Section archive - Preservice Teachers

The current study documents differences between pre- and in-service content area teachers’ beliefs about: whether English language learners (ELLs) should be included in content area classes, the kind of instructional support (IS) they should receive, and responsibility for ELLs’ language and academic achievement. The findings revealed that pre- and in-service and female and male teachers held similar beliefs about ELLs’ inclusion in mainstream classes. However, several significant differences were found between both service and gender groups' beliefs about responsibility for ELLs’ language and academic development.

The purpose of this self-study was to identify implications of self-positioning for the author's practice in the stories she tells on her both professional knowledge landscapes: as a teacher in a junior high school and as a teacher educator. Three issues were raised during the course of this study. The first issue revolves around the author's two plotlines of becoming a teacher and why she believes that these plotlines are competing and not conflicting. Another issue raised by this study centers on the idea of the interrogative act of asking someone how they became a teacher, and what assumptions are concomitant with that kind of an inquiry on various landscapes. The third issue deals with changes in her interaction patterns with students on both the public school landscape and the university landscape.

This paper reports on male trainees’ reactions to a pilot year intervention in which a male-only support group was set up. The participants were 12 male trainees. Overall, male trainees’ responses indicated that the introduction of the male-only group was an effective strategy to address the issue of being vulnerable and feeling ‘isolated’ in a female-dominated environment.

The goal of this study is to determine the factors that influence dispositions. The study examines experiences that influence candidates’ dispositions, the role that teacher education plays in dispositional development, and the ways in which these findings can inform teacher preparation programs in their efforts to prepare candidates to work with diverse students.The authors found that teacher preparation courses were the most influential factor in influencing candidates’ responses to issues of diversity. However, the research suggests that candidates’ field experiences have mixed impacts on their situational responses.