Elizabeth K. DeMulder

Preschoolers at play: Co-socialisers of emotional and social competence

Emotional competence is a contributor to young children’s social success. This study focused on these contributions from a relational perspective. The emotional expressions, and reactions to others’ emotional expressions, of 145 predominately Caucasian/middle income 3- and 4-year-olds were observed in their classrooms during unstructured play. Participants’ and playmates’ emotions and emotional responsiveness were classified into positive and negative playgroup types. Participants’ social competence was measured using peers, teachers, and parents as informants. Results indicate that preschoolers in playgroups characterised by anger and negative emotional responsiveness are evaluated as lacking in social competence up to a year later. Additionally, security of attachment and externalising temperament predicted membership in such playgroups. These effects held true more often for boys.

Compromised Emotional Competence: Seeds of Violence Sown Early?

The authors expected less secure preschoolers to be less emotionally competent when interacting with peers at age 3 and that these emotionally incompetent children, especially those who showed much unregulated anger, would be less socially competent in kindergarten. These directional hypotheses were examined in a sample of 91 preschoolers, and all were corroborated.

Kindergarten Social-Emotional Competence: Developmental Predictors and Psychosocial Implications

Forty-nine children ( M age =46.36 v mths) participated in a study of the predictors of social-emotional competence in kindergarten. This study longitudinally examined relations among child-mother attachment at age 3, family stress at ages 3, 4, and 5, and social-emotional outcomes in kindergarten. Attachment was measured using the Attachment Q-Set and family stress was determined using the Life Experiences Survey. At kindergarten age, mothers completed the Child Behavior Checklist/4-18, teachers completed the Preschool Socioaffective Profile, and focal childrens peers completed a sociometric task to determine peer popularity. Results suggest that less secure children are more aggressive and less socially competent in kindergarten, and children who experience more family stress in their preschool years are more aggressive and anxious and less socially competent in kindergarten than their peers who experience less family stress in those same years. Teachers report that boys are more aggressive and anxious in the kindergarten classroom than are girls.

Teachers' voices on reflective practice

In this paper we describe an innovative professional development program for practicing k-12 teachers, called Initiatives in Educational Transformation, that is designed to enable classroom teachers to reconceptualize their roles and transform their teaching by developing their reflective practice (Scho¨n, 1983). The program is built around a philosophy of teaching and learning that emphasizes moral professionalism (Sockett, 1993), school-based inquiry, continuous improvement and collaborative work in teams. While few of the efforts to foster change in schools and classrooms begin their analyses with the voices and experiences of teachers, in this paper we turn to the voices and experiences of teachers to begin to explore the role of reflective practice in educational transformation.

Examining the Immigrant Experience: Helping Teachers Develop as Critical Educators.

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine ways that a multicultural perspective using critical literacy practices engaged practicing teachers to rethink and re-vision oppressive hegemonic structures and attitudes regarding immigrant students and their families and helped them to develop as critical educators. In the context of a professional development master’s program, 57 teachers experienced a curriculum strand focused on immigration issues and provided extensive feedback responding to the curriculum. The data were analyzed to assess in what ways using current and controversial issues helped teachers to develop their capacities to understand and critique the world in more complex ways and what impact these experiences had on their teaching practice. Evidence suggests that the majority of teachers were receptive to the curriculum although some teachers exhibited resistance. Resistance appeared to be minimized and teachers’ development supported using curricular experiences that “put a face to the issue,” that put learners “in others’ shoes,” that engaged teachers’ emotions, and that made clear how policies, practices, and attitudes directly and indirectly impact the lives of children and their families.

Spheres of Learing in Teacher Collaboration

In this chapter, we report on two studies in a Master’s program for practicing teachers that maintains collaborative culture making at its core, for students and faculty alike. We conducted two studies related to this collaborative culture making and concluded that collaboration is essential to programs of study for teachers and teacher educators. In the first study, we investigated the perspectives of our alumni on their collaborative experiences. Findings indicated links between alumni’s multi-layered collaborative experiences in the program and their subsequent pursuit of National Board certification. In the second study, we conducted a collective self-study of a faculty teaching team’s collaborative experiences and factors that they believe enhanced their continued professional development. Both studies are placed within a description of the Initiatives in Educational Transformation (IET) program, which aligns with sociocultural practices of learning with and through others. To frame our work, we draw from Vygotskian (1978) theory and Samaras’ (2004) notion of learning zones, adapted from Vygotsky’s conception of the zone of proximal development and the social construction of knowledge. The work of Lave and Wenger (1991) in situated learning also informs this work.

Reading the World: Supporting Teachers' Professional Development Using Community- Based Critical Literacy Practices

This paper shares the findings from a study that assessed the impact of a graduate level curriculum that engaged fifty-seven k-12 teachers in community-based critical literacy practices. The findings from the participants‘ written critical reflections following two community exploration activities showed that they gained enhanced awareness of social inequalities. In addition, some of the participants made connections between the observed community disparities and their civic responsibilities to work towards social justice. A high school teacher reflects: ―This year, our [community] walk

Equity Audit: A Teacher Leadership Tool for Nurturing Teacher Research

Abstract This is a three-part essay featuring six teacher educators and one classroom teacher researcher. Part one describes faculty efforts to build curriculum for teacher research, scaffold the research process, and analyze outcomes. Part two shares one teacher researchers experience using an equity audit tool in several contexts: her teaching practice, in collegial decision making, and as a guide for her teacher research projects. In part three, the authors reflect on the value of the equity audit.