The creation of a Terena Mermaid on an Environmental lesson: a case of Teacher Professional Development

Monogr??fico con el t??tulo: " Formaci??n de profesores. Perspectivas de Brasil, Colombia, Espa??a y Portugal"

INVESTIGATION OF STRATEGIES TO PROMOTE EFFECTIVE TEACHER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT EXPERIENCES IN EARTH SCIENCE

This dissertation serves as a call to geoscientists to share responsibility with K-12 educators for increasing Earth science literacy. When partnerships are created among K-12 educators and geoscientists, the synergy created can promote Earth science literacy in students, teachers, and the broader community. The research described here resulted in development of tools that can support effective professional development for teachers. One tool is used during the planning stages to structure a professional development program, another set of tools supports measurement of the effectiveness of a development program, and the third tool supports sustainability of professional development programs. The Michigan Teacher Excellence Program (MiTEP), a Math/Science Partnership project funded by the National Science Foundation, served as the test bed for developing and testing these tools. The first tool, the planning tool, is the Earth Science Literacy Principles (ESLP). The ESLP served as a planning tool for the two-week summer field courses as part of the MiTEP program. The ESLP, published in 2009, clearly describe what an Earth science literate person should know. The ESLP consists of nine big ideas and their supporting fundamental concepts. Using the ESLP for planning a professional development program assisted both instructors and teacher-participants focus on important concepts throughout the professional development activity. The measurement tools were developed to measure change in teachers’ Earth science content-area knowledge and perceptions related to teaching and learning that result from participating in a professional development program. The first measurement tool, the Earth System Concept Inventory (ESCI), directly measures content-area knowledge through a succession of multiple-choice questions that are aligned with the content of the professional development experience. The second measurement, an exit survey, collects qualitative data from teachers regarding their impression of the professional development. Both the ESCI and the exit survey were tested for validity and reliability. Lesson study is discussed here as a strategy for sustaining professional development in a school or a district after the end of a professional development activity. Lesson study, as described here, was offered as a formal course. Teachers engaged in lesson study worked collaboratively to design and test lessons that improve the teachers’ classroom practices. Data regarding the impact of the lesson study activity were acquired through surveys, written documents, and group interviews. The data are interpreted to indicate that the lesson study process improved teacher quality and classroom practices. In the case described here, the lesson study process was adopted by the teachers’ district and currently serves as part of the district’s work in Professional Learning Communities, resulting in ongoing professional development throughout the district.

The (new ?) basics of a teacher professional learning community

This paper argues for the need to further theorise the concept of teacher professional learning communities and provides empirical evidence to support this case. The paper presents findings from an ongoing research project, which investigates the nature of teacher professional learning communities. The study reveals that actual communities do not conform to a normailized articulation of features, as outlined in much of the literature on this topic. Consequently, it represents an attempt to engage in the difficult but necessary task of simultaneously fashioning theory from practice, whilst interpreting theory, in practice. The study proposes that current functionalist understandings of teacher professional learning communities are based upon a literature base which is insufficiently nuanced to capture the complexity inherent within these bodies. A broader base of a more critical sociological literature is also drawn upon to better understand actual, "lived" teacher communities, which are somewhat difficult to describe. In part, such communities exhibit features of functionalist conceptions but they are also organic entities which may be quite unpredictable in their outcomes and cannot be reduced to specific features; they each have their own specific "logic of practice" (Bourdieu, 1990) which influences their activities, in their particular field. The argument proposed here is that in one particular community, this complexity may be represented by the many purposes which the community served, arguably often unbeknown to its members, which fashioned the actual community. This paper tries to add to the existing theoretical base of literature, at the same time as providing evidence to support this theorisation.

The importance of environment for teacher professional learning in Malta and Scotland

Peer reviewed

The Construction of Professional Identity

[Excerpt] The classification of ‘professions’ has been a debated topic (Abbott, 1988; Friedson 2001), with several researchers putting forth varying criteria which distinguish a profession from other occupations. Previously, an individual would be considered a professional only once they had completed and attained all of the training, certifications and credentials of a professional occupation and, of course, internalized this profession’s values and norms (Wilensky, 1964). Recently, researchers have begun to relax the criteria for classifying professional occupations, insisting only that the occupation be skill- or education-based (Benveniste, 1987; Ibarra, 1999). Furthermore, in today’s workplace, which is burgeoning with independent knowledge workers, the term ‘profession’ is often used as an adjective rather than a noun, describing how individuals carry out their work with knowledge and skill rather than the specific kind of work they do (see Chapter 9 in this book).

School leaders as both colonized and colonizers: understanding professional identity in an era of no child left behind

This study positioned the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2002 as a reified colonizing entity, inscribing its hegemonic authority upon the professional identity and work of school principals within their school communities of practice. Pressure on educators and students intensifies each year as the benchmark for Adequate Yearly Progress under the NCLB policy is raised, resulting in standards-based reform, scripted curriculum and pedagogy, absence of elective subjects, and a general lack of autonomy critical to the work of teachers as they approach each unique class and student (Crocco & Costigan, 2007; Mabry & Margolis, 2006). Emphasis on high stakes standardized testing as the indicator for student achievement (Popham, 2005) affects educators’ professional identity through dramatic pedagological and structural changes in schools (Day, Flores, & Viana, 2007). These dramatic changes to the ways our nation conducts schooling must be understood and thought about critically from school leaders’ perspectives as their professional identity is influenced by large scale NCLB school reform. The author explored the impact No Child Left Behind reform had on the professional identity of fourteen, veteran Illinois principals leading in urban, small urban, suburban, and rural middle and elementary schools. Qualitative data were collected during semi-structured interviews and focus groups and analyzed using a dual theoretical framework of postcolonial and identity theories. Postcolonial theory provided a lens from which the author applied a metaphor of colonization to principals’ experiences as colonized-colonizers in a time of school reform. Principal interview data illustrated many examples of NCLB as a colonizing authority having a significant impact on the professional identity of school leaders. This framework was used to interpret data in a unique and alternative way and contributed to the need to better understand the ways school leaders respond to district-level, state-level, and national-level accountability policies (Sloan, 2000). Identity theory situated principals as professionals shaped by the communities of practice in which they lead. Principals’ professional identity has become more data-driven as a result of NCLB and their role as instructional leaders has intensified. The data showed that NCLB has changed the work and professional identity of principals in terms of use of data, classroom instruction, Response to Intervention, and staffing changes. Although NCLB defines success in terms of meeting or exceeding the benchmark for Adequate Yearly Progress, principals’ view AYP as only one measurement of their success. The need to meet the benchmark for AYP is a present reality that necessitates school-wide attention to reading and math achievement. At this time, principals leading in affluent, somewhat homogeneous schools typically experience less pressure and more power under NCLB and are more often labeled “successful” school communities. In contrast, principals leading in schools with more heterogeneity experience more pressure and lack of power under NCLB and are more often labeled “failing” school communities. Implications from this study for practitioners and policymakers include a need to reexamine the intents and outcomes of the policy for all school communities, especially in terms of power and voice. Recommendations for policy reform include moving to a growth model with multi-year assessments that make sense for individual students rather than one standardized test score as the measure for achievement. Overall, the study reveals enhancements and constraints NCLB policy has caused in a variety of school contexts, which have affected the professional identity of school leaders.

Novas soluções com TIC: boas práticas no 1º Ciclo do Ensino Básico

Vários estudos se têm realizado com a finalidade perceber a integração das TIC em contextos educativos e as respostas dos professores às novas tecnologias. Todavia, actualmente começa a haver necessidade de repensar as práticas pedagógicas que geram processos metodológicos de mudança ou se persistem práticas pedagógicas tradicionais e, ainda, quem as realiza, em que contextos e que preocupações têm estes professores. Este texto tem como propósito apresentar concepções dos professores sobre o que é uma boa prática e referir algumas experiências realizadas pelos professores em sala de aula.

O processo de constituição histórica das diretrizes curriculares na formação de professores de Educação Física

Os processos históricos que permeiam as diretrizes curriculares possibilitaram enxergar quais são as idéias e as preocupações para com a formação de professores no âmbito da Educação Física. Dentro desse contexto, o objetivo foi averiguar, nas políticas públicas de formação de professor dessa disciplina, como ocorreu o processo de qualificação e certificação, buscando entender as justificativas que orientaram a regulamentação dos normativos legais de 1939 a 2004. Portanto, trata-se de um estudo descritivo, de análise qualitativa, tendo como fonte primária as Diretrizes Curriculares veiculada pela imprensa oficial. As novas Diretrizes Curriculares (Resoluções CNE/CP 01/2002, 02/2002 e 7/2004) apontaram perspectivas na formação de um professor mais qualificado para o seu campo de atuação, priorizando a questão da dimensão política da profissão, das competências e do corpo de conhecimento da área. Embora haja progressos em relação aos normativos anteriores, chama-se atenção para a necessidade de que as propostas em construção façam a mediação entre a proposta atual, o percurso histórico do próprio curso e a relação teoria-prática, visando o equilíbrio na formação. A proposta das novas diretrizes não deixa de evidenciar avanços significativos no horizonte da profissionalidade docente e da identidade profissional docente. da mesma forma, para o leitor ou estudioso atento, não deixa de causar preocupação o excesso de competências técnicas colocadas, passando-se a impressão de que agora o que vale é o primado do saber fazer.

A profissionalização docente: identidade e crise

Pós-graduação em Educação Escolar - FCLAR