Doug Hamman

The Role of Cognition, Motivation, and Emotion in Explaining the Mathematics Achievement Gap Between Hispanic and White Students:

The authors investigated the relationships between cognitive, motivational, and emotional variables across Hispanic and White students to predict mathematics performance. A theoretically based structural model fit a total sample of 666 4th- to 10th-grade students well, supporting that self-efficacy, sources of self-efficacy, and emotional feedback were all stronger predictors of mathematics performance than general mental ability. Tests of the structural model across ethnicity suggested a good fit for the White sample but not for the Hispanic sample. However, the majority of the associations in the White model were not significant. Because the model positing relationships among motivational and cognitive variables has been well established, the findings indicated that the inclusion of emotional feedback made it more complicated.

Teacher Possible Selves: How Thinking about the Future Contributes to the Formation of Professional Identity

Researchers see the value of future-oriented thinking for teacher development. Inthis study, ten teacher candidates (Elementary = 1; Middle-level = 2; Secondary = 6; All-level = 1) from a large university in the southwestern United States were interviewed about their teacher “possible selves,” and the regulative role these had on learning-to-teach behaviors. We found that all participants regulated behaviors through the use of strategies; used future thinking to gather information about progress; and derived incentive about themselves as teachers. We also found that for many participants possible selves changed, in a relatively short period of time, in response to reflection, mentors and experiences. This work contributes to a growing body of evidence concerning the usefulness of teacher identity in thinking about teacher development.

“I'M PREPARED FOR ANYTHING NOW”: STUDENT TEACHER AND COOPERATING TEACHER INTERACTION AS A CRITICAL FACTOR IN DETERMINING THE PREPARATION OF “QUALITY” ELEMENTARY READING TEACHERS

This research is an examination of the interactions between 19 pairs of student teachers and cooperating teachers engaged in guided reading instruction in Grades 1 through 3. As the basis for the study, the authors analyzed interaction patterns through conducting content analysis (Van Sluys, Lewison, & Seely Flint, 2006) and discourse analysis (Gee, 2005) over semi-structured interviews (Seidman, 2006) focused around learning to teach reading. Through a theoretical lens of imitation, guidance, and scaffolding based on Granotts (1993) work, the authors analyzed the interview transcripts to identify perceptions of behavior patterns between the student teachers and cooperating teachers. The authors also conducted a cross-comparison analysis of the similarity in reporting between each partner to examine the extent to which the pairs corroborated one anothers perceptions. Findings for the study include high levels of imitative interaction between cooperating teachers and student teachers in areas of reading assessment and grouping children for reading instruction. Interaction deemed to be guided and scaffolded in nature occurred less frequently overall.

What I expect and fear next year: measuring new teachers’ possible selves

Possible selves theory describes the relation between self-concept and regulation of future-oriented behaviours. This theory helps conceptualise issues related to teacher development, including preparation and retention, but few researchers have done so. The validation of a Likert-type instrument intended to measure ‘new teacher possible selves’ is described. Student teachers in the United States (n = 335) completed the new measure in their final practicum semester. Results from two confirmatory factor analyses indicate that data fit well the models of new teacher expected and feared possible selves. Limitations and future research directions are discussed.

Beyond Exposure to Collaboration: Preparing General-Education Teacher Candidates for Inclusive Practice

Preparation of new teachers to work effectively in inclusion settings has not kept pace with demands created by recent reforms. General-education candidates typically receive limited exposure to inclusion strategies at the preservice level, and often their only meaningful preparation comes in the practicum setting. The purpose of this article was to examine the manner in which characteristics of cooperating teachers and the practicum settings affected efficacy for teaching students with disabilities. General-education student teachers responded to questionnaires about their collaboration with cooperating teachers, the focus on inclusion instruction in their practicum setting, and their efficacy for providing inclusion instruction. Results from a structural equation model indicated that efficacy is predicted both by focus and by collaboration with the cooperating teacher. Discussion focuses on implications for teacher preparation and directions for future research.

Centrality of enactive experiences, framing, and motivation to student teachers’ emerging professional identity

Professional identity has emerged as a common theme in teacher development research, and the student-teaching practicum is often identified as foundational to identity development. In the context of the student-teaching practicum, interactions with cooperating teachers and pupils are believed to comprise the press for professional identity development, though theory-based explanations are often neglected in the literature, and findings are not always consistent. To address this issue, we used grounded theory to articulate a model explaining the relations among three constructs important to the process of identity development of student teachers (n = 14). Our findings are organized around a model that highlights the phenomenon of “negotiating who I am as a teacher,” which helps us describe differences between student teachers who changed identity vs. those that did not, and psychological and contextual reasons for renegotiation of identity. Discussion focuses on comparisons with previous models and possible implications for teacher education.