What's the difference under the gown? : new professors' development as university teachers

This study explores how new university teachers develop a teaching identity. Despite the significance ofteaching, which usually comprises 40% of a Canadian academic's workload, few new professors have any formal preparation for that aspect of their role. Discipline-specific education for postsecondary professors is a well-defined path; graduates applying for faculty positions will have the terminal degree to attest to their knowledge and skill conducting research in the discipline. While teaching is usually given the same workload balance as research, it is not clear how professors create themselves as teaching professionals. Drawing on Kelly's (1955) personal construct theory and Kegan's (1982, 1994) model ofdevelopmental constructivism through differentiation and integration, this study used a phenomenographic framework~(Marton, 1986, 1994; Trigwell & Prosser, 1996) to investigate the question of how new faculty members construe their identity as university teachers. Further, my own role development as researcher was used as an additional lens through which to view the study results. The study focused particularly on the challenges and supports to teaching role development and outlines recommendations the participants made for supporting other newcomers. In addition, the variations and similarities in the results suggest a developmental model to conceptions ofteaching roles, one in which teaching, research, and service roles are viewed as more integrated over time. Developing a teacher identity was seen as a progression on a hierarchical model similar to Maslow's (1968) hierarchy of needs.

Job satisfaction and dissatisfaction : comparison of behavioural and regular classroom teachers

Each of the forty Toronto Board of Education behavioural teachers was matched as closely as possible .with a regular cIassroom teacher from the same schooI, 0f the same sex, and teaching approxiately the same age group of chiIdren. A II of these teachers were sent a questionnaire (based on Herzberg's model) whose content reflected various aspects of job satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Demographic data was also gathered to be used in the study for examining correlations between satisfaction and various factors . T 10 additional questions were asked regarding factors that IOU Id influence the i r staying or Ieaving and one question was asked about lIerit pay . Chi Square tests and t-tests were conducted on the results. The majority of each group of teachers was very satisfied with their job while the behavioural teachers were significantly more satisfied than the regular teachers. Intrinsic factors played a more signi ficant role than did extrinsic ones. The demographic factors couId be found to be predictors of job satisfaction or dissatisfaction.

Teachers' likes and dislikes as factors in educational change

Teachers at local elementary and secondary schools were invited to participate in a survey research study by completing a questionnaire containing 26 statements regarding educational issues (e.g., "I am satisfied with the quality of my interactions with students."). Teachers were asked to indicate whether they agreed, were neutral, or disagreed with each statement; and further, to make a suggestions for appropriate change; to indicate a level at which the change could be implemented (classroom, school, board, ministry, society); and to indicate to what extent they perceive they have influence on change in the area represented in the statement. The responses of 50 elementary and 50 secondary teachers were randomly chosen from among the completed questionnaires and the information was recorded for analysis. Results of frequency counts of responses showed teachers were generally satisfied with their experiences of the areas referred to in the statements. Seventy-two percent of the responses agreed with the statements; 15% of the responses indicated disagreement, and 13% of the responses were neutral. Cross-tabulations of the survey data with demographic information showed differences among the responses of female and male teachers; elementary and secondary teachers; and teachers grouped according to their total years of teaching experience.

The storying of an educator: the power of living legacy /

"I began these pages for myself, in order to think out my own particular pattern of living, my own individual balance of life, work and human relationships." Lindbergh (1983) p.9. In this thesis, I use self-study research as I focus on the topic of living legacy. This is a personal story, using narrative methodology and method as a means of uncovering and naming life lessons learned. I write to gain insight into my interpretation of the concept of living legacy - what living legacy means to me and why this concept is significant to me - and how living legacy impacts the person that I am in the present. Using a narrative lens, I inquire into stories that connect me to my spirit, my gender, education and theology, through my living legacy lessons, and I seek the impact these stories hold for me in my life today. I utilize a variety of methods including personal journals, course work, and arts-based research experiences as I explore the connections to my emerging perceptions ofmy living legacy lessons. This thesis represents the beginning of a continuing journey of self-discovery. I take the journey in order to uncover hidden and ongoing lessons of living legacy and the impact they have on the student and educator that I am.

Letting go : a self-study utilizing critical literacy as method in improving my practice /

This is a Self-study about my role as a teacher, driven by the question: "How do I improve my practice?" (Whitehead, 1989)? In this study, I explored the discomfort that I had with the way that I had been teaching. Specifically, I worked to uncover the reasons behind my obsessive (mis)management of my students. I wrote of how I came to give my Self permission for this critique: how I came to know that all knowledge is a construction, and that my practice, too, is a construction. I grounded this journey within my experiences. I constructed these experiences in narrative fomi in order to reach a greater understanding of how I came to be the teacher I initially was. I explored metaphors that impacted my practice, re-constructed them, and saw more clearly the assumptions and influences that have guided my teaching. I centred my inquiry into my teaching within an Action Reflection methodology, bon-owing Jack Whitehead's (1989) term to describe my version of Action Research. I relied upon the embedded cyclical pattern of Action Reflection to understand my teaching Self: beginning from a critical moment, reflecting upon it, and then taking appropriate action, and continuing in this way, working to improve my practice. To understand these critical moments, I developed a personal definition of critical literacy. I then tumed this definition inward. In treating my practice as a textual production, I applied critical literacy as a framework in coming to know and understand the construction that is my teaching. I grounded my thesis journey within my Self, positioning my study within my experiences of being a grade 1 teacher struggling to teach critical literacy. I then repositioned my journey to that of a grade 1 teacher struggling to use critical literacy to improve my practice. This journey, then, is about the transition from critical literacyit as-subject to critical literacy-as-instmctional-method in improving my practice. I joumeyed inwards, using a critical moment to build new understandings, leading me to the next critical moment, and continued in this cyclical way. I worked in this meandering yet deliberate way to reach a new place in my teaching: one that is more inclusive of all the voices in my room. I concluded my journey with a beginning: a beginning of re-visioning my practice. In telling the stories of my journey, of my teaching, of my experiences, I changed into the teacher that I am more comfortable with. I've come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It's my personal approach that creates the climate. It's my daily mood that makes the weather As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a person's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humour, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a person humanized or de-humanized. (Ginott, as cited in Buscaglia, 2002, p. 22)

Inwiefern ist für den Beruf des Pädagogen die Beschäftigung mit der Psychologie unerlässlich? /

Cover title.

Some principles of psychology and mental hygiene of value to teachers.

Microfilmed for preservation

Talks to teachers on psychology : and to students on some of life's ideals /

Mode of access: Internet.

Talks to teachers on psychology: and to students on some of life's ideals.

p. 303-306, advertising matter.

Introductory education psychology, a book for teachers in training,

Mode of access: Internet.

Talks to teachers on psychology: and to students on some of life's ideals.

Mode of access: Internet.

Being ethical : how process drama assists pre-service drama teachers to reflect on professional ethics

This research thesis focuses on the experiences of pre-service drama teachers and considers how process drama may assist them to reflect on key aspects of professional ethics such as mandatory codes or standards, principled moral reasoning, moral character, moral agency, and moral literacy. Research from higher education provides evidence that current pedagogical approaches used to prepare pre –professionals for practice in medicine, engineering, accountancy, business, psychology, counselling, nursing and education, rarely address the more holistic or affective dimensions of professional ethics such as moral character. Process drama, a form of educational drama, is a complex improvisational group experience that invites participants to create and assume roles, and select and manage symbols in order to create a fictional world exploring human experience. Many practitioners claim that process drama offers an aesthetic space to develop a deeper understanding of self and situations, expanding the participant’s consciousness and ways of knowing. However, little research has been conducted into the potential efficacy of process drama in professional ethics education for pre-professionals. This study utilizes practitioner research and case study to explore how process drama may contribute to the development of professional ethics education and pedagogy.

Children's self-talk and academic self-concepts: The impact of teachers' statements

Data were collected from 269 Australian primary school children in grades 3 to 7. Self-report questionnaires measuring students' perceptions of the frequency of positive and negative statements directed to them by their teacher, their positive and negative self-talk; and their reading, mathematics and learning self-concepts were administered. Positive statements made by teachers were found to be directly related to positive self-talk and to maths and learning self-concepts. Teachers' positive statements were also indirectly related to reading self-concept through positive self-talk. Negative statements made by teachers were not predictive of self-talk or self-concepts for the total sample but were predictive of maths self-concept for girls and negative self-talk for boys. Implications for teachers and educational psychologists are discussed.

Using microteaching to enhance teacher efficacy in pre-service teachers

This study examined pre-service teachers’ efficacy in relation to the utilisation of microteaching as an assessment tool for postgraduate education students in Australia. Three hundred and fifteen pre-service teachers completed the teacher efficacy survey and additional qualitative questions at Time 1 and 208 completed the survey and questions at Time 2. A principal components analysis conducted on the Time 1 survey data revealed teacher efficacy to be comprised of two components: ‘teacher efficacy in classroom management’ and ‘personal teacher efficacy’. Repeated measures ANOVAs conducted on the 208 participants who completed the survey at Time 1 and 2 revealed that efficacy on both components increased significantly over time, and that internet students had higher efficacy levels than internal students. The qualitative data revealed that pre-service teachers enter teaching in order to positively impact on children, yet are concerned about behaviour management in the classroom. In addition, this data highlighted the positive impact that microteaching had on their developing teacher identity.