Religious Diversity and Teacher Education: Experiences and Perspectives of Muslim Women as Teacher Candidates in Pre-service Programs

This qualitative research project explores the insights of Muslim women as teacher candidates completing pre-service programs in Ontario. Ontario schools cater to students from many ethnic, cultural and religious groups, including a sizable Muslim population. Muslims make up 4.6% of Ontario’s population with the highest concentration of Muslims in the GTA (Statistics Canada, 2011). The Muslim population in Ontario is of a significant enough number that, in a post 9/11 world, it has prompted discussion of how to integrate Muslim populations in Canada. In this research, I explore how Islamophobic sentiment is experienced in Ontario-based teacher education programs. I use Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Critical Race Feminism (CRF) to analyse and deconstruct experiences of female Muslim teacher candidates in pre-service programs. I discuss how Muslims are a racialized group that experience racism as discussed by critical race literature; however, there is a marked difference between how Muslim men and women experience gendered Islamophobia. By using in-depth research-based interviews, I explore how Muslim women perceived diversity, education, accommodations and Islamophobia in pre-service programs. This study adds to the current literature on critical race theory and anti-racist practices in education. Furthermore, this study adds to the voice of Muslim women in the discussion of diversity and inclusivity in educational institutions.

Self-identification of problems in the process of listening to English in pre-service interpreters

Questa tesi ha come oggetto di studio i problemi riscontrati nelle trascrizioni di testi orali in lingua inglese prodotte da 39 studenti della laurea magistrale in Interpretazione. Nel Capitolo 1 viene presentato l’ascolto, che viene definito prima da un punto di vista storico, poi analizzato come processo composto da quattro fasi, come sostiene Michael Rost (2011). Il capitolo si conclude con l’ascolto nell’ambito dell’interpretazione. Nel Capitolo 2 viene analizzato in maniera contrastiva l’apprendimento dell’ascolto nella prima e nella seconda lingua. I primi due capitoli forniscono le basi per comprendere il caso di studio. Il Capitolo 3 concerne la metodologia dello studio. Vengono presentati il metodo di analisi delle trascrizioni, la categorizzazione dei problemi riscontrati e il processo di creazione del sistema di analisi utilizzato. Nel Capitolo 4 vengono presentati i dati ottenuti seguendo il metodo esposto nel Capitolo 3. Si presentano i problemi riscontrati, che vengono suddivisi in categorie in base a ciò che può averli causati. Il Capitolo 5 è dedicato alle conclusioni. Qui vengono suggerite possibili strategie mirate ad aiutare gli studenti di Interpretazione a migliorare le proprie capacità di ascolto in lingua inglese. Esta tesis quiere analizar los problemas encontrados en transcripciones de textos orales en inglés hechas por 39 estudiantes del máster en Interpretación. En el Capítulo 1 se presenta la escucha, que se define primero desde una perspectiva histórica, y luego como un proceso formado por cuatro fases, como argumenta Michael Rost (2011). El capítulo se cierra con la escucha en el ámbito de la interpretación. En el Capítulo 2 se analizan de forma contrastiva el aprendizaje de la escucha en la primera y segunda lengua. Los primeros dos capítulos constituyen la base para comprender el caso de estudio. El Capítulo 3 atañe a la metodología del estudio. Se presentan el método de análisis de las transcripciones, la categorización de los problemas encontrados y el proceso de creación del sistema de análisis que se ha empleado. En el Capítulo 4 se proporcionan los datos obtenidos gracias al método presentado en el Capítulo 3. Se presentan los problemas encontrados, que han sido divididos en categorías según qué puede haberlos ocasionado. El Capítulo 5 está dedicado a las conclusiones. Aquí se sugieren posibles estrategias cuyo objetivo es ayudar a los estudiantes de Interpretación a mejorar sus capacidades de escucha en inglés.

Cómo estudiantes para profesor interpretan el pensamiento matemático de los estudiantes de Bachillerato: la derivada de una función en un punto

El objetivo de esta investigación es caracterizar grados de desarrollo de la competencia docente “mirar con sentido” el pensamiento matemático de los estudiantes en el ámbito específico de la derivada de una función en un punto. A partir de los resultados de las investigaciones previas sobre la derivada diseñamos un cuestionario formado por tres tareas a partir de las respuestas de estudiantes a 3 problemas sobre el concepto de derivada en un punto. Los resultados han permitido generar descriptores de niveles de desarrollo de la competencia docente “mirar con sentido” el pensamiento matemático de los estudiantes. Estos resultados aportan información para el diseño de intervenciones en la formación de profesores de matemáticas que tengan como uno de sus objetivos el desarrollo de la competencia docente “mirar con sentido” el pensamiento matemático de los estudiantes.

Caracterización de la “mirada profesional” de los estudiantes para maestro sobre la comprensión de la generalización de patrones

El objetivo de esta comunicación es caracterizar la mirada profesional de los estudiantes para maestro (EPM) cuando describen e interpretan respuestas de alumnos de Primaria a problemas de identificación de patrones. El estudio conjunto de los grados de evidencia de la identificación de los elementos matemáticos relevantes en el proceso de generalización de patrones y de la interpretación de la comprensión de los estudiantes, nos permitió identificar cinco perfiles de EPM con una gradación entre ellos. Esto nos ha llevado a caracterizar cinco perfiles de EPM que muestran que el conocimiento de matemáticas es necesario pero no suficiente para el desarrollo de una “mirada profesional”.

Motion pictures for teacher education : a manual for use in pre-service and in-service teacher education /

Cover title.

Causes of tension in post-observation feedback in pre-service teacher training: an alternative view

A central component in pre-service teacher training is teaching practice and feedback. In some cases, feedback results in disquiet and tension (Brandt, 2008). Many researchers attribute this tension to the incompatibility of the assessment and development roles that the trainer must perform. The research reported on here, however, suggests that tension may also be rooted in a difference in expectation amongst trainers and trainees about the purpose and performance of feedback. This can result in trainees not playing by the rules of the game (Roberts & Sarangi, 2001) either because they do not understand them or because they wish to challenge them.

Making a Case for Global Education: Revisiting Pre-Service Teacher Lesson Planning Methods

Globalization has tightened the bonds of interconnectedness and interdependence among nation-states. Students are destined for careers that are profoundly international in nature. They need to develop global literacy aided by a global education. This paper mandates the need for global education as part of the pre-service teacher-training programs.

10 th semester pre-service teacher beliefs and cognitive dissonances : a narrative reflection on efl practice at la Salle University

Tesis (Licenciado en Lenguas Castellana, Inglés y Francés).--Universidad de La Salle. Facultad de Ciencias de La Educación. Licenciatura en Lengua Castellana, Inglés y Francés, 2014

Education futures : transforming teacher education in the middle years

The young people who populate our classrooms live in a changed and rapidly changing society: a society where information is the most valued commodity and where traditional ‘truth’s such as nation and family are increasingly destabilized and fragmented. Educators at primary, secondary and tertiary level must, with some urgency, address issues relating the emergence of new citizenships and identities, the impact of new technologies and new economies. Our pedagogy and curriculums must be relevant to the need of students now and in the future. The School of Education, The University of Queensland is addressing issues of change, new technologies, new work places, critical citizenry and the need for pedagogical and curriculum innovation through the development of a new Middle Years of Schooling Dual Degree program. This program is designed to equip pre-service teachers to approach pedagogy and curriculum in innovative ways and to challenge them to embrace diversity and change. This paper outlines the key features of the Middle Years of Schooling Dual Degree, identifying a number of innovative approaches to pre-service teacher education.

Certainties and uncertainties : ethics and professional identities of early childhood educators

This study is an inquiry into the professional identity constructions of early childhood educators, where identity is conceptualised as social and contextual. Through a genealogical analysis of narratives of four Queensland early childhood teachers, the thesis renders as problematic universal and fixed notions of what it is to be an early childhood professional. The data are the four teachers’ professional life history narratives recounted through a series of conversational interviews with each participant. As they spoke about professionalism and ethics, these teachers struggled to locate themselves as professionals, as they drew on a number of dominant discourses available to them. These dominant discourses were located and mapped through analysis of the participants’ talk about relationships with parents, colleagues and authorities. Genealogical analysis enabled multiple readings of the ways in which the participants’ talk held together certainties and uncertainties, as they recounted their experiences and spoke of early childhood expertise, relational engagement and ethics. The thesis concludes with suggestions for ways to support early childhood teachers and pre-service teachers to both engage with and resist normative processes and expectations of professional identity construction. In so doing, multiple and contextual opportunities can be made available when it comes to being professional and ‘doing’ ethics. The thesis makes an argument for new possibilities for thinking and speaking professional identities that include both certainty and uncertainty, comfort and discomfort, and these seemingly oppositional terms are held together in tension, with an insistence that both are necessary and true. The use of provocations offers tools through which pre-service teachers, teachers and teacher educators can access new positions associated with certainties and uncertainties in professional identities. These new positions call for work that supports experiences of ‘de-comfort’ – that is, experiences that encourage early childhood educators to step away from the comfort zones that can become part of expertise, professional relationships and ethics embedded within normative representations of what it is to be an early childhood professional.

Teacher leadership : interns crossing to the domain of higher professional learning with mentors?

Over the last two decades, the notion of teacher leadership has emerged as a key concept in both the teaching and leadership literature. While researchers have not reached consensus regarding a definition, there has been some agreement that teacher leadership can operate at both a formal and informal level in schools and that it includes leadership of an instructional, organisational and professional development nature (York-Barr & Duke, 2004). Teacher leadership is a construct that tends not to be applied to pre-service teachers as interns, but is more often connected with the professional role of mentors who collaborate with them as they make the transition to being a beginning teacher. We argue that teacher leadership should be recognised as a professional and career goal during this formative learning phase and that interns should be expected to overtly demonstrate signs, albeit early ones, of leadership in instruction and other professional areas of development. The aim of this paper is to explore the extent to which teacher education interns at one university in Queensland reported on activities that may be deemed to be ‘teacher leadership.’ The research approach used in this study was an examination of 145 reflective reports written in 2008 by final Bachelor of Education (primary) pre-service teachers. These reports recorded the pre-service teachers’ perceptions of their professional learning with a school-based mentor in response to four outcomes of internship that were scaffolded by their mentor or initiated by them. These outcomes formed the bases of our research questions into the professional learning of the interns and included, ‘increased knowledge and capacity to teach within the total world of work as a teacher;’ ‘to work autonomously and interdependently’; to make ‘growth in critical reflectivity’, and the ‘ability to initiate professional development with the mentoring process’. Using the approaches of the constant comparative method of Strauss and Corbin (1998) key categories of experiences emerged. These categories were then identified as belonging to main meta-category labelled as ‘teacher leadership.’ Our research findings revealed that five dimensions of teacher leadership – effective practice in schools; school curriculum work; professional development of colleagues; parent and community involvement; and contributions to the profession – were evident in the written reports by interns. Not surprisingly, the mentor/intern relationship was the main vehicle for enabling the intern to learn about teaching and leadership. The paper concludes with some key implications for developers of preservice education programmes regarding the need for teacher leadership to be part of the discourse of these programmes.

Biotechnology learnings using ‘Claymation’ and ‘Slowmation’

This ‘Claymation’ and ‘Slowmation’ project incorporated content as well as skill development. The participants – 4 pre-service teachers and 4 secondary school students explored chromosome mapping and DNA replication. Through research, the writing, revising and editing of storyboards, two short videos were produced. Two of the pre-service teachers had prior experience with Claymation, however none of the participants had prior knowledge of chromosome mapping or DNA replication. This paper describes the learnings of the participants in terms of their self generated questions, the need for attention to detail, and argumentation / negotiation skills.