Support Preservice Teachers Research Articles

“Close to my Heart”: Teacher Educators Building Racial Literacies

Although building preservice teachers’ racial literacy is a key goal to reducing racial inequity in K-12 settings, little attention has been paid to how literacy teacher educators are prepared to conduct this work. This is unsurprising given the neoliberal logic underpinning universities today. In this multiduo autoethnographic study, six literacy teacher educators utilized reflection on critical incidents to examine their own racial literacy development. By forming cross-racial pairs and utilizing a combination of writing and dialogue, these six participant/researchers interrogated their own views and experiences of race and racism. Findings suggest that the examination of critical incidents can support teacher educators’ racial literacy growth. Specifically, participants reflected on the vulnerability necessary to support preservice teachers’ racial literacy development and utilized ethnographic methods to build the practice of sharing about their own racial literacy learning. They also used critical incidents to come to a deeper understanding of the construct of racial literacy itself. These results imply that for professional organizations such as the Literacy Research Association to deliver on their espoused commitments to addressing ongoing institutional racism, they must intentionally create professional spaces for coreflection and dialog about racial literacy. Further, we consider the implications of this work for literacy doctoral programs and teacher educator preparation within contexts of college and university-based teacher education programs.

Teaching Science Outdoors: Supporting Pre-Service Teachers’ Skill Development with the Help of Available Mobile Applications

Outdoor environments provide excellent teaching and learning experiences in science education. However, many teachers find outdoor teaching challenging. In this study, we investigated factors supporting skill development and learning among pre-service teacher during a blended science didactics course that includes mobile interaction in outdoor environments. Available WhatsApp mobile application was used as an interaction platform between the pre-service teachers’ and the teacher educator. Based on the findings, the pre-service teachers learned easy ways of using outdoor environments with pupils. They also identified challenges that may arise in outdoor teaching and upskilled on how to overcome them. From the perspective of interaction, submitting learning tasks, especially visual observations, through mobile messaging and reviewing tasks of other students in the application were perceived as important. However, the most crucial benefit of mobile interaction was considered to be the teacher’s real-time feedback.

Supporting preservice teachers to navigate the tensions of teaching English Language Arts: An examination of two teacher educator's literacies pedagogies

In 1997-1998, we taught in the same independently funded elementary school. As teachers of Grade 1 and Grade 2, the school leadership asked us to research and recommend a program to support early reading instruction and replace the outdated basal readers. Opinions were sometimes diverse as we met with parents and school board members to identify beliefs/priorities in early reading instruction. More than 25 years later, in our work as teacher educators in two provinces, we are embroiled in similar conversations about reading instruction in a field mapped by polarizing views expressed in reports, social media, and teacher professional texts. As teacher educators, we recognize: 1) this context as challenging for preservice teachers to enter professional practice and 2) our role in supporting preservice teachers in entering the field. This was the impetus for a research study examining our pedagogies. We ask: How are we, as teacher educators, supporting preservice teachers to navigate the theoretical and practical tensions of teaching Language Arts through our pedagogies? In this article, we share findings from a collaborative Self-Study of Teacher Education Practice (S-STEP) where we leverage our long-standing relationship as critical friends in research/teaching to examine our teacher education pedagogies in our elementary English Language Arts courses in 2022-2023. Data sources include teaching artifacts (e.g., syllabi, powerpoints, activities) and videorecordings of discussions as we share these artifacts over Zoom. Guided by posthuman perspectives, we consider the non-human and human entities that were a part of our pedagogies. Analysis is currently underway. Preliminary findings suggest a shift from sharing particular practices with each other to a focus on decision-making to support preservice teachers in weighing the desires of teaching practices in literacies as well as diffusing binaries. This article highlights teacher education practices as relational and moving in response to context.

Seeking to support preservice teachers' responsive teaching: Leveraging artificial intelligence‐supported virtual simulation

Seeking to support preservice teachers' responsive teaching: Leveraging artificial intelligence‐supported virtual simulation

Disciplinary Literacy as Curricular and Instructional Practice in Music Teacher Education

Disciplinary literacy focuses on subject-specific practices, vocabulary, and texts for P–12 students to better understand, interpret, and apply their knowledge within a discipline. This type of literacy invites students to actively take up the roles and processes established in the content area. Early experiences are essential in shaping preservice teachers’ understandings about disciplinary literacy; yet, few opportunities exist for learning about disciplinary literacy as an instructional approach, particularly from a musical and sociocultural perspective. In this article, I explore disciplinary literacy as curricular and instructional practice in music teacher education. First, I outline competing views of literacy and define disciplinary literacy in music education. Then, I provide examples of disciplinary literacy—through projects, assignments, and instructional techniques—to support preservice teachers in their development and generation of lessons and curriculum. Within these examples, I propose recommendations for music teacher educators as they cultivate positive, sustainable experiences for disciplinary literacy instruction.

A Connective Tissue: University Supervisors/Coaches within a Teacher Residency

ABSTRACT This critical ethnographic project explores the role of university supervisors and coaches (USCs) working with pre-service educators within a teacher residency in a Southeastern U.S. city. The project explores the research questions: how do university supervisors and coaches within a teacher residency support pre-service teachers in navigating the university, district/placement school, and classroom? Similarly, how did a USC sense-making space help USCs in thinking through how to support their pre-service educators? Critical ethnographic methods including participant observations, interviews, and document analysis were utilized. The USC sense-making space operated as a third-space where the USCs worked together in ways that went beyond the either-or (university or school knowledge) to draw direct connections between theory and practice, and the different institutions. The pre-service educators noted how the professional development sessions, one-on-one coaching, personal and professional de-briefs, and more general support aided in navigating the first year of residency programming. Similarly, monthly professional development sessions supported pre-service educators in connecting theory to practice. However, working within/across institutions came with complexities as there were issues with navigating power relations across the various relationships. The USCs operated as a connective tissue for pre-service educators maneuvering the multiple intersecting institutions.

Supporting Preservice Teachers’ Civic Competence as a Strategy for Internationalisation in the Digital Era

Higher education institutions worldwide show an interest in enhancing their internationalisation initiatives by integrating innovative teaching approaches into formal curricula. A main concern is to ensure that preservice teachers enter future classrooms with a high level of civic competence. The aim of this study was to investigate the challenges and opportunities confronted within a professional development programme designed to promote preservice teachers’ competencies for democratic culture. The professional development programme was a three-year Erasmus+ KA2 programme involving the development of teacher training modules inspired by and aimed at developing competencies from the Reference Framework of Competencies for Democratic Culture. Its objective was to integrate digital resources within practicum-based learning modules based on democratic citizenship values. Following the implementation of the programme, a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) was conducted to gather data on the programme’s potential to support preservice teachers’ civic competencies. The SWOT analysis was completed by ten teacher educators from five different university departments located in two metropolitan cities in central and northern Greece. Thematic analyses were used at a case and group level. The results showed that the online affordances of the programme, combined with each department’s practicum-based learning modules, could effectively support the development of preservice teachers’ civic competencies, provided that resources were adapted with a human-centred sensitivity to the specificities of each context. In alignment with worldwide teacher education trends, we advocate for the implementation of similar programmes in the future as a ‘participatory internationalisation at home’ strategy for supporting teacher online collaboration and peer learning.

Exploring Factors That Support Pre-service Teachers’ Engagement in Learning Artificial Intelligence

AbstractArtificial intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly relevant, and students need to understand the concept. To design an effective AI program for schools, we need to find ways to expose students to AI knowledge, provide AI learning opportunities, and create engaging AI experiences. However, there is a lack of trained teachers who can facilitate students’ AI learning, so we need to focus on developing the capacity of pre-service teachers to teach AI. Since engagement is known to enhance learning, it is necessary to explore how pre-service teachers engage in learning AI. This study aimed to investigate pre-service teachers’ engagement with learning AI after a 4-week AI program at a university. Thirty-five participants took part in the study and reported their perception of engagement with learning AI on a 7-factor scale. The factors assessed in the survey included engagement (cognitive—critical thinking and creativity, behavioral, and social), attitude towards AI, anxiety towards AI, AI readiness, self-transcendent goals, and confidence in learning AI. We used a structural equation modeling approach to test the relationships in our hypothesized model using SmartPLS 4.0. The results of our study supported all our hypotheses, with attitude, anxiety, readiness, self-transcendent goals, and confidence being found to influence engagement. We discuss our findings and consider their implications for practice and policy.

Evaluating how extended reality delivery device and preservice teacher major impact presence in immersive learning environments

Teacher education has begun to embrace the use of 360 videos to improve preservice teachers' (PSTs) engagement and immersion. While recent research on such use is promising overall, there are specific questions that have been left unanswered about the construct of presence in 360 videos. More specifically, research has yet to fully explore how video delivery devices and PST characteristics may impact presence. The purpose of this study was to respond to this gap in the literature by examining PST major, delivery device (ie, head mounted display vs. flat screen), and the interaction between the two in informing presence. A total of 93 PSTs watched 360 videos and then completed a questionnaire. Findings indicated that presence in head‐mounted displays was related to emotions and agency. Conversely, presence with flat screens meant familiarity and control. Moreover, PST major was a predictor of presence, suggesting that 360 videos should be personalized according to PST career and professional goals. Finally, the interaction effect of preparing to teach K‐12 mathematics and wearing a head‐mounted display had a negative and statistically significant effect on participants' perceived presence, thus indicating a non‐cumulative effect. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic 360 videos are increasingly used to support preservice teacher training. 360 videos for teacher education foster immersion, presence, and noticing skills. What this paper adds Empirical evidence that 360 videos experienced with head‐mounted display facilitate agency and emotional involvement. Empirical evidence that 360 videos experienced with flat screens facilitate feelings of control. Data showed that preservice teachers' content area (math) was a positive predictor of presence in 360 videos. Implications for practice and/or policy Head‐mounted displays show promise as a delivery mode for 360 videos in teacher education. 360 videos should be personalized according to PST career and professional goals. The eXtended Reality Presence Scale is confirmed as a robust instrument to measure presence in immersive environments. More research is needed to evaluate the scalability of this approach in other contexts.

A Self-Care and Wellness Framework in Educator Preparation to Address Burnout, Compassion Fatigue, and Secondary Traumatic Stress

ABSTRACT As a result of stress, burnout, and attrition, the U.S. has perpetual teacher shortages. While systemic changes are necessary to improve the field of education, teaching as a helping profession is stressful, with multiple job responsibilities and roles. In addition to work-related stress and burnout, teachers are also affected by compassion fatigue and secondary traumatic stress (STS). This article provides a self-care and wellness framework for faculty at educator preparation programs to embed across coursework and clinical practice, supporting preservice teachers (PSTs) through a preventative approach. We explain each construct and follow up with case studies to illustrate how signs and symptoms may appear for PSTs. Our wellness framework and self-care lessons are intended to make self-care strategies tangible, applicable, and easily integrated into PSTs’ educational, professional, and personal lives.

Centering Equity for Multilingual Learners in Preservice Teachers’ Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK)

Recent calls encourage teacher education programs to examine how they address equity within educational technology coursework. This study therefore conceptualizes equity specifically related to using digital tools with multilingual learners. Drawing on a technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) framework informed by prior research on (language) teacher education and computer-assisted language learning, this study examines how preservice teachers described their knowledge base specifically related to using digital tools equitably with multilingual learners. Qualitative analysis of 17 preservice teachers’ course discussions, assignments, and interviews revealed that preservice teachers purposefully reflected on and selected digital tools to use that would support students’ language development and leverage students’ interests. They also reflected on structural inequities and advocacy related to technological implementation. This study encourages teacher educators to support preservice teachers in developing technologically savvy practices that are also linguistically responsive and humanizing by centering equity in TPACK.

Supporting preservice teachers to implement an alternative physical education pedagogy on practicum

Supporting preservice teachers to implement an alternative physical education pedagogy on practicum

Supporting pre-service teachers in kickstarting a mentally healthy career

Supporting pre-service teachers in kickstarting a mentally healthy career

Purposeful Presence: Supporting Preservice Teachers’ Co-Teaching to Meet Student Needs

Co-teaching continues to be a common method of instruction, allowing students with disabilities to engage in the general education curriculum. While there are numerous exemplars of excellent co-teaching, there is more that can be done to assist preservice teachers as they learn to bridge the gap between the student’s Individualized Education Program (IEP), the co-teaching setting, and the specially designed instruction students with disabilities need to make progress on their IEP goals in co-taught settings. This article provides a reflective matrix which faculty can use to scaffold novice teachers through co-assessment, co-planning, co-instructing, and co-reflecting by linking IEP goals to specially designed instruction (i.e., evidence-based and high leverage practices) and co-teaching models.

유치원 교사의 예비교사 교육실습 지원 경험에 대한 개념도 분석

The purpose of this study was to explore the phenomenon and concept of teaching practice through the experiences of preschool teachers in supporting preservice teachers, to identify the potential structure of the concept and the degree of agreement, and to draw implications for teaching practice systems. Participants were 24 teachers with experience as practicum supervisors, working in public or private preschools in three metropolitan areas and one rural area. Teachers were interviewed in three groups to share their experiences of supporting teaching practice, and 50 statements were derived from the interviews and expert review. Multidimensional scale analysis and cluster analysis were conducted based on the participants' categorization of similarity and assessment of their level of agreement with the statements. The results were as follows. First, the conceptual map of kindergarten teachers' experiences of educational practice support was set to be two-dimensional, with the x-axis interpreted as 'relational growth and systemic limiting factors' and the y-axis as 'conflict and performance factors'. Second, the statements were organized into four clusters, which were named cluster 1, “Change together through reflection”, cluster 2, “Difficulties related to preservice teachers”, cluster 3, “Support for preservice teachers' pedagogical practice”, and cluster 4, “Needs for a support system for teaching practice. Third, teachers expressed higher agreement with statements in clusters 1 and 3 and lower agreement with statements in clusters 2 and 4. Teachers perceived difficulties in supporting preservice teachers and the need to improve the practice system, but they were more likely to agree that it was a positive experience in which they made a difference with preservice teachers through reflection and practice. This study found that teachers noticed the changes and growth that occurred in their experiences with support for teaching practice, focused on the support for teaching practice, and created concepts that encompassed dilemmas, challenges, and support systems. It also discussed implications for creating a vibrant teaching practice ecosystem that includes diverse actors in teaching practice.

감정일기를 통해 살펴본 예비 유아 교사들의 교육 실습 경험 탐색

The current study explored early childhood pre-service teachers’ emotions and experiences during student teaching through their daily emotion logs. Fifty students who enrolled in student teaching courses at one 4-year university in a G-province participated in this study. Throughout 19 days in their student teaching, 815 emotion logs were collected. Word Cloud was utilized to visualize the tendency of pre-service teachers’ emotions during student teaching. As a result, emotions of worries, happiness, satisfaction, and sense of accomplishment were prominent in the first week, emotions such as tranquility and respect were appeared in the second week, emotions of confusion, fear, and anxiety were reported frequently in the third week, and emotions of happiness, worries, satisfaction, and tranquility were reported often in the last week. Also, to examine the meaning of student teaching for pre-service teachers, emotion logs were analyzed. Emerging themes include vague worries and fear, tiredness and fatigue, sense of belonging, lack of capability after the first teaching, and sense of expectancy. The findings of this study will contribute to teacher preparation programs to better understand and better support pre-service teachers’ student teaching experiences.

Collaborative Synchronous Coaching to support triadic collaboration and bridge the theory-practice divide in initial teacher education

Advancements in technology have enabled a range of approaches to support preservice teacher development. This research suggests using collaborative synchronous coaching (CSC), through Bug-in-Ear (BIE) technology, as a tool to reduce the theory-practice divide by enhancing collaboration between the visiting lecturer, the mentor teacher and the preservice teacher. Three stages of research were conducted to test CSC's effectiveness in providing feedback. The study examined the concept of CSC, protocol and best practices for using CSC, and the tool's potential to establish a collaborative third space in ITE. The findings from field notes, semi-structured interviews and video observations suggest that CSC is a new coaching technique that can provide an alternative way to support collaborative pedagogical development for preservice teachers while strengthening relationships and opportunities for reciprocal learning. Educators using CSC can navigate their identities within the space more transparently, collaboratively, and constructively. The power of synchronous feedback from more than one person reframes the triadic conversation into a new paradigm.

Training & prompting pre-service teachers’ noticing in a standardized classroom simulation – a mobile eye-tracking study

Numerous events happening in classrooms require a teacher to select important and filter out irrelevant information. This crucial and challenging skill is referred to as noticing. For noticing classroom management events pre-service teachers have a smaller knowledge base and little teaching experience compared to expert teachers. Supporting pre-service teachers in developing their classroom management knowledge and noticing skill is, thus, of great importance for teacher education. Previous research finds positive effects of interventions on teachers’ noticing during video observation. To our knowledge, no studies depict noticing during teaching. We examined N = 46 pre-service teachers’ noticing with regard to classroom management during classroom teaching in a quasi-experimental between-subjects design. Pre-service teachers’ took part in a standardized classroom simulation after a classroom management training, with one group receiving prompting regarding evidence-based classroom management strategies before and during the classroom simulation and one group receiving only training. We also included a control group without classroom management training. To assess differences in pre-service teachers’ noticing, the classroom simulation elicited comparable conditions, including standardized classroom management events and student behavior. Mobile eye-tracking as well as retrospective video observations were used to explore teachers’ event-related and global noticing. Event-related noticing was assessed via count and accuracy of noticed classroom management events. Global noticing included objective parameters of teachers eye movements (visit/fixation counts and duration) onto the students in the standardized classroom simulation. The results show that training and prompting significantly affected pre-service teachers’ event-related noticing, with both experimental groups making fewer target and time errors compared to the control group. No significant differences were found with regard to global noticing. This includes fixation and visit count and duration on students. Correlational analysis showed a positive association between higher noticing accuracy and share of fixations on students. This study expands upon previous empirical research using mobile eye-tracking to obtain objective measures of teachers’ noticing. It sheds light on the relevance of knowledge for teachers’ noticing during teaching. It also takes a first step toward understanding how pre-service teachers’ noticing during classroom teaching can be promoted through fostering knowledge about classroom management through a training.

Preservice teachers equitably attending to and interpreting multilingual students' mathematical thinking

AbstractResearch indicates that teachers may hold biases against multilingual learners (MLs). However, there is limited research regarding how teachers notice MLs' mathematical thinking. Given the complexity of teacher noticing and multilinguality, the lead researchers developed the Equitably Attending to and Interpreting a Student's Mathematical Thinking (EAST) framework to support preservice teachers' development of equitable noticing skills. Using a pre‐ and post‐intervention study design and EAST based lessons, we explored differences in preservice teachers' equitable noticing of MLs' mathematical thinking. We collected data on a noticing assessment from two groups of preservice teachers, 21 of whom received the EAST lessons, and 39 of whom received lessons on eliciting and interpreting student thinking without a focus on equity. Preservice teachers in both groups noticed components of the EAST framework, but more often noticed issues of access and achievement, and rarely attended to issues of identity or power. Findings from the study provide insight into what equitable noticing of a MLs' mathematical thinking entails, as well as areas for further development in both teaching and research regarding equitable noticing.

EXPLORING PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS’ BELIEFS ABOUT THE ROLE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN GHANA

The role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in education has been well-documented in developed societies. However, the phenomenon has received little attention in developing countries such as Ghana. This study examined pre-service teachers from one of the teacher education universities in Ghana beliefs about the role of artificial intelligence in higher education. This study employed the quantitative descriptive design to obtain data from a convenience sample of 231 pre-service teachers. The study revealed that the majority of the pre-service teachers are very much aware of AI systems and that using AI-related systems will have a positive effect on pre-service teachers’ performance and that AI has the potential to replace teacher’s absence. Further, the majority of the respondents indicated that AI is relevant as it provides new ways of attaining distinction in teaching and learning. On the contrary, it was discovered that the majority of the pre-service teachers indicated that they feel anxious when it comes to using AI-related systems in learning. It is therefore recommended that more training and support systems be put in place to help and support pre-service teachers when using AI systems during teaching and learning during the post-pandemic era.