Too Little or Too Much

Abstract

Exhilarated and exhausted, hopeful and cynical, fulfilled and dejected--these adjectives depict the emotional spectrum characterizing teachers' 1st-year experiences. Narratives of teachers' initial years speak the gritty reality of really learning teach. Their stories tell of the challenges experienced as they come understand the depth and texture of their students' lives and their unique developmental needs. They work develop humane, yet efficient, routines manage the daily business of classroom and school life. They struggle design engaging curriculum and build knowledge of rigorous and fair standards for student work. They try fend off fatigue, seeking balance career demands with activities and connections that rejuvenate. They grapple with the absurdities and paradoxes of school bureaucracies, choosing when critique and resist ill-framed policies and practices. They stumble in some interactions with colleagues, administrators, and parents. They wonder why their trying work and hard-won accomplishments are viewed with such low regard by the general public. In short, narratives of first years pivot between epiphany and disillusionment (e.g., Johnston, 2002; Kane, 1991; Michie, 1999). The challenges brought life in these narratives are persistently documented in the research literature (Fuller, 1969; Roehrig, Pressley, & Talotta, 2002; Veenman, 1984). Difficulties in the first years of teaching have implications for both practice and policy, particularly because the estimated financial cost of teacher turnover is US$2.6 billion annually (Alliance for Excellent Education, 2004). Furthermore, although we expect most 1st-year teachers will encounter some difficulties, there is emerging evidence that those prepared in powerful teacher preparation programs seem manage the vicissitudes more adeptly than others (Darling-Hammond, 2006) and that quality induction programs matter (Britton, Paine, Pimm, & Raizen, 2003; Johnson & The Project on the Next Generation of Teachers, 2004; Molner-Kelly, 2004). With these realities in mind, what can and should we expect of teacher education? Is teacher education doing too little or too much prepare teachers for the first years of teaching? To educate and support beginning teachers, we need know about their development and the contexts in which it takes place. THE FIRST YEARS Studies of new teachers' development outline typical stages (e.g., Berliner, 1994; Bullough & Baughman, 1997; Feiman-Nemser, 1983; Huberman, 1989). Whether beginnings are easy or painful, survival remains a prominent theme for the initial months, as new teachers resolve discipline and management problems. The intense survival stage gives way, often by the middle of the 1st year, a focus on curriculum, teaching practices, and eventually student learning. Most studies present a progression toward mastery or expertise, achieved some time in the 4th year of teaching or beyond. (1) More recent frameworks conceptualize teacher learning and development draw on the notions of expertise (Hammerness, Darling-Hammond, & Bransford, 2005), (Snow, Griffin, & Burns, 2005), and a professional learning continuum (Feiman-Nemser, 2001). Teachers as adaptive experts frames expertise along two dimensions--efficiency and innovation. That is, expertise involves both the ability perform particular tasks without having devote too many attentional resources achieve them and the ability move beyond existing routines ... rethink key ideas, practices, and even values in order to respond novel situations (Hammerness et al., 2005, pp. 358-359). In a similar manner, Snow and her colleagues' (2005) conception of progressive differentiation outlines five levels of knowledge teachers draw on (declarative, situated procedural, stable procedural, expert/adaptive, and reflective/analyzed). …