Sarah K. Clark

Through the eyes of the novice teacher: perceptions of mentoring support

This study examined the perceptions of elementary school beginning teachers (n = 136) across a Rocky Mountain state in the US regarding the mentoring support they received during their first year teaching. Beginning teachers were asked to report the types of mentoring support they received and to rate the helpfulness of this support on the Mentoring Support Survey. Individual item scores and scale scores are reported. An analysis of variance was then used to compare the scale scores of teachers with the administrator-facilitated mentoring supports of common planning time with their mentors and/or release time to observe other teachers. Results indicate that beginning teachers who received both common planning time with a mentor and release time to observe other teachers rated the mentoring experiences they had as significantly more helpful than beginning teachers who were not provided these mentoring supports. Of the two, provision of common planning time was the most important type of administrator-facilitated support.

The Plight of the Novice Teacher

Abstract Once hired, beginning teachers face the daunting and demanding task of setting up a classroom and becoming a teacher that influences student achievement in positive ways. This article addresses some of these challenges and provides meaningful suggestions for principals and administrators hoping to support, sustain, and retain their novice teachers.

Explicit Instruction in Core Reading Programs.

The purpose of this study was to conduct a content analysis of the types and occurrences of explicit instructional moves recommended for teaching five essentials of effective reading instruction in grades 1, 3, and 5 core reading program teachers’ editions in five widely marketed core reading programs. Guided practice was the most frequently recommended explicit instructional move for teaching phonemic awareness, phonics, and vocabulary. Discussion was the dominant explicit instructional move recommended for comprehension. Modeling was the dominant explicit instructional move recommended for fluency. Core reading program lessons were found to provide ample explicit instructional move recommendations for explanations and guided practice, with less attention to modeling or discussing reading concepts, strategies, and skills. The core reading program lessons provided inadequate recommendations for the explicit instructional moves of monitoring student progress, providing students feedback, and moving students gradually toward independence.

Examining Sixth Grade Students’ Reading Attitudes and Perceptions of Teacher Read Aloud: Are All Students on the Same Page?

The purpose of this embedded mixed methods study was to examine how sixth graders with high and low reading attitudes perceive teacher read aloud. We utilized quantitative data by surveying sixth graders (N = 87) about their reading attitudes and then collected qualitative data by interviewing five students, interviewing the teacher, conducting classroom observations, and reviewing read aloud materials. Students with lower reading attitudes enjoyed the relaxed classroom setting, while those with higher attitudes enjoyed the books being read. Other themes suggested that all students engaged inconsistently with the text, and that students are indeed aware of the potential instructional benefits of reading aloud. Implications are discussed including the importance of pairing teacher read aloud with other strategies to help students engage more explicitly with the text.

The Informational Text Structure Survey (ITS2): An exploration of primary grade teachers’ sensitivity to text structure in young children's informational texts

ABSTRACT There has been no research reported about if or how well primary grade teachers can identify information text structures in childrens authentic informational texts. The ability to do so accurately and reliably is a prerequisite for teachers to be able to teach students how to recognize and use text structures to assist them in comprehending informational texts. The authors report the development of the Informational Text Structure Survey (ITS2). Prior to training, primary grade teachers demonstrated low accuracy and reliability in identifying traditional expository text structures in well-structured childrens grade level–appropriate informational texts. Results after training with the ITS2 instrument showed significant improvements in the teachers’ accuracy and reliability in identifying traditional informational text structures in well-structured childrens grade level–appropriate informational texts after training with the ITS2 instrument.

Teaching Text Structure: Examining the Affordances of Children’s Informational Texts

This study investigated the affordances of informational texts to serve as model texts for teaching text structure to elementary school children. Content analysis of a random sampling of children’s informational texts from top publishers was conducted on text structure organization and on the inclusion of text features as signals of text structure. Our findings showed three limitations to the affordances present in informational texts currently available for elementary school children. Implications of these findings are discussed.

A Comparative Examination of Student Teacher and Intern Perceptions of Teaching Ability at the Preservice and Inservice Stages.

This study investigates how the culminating teacher preparation program (TPP) experience (either student teaching assignment or internship) influences the perceptions teachers report about their ability to perform instructional tasks required of teachers. A multivariate ANOVA test (N = 502) was conducted to compare perceptions of student teachers (those who taught 15 weeks) and interns (those who taught a full academic year) at two points in time—once at the conclusion of their TPP and again after their first year of teaching. Results indicate that overall, student teachers report higher perceptions of their ability to perform instructional tasks than interns do at both the preservice and inservice teacher stages. Interns reported higher scores at the inservice stage on only the mathematics subscale, suggesting that there is some change in self-efficacy as teachers gain teaching experience. Findings suggest that the student teaching context provides more modeling and verbal support and produces teachers with higher perceptions of teaching ability than those who complete an internship.

Finding a Place for CCSS Literacy Skills in the Middle School Social Studies Curriculum.

Abstract With the increased emphasis on college and career readiness resulting from the adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), the need for students to be able to read and write proficiently has become well established. Social studies teachers are now expected to teach nonfiction reading and writing skills in their content-area courses. Many middle school teachers do not have a background in teaching literacy and are reluctant to incorporate literacy strategies into their curriculum because they feel ill prepared or inadequate to the task. They may also feel that their content instruction will suffer because of the time and instructional demands imposed on them by adding literacy to an already long list of learning objectives. The purpose of this article is to provide specifics on how middle school social studies teachers can incorporate content-area literacy skills without abandoning the curriculum and content of their classes.

What Millennial Preservice Teachers Want to Learn in Their Training

As teacher educators, we implore teacher candidates to understand the cultures and experiences of their students to engage them in learning. Yet, preservice teachers are seldom asked what they hope to learn in their training to become teachers of young children. In this study, we examined the interests, resources, and expectations of millennial preservice teachers born between 1980 and 2001. We found that millennial preservice teachers saw themselves as accepting of differences, hesitant to learn about assessment, very impressed with their teaching abilities, but not highly skilled in their ability to provide critique and feedback. Suggestions for enhancing the teacher training experience for millennials are discussed, as are the possible implications of training teachers of young children.

An Examination of Preservice Partnerships During a Reading Methods Course: Do They Increase Perceptions of Ability?

This quantitative study examined the effectiveness of pairing preservice teachers with young readers during a 9-week reading methods course to participate together in reading-related activities and partner journaling. It was hypothesized that these preservice partnerships would strengthen preservice teacher perceptions about their ability to perform reading instructional tasks. Findings revealed that these one-on-one partnerships did not result in statistically significant higher scores on a self-perception scale when compared with scores of preservice teachers who did not engage in these partnering experiences. Suggestions are made to assist preservice teachers make stronger connections between hands-on, authentic experiences and their ability to perform tasks required of reading teachers.