sort Options
Item Broadening the Scope: Examining the Effects of CSCOPE and Prescribed Curriculum on Experienced English Language Arts Teachers--A Qualitative Study(2011-10-21) Tyrrell, Susan MichelleThis study examines the effects of the CSCOPE prescribed curriculum on four English language arts teachers. CSCOPE, created for implementation in Texas public schools, is directly aligned with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). Research objectives included the effect of implementation on experienced teachers and how it affected their general or personal teaching efficacy, curricular planning, and attitudes about the profession. A qualitative case study research method guided this study. Purposeful sampling was used in order to ensure that the subjects selected would be able to best encompass a true experience of the curriculum being explored. The subjects for these case studies were four teachers from four different school districts in Texas. The four teachers were in schools that had implemented the CSCOPE curriculum at the time of the interviews. Each teacher was required to have three years minimum of teaching experience prior tothe implementation of CSCOPE. In actuality, they all had significantly more experience, ranging from a teacher in her 8th year to a teacher in her 29th year. Because each teacher worked in a different school and had varying experiences, their stories were different, but similarities certainly existed. The similarities of their experiences became apparent and produced three major themes that emerged from this study: 1) CSCOPE is terrific in theory but ineffective in practice, 2) Good teachers teach in spite of CSCOPE, not with it, 3) CSCOPE makes too many false assumptions about students. The findings indicate that while the CSCOPE curriculum is an idea that would work in an idealized educational system, because the teacher is the variable and students have different needs, CSCOPE is an unrealistic mandate for all Texas schools. Additionally, problems arise with gifted education, and Advanced Placement, and other high-performing programs. CSCOPE does not address any differentiation for gifted students. In some schools, due to enrollment levels or scheduling conflicts, all levels are included in one classroom. To mandate a teacher use one curriculum system and serve all students is unrealistic.Item Hearing the Voices of Alternatively Certified Teachers in Texas: Narratives of Teaching English Language Learners in Urban Secondary Mainstream Classrooms(2012-11-21) Zannou, YetundeIn Texas, nearly half of all new teachers are alternatively certified (AC) whilst English language learners (ELL) are over one-third of the public school population in some districts. As this trend continues, the likelihood that AC teachers will teach ELLs increases and alters what Texas teachers must know upon entering the classroom. This research explores teacher knowledge and beliefs about teaching ELLs through constructivist and narrative lenses. Four AC science teachers in two diverse school districts participated in in-depth interviews and reflective interviews following classroom observations to answer the research questions: (1) how do AC teachers describe and interpret their acts of teaching ELLs in mainstream classrooms; and (2) how do AC teachers describe and interpret their learning to teach ELLs in mainstream classrooms. Data were transcribed and analyzed using thematic narrative methods. This study found that participants saw ELL instruction as: (1) "just good teaching" strategies, (2) consisting primarily of cultural awareness and consideration for student comfort, and (3) less necessary in science where all students must learn the language. The most experienced teacher was the only participant to reference specific linguistic knowledge in describing ELL instruction. Many of the teachers described their work with ELL students as giving them an opportunity to improve their lives, which was consistent with their overall teaching philosophy and reason for entering the profession. Participant narratives about learning to teach ELLs described personal experience and person-to-person discussions as primary resources of knowledge. District support was generally described as unhelpful or incomplete. Participants portrayed their AC program as helpful in preparing them to work with ELL students, but everyone desired more relevant information from the program and more grade-appropriate strategies from the district. Participant narratives reveal AC teachers needed a pragmatic and less theoretical understanding of diversity during pre-service training. Participant tendency to draw upon "common sense", affective, and practical strategies in teaching ELL students in lieu of the state-mandated English language proficiency standards (ELPS) suggests AC programs should have teachers articulate and discuss their beliefs about ELL instruction in order to provide training targeted towards misconceptions about language development, particularly in science.Item Innovative practices in early childhood classrooms: what makes a teacher an early adopter?(Texas A&M University, 2004-09-30) Marshall, EllenThis basic qualitative research study focused on the internal constructions of ten early childhood education teachers who take new information acquired from workshops, coursework, or other educational venues and quickly incorporate it into their teaching. The participants were all women who work in a variety of classroom settings with two-through-six-year-olds in San Antonio, Texas. They were identified as teachers who are in the forefront in adopting new ideas in comparison to other early childhood teachers (Rogers, 2003). A wide range of experience and education levels were represented. Using the interpretive paradigm as well as the ideological framework of constructivism, a grounded theory was established in response to the research question. Of special interest were factors that can be addressed in pre-service and in-service instructional opportunities for early childhood students and professionals. There were three major findings. First, the participants expressed core moral values in relation to their jobs as early childhood teachers: they look upon their work as a moral endeavor; they have a spiritual connection to their work; and they care deeply about others. Second, they shared the character traits of a positive attitude, persistence, and flexibility. Third, they held two learning dispositions in common: they perceive and practice learning as a continual, on-going process; and they are highly reflective. Viewed together, these three findings form a continuous internal loop that impacts the external cycle of gaining new information and adopting it into classroom practice. The findings in this study parallel previous teacher knowledge research done with K-12 grade teachers in the United States and in other countries. It supports models of change that consider one's frame of reference in terms of individual belief systems and how this impacts the change process. The implication is that focusing on technical knowledge is not enough. Early childhood teacher educators must consistently employ specific strategies with their students that help illuminate and strengthen the tacit traits identified in this study.Item Preservice teachers' knowledge of linear functions within multiple representation modes(2009-05-15) You, ZhixiaThis study examines preservice teachers? knowledge in the case of linear functions. Teachers? knowledge in general consists of their subject matter knowledge and their pedagogical content knowledge. In this study, teachers? subject matter knowledge is examined by looking at their ability to adapt to different representation modes. The framework for subject matter content knowledge consists of five components: (1) flexibility across formal mathematical symbolisms; (2) flexibility between visual and algebraic representations; (3) flexibility within visual representations; (4) flexibility with real-life situations, and (5) procedural skills. In terms of pedagogical content knowledge, two aspects were examined across five corresponding components. These two aspects were knowledge of students? conceptions and misconceptions, and teachers? teaching strategies. The primary source of data for the study was from two tests and six interviews. The results showed preservice teachers performed poorly in terms of representation flexibility. Furthermore, most of the preservice teachers had limited knowledge of the nature and sources of students? mistakes as well as effective teaching strategies to help students with their misconceptions. In terms of knowledge structure, representation flexibility was found to be significant in both CK and PCK compared to procedural skills. Moreover, the representational flexibility in terms of CK seemed to strongly predict the overall PCK performance. Representational flexibility seemed to be related to the use of instructional representations. Overall, there was a strong relationship between various components of CK and PCK.Item Preservice Teachers? Content Knowledge of Function Concept within a Contextual Environment(2012-10-19) Brown, IrvingThe overarching goal of this dissertation research was to develop and measure the psychometric properties of an instrument to assess preservice teachers? content knowledge of the function concept embedded in contextual problems. This goal was accomplished through two research projects described in two central chapters. Chapter II reports on the collective case study that was used to pilot test the instrument and Chapter III details the rationale used in item selection and the psychometric properties of the new instrument. Unlike existing research studies that examine a broad range of function related topics using various forms of symbolic, tabular, and graphical representations as the basis for questions and problems, this study focused solely on function problems immersed in various real world contexts. Since this is not a common approach to measuring content knowledge of the function concept, the existing instruments in published studies were not found to be suitable for this specialized purpose. The psychometric measurements of the instrument did not suggest that the instrument was valid or reliable so more research will be required to validate the instrument. However, based on the preliminary results from testing, several potential suggestions can be made to teacher educations programs. Inferences drawn from the mathematical problem-solving cognition will aid in the development and validation of future instruments to assess preservice mathematics teachers? knowledge of how to connect their knowledge mathematical concept of function to a contextual setting.Item Relationships of important elements of the student teaching experience and methods of student teaching placement to the quality of experience of student teachers(Texas A&M University, 2004-09-30) Morrish, Douglas GlennThe purpose of this study was to determine important elements and placement practices of student teaching as perceived by teacher educators and how well each student teacher perceived his/her quality of experience based on these criteria. Data were collected using mail questionnaires following procedures by Dillman (2000). Three different mail questionnaires were used to gather information from 50 different head teacher educators (35 responding), 77 teacher educators (45 responding), and 204 student teachers from the 2001-2002 academic school year (140 responding). Head teacher educator respondents indicated that the number one placement practice for placing student teachers was that of the cooperating teacher having at least three years teaching experience (mean=4.61) Teacher educator respondents indicated that a cooperating center having access to the World Wide Web (mean=4.79) was the most important element of a cooperating center. Additionally, teacher educators indicated that a cooperating teacher who supports other school activities was the most important cooperating teacher element (mean=4.28). As a whole, student teachers indicated that they learned a great deal from their student teaching experience (mean=4.65) and that the student teaching component of their teacher education program was the most valuable component (mean=4.54). Statistically siginificant relationships between student teacher perceptions of their cooperating center elements and the quality of their student teaching experience existed. The elements with a positive correlation and statistical significance included cooperating center facilities (r=.447) and cooperating teacher and student teacher relationships (r=.853). The correlation coefficient (r=.389) between the level of importance of student teaching placement methods and the quality of the student teacher experience indicated a low positive relationship (Davis, 1971, but was not significant at the .05 alpha level. This indicated that the more time and effort teacher educators spend on placing student teachers may increase the student teacher's quality of experience.Item Teacher Knowledge of Basic Language Concepts and Dyslexia: Are Teachers Prepared to Teach Struggling Readers?(2011-02-22) Washburn, Erin KuhlThe National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) has declared reading failure a national public health issue. Approximately 15-20 % of the US population displays one or more symptoms of dyslexia: a specific learning disability that affects an individual's ability to process language. Consequently, elementary school teachers are teaching students who struggle with inaccurate or slow reading, poor spelling, poor writing, and other language processing difficulties. However, studies have indicated both preservice and inservice teachers lack essential knowledge needed to teach struggling readers, particularly children with dyslexia. Few studies have sought to assess teachers', either preservice or inservice, knowledge and perceptions about dyslexia in conjunction with knowledge of basic language concepts related to reading instruction. Thus, the purpose of this dissertation was to examine elementary school preservice and inservice teachers' knowledge of basic language concepts and their knowledge and perceptions about dyslexia. Three separate studies were conducted, all addressing the overarching question: Are elementary teachers (K-5) prepared to teach struggling readers? In study one, research that has addressed teacher knowledge of basic language concepts was reviewed systematically. In studies two and three, a basic language constructs survey was used to assess the self-perceptions/knowledge of basic language concepts and knowledge/perceptions about the nature of dyslexia of preservice, first year, and more experienced teachers involved in teaching reading in grades K-5.