Browsing by Subject "teacher education"
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Item Accompaniment for the climb: Becoming reparational language educators of Spanish as a ‘heritage’ language(2017-12) Cushing-Leubner, Jenna‘Heritage’ language classes (e.g., native speaker or native language literacy classes) are often taught by already licensed world language teachers. Only a handful of U.S. teacher preparation programs offer explicit and extensive preparation for teaching ‘heritage’ languages (National Heritage Language Research Center, 2017). ‘Heritage’ language pedagogies (Fairclough & Beaudrie, 2014) and teacher preparation (Caballero, 2014; Potowski & Carreira, 2004) are underdeveloped and undertheorized. This dissertation considers what is possible when a teacher learns to teach Spanish as a ‘heritage’ language by attending to raciolinguistic ideologies and raced-language schooling policies/practices, generational knowledge of colonialism and anticolonial resistance, and lineages of collective struggle. This is informative for both the preparation/support of ‘heritage’-language specific teachers and for conceptualizing of critical and humanizing pedagogies that center the desires and possibilities of ‘heritage’ language learners. This dissertation emerges from the participatory design of one multiyear ‘heritage’ language program at a Midwestern city public high school that took shape around reparational aims for educational justice. It draws on five years of participatory research designs and the use of paired collective memory work. Participatory research connected multilingual and multiply racialized youth of Américas descent (self-named as Jóvenes con Derechos), their black multilingual non-Latina Spanish as a heritage language teacher (Toni), and a white multilingual non-Latina teacher educator (Jenna) as co-researchers and co-designers. Over five years, Jóvenes con Derechos youth, Toni, and Jenna engaged in multiple overlapping and interacting participatory action research and design projects that shaped the development of a reparational stance towards ‘heritage’ language education, curriculum, and pedagogical approaches. Youth-led participatory action research projects connected youth with existing movements for social change led by members of their own communities and in solidarity with other communities of color and Indigenous communities in their state and beyond. Using participatory design research components of historicity, instructional thinging, curricular infrastructuring, and role re-mediations, this study offers methodological and conceptual theorizing of participatory and humanizing research and pedagogies. I argue for the need of “methodological arts of the contact zone” and suggest as examples the framework of “interlapping participatory research projects” and collective memory work. This work also outlines an argument for conceptualizing ‘heritage’ language education as reparational in its desires and designs. The methodological framework of interlapping participatory research, accompanied with paired collective memory work, is then used to make visible the processes of becoming reparational language educators through a memory work montage of instructional thinging and necessary role re-mediations over time. Final implications consider what is required of teacher preparation institutions to engage in the formation of critical pedagogues who take a reparational stance to language education that understands multilingual youth of color as co-designers of their educational experience in schools.Item The Conceptual Framework for the Professional Education Programs in the College of Education and Human Development: University of Minnesota(University of Minnesota, 2005-08) University of Minnesota: College of Education and Human DevelopmentThe primary purposes of the College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) at the University of Minnesota are to advance knowledge in the field of education, to prepare personnel for educational and human development positions, and to provide leadership to educational and human development agencies. The college intends to continue to build on its national reputation in the area of teacher preparation.Item “I’ll Let You Know How It Goes”: Teaching, Learning, and Learning to Teach in an Urban Partnership High School(2016-06) Beaton Zirps, JehanneDrawing heavily from narrative inquiry, arts-based research, portraiture, and fiction-based research methodologies (Barone, 2008, 2010; Barone & Eisner, 1997, 2006, 2012; Clandinin & Connelly, 2000; Lawrence-Lightfoot, 1977; Leavy, 2013; Maynard & Cahnmann-Taylor, 2010; Rolling, 2013), the author has written a postmodern dissertation, told from multiple points of view, about the intersections of learning to teach, preparing urban teachers, and working between and within the worlds of theory- and research-driven teacher education and practice-based public schools. The collection combines first- and third-person narrative, poetry, fiction, and portraiture to examine complex questions about racism and urban teacher preparation, who and what makes a good teacher, and ways in which success is measured when it comes to learning to teach, teaching, and learning.Item Link: Centennial Edition(University of Minnesota: College of Education and Human Development, 2006-04) University of Minnesota: College of Education and Human DevelopmentSpecial edition highlighting the college's first 100 years. Literacy’s legacy; Women of action; Giants of the college; Teacher preparation; A century of deans; Inclusion for all; Kids on campus; A home for vocational education; Amazing art education in an ordinary place; Around the world; More than 75 years of early childhood educationItem Literacy Microsystems of Children Ages Birth to Four: A Strength Approach(2017-12) Schleisman Scalia, LeannAbstract The purpose of the study was to ascertain which human, material, and experiential resources supporting emergent literacy of children were present in the microsystems of some low-income families with children under the age of four. This mixed methods study used naturalistic inquiry as the primary strategic approach. Methods included home visits and conversations with parents; the Infant-Toddler Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment was used to assess the home environment. Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory was the theoretical framework; social constructivism was included in the discussion of findings and recommendations for action. The research questions addressed are 1) what do parents consider as human and material resources of their family that will support the literacy development of their young children 2) what resources, both human and material, are present in the microsystem of the very young child that the as supportive of literacy development in young children and 3) what resources, both human and material, are present in the microsystem of the very young child that may not be included in the literature yet could be supportive of literacy development in young children. Results challenged some stereotype images of low-income families related to literacy activities. Another finding was that while parents were actively engaged in communication with their young children they did not usually make the connection between developing literacy skills and a variety of family activities.Item Narrative Inquiry into Competing Pedagogies: Chinese International Students’ Learning to Teach in the U.S.(2016-08) Wang, FangCross-cultural teacher learning, or learning to teach in a linguistically and culturally different context, presents teacher learners challenges ranging from language barriers and cultural adjustment to struggles with identities, marginalization, and emotions (e.g., Faez, 2010; Haneda, 2009; He, 2003; Rodriguez & Cho, 2011). Supporting teacher learners from linguistically and culturally different backgrounds has become a topic of increasing importance in teacher education research accompanied by a call for greater diversity among teachers (Olsen, 2011) and a growing enrollment of international students in language teacher education programs in the U.S. Literature shows that cross-cultural teacher learning is profoundly shaped by teacher learners’ prior experiences in the home culture, which often causes conflicting perspectives of pedagogies (e.g., Haneda, 2009; Gao, 2010). There is a need for teacher educators to understand how the conflicts unfold as international students navigate the conflicts on an individual, contextual, and daily basis, and how their navigation may influence the choice of what type of teacher they want to become. Therefore, this study aims to document conflicting perspectives of pedagogies from teacher learners’ perspectives, to reveal the cultural dimension behind the conflicts, and to examine the connections between their experiences of conflicts and their teacher identity. In order to address this need, this study adopted narrative inquiry (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000) as the methodology to investigate learning experiences of four Chinese international students enrolled in a Chinese licensure program in the U.S., with a focus on their self-identified conflicts as they reconciled conflicting perspectives of pedagogies in learning, or competing pedagogies. Through a one year’s inquiry into the four Chinese international teacher candidates’ narrated experiences around competing pedagogies, this study aims to answer three questions: What stories do Chinese international students tell about their learning experiences around competing pedagogies? How are their narratives shaped by their culture identities? How is a teacher’s voice illustrated in their narratives? Data primarily came from the students’ self-initiated pair conversations on the conflicts, follow-up interviews, complemented by recorded Professional Learning Communities (PLC) meetings, field notes, course assignments, and other documents. Stories that were told touched on such aspects of learning to teach as “differentiated instruction”, “professionalism”, “plagiarism”, and topics about race in the U.S. A narrative analysis of their stories revealed the following findings: 1) while culture identity heavily shaped the four Chinese international teacher candidates’ sense-making process of the conflicts, the intersection of competing pedagogies constituted the very site where they started to reflect on, reinterpret, and reconstruct their learning; 2) the site of competing pedagogies, however, became missed opportunities of learning when the teacher candidates perceived a lack of modeling in the instruction and contested with debatable instructional practice; 3) their narratives also illustrated a developing teacher’s voice that contained fragmentation due to the complex transitions in their cross-cultural learning to teach experiences. The implication of this study includes the power of the use of teacher learners’ narratives to externalize, construct, and reconstruct their learning, the importance of teacher educators’ modeling of instructional practices, and the necessity of adopting a culturally relevant approach in the curriculum and practice for cross-cultural teacher learners.Item A Post-Intentional Phenomenological Exploration of Reading Whitely(2019-06) Sterner, SaraSince its beginning, children’s literature has been influenced by white gatekeepers and power brokers. From authors, illustrators, and publishers to librarians, educators, and booksellers, the people creating and promoting children’s literature have been predominantly white (Borsheim-Black, 2015, Thomas, 2016, Welch, 2016). Due in no small part to this dominance, literature for young people has served as a platform that promotes white cultural supremacy, indoctrinating readers of all races into a default of whiteness beginning at very early ages (Elliott, 2016; Welch 2016). Given that children’s literature is an important pedagogical tool in classrooms (Gebhard, 2006; Hoewisch, 2000), it is crucial for preservice and in-service teachers to build critical consciousness of the dominant reading experiences that have been produced and provoked by this reality (Sterner, 2019). Drawing on post-intentional phenomenology (Vagle, 2014, 2015, 2018) and multilayered narrative inquiry (Clandinin & Connolly, 2000; Connolly & Clandinin, 2006; Lather, 2007), this dissertation investigates the ways in which these dominant reading experiences—the phenomenon I have named reading whitely—shapes readership. To understand reading whitely, I consider, explore, and theorize its productions and provocations as they took shape in the learning experiences and course interactions of the preservice teachers and other students enrolled in an undergraduate children’s literature course I taught. Informed by this context, I situate reading whitely at the conceptual nexus of children’s literature (Bishop, 1990; Derman-Sparks, 2013; Thomas, 2016), teacher education (Darling-Hammond, et al, 2005), second-wave white teacher identity studies (Jupp, Berry & Lensmire, 2016; Jupp & Lensmire, 2016) and culturally relevant pedagogy (Ladson-Billings, 1995, 2006, 2014). To engage with reading whitely, I selected a single course assignment, the Readerography, as my focal phenomenological material. The Readerography is a reading biography that asks students to explore their identity as readers and consider which books have been important in their reading life. I used four specific aspects of the readerography: the assignment, the list, the pivot, and the response. Analysis of student readerographies revealed that the participants are both informed by reading whitely and reinforce it. This dominance of whiteness and its normalization is a hidden force that must be disrupted through conscientization and praxis. Reading whitely, while influenced by several thought traditions, is my original theoretical concept. The term creates a platform to begin to dismantle the dominant reading experiences that circulate in the background of our normalized narratives around books and reading. Naming the phenomenon—using reading whitely as a heuristic for dominant reading experiences—is a first step toward articulating a new theory that helps understand the role of reading whitely in maintaining white supremacy. Building on these new understandings of what it means to read whitely, the study suggests the importance of developing critical knowledges to disrupt this phenomenon. The theory should inform efforts to promote equity-based literacy pedagogies that center anti-oppressive practices and disrupt white supremacy, to develop teacher education that is dedicated to social justice and extend understandings of why more inclusive children’s and adolescent literature is needed. It should also further conversations that guide the education of preservice teachers as they learn to read, use, and promote diverse and inclusive texts in their reading experiences.Item Pre-service teacher cultural identity development(2013-12) Cunningham, Louise MaurellaThe main purpose of this study is to conduct exploratory qualitative research to investigate how PSTs and practicing teachers experience cultural and racial identity development or changes in identity. Rather than examine the "what" or contributors to identity development, I will explore the "how" or processes of identity development as a result of experiences in teacher preparation programs.Item Teacher Educators’ Engagement in the Internationalization of Teacher Education: A Function of Personal, Institutional, and External Factors(2017-12) Wilwohl, ChristianThis study identifies factors that impact teacher educators’ engagement in the international dimension of pre-service teacher education. Through a mixed-methods research design with a greater emphasis on the qualitative findings, this research illustrates that the teacher educators engage in internationalization as a function of intersections among personal, institutional, and external factors. The participants in this study are teacher educators in the School of Education at a comprehensive, master’s level institution in a large state system of higher education in the Northeastern U.S. One of the key findings is that the teacher educators derive their motivation to engage in international work, mostly through teaching, from their international experience. What limits their engagement is largely the presence of institutional and external barriers. While the findings from qualitative research through semi-structured interviews have limited generalizability, this study has implications for future research and practices in similar contexts (Guba & Lincoln, 1989; Yin, 2012). Conceptually, this study confirms Blackburn and Lawrence’s (1995) assertions that faculty role performance is shaped by both personal and institutional factors. The findings also bring Blackburn and Lawrence’s framework into the context of teacher educators given that external factors also shape their engagement in internationalization.Item Teachers' Beliefs and Their Manifestations: An Exploratory Mixed Methods Study of Cultural Intelligence in Pedagogical Practice(2016-09) Kennedy, DouglasThis study utilized mixed methods to investigate the beliefs and practices of 18 classroom teachers within a single school site and explored the applicability of Cultural Intelligence (CQ) to unpack the teachers’ navigation of cultural diversity within their classrooms. The study employed a demographic survey, CQ assessment instrument, semi-structured interviews, and classroom observations to address the four research questions: How do teachers at different levels of CQ development teach culturally diverse students? How do teachers at different levels of CQ development enact intercultural capabilities? To what extent does the construct of CQ align with the beliefs and practices of effective culturally relevant teachers? What is the nature of the relationship between CQ and culturally relevant pedagogy? The CQ assessment score data was utilized to differentiate and categorize participants into high-, medium-, and low-CQ groups. The groups interview and observation data were analyzed for differences, if any, between groups, convergence and divergence with the CQ construct, and applicability of CQ to understanding teachers’ beliefs and practices. The results present some convergence with the CQ construct and differences between teacher CQ groups in regards to teachers’ beliefs and practices with cultural diversity in their classrooms. Teachers within the high-CQ teacher group expressed more nuance understanding of culture and its role in teaching than their lower-CQ colleagues. Teachers in the high-CQ group also enacted more classroom practices that were closely aligned with culturally relevant pedagogy than their lower-CQ peers. The research may indicate a potential new direction for preparing teachers to understand the role of culture and navigate cultural diversity within their classrooms.Item Teaching as a Spiritual Practice: Cultivating Teacher Presence through Mindfulness, A Post-Intentional Phenomenological Exploration(2018-07) Niedzielski, JenniferMounting evidence suggests the pervasiveness of stress and insidiousness of burnout in the teaching profession (Blasé, 1986; Chubbuck & Zembylas, 2008; Eskridge & Coker, 1985; Larrivee, 2012; Spilt, Koomen, & Thijs, 2011; Vandenberghe & Huberman, 1999). Exposure to chronic stressors can have a negative cascading effect on a teacher’s mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. While the inherent stressors of the profession cannot be avoided, this body of work explores how a mindfulness-based training program designed for teachers (Present Teacher Training) allows them to transform stress into opportunities for cultivating a healthy, authentic, and purpose-driven teacher Presence. A phenomenological exploration of what it means to be and become a mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually healthy teacher through the stress inherent in the profession holds great potential for learning how to support a teacher’s holistic well-being-ness. This study utilized a post-intentional phenomenological research design (Vagle, 2018) to explore the cultivation of the phenomenon of teacher Presence through the integration of different phenomenological material. Vagle’s (2018) whole-part-whole analysis of the phenomenological material was used to capture provocations and pathic productions of the phenomenon. The primary research question in this post-intentional phenomenological exploration was: How might cultivating teacher Presence take shape in mindfulness work for teachers? The three primary “pathic productions” that were produced and explored in depth through this three paper dissertation are: (1) creating the micro-miracle moment: slowing down fast-paced teacher time to be present; (2) cultivating teacher self-trust and intuition in moments of uncertainty and risk; and (3) “burning in” to human service oriented work through the Infinite Well-Being Integration Model. This study illuminates the myriad ways a teacher’s being-ness in the present moment entangles with one’s trajectory of becoming one’s most authentic and healthy self through the professional practice of teaching. It is suggested that an integrated approach to teacher preparation and in-service professional development that supports the mind (i.e., mental agility), body (i.e., emotional agility), and spirit (i.e., awareness of self) to be beneficial in preparing teachers for the courageous and commendable inner and outer work they are called to engage.Item Teaching Gender: a phenomenology of gender in schools and four modes of transformation(2021-08) O'Loughlin, AilaIn this dissertation, I offer three chapters on the varied and partial realities of gender at work in schooling. This post-intentional phenomenological research project collects data from both collective and individual interviews with fellow queer teachers, as well as personal reflections and theoretical review. Through analysis of this data, the text aims to get smarter about our resistance to gender oppression in schools. Employing the experiences of research participants as well as a statistical review on the experience of queer youth from Human Rights Campaign, chapter one is a pragmatic address to what teachers must know and do when it comes to gender in schools. Chapter two relies on conversations from feminist marxism to articulate the sexist exploitation of teachers, as visibilized by the teacher role during the Covid-19 pandemic. Finally, inspired by the call to change that chapters one and two both offer, chapter three articulates four different modes of change that we ask for and enact when resisting oppression. In total, the objective of this dissertation is to represent multiple and partial considerations on gender in schools and urge further research in the ways we discuss how gender is lived out in school spaces.