Susan Catapano

Teaching in Urban Schools: Mentoring Pre-Service Teachers to Apply Advocacy Strategies.

In this discussion of one university’s teacher education program, steps taken to mentor pre‐service teachers learning to support families and children in urban settings are aligned with advocacy strategies. Using a service‐learning model, teachers explore issues of social justice by completing a full year of field experiences in an urban classroom. Advocacy strategies of recognizing issues that impact families and children, taking the perspective of those who are impacted, and looking for solutions within the context of the classroom, help pre‐service teachers see themselves as possible agents of systemic change as they become classroom teachers. Reflection on the blending of the strategies of service‐learning, mentoring, advocacy development and teacher education leads to the development of an integrated model of teacher education.

The university’s role in preparing teachers for urban schools

Many teacher education programs in the United States (US) face increasing demands to better prepare teachers for entry into and retention in urban schools. Through a US Department of Education grant, a university–school partnership was formed to develop a community‐based model of teacher preparation that placed pre‐service teachers in urban schools for a full year. Based on questionnaires and interviews with university teacher education faculty, and both pre‐service and novice classroom teachers who took their first jobs in urban schools, this research considers the common concerns and disparate roles that the three groups considered paramount in preparing new teachers for urban schools.

Resiliency to success: supporting novice urban teachers

Each year, the National Center for Educational Statistics, through the US Department of Education Institute of Educational Sciences, publishes information about the need for millions of new teachers in the USA. Many of these positions are in urban schools. What makes new teachers beat the odds and remain in challenging schools? This study considers existing research on the common characteristics found in resilient urban teachers and extends that research with interview data from 12 novice urban teachers who participated in a mentoring program designed to attract and retain quality urban educators. Using positioning theory, this study highlights seven characteristics common among the participants. Identifying these characteristics and the ways in which the novice teachers used them may help urban district administrators and teacher educators assist novice teachers in positioning themselves to feel successful – and ultimately to be retained – in urban classrooms.

Reflective professional development for urban teachers through videotaping and guided assessment

As a part of the United States Department of Education Teacher Quality Enhancement Grants (TQE) program, a professional development project was conducted to support selected urban teachers from a Professional Development School to think reflectively about their teaching and learning. The 24 survey items were developed based on the three domains of Danielson’s teaching practice. Using the survey, the eight participating teachers and 15 external reviewers were asked to assess the videotaped teaching performances three times. The main goal of the study was to examine if the participants would improve their reflective thinking skills using structured reflective tools, i.e. videotaping, the assessment rubrics, reflective writing guidelines, coaching and the reflective practice model. In addition the study examined if there were any significant differences in the three ratings. The results indicated that several items showed the significances among the ratings, and half of the participants evolved to the stage of evaluation, creating new schemata.

Early Literacy Standards: What New Teachers Should Know.

Abstract Students in early childhood teacher education programs are expected to know, plan curriculum, and teach within several sets of content area, national, state, and local, learning standards. Understanding where these standards originated and why they are important within the context of classroom practice will help new teachers begin their careers aware of their role in helping children become competent in the content‐area standards. At the heart of the standards movement are the early literacy standards, necessary for achieving both reading and language arts competencies and for achieving competency in social studies, science, and mathematics in the K‐12 grades. Understanding and applying the standards, through best practices, can guide teachers in the writing of objectives, development of activities, selection of materials, and the authentic assessment of childrens learning within their classroom.

Leadership in Hard-to-Staff Schools: Novice Teachers as Mentors

In our study, we chronicle the development of two novice urban teachers who developed in to mentors in the third year of their teaching. The two novice teachers were hired to serve as mentors to new teachers in or near their school. Interviews with the teachers about their experiences identified three areas of discussion as a result of their mentoring role that included reflection on the impact to their own practice, identification of the need for time management skills, and realization of the reasons for mentoring. The results of the novice teachers serving as mentors were positive for the mentors and helped to set the stage to sustain the mentoring program.

Project Work in the Graduate Classroom: Teachers as Students Apply Skills beyond the Classroom.

Abstract Through the use of a long‐term project in a graduate teacher education course on the importance of play, students learned skills beyond those usually required in a graduate classroom. Students used their understanding and knowledge of play, constructive practice, and project work to develop a family play day at the university lab school. As part of the project, students helped to develop a play‐style instrument that served as a self‐study for their own classrooms as they observed the play among their own students. The project culminated with the students hosting the families of the lab school at a fun day and preparing a brochure that gave families information about the importance of play.