Teacher Self Research Articles

Clinical presentation of breast cancer: Age, stage, and treatment modalities in a contemporary cohort of Michigan women.

1 Background: The U.S. Preventative Services Task Force (USPSTF) revised their breast cancer screening recommendations in 2009 changing their stance on age and frequency of mammography screening to biannual exams starting at age 50. The purpose of this study is to analyze data from a statewide breast cancer registry managed by the Michigan Breast Oncology Quality Initiative (MiBOQI) to determine the impact of these new recommendations on diagnosing and treating breast cancer. Methods: De-identified data were collected on women participating in the MiBOQI registry at seventeen statewide institutions from 2006-2009. Data included method of detection, cancer stage, age at detection, treatment type, and patient demographics. Participants were stratified based on age, and data analyzed using NCSS software (chi-square and t-tests). Results:5903 women with breast cancer with an average age at diagnosis of 59.4 years were included. 65.5% of breast cancers were detected via mammography, 29.8% by palpation, and 4.7% by other methods. In women under 50 years of age, cancers were detected by mammography in 48.3% (69.3% >50yr) and by palpation in 46.1% (24.1% >50yr). Patients with palpable presentations were younger (55.8 yr vs. 61.2 yr; p <0.001). Cancers with a palpable presentation were diagnosed at higher stages (50.0% stage II) than with mammography (52.5% stage I; p<0.001). Breast conservation surgery occurred more frequently than mastectomy (palpation 54.2%; mammography 72.9%, p<0.001) but cancers detected through palpation were more likely to undergo mastectomy procedures. Conclusions: Results of this study validate the importance of annual screening mammography in women older than 50 years, and women aged 40 to 49 years recently omitted from screening guidelines. There was an increased prevalence of palpation for the method of detection in women less than 50 years of age. If screening mammography is omitted in this group, cancers when detected may be of a more advanced stage and result in more mastectomies. This study also supports the use of palpation as a method of detection despite recent recommendations against teaching self breast exams by USPSTF.

Influence of Selected Personal Characteristics on Florida Master Gardener’s Instructional Efficacy

With increased budget cuts and a shortage of funding sources, Cooperative Extension must have a reliable group of proficient volunteers to carry–out organizational goals. Developing an understanding of volunteer abilities will assist extension agents in preparing and utilizing volunteers. Self–efficacy theory provided the theoretical framework of this study. The purpose of this study was to develop an understanding of the teaching self–efficacy of Florida Master Gardeners. The questionnaire included the instructional efficacy construct from the Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES) and questions about participant demographics. The sampled population was 613 adult Master Gardeners with a total response rate of 86%. The majority of participants were women, white, earned some type of higher education degree, and 56 years old or older. Participants felt at least “some influence” in their effective teaching responsibility as a volunteer educator. Education was the sole demographic characteristic that had a significant effect on instructional efficacy. Proficiently training and retaining adults as volunteer educators in the Master Gardener program extends the reach of Cooperative Extension throughout Florida’s communities.

Agricultural Education Perceived Teacher Self–Efficacy: A Descriptive Study Of Beginning Agricultural Education Teachers

The purpose of this study was to describe beginning agriculture teachers’ perceived agricultural education teacher self–efficacy. Additionally, the researcher sought to describe the relationship among teachers’ demographic characteristics and their agricultural education teacher self–efficacy. An instrument specific to agricultural education was developed to answer the research questions. The instrument had three domains: Classroom, FFA, and SAE. The teachers in this study all had less than four years of teaching experience. Almost all of the teachers intended to remain in the profession of agricultural education. Teachers reported favorable perceptions of their student teaching experience and their first year of teaching. Teachers were the most efficacious in the classroom domain, and the least efficacious in the SAE domain. This finding indicates a need for additional professional development in the SAE domain. The teachers’ perceptions of their student–teaching experience and their first year of teaching were positively related to their teacher self–efficacy. Males had higher teacher self–efficacy than females. Individuals who were not involved in high school agricultural education or FFA had higher teacher self–efficacy in the classroom domain, but lower teacher self–efficacy in the SAE and FFA domain.

Changes in Teacher Self–Efficacy from the Student Teaching Experience through the Third Year of Teaching

The purpose of this study was to examine changes in teacher self–efficacy from the student teaching experience to the third year of teaching. The population was the entire cohort of student teachers from The Ohio State University. Of the 34 individuals who student taught, 17 entered the teaching profession. The researchers utilized the Teachers Sense of Efficacy Scale (Tschannen Moran and Woolfolk Hoy, 2001) to assess the individuals in the study four different times; at the conclusion of student teaching, and the conclusion of their first, second and third years of teaching. No previous research exists in agricultural education that tracks the changes in teacher self–efficacy from student teaching through the third year of teaching. Individuals reported the lowest levels of teacher self–efficacy at the end of their first year of teaching and the highest levels at the conclusion of their student teaching experience. Participants reported the lowest levels of teacher self efficacy in the student engagement domain in each of the assessments. The results of this study support previous research conducted with teacher education candidates. However, as this research continues the assessment of teacher self–efficacy through the beginning years of teaching, the researchers recommended more thorough and comprehensive study.

The Incoherence of Curriculum: Questions concerning Early Childhood Teacher Educators

THIS PAPER EXAMINES CURRICULUM DEBATES, particularly those that influence an understanding of the nature and purpose of curriculum, in providing teacher education and in influencing teaching practice. The work of Martin Heidegger provides a framework for questioning the early childhood teacher education curriculum. Central to this analysis are tensions between coherence and diversity; and training and education. For instance, a tension exists between perceiving the practice of educating early childhood teachers as a practice of downloading the ‘right’ knowledge about children, childhood, and pedagogy; alternatively, early childhood teacher education is perceived as a practice of providing a space in which a teacher may develop a ‘teaching self’.

Primary School Teachers of Instructional Technologies Self-Efficacy Levels

In this research, the level of primary school teachers self efficacy believes towards instructional technologies is investigated. The research is performed by applying questionnaires to 43 primary school teachers in Erzincan. The questionnaire consists of 28 questions. For the analysis of the research results SPSS program is used, mean and standard deviation for the answers of all lecturers in the research are calculated. Result of this study is concluded that primary school teachers have high self efficacy believe towards instructional technologies. And teachers believe that they have an understanding of how technology can be integrated into regular classroom instructional practices.

The Relationship Between Teacher Self-Efficacy and the Professional Development Experiences of Agricultural Education Teachers Candidates

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the professional experiences of agricultural education teacher candidates during their internship, their sense of teacher self-efficacy, and their perceptions of their preparation. The population included the entire cohort (n=24) of teacher candidates during the 2007 fall quarter at The Ohio State University. Teacher self-efficacy was measured using the Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale (Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001). Candidates reported high levels of teacher self-efficacy at the end of the experience. The candidates’ perception of their level of preparation was similar to their sense of teacher self-efficacy. The largest discrepancy score was for the student engagement domain. Professional development experiences categorized as vicarious experiences revealed the strongest overall relationship with teacher self-efficacy. The experience of observing a first-year agriculture teacher had the strongest positive relationship with overall teacher selfefficacy. This variable explained 11 percent of the variance in overall teacher self- efficacy, and 14 percent of the variance in the instructional strategies domain. Verbal feedback that candidates received from their cooperating teacher was positively related to teacher self-efficacy. The number of courses teacher candidates taught was negatively related to their sense of efficacy in the classroom management domain.

과학 교사의 효능감 관련 요인 탐색을 통한 과학 교사 효능감 형성 모형 개발

This study investigated secondary school science teachers' experiences to explore the influencing factors in science teachers efficiency (STE). The participants, thirty three secondary school science teachers who have more than four years of teaching experience, were interviewed about describing each teacher's experience throughout one's years of teaching. The grounded theory introduced by Strauss and Corbin (1998) was used to analyze the data in this study. The results of paradigm analysis revealed that STE is influenced by 125 concepts, 38 sub-categories, and 16 categories. In a paradigm model, the central phenomenon was 'constructing STE', and the causal condition was 'want to be a teacher' as career choice motivation. The contextual conditions that have an affect on the central phenomenon were 'self awareness of the teacher' and 'social awareness of the teacher.' The mediate conditions, which facilitated or restrained the action/interaction strategies, were 'societal tendency', 'school climate', and 'personal context.' The action/interaction strategies to control the phenomenon were 'following the line,' 'identifying effective teaching strategies,' 'taking teacher education programs,' and 'contributing to school improvement.' The consequences were 'teacher's self awareness', 'challenge,' and 'stagnating in teaching.' The overall conclusion drawn from this research is that, the definition of STE is beliefs in science teachers' capabilities to set up objects in some school teaching context and, organize and execute the course of action required to attain these. Additionally, STE has three dimensions of teacher's behaviors: science instructional efficiency, efficiency in engaging students, and efficiency in managing school conditions. This study offers insight into the nature of STE and theoretical framework. These findings may give science teachers and teacher educators the practical knowledge necessary to build effective training programs and interventions that would help increase STE and facilitate effective teaching.

Teacher Efficacy Research 1998–2009: Signs of Progress or Unfulfilled Promise?

This review investigates the state of teacher self- and collective efficacy research conducted from 1998 to 2009. Two hundred and eighteen empirical articles published in 1998–2009 were examined for key characteristics and compared to research published in the previous 12 years (i.e., 1986–1997). Results from the review show increases in overall teacher efficacy research, methodological diversity, domain specificity, internationalization, and focus on collective efficacy. Continuing problem areas were a lack of attention to the sources of teacher efficacy, continued measurement and conceptual problems, a lack of evidence for the links between teacher efficacy and student outcomes, and uncertain relevance of teacher efficacy research to educational practice. An outline of directions for future teacher efficacy research is provided.

Rethinking Education and Emancipation: Being, Teaching, and Power

This essay describes two central principles for a renewed emancipatory pedagogy across educational contexts: the recognition of an essential equality between students and teachers and a liberatory agency that uncovers and builds on students' effectivity as beings against domination. While critical educational theory traditionally conceives of the human as a condition to be developed through the process of conscientization,De Lissovoy argues for the recognition of the human as the already existing fact of a body in struggle. He proposes an understanding of the human as the ontological kernel of the selves of students and teachers, as it asserts itself before contests over knowledge and identification. Building from recent work in cultural studies and philosophy that confronts the question of being as a political problem, the author develops an original understanding of emancipation as the discovery and affirmation of the persistent integrity and survival of beings in struggle.

Improving Nutrition Students' Teaching Self Efficacy Through Leading Cooking Classes in the Community

Instructors in nutrition need to provide students opportunities to apply academic material and improve teaching skills; service‐learning (SL) is one option. The objective of this study was to determine common challenges among SL students to identify ways to improve their teaching, thereby improving SL outcomes and community programming. Students in this study taught cooking and nutrition classes in the community. Throughout the semester, students critically reflected on their SL experiences. Researchers qualitatively evaluated learnings to determine themes. Students realized that: their personalities impact interpersonal relationships with others; they have unrealistic expectations of peers and community agencies and participants; they are quick to get discouraged when faced with barriers in the community; and they need to be able to adapt their teaching styles to different program participants and improve their communication with community partners and team members. After identifying learnings, instructors can target future instruction to increase students' self‐efficacy and improve the outcomes of SL for the students and the community. SL is an effective way to expose students to the interpersonal communication skills necessary to be a community educator. An NC State Undergraduate Research Grant and Park Scholars' GRASP funded this research.

Promoting Self-Determination in Students with Developmental Disabilities

Promoting Self-Determination in Students with Developmental Disabilities

Preservice teachers’ self-perceptions and attitudes toward culturally responsive teaching

When infusing Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) concepts in preservice methods classes, teacher candidates (TCs) begin a journey that involves understanding the cultural contributions of the students in the classroom, as well as becoming aware of the possible disconnects between their cultures and the culture of the school. To help preservice teachers learn how to bridge these gaps, teacher education faculty integrated history, literacy, and art into a literacy methods course as a first step in helping teacher candidates develop the necessary competencies to successfully implement culturally responsive teaching in their own classrooms. Four university faculty members administered an adapted version of The Culturally Responsive Teaching Self Efficacy and The Culturally Responsive Teaching Outcome Expectancies Scales (Siwatu, 2007) to 55 teacher candidates (n=55), and had them self evaluate and rank their beginning competencies, and define what strategies and knowledge they wanted to gain during the semester. At the end of the semester, TCs re-evaluated themselves on the same survey, and then reflected on their experiences. Teacher candidate responses on the survey indicate that they perceived themselves as gaining knowledge and skills in their ability to understand and implement culturally responsive pedagogy. The TCs were also positive about their experiences in this project.

The Relationships Among School Types, Teacher Efficacy Beliefs, and Academic Climate: Perspective from Asian Middle Schools

ABSTRACT The authors explored how prior student achievement, through school types, predicted teacher self- and collective efficacy and perceived academic climate of 222 middle school teachers in Singapore. Teachers assigned to high-track and regular middle schools differed in their perception of self- and collective efficacy to promote organizational changes and student achievement, and of the academic climate of the school. Prior achievement was shown to be best predicted by perceived teacher collective efficacy and academic climate, but not self-efficacy. Further analyses revealed that the teacher collective efficacy partially mediated the relationship between teacher self-efficacy and academic climate. These findings were discussed with respect to the sociocognitive perspective.

Crença de autoeficácia de licenciandos em Educação Física

Teacher self efficacy belief is the judgment made by the teacher about his or her own abilities to teach and manage the processes of learning and student engagement. The experiences directly performed by the teacher and the observation of models as well as social persuasion and psychophysiological states constitute this judgment. This study aimed to identify and analyze teacher self efficacy for Physical Education teacher majors. The sample consisted of 159 undergraduates from four institutions who answered to a self efficacy scale for Physical Education teacher and a form of characterization. Participants showed a high level of self efficacy and highlighted the direct experiences as the main source for this result. Regarding the role of teacher self efficacy belief, it was concluded that these results can provide guidance for planning strategies to strengthen this belief during the educational process of these future teachers.

Philosophical and Pedagogical Patterns of Beliefs among Vietnamese and Australian Mathematics Preservice Teachers: A Comparative Study

Swayed by global pressures and poor international academic standing, Vietnam in 2002 initiated further school-wide curriculum change reflecting a student-centred reform agenda. Initial research on implementation is producing mixed results. One explanation is a mismatch with a Confucian Heritage Culture as a social-constructivist philosophy may counter the traditional widespread teacher-centred classrooms in Vietnam. School mathematics is often regarded as culture-independent as similar topics are taught across nations. We take as a premise that the adoption of the reform agenda is a worthwhile goal. Presented are the findings of a small scale study that set out to explore antecedent philosophical predispositions that may promote or obstruct the reform uptake among Vietnamese secondary mathematics pre-service teachers. Using a mixed-method approach, and a counterpart cohort from Australia for comparison, support for constructivist and traditional mathematics teaching and learning approaches were explored in association with teacher self efficacy. The Australians were expected to reflect reasonable support for a constructivist agenda and the Vietnamese perhaps less so. For both cohorts, the quantitative data reflected strong support for a constructivist framework and a modest rejection of traditional approaches with the latter correlated with teacher self efficacy. Indeed, the Vietnamese cohort conveyed a belief more so than the Australians that mathematics is a creative discipline; likely a reflection of having studied more mathematics. Scale inter-correlations provided apparent philosophical paradoxes worthy of further study. From the qualitative data the Australians do seem to be further down the track in espousing a philosophy that incorporated a constructivist agenda. With further culturally connected professional development the Vietnamese may be better prepared conceptually to apply it.

Editor's Note

Editor's Note

Connections Between Performer and Teacher Identities in Music Teachers: Setting an Agenda for Research

The purpose of this article is to examine the literature concerning the connections between performer and teacher selves in the formation of a music teacher’s identity. This article begins by framing an issue facing preservice and in-service music teachers, namely, the tension between a performer identity and a teacher identity. An overview is provided of (a) the literature documenting preservice music teacher identities that privileges the performer identity and (b) the literature that focuses on balancing and negotiating the performer and teacher identities. To understand aspects of the current debate about music teacher identities, the author develops five themes based on a critical analysis of the selected literature: teacher versus performer identity conflict, personal and professional benefits of music making, holistic view of musical identities, roles and situated identities, and defining music teacher identity. The author concludes by synthesizing the commonalities of the recent research and suggesting approaches and topics for future research on music teacher identity.

Teaching Excellence: What Great Teachers Teach Us

Given the shortage of nurse educators, we sought to better understand teaching excellence because it is crucial for developing the next generation of nurses. A grounded theory approach was used. The sample included 17 respondents, thought to be excellent teachers, from universities across the United States. Consenting respondents were asked, "What do you do to bring nursing to life with your students?" Using line-by-line coding and the constant comparative method, five major themes emerged: (a) engagement, (b) relevance, (c) student centeredness, (d) facilitation of learning, and (e) dynamic process of becoming an excellent nursing educator. We found that the core category, engagement, included the faculty being (a) current and knowledgeable, (b) being clear in communication of objectives/outcomes, (c) being student centered, (d) being able to draw all students into active questioning and learning so that the process of discovery is enjoyable, and (e) using multiple strategies in teaching the content. The process of becoming an excellent teacher involved "change from 'instiller' to 'facilitator' and laid the foundation for continued development of my teaching self." Those beginning to teach or seeking to improve their teaching may find the results enlightening.

Teachers’ negative experiences and expressions of emotion: being true to yourself or keeping you in your place?

This paper examines teachers’ experiences and displays of negative emotion as a means of partially exploring how identities at work might be formed and regulated. It uses the concepts of emotional labour and subjectivation to interrogate the negative emotions teachers may experience and/or express at work. It suggests that emotion display rules are developed and come to partially define the teacher self in tandem with overlapping, synthetically discussed discourses of the teacher as moral/caring agent, expert and purveyor of social control/social efficiency. The field of emotional labour is explored here using diary entries of teachers who were between their second and fifth year of teaching in Irish primary schools. Teachers’ experiences are read with less of a concern for the original ‘authenticity’ thesis of emotional labour in order to foreground an analysis of how certain truths about teachers’ emotions are legitimated and solidified in the labour cycle. It is argued that spaces for multiple teacher identities and interrogation of emotional display must be carved out in teacher education. This space might include an acknowledgement of ambivalence towards the profession.