Secondary Teacher Candidates Research Articles

Shaping the Professionality of Secondary Teacher Candidates with Diverse Backgrounds during the Great Depression

AbstractThis paper addresses the social transformation of the Hungarian secondary teacher candidates brought about by the combination of the effects of the Great Depression and the standardisation endeavours of the teacher training institution between 1930 and 1935. The reconfiguration of the social composition of candidates is revealed by making use of archival sources and statistical reports. Document analysis of archival sources, descriptive statistical analysis and secondary literature review are employed as the main methods. Notions related to the critical approach of professionalisation theories are applied in the interpretation process. Results suggest that the professional institution did not only prevent less affluent social strata from dropping out of training but contributed to their disappearance by introducing standardisation initiatives when the crisis was imminent. It contributed to the worsening of the teacher shortage and the abandonment of uniformization that set the whole profession on a deprofessionalisation course.

Teacher candidates as student partners in decoding the disciplines research

This study examines the role of secondary teacher candidates as student partners in research into undergraduate students’ historical cognition while contextualizing documents. It highlights the unique role of teacher candidates as near-peer interviewers and change agents within higher education and secondary curricula. Through using decoding the disciplines methodology to solicit student voice in near-peer interviews, teacher candidates identified areas for curricular change in teaching contextualization in university history courses. The involvement of teacher candidates extended beyond the university classroom and informed their future work in secondary education. Decoding experiences in university courses provided teacher candidates with insights into supporting secondary pupils’ abilities to contextualize historical sources. This research demonstrates the potential of teacher candidates as near-peer interviewers and curricular change agents in secondary and higher education. Collaborative partnerships between teacher candidates and faculty can lead to meaningful curricular changes and effective teaching practices in higher education and secondary education contexts.

Teacher candidates’ views of future SSI instruction: a multiple case study

The instructional approach of incorporating socioscientific issues (SSI) into science teaching has been found to improve critical thinking and problem-solving skills among K-12 students. Preparation for how to facilitate SSI in the classroom, however, is limited, resulting in very few classrooms across the United States providing opportunities for K-12 students to grapple with these real-world problems. In this manuscript we compare the integration of socioscientific issues (SSI) within two different undergraduate course contexts: a science methods course that is part of an elementary educator preparation program and a science content course designed for secondary future educators. Through this comparison we aim to provide science education researchers and science teacher educators with empirical support related to how the delivery of SSI influences elementary to secondary teacher candidates’ views of SSI as they relate to student engagement, teacher effectiveness, and curricula. Leveraging a mixed methods case study approach, data from each course context were collected through Likert-type surveys and open-ended responses. Findings suggest exposure to SSI pedagogies in science methods and content courses influence teacher candidates’ views in different ways and we must consider field and course-based work occurring simultaneously while teacher candidates are learning about SSI-based instruction. Implications for this are discussed.

Mathematical benefits of a language-friendly pedagogical tool: a praxeological analysis of teachers’ perceptions and practices

ABSTRACT In this paper, we report on data from 40 middle and secondary school mathematics teachers and teacher candidates as they begin to articulate the intersection of language-friendly pedagogy, mathematics teaching, and a multilingual technological tool by way of a two-hour introductory workshop. We use an Anthropological Theory of the Didactic which recognises that mathematics instruction and language instruction are done differently under distinct institutional conditions (curriculum, culture, language, etc.) to analyse our data. Our findings suggest that teachers’ beliefs and perspectives regarding their multilingual students guide their choices about how to use a powerful digital multilingual platform to either remediate what they perceive as deficits in their students or leverage the assets of multilingual learners.

MeToo Moments: Teacher Candidates’ Disclosures of Sexual Violence

ABSTRACT Rape culture and sexual violence have especially entered popular discourse in recent years, largely due to the significant activism of Tarana Burke’s #MeToo movement. As such, because educators are increasingly taking up these topics, approaches to such intense subject matter in literacy learning need to be creatively and critically (re)considered so as to privilege more inclusive stories of sexual trauma and cultivate radical resistance against rape culture. Emerging from a feminist qualitative study that examined how secondary teacher candidates responded to a trauma text set of sexual assault narratives, as well as proposed antirape pedagogy for the secondary English classroom, this paper explores the testimonial discourses that surfaced. Teacher candidates participants either offered their own “Me Too” moments – that is, disclosures of experiencing sexual violence in some way, or disclosed witnessing trauma testimony, usually by a loved one.

Secondary Teacher Candidates’ Perceptions and Experiences Before, During, and After Conducting A Science Show

The science show is a form of informal science learning (ISL) that can potentially develop students' interest in science. However, there needs to be a gap in bridging the ISL elements, such as science shows, into formal teacher education programs as one innovative pedagogical approach. Thus, this study investigates how secondary science teacher candidates' perceptions of science displays shifted after carrying out their science shows and explores their shared experiences as part of their teacher training program. Data were collected from 16 secondary science teacher candidates of cohort 2020 based on their written reflections on their experiences before, during, and after conducting science shows. The study found that some science teacher candidates' perceptions of science shows had shifted, and the others had remained the same. The science teacher candidates' everyday experiences during the science show implementation were their effort to conduct a successful demonstration and develop video-making skills.

Advancing a theory of change in a collaborative teacher education program innovation through universal design for learning

This design-based research (DBR) investigates the redesign of a 13-month interdisciplinary teacher preparation program to co-prepare secondary and special education teacher candidates to plan and implement evidence-based practices to meet content and literacy needs of all learners within secondary classrooms. The Theory of Change explores mechanisms for change under the umbrella of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). The UDL framework can support teacher candidates in meeting the needs of students with exceptionalities in the general education classroom, yet few studies have explored the in-depth application of UDL in authentic settings across preparation program duration. DBR methods organize study design, iterative data collection, and retrospective analysis of artifacts including candidates' edTPA portfolios and action research papers. Findings revealed strengths and challenges in candidates’ (n = 14) application of components. Results for specific components and various disciplines are discussed. Implications for collaborative preparation of general and special education candidates are identified.

Effects of Peer Tutoring on Preservice Teachers’ Performance on Practice Content Exams in South Texas, USA

To become a teacher in the United States, teaching candidates must demonstrate understanding of good teaching practices and appropriate content knowledge in the subject to be taught (Kowarski, 2021). Teacher preparation programs are trying to balance TCs needs to learn material, engage in quality field experiences, and perform on high-stakes tests assessing content and pedagogy. This quasi-experimental study explored the impact of various interventions on teacher candidate’s performance on practice content exams. The participants of the study included 30 elementary teacher candidates and 7 secondary teacher candidates enrolled in a teacher preparation program in south Texas, USA. Elementary participants were divided into a control group (N=13) using only the online modules and an experimental group (N=17) using online modules and receiving tutoring as interventions between tests. Secondary participants’ interventions consisted of preparing and presenting content-specific tutoring for elementary candidates. Data were collected through pretest scores prior to intervention and posttest scores after intervention. Findings show a statistically significant difference in pre-post exam scores in all groups, but no statistical difference between posttest scores in the elementary control and experimental groups. It was concluded that all intervention methods between tests were effective however the various methods of intervention did not provide statistical differences in outcomes. This research was supported by the SERA Early Career Faculty Mentoring Initiative Grant. Keywords: teacher candidate, high-stakes tests, test preparation, teacher preparation DOI: 10.7176/JEP/13-14-05 Publication date: May 31 st 2022

“I Look Mexican, So They Assume I Speak Spanish”: Latinx Teacher Candidates’ Experiences With Raciolinguistic Policing

AbstractThis critical discourse analysis study examines Latinx primary and secondary school teacher candidates’ (TCs) struggles with raciolinguistic ideologies that connect speaking Spanish to being authentically Latinx. Data came from a larger qualitative project, in which these TCs engaged in reflexive language ideology and awareness tasks, as part of an English‐as‐a‐second‐language methods class at a large Hispanic‐serving university in Texas. In this study, we center Latinx TCs’ experiences with and responses to raciolinguistic ideologies framing them as linguistically lacking and/or ethnically inauthentic. Our findings have implications for the ways teacher educators engage Latinx TCs in the interrogation of language ideologies during teacher preparation. We conclude this article by offering pathways for educators to engage Latinx TCs in challenging the practice of marginalizing Latinx individuals via their language practices.

Emancipating STEM Education through Abolitionist Teaching: A Research-practice Partnership to Support Virtual Microteaching Experiences

ABSTRACT In this paper, we share an approach to address systemic racism by highlighting a research-practice partnership [RPP] effort between a university and STEM program (I AM STEM) to understand the extent to which centering abolitionist teaching and emancipatory practices in a science methods course supported teacher candidates’ virtual microteaching experiences. This study’s conceptual framework put research-practice partnership in conversation with abolitionist teaching (Love, 2019) and community cultural wealth to explore access to STEM teaching and learning. We highlight the experiences of four secondary science teacher candidates through an embedded single case study. Data sources included observation field notes, microteaching reflections, semi-structured individual interviews, and lesson plans, which were analyzed using constructivist grounded theory approaches. Findings revealed that the teacher candidates embraced the concept of abolitionist teaching to inform their microteaching experiences by leveraging social justice standards and emancipatory pedagogies. The participants developed science lessons that honored students’ cultural capital through critical readings, discussions, and reflections. Furthermore, the RPP between I AM STEM and the partnering university provided supports to contextualize and humanize science learning for Black and Brown children in online learning spaces. To expose and dismantle racism in science education, we must reimagine our science teacher preparation programs and courses. Thus, emancipating STEM education means engaging in the struggle toward humanity and collective healing. Abolitionist teaching within the context of science education does not require another reform effort. To disrupt systemic oppression, we must demand restorative justice and engage in direct transformative action.

On the Interplay of Mathematics and Education: Advancing Computational Discovery from Recognition to Observation

The paper promotes the notion of computational experiment supported by a multi-tool digital environment as a means of the development of new mathematical knowledge in the context of education. The main study of the paper deals with the issues of teaching this knowledge to secondary teacher candidates within a graduate capstone mathematics education course. The interplay of mathematics and education is considered through the lens of using technology to enhance one’s mathematical background by advancing ideas from mostly known to genuinely unknown. In this paper, the knowns consist of Fibonacci numbers, Pascal’s triangle, and continued fractions; among the unknowns are Fibonacci-like polynomials and generalized golden ratios in the form of cycles of various lengths. The paper discusses the interplay of pragmatic and epistemic uses of digital tools by the learners of mathematics. The data for the study were collected over the years through solicited comments by teacher candidates enrolled in the capstone course. The main results indicate the candidates’ appreciation of the need for deep mathematical knowledge as an instrument of the modern-day pedagogy aimed at making high schoolers interested in the subject matter.

Safe space(s), content (trigger) warnings, and being ‘care-ful’ with trauma literature pedagogy and rape culture in secondary English teacher education

ABSTRACT Drawing on data from a larger feminist study that explored how secondary English teacher candidates responded to a sexual trauma text set and pedagogy for teaching such narratives with Canadian adolescents, this paper examines how caretaker discourses emerged in response to these stories and learning. This especially manifested as emerging teacher participants discussed and troubled the notion of ‘safety’ in schools altogether, searched for ways to cultivate ‘safe-er’ classroom spaces, and critically considered triggering and content (trigger) warning practices. With the aim of thinking about how educators might build radical classrooms prepared to address Tarana Burke’s Me Too movement, the pervasiveness of sexual assault, and the insidiousness of rape culture through literacy learning, this paper details the sometimes precautionary but overall promising ways in which teacher candidates considered tackling difficult subject matter in English Language Arts.

Secondary Teacher Candidates’ Mathematical Modeling Task Design and Revision

The purpose of this study is to investigate secondary teacher candidates’ experience of mathematical modeling task design. In the study, 54 teacher candidates in a university-based teacher education program created modeling tasks and scoring rubrics. Next, the participants pilot-tested the tasks with students and had the opportunity to revise the original tasks and rubrics based on student responses. The data included participants’ statements, in which they described and reflected on the design and revision process of modeling tasks. The study describes six didactic revision strategies in revising modeling tasks and identifies five emerging pedagogical ideas from revising tasks and rubrics. The study also discusses the way modeling task design activities have the potential to support teacher candidates’ learning through a bottom-up modeling curriculum in teacher education.

"Into the Unknown": Supervising Teacher Candidates During the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic

In mid-March, our public schools ended classroom instruction due to COVID-19. The timing of the suspension of face-to-face instruction was in the middle of the student teaching clinical experience for our secondary education teacher candidates. Without preparation, teacher candidates were to guide their middle and high school students through online learning. University faculty were experiencing a similar challenge — how to support and direct their teacher candidates in mid-experience.
 This was a change in the logistics of teaching and in the focus of education. The first priority of the school was not high-stakes standardized testing, nor daily pacing guides, but rather the emotional and social health of students.
 This change in the schools’ priorities fit well with the preparation of our teacher candidates at our Midwest regional teaching university. Our focus was to prepare teachers of students, not teachers of mathematics or English. While our secondary teacher candidates did not have all the tools and technology skills needed to switch to online teaching immediately, they did know it was the relationship with the learner that was most important.
 The second change of the schools’ priorities was a time-allocation switch from mostly teaching to mostly planning, communicating, and supporting one another as teachers. Our teacher candidates already knew that effective communication makes everyone a better instructor and benefits student learning. In order to help our teacher candidates make this transition, we developed the Clinical Practice Interview Protocol and met with our candidates regularly online.
 A third aspect was teacher candidates’ prior experience as students of online classes themselves. Many had taken several online or hybrid university courses and knew what worked well and what they needed to avoid as an online teacher.
 In this reflective essay, we discuss how the university supervisor supported and facilitated our teacher candidates in preparing and implementing quality instruction.

Preparing secondary teacher candidates to teach academic English

In this qualitative study, mainstream teacher candidates in a secondary teacher education program were asked to incorporate academic English instruction into their lesson planning and implementation in fieldwork placement classrooms. Teacher candidates attended a training session in which one method for identifying academic English features was taught. Artifacts, classroom observations, and interviews from four teacher candidates were analyzed to determine what features of academic English were identified and how these were taught to high school students. While all four teacher candidates accurately identified features of academic English in their lessons, only two participants taught features of academic English to students. The experiences of the participants illustrated that teacher candidates need, in addition to the ability to identify features of academic English, knowledge about how to teach language, a commitment to teaching language in their lessons, and the support of university supervisors and supervising practitioners who possess the same knowledge and commitment.

Representing Student Voice in an Approximation of Practice: Using Planted Errors in Coached Rehearsals to Support Teacher Candidate Learning

Approximations of practice provide opportunities for teacher candidates (TCs) to engage in the work of teaching in situations of reduced complexity. A problem of practice for teacher educators relates to how to represent student voice in approximations to engage TCs with interactive practices in meaningful ways. In this article, we share an analysis of our use of “planted errors” in coached rehearsals with secondary mathematics TCs focused on the practice of responding to errors in whole-class discussion. We highlight how different iterations of the planted errors affect the authenticity of how student voice was represented in the rehearsals and the resulting opportunities for TC learning. We offer design considerations for coached rehearsals and other approximations of practice.

Exploring Implicit Bias to Evaluate Teacher Candidates' Ethical Practice in the Internship

To create an equitable and ethical learning environment in the classroom requires teacher candidates (TCs) to develop positive relationships with students and to reflect on who they are. Using the elements of Richard Milner’s (2007) Framework of Researcher Racial and Cultural Positionality, this article presents an account of an innovative practice in how to engage secondary education TCs in a reflection of implicit biases, and how to interrupt them to become more ethical professionals. This article takes InTASC 9: Professional Learning and Ethical Practice as a point of departure and describes how a new teacher mentor piloted a series of exercises for majority white TCs to embark on self-reflection in their internship experiences in the secondary education classroom. In particular, they examined their cultural identities and how they may have developed into implicit biases that influenced their classroom management, planning, and instruction during their full-time internships. The impact of this reflective process moved beyond the self-reflection of TCs’ ethical practices and shifted to an outward look at mentor and school-wide ethical practice. An overview of the pilot to address ethical practice is provided.

Exploring Implicit Bias to Evaluate Teacher Candidates' Ethical Practice in the Internship

To create an equitable and ethical learning environment in the classroom requires teacher candidates (TCs) to develop positive relationships with students and to reflect on who they are. Using the elements of Richard Milner’s (2007) Framework of Researcher Racial and Cultural Positionality, this article presents an account of an innovative practice in how to engage secondary education TCs in a reflection of implicit biases, and how to interrupt them to become more ethical professionals. This article takes InTASC 9: Professional Learning and Ethical Practice as a point of departure and describes how a new teacher mentor piloted a series of exercises for majority white TCs to embark on self-reflection in their internship experiences in the secondary education classroom. In particular, they examined their cultural identities and how they may have developed into implicit biases that influenced their classroom management, planning, and instruction during their full-time internships. The impact of this reflective process moved beyond the self-reflection of TCs’ ethical practices and shifted to an outward look at mentor and school-wide ethical practice. An overview of the pilot to address ethical practice is provided.

The Compatibility of Model Eliciting Activities of Secondary School Teacher Candidates with Design Principles

The purpose of this study is the investigation of the compatibility of model eliciting activities of secondary school teacher candidates with design principles. This study was conducted in the scope of Mathematical Modelling course with the students who were the secondary school mathematics teacher candidates. The participants of this case study were thirty-nine mathematics teacher candidates who worked in eight groups. The data of this study consisted of eight model eliciting activities which were created within the eight groups and their analysis. The activities created by the groups were analyzed by document analysis method in terms of design principles that were defined for model eliciting activities. It was concluded that the created model eliciting activities satisfied the construct share ability and reusability principle at minimum while they satisfied the reality principle at maximum. The effective prototype principle could not be determined. It can be ensured that the secondary school mathematics teacher candidates gain more experience by making more implementations related to model eliciting activities. The implementation of model eliciting activities in class can be effective in reducing the modelling deficiencies of secondary school mathematics teacher candidates.

Liminal States of Disorienting Dilemmas: Two Case Studies of English Teacher Candidates

Research has shown that progressive methods taught in teacher education programs have little impact on traditional approaches teacher candidates encounter during their internship semester. To understand how to better address this disconnect with regard to preparing teacher candidates, the study reported here used instrumental case studies to examine two secondary English teacher candidates’ beliefs about teaching literature before, during, and after their student teaching semester. Through theoretical frameworks on learning processes, the researchers discovered discrepancies within the student teachers’ stated beliefs, lesson plans, videos of teaching, and their responses to interview questions. These discrepancies reveal both unexamined assumptions and a state of liminality, reflecting the process of transformation in their learning. The researchers suggest that education programs look at potential implications that are inherent in a state of liminality with regard to pedagogical content knowledge to better prepare teacher candidates for their experience in teacher education programs.