Jennifer Mitton-Kukner

A multi-year study of pre-service teachers’ literacy practices in the content areas: time epistemologies and indicators of stasis and growth

ABSTRACTThis three-year study focuses on 42 pre-service teachers’ perspectives on integrating literacy into their content area teaching. Pre-service teachers described time as an influential factor shaping their teaching practices, and, we found, that perceptions of time influenced pre-service teachers’ reported ability and willingness to plan for and enact the implementation of literacy strategies as part of content area lessons. While we noted a number of factors related to time, we were particularly drawn to three time-related factors that signified for pre-service teacher participants’ active roles and agency in how they were enacted in the classroom. Identifying temporal concerns about curriculum, learner response to literacy practices, and use of classroom time to scaffold learning allowed us to specify aspects of participants’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) development as well as facets of limited PCK growth. Using time as a theoretical lens to view pre-service teachers’ accounts of literacy p...ABSTRACT This three-year study focuses on 42 pre-service teachers’ perspectives on integrating literacy into their content area teaching. Pre-service teachers described time as an influential factor shaping their teaching practices, and, we found, that perceptions of time influenced pre-service teachers’ reported ability and willingness to plan for and enact the implementation of literacy strategies as part of content area lessons. While we noted a number of factors related to time, we were particularly drawn to three time-related factors that signified for pre-service teacher participants’ active roles and agency in how they were enacted in the classroom. Identifying temporal concerns about curriculum, learner response to literacy practices, and use of classroom time to scaffold learning allowed us to specify aspects of participants’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) development as well as facets of limited PCK growth. Using time as a theoretical lens to view pre-service teachers’ accounts of literacy practices, we suggest, provides insights into their PCK, specifically indicators of stasis and growth, and understanding about pre-service teacher resistance or acceptance to the infusion of literacy into content area teaching.

Pre-Service Educators and Anti-Oppressive Pedagogy: Interrupting and Challenging LGBTQ Oppression in Schools.

There are increasing calls for pre-service educators to be responsive and responsible for anti-homophobic education. This research builds on the ongoing efforts to integrate Positive Space training in our two-year Bachelor of Education programme. We found through a series of focus group and individual interviews that pre-service teachers were aware of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, and Queering/Questioning (LGBTQ) oppression, witnessed it in schools, employed a range of strategies, but also experienced challenges due to power dynamics in schools, and may not have recognised the power of their interruptions. Our findings suggest that Positive Space training is valuable and necessary and needs to continue to be explicitly embedded in core courses so that all pre-service teachers, regardless of their discipline, develop the skills and attitudes necessary to be advocates for LGBTQ individuals.

Time constraints experienced by female teacher researchers in Canada and Turkey: challenges to developing an autonomous professional learning mindset

The focus of this comparative qualitative study is on female teachers’ experiences as teacher researchers in Canada and Turkey as they worked towards the completion of their postgraduate degrees in the midst of teaching full-time. Attending carefully to participants’ accounts of time use during the research process revealed heavy time pressure as informed by teaching, societal norms and familial obligations. In response to complex schedules, participants engaged in multitasking and research engagement happened amongst multiple personal and professional responsibilities. The findings of this study provide new ways to consider the competing demands shaping women’s efforts to professionally develop and learn, and question the sustainability of teacher-led research as a sustainable professional learning endeavour beyond postgraduate studiesThe focus of this comparative qualitative study is on female teachers’ experiences as teacher researchers in Canada and Turkey as they worked towards the completion of their postgraduate degrees in the midst of teaching full-time. Attending carefully to participants’ accounts of time use during the research process revealed heavy time pressure as informed by teaching, societal norms and familial obligations. In response to complex schedules, participants engaged in multitasking and research engagement happened amongst multiple personal and professional responsibilities. The findings of this study provide new ways to consider the competing demands shaping women’s efforts to professionally develop and learn, and question the sustainability of teacher-led research as a sustainable professional learning endeavour beyond postgraduate studies