Todd S. Hawley

Learning from Young Adolescents: The Use of Structured Teacher Education Coursework to Help Beginning Teachers Investigate Middle School Students' Intellectual Capabilities.

In this article, the authors discuss a case study in which beginning teachers interviewed young adolescents as part of structured teacher education coursework designed to challenge teachers’ low expectations for young adolescents. Based on pre- and postsurveys, pre— and post—focus group interviews, classroom field notes, and teachers’ written analysis papers, the authors’ data suggest that the coursework helped to shape changes in beginning teachers’ views of young adolescents’ analytical capabilities and social studies knowledge. However, these shifts in teachers’ thinking about young adolescents’ capabilities did not translate into shifts in the teachers’ ideas about middle school social studies instruction. The authors argue that carefully structured coursework like this interview project holds promise for helping beginning teachers develop new understandings about learners, but attention to students’ abilities must also be accompanied by attention to teachers’ purposes and pedagogical understandings.

The Influence of a Collaborative Doctoral Seminar on Emerging Teacher Educator-Researchers.

Over a 7-year period, graduate teaching assistants participated in a teacher education doctoral seminar designed to develop emergent scholarship and practice in teacher education. Six former students in the seminar, all now assistant professors, joined Dinkelman in an open-ended, far-ranging, month-long conversation captured in a threaded, online discussion forum. The study unfolded as a collaborative self-study that made use of this forum and subsequent analyses to address two central research questions: (1) What influence might our seminar have had on your development as an emerging scholar? and (2) What influence might our seminar have had on your development as a teacher educator? In this article, we reflect on how participation in the seminar shaped the emergence of new scholars and teacher educators, as doctoral students and also as new faculty members. Findings suggested the seminar facilitated emergent scholarship by helping participants map the terrain of teacher education research, prompting actual research, and blurring the knower and known in studying teacher education. The seminar also helped develop emergent teacher educators practice through helping participants learn a language for teacher education, develop a sense of program, value collaboration, and define purpose and care for the practice of teacher education. The concluding discussion emphasizes the need for additional inquiry into the ways early-career teacher educators develop commitments to teacher education research and practice.

Self-study of Practice as a Framework to Promote Growth in the Student Teaching Experience

As teachers and teacher educators, we hope to model an inquiry stance. Our prior experiences suggested an educative value in collaborative self-study for graduate students who were also practicing teachers. To build on this, we invited social studies teacher candidates to learn about taking an inquiry stance through self-study. This collaborative self-study of teaching practice took place in varied school contexts and within a student teaching seminar course. Our goal was for the preservice teachers to engage in systematic inquiry into their practice. As teacher educators, we hoped to learn about our own practices and the ways we encourage an inquiry stance during student teaching. Learning outcomes for six of the preservice teachers and the three teacher educators are presented in this article.

I Love It When a Plan Comes Together: Collaborative Self-Study in Graduate School as a Space to Reframe Thinking About Social Studies Teaching and Teacher Education

This chapter explores the development of, and research findings generated from, a self-study collaborative consisting of four social studies education graduate students and two social studies education faculty members. Conceived as a way to explore graduate education as a space for thinking differently about social studies teaching and learning, each member chose to engage in her/his own self-study on specific connections between their work as graduate students and classroom teachers. The collective acted as a place to both support and push members in the planning and implementation of their studies from inception to public presentation of findings.

Self-Study as an Emergent Methodology in Career and Technical Education, Adult Education and Technology: An Invitation to Inquiry

In this manuscript, the authors explore self-study as an emerging research methodology with the potential to open up spaces of inquiry for researchers, graduate students, and teachers in a broad array of fields. They argue that the fields of career and technical education CTE, adult education and technology can leverage self-study methodology in similar ways. They argue that self-study has a great deal to offer both theoretically and practically to those interested in improving their practices as researchers, and for those involved in shaping adult vocational educational experiences. After reviewing the history of self-study as a research methodology, they provide examples of self-study research that have direct implications for those in CTE and adult education and technology. They conclude the manuscript by providing practical guidance to those researching and/or working in schools, community centers and workplaces.

Making Their Own Path: Preservice Teachers’ Development of Purpose in Social Studies Teacher Education

Abstract Despite a solid body of research on rationale development in social studies teacher education, little research exists exploring how social studies preservice teachers’ purposes develop over time. This article presents four examples of social studies preservice teachers as they grappled with developing a purpose for teaching social studies. In-depth interviews and artifacts from across the program were analyzed to focus on the nuanced ways in which their purposes developed. Their stories provide concrete examples that illustrate rationale development in social studies teacher education. Each shows a different view on developing or not developing a unified purpose for their work as a social studies teacher. We found that explicit attention to purpose throughout coursework was an important aspect in their development. Without a deeper exploration and understanding of how individual purposes develop, we miss in social studies teacher education the opportunity to reimagine and reconsider how programs enable and constrain certain purposes. As a field we need to move beyond recognizing the value of rationales and deepen the research on what types of purposes certain teacher education programs make possible.

Self-Study Methodology as a Means Toward Ongoing Rationale Development and Refinement

Rationale development, as a core theme of social studies teacher education, has received renewed attention in recent years (Hawley, 2010). Simultaneously, interest in and the use of self-study as a methodology for researching and reframing teaching and teacher education has also increased (Loughran, 2007; Russell, 2007). Despite similar approaches and goals for improving social studies teaching and learning, both exist in relative isolation, or at least in quiet conversation. As part of this quiet conversation, social studies teacher educators have been using self-study methods and methodology to examine the process of improving their practice as teacher educators (Dinkelman, 2003; Dinkelman, Margolis, & Sikkenga, 2006a, 2006b; Powell & Hawley, 2009; Ritter, 2007, 2009; Ritter, Powell, & Hawley, 2007, 2008). As the chapters in this book demonstrate, the conversation is not only growing louder, it is creating a collaborative spirit among social studies teacher educators who share a common interest in rethinking their own practice, pedagogy, and decision making.

Visualizing Social Justice: Using Controversial Images in Social Studies Classrooms

ABSTRACT In this article, we promote the use of controversial images to enhance the discussion of social justice issues in schools. Controversial images provide rich opportunities for students to question what is occurring currently in society as well as what has occurred in the past. We provide an example set of activities to be used in teacher education that can help future teachers explore engaging methods for teaching with controversial images, discuss tensions involved with the use of controversial images, and to develop connections between using controversial images and teaching for social justice.