Impact of a Training Program on Preservice Teachers’ Ability to Negotiate With Elementary Students While Teaching Skill Themes

Purpose: To determine the impact of a training program on the ability of preservice teachers (PTs) to negotiate with their students while teaching through the skill themes approach during an early field experience. Method: Participants were 11 PTs who were given specific training on how to negotiate with their students. Data on their ability to negotiate were collected during the early field experience with six qualitative techniques (journaling, document analysis, participant observation, and formal, informal, and stimulated recall interviews) and were analyzed using standard interpretive techniques. Findings: The training program was effective. Patterns of negotiation observed for both PTs and students improved as the PTs’ skill themes units progressed. The volume of positive negotiations increased and the volume of negative negotiations decreased. Key training program components were lecture/discussions, film, journaling, and role playing. Conclusions: Training PTs to negotiate can help them improve their teaching through the skill themes approach. Ability to negotiate may distinguish between effective and ineffective PTs who otherwise have similar pedagogical skills.

The Early-Field Experience for Female Kindergarten Student Teachers: Saudi Arabia

The aim of the current research is to determine, from the female students’ point of view, the effectiveness of having early field experience in preparing kindergarten teachers as part of a bachelor's program. To accomplish its goal, the research tracked the program from an organizational, administrative, educational, and professional perspective for five semesters. It also measured professional participation in the program's early field experience. It used longitudinal surveys, and followed the longitudinal research approach, with the sample consisting of 135 students in the bachelor’s program for early childhood education at a Saudi university. The results of the research showed an absence of fundamental differences between the students’ viewpoints on organizational aspects and professional benefits at the academic level. The responses regarding the impact of early field experience as part of the BA program to prepare for teaching kindergarten were more positive. The research led to several field and further research recommendations, the most important of which are the adoption of early field experience as an essential part of training early childhood educators and further longitudinal studies to verify the effectiveness of teacher preparation programs.

Subjects-in-Process/ on-Trial: The Construction of Teacher Subjects in an Early Field Experience Course

Increased standardization of teacher education programs urges a reconsideration of how pre-service teacher identities are constructed/being constructed and evaluated. The purpose of my study was to examine the writings of pre-service teachers enrolled in an early field experiences course in order to identify moments in which they interacted, negotiated, and subverted the teacher-making process, which they officially enter during the semester they take this course. I approach this question from a philosophical viewpoint, and I use the theories of French post-structuralist, Julia Kristeva. My analysis of pre-service teachers enrolled in an early field experience course illustrates how their language disrupts the standardized language and expectations of a teacher education program.

Influence of Negotiations on Preservice Teachers’ Instruction Within the Skill Themes Approach Unit

Purpose: To describe the influence of negotiations on instruction when preservice teachers taught elementary students using a skill theme approach. Methods: Participants were nine preservice teachers from one physical education teacher education program enrolled in a 9-week early field experience. They taught kindergarten, first-, and second-grade students (N = 203). Constructs from the ecology paradigm and previous research on negotiations guided data collection and analysis. Data were collected through nonparticipant observation, informal interviews, critical incident reflections, document analysis, and formal interviews. Deductive and inductive qualitative techniques were employed to code and categorize the data. Findings: A unique and mainly positive pattern of negotiations was revealed as were some new forms of negotiation. Students were also shown to initiate negative negotiations to change content they perceived as gender inappropriate. Conclusion: These findings could be used as the basis for educating preservice teachers to negotiate more effectively when teaching by skill themes.

Preservice Music Teacher Occupational Identity Development in an Early Field Experience

Occupational identity development is an important, complex component of music teacher education. Preservice teachers may experience dissonance between and/or integration of their musician and teacher identities, and scholars have found early field experiences to be important in undergraduates’ transitions into the teacher role. The purpose of this instrumental case study was to examine the occupational socialization and identity development of preservice music teachers in an early field teaching experience with a focus on preservice teacher and P–12 student interactions. I conducted observations, interviews, and a demographic survey during a semester-long early field experience. Findings centered around (a) the dynamic nature of preservice teachers’ identities; (b) the importance of peers, music teacher educators, and students to preservice participants as they engaged in the process of becoming music teachers, and (c) the momentary embodiment of music teacher and student roles. I connect these findings to prior research and suggest implications.

Patterns of Preservice Teacher–Student Negotiation Within the Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility Model

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe the patterns of teacher–student negotiation that occurred when preservice teachers (PTs) taught within the teaching personal and social responsibility (TPSR) model. Method: The participants were seven PTs enrolled in an elementary early field experience. They taught three to four mini-units of TPSR. Seven qualitative techniques were employed to collect data, and standard interpretive techniques were used to analyze them. Results: Three general patterns of negotiation were identified. In the units taught by two of the PTs, the negotiations became more positive. For three of the PTs, the rates of negotiation were constant. In the units taught by the remaining two PTs, the negotiations became more negative. Key factors influencing the patterns of negotiation were PTs’ comprehension of and comfort with the TPSR model; class size; and students’ age, gender, and skill level. Conclusion: These findings may help faculty develop more nuanced and effective training for PTs learning to teach through TPSR.

Teaching Severe Weather: Examining Teacher Candidates’ Early Field Experience in a Makerspace Environment

This qualitative study examines first-year teacher candidates early field experience designing and implementing maker workshops for an afterschool program. The maker workshops were offered as part of a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) enrichment club at a local elementary school. The participants engaged in 50 hr of guided design, planning, and facilitation of a weather-focused maker workshop. Findings illuminate the role early teaching experiences (e.g., makerspaces) can play in the early professional development of elementary teacher candidates. This study calls for further investigation regarding maker environments as sites for elementary field experiences for teacher candidates.