Ann H. Karmos

The Role of Significant Others During the Student Teaching Experience

Student teaching is the major unifying experience of most teacher training programs. It is a time for the student teacher to explore, experiment, and &dquo;put it all together&dquo; before becoming a professional. The future teacher attempts to identify and meet expectations which come from self, cooperating teachers, university supervisors, students, and society in general. Significant others direct and guide role behaviors as they assume the role of coach, either directly or indirectly. This study attempted to find out what kinds of influence are important to student teachers. A primary characteristic of student teachers is a striving to meet basic needs for security and competence in a new role (Haines, 1971). Often, major emphasis in supervision of student teachers is on the acquisition of teaching skills. The beginning teacher phase, including teaching, is characterized by concerns with self; concerns with effectiveness and competence are characteristic of a later phase (Coates & Thoresen, 1976). MacDonald and Zaret (1971) suggest that this later phase actually occurs during the first year of teaching rather than during student teaching. After reviewing 300 research studies, Fuller and Bown (1975) identified three stages of learning to teach: survival, mastery, and

CONSTRUCT VALIDITY ANALYSES OF A "NONVERBAL" MEASURE OF SELF-ESTEEM: THE SLIDING PERSON TEST

This study investigated construct validity for a “nonverbal” measure of self-esteem, the Sliding Person Test (SPERT). Seven personality measures and an intelligence test were administered to 202 college students. A test-retest reliability coefficient of .82 was obtained (N = 45). Correlations between scores on SPERT and social desirability, anxiety, and IQ indicated sufficiently low overlap with these variables. Minimal evidence of convergent and discriminant validity was established. Linear and curvilinear relationships between scores for SPERT and social and emotional adjustment, respectively, were contrary to expectations but similar to those of previous studies. Expected differences between students high and low in self-acceptance with large SPERT discrepancies support other literature which suggests that large self-ideal discrepancies are associated with better adjustment and lower anxiety for highly self-accepting people.

The Development and Validation of a Nonverbal Measure of Self-Esteem: The Sliding Person Test.

This paper reports validity evidence from several studies for a nonverbal measure of self-esteem, the Sliding Person Test (SPERT). Two versions of SPERT, a wooden manipulative task and a paper-pencil measure, were correlated .81. Convergent validity correlations were comparable to typical correlations among self-concept measures. Test-retest and alternate form reliabilities ranged from .57 to .95. Minimal evidence of convergent and discriminant validity was established, and correlations with IQ and social desirability measures were sufficiently low. Relationships between a measure of self-esteem and those of social adjustment and emotional adjustment supported the findings of other studies. The potential of SPERT for use by counselors in intervention programs and by classroom teachers was demonstrated.