Highlights from Sept./Oct. JTE Issue
The September/October 2019 issue of the Journal of Teacher Education (JTE) is now available online, while printed copies are arriving in the mail to subscribers around the country. Below is a summary of the articles included in Vol. 70, Issue 4, 2019:
In “Teacher Agency and Resilience in the Age of Neoliberalism,” members of the JTE editorial team, Tonya Bartell, Christine Cho, Corey Drake, Emery Petchauer, and Gail Richmond, address how the articles in this issue provide insights into ways educator preparation programs can support teachers in developing and enacting agency. They discuss how making small shifts or adaptations in everyday teaching practices can create more just and equitable teaching and learning.
In the paper, “Whiteness as a Dissonant State: Exploring One White Male Student Teacher’s Experiences in Urban Contexts,” Stephanie Behm Cross of Georgia State University, Nermin Tosmur-Bayazit of Fitchburg State University, and Alyssa Hadley Dunn of Michigan State University, suggest that Whiteness itself is a dissonant state. The authors argue that conversations focused on dissonance from misaligned university theory and K-12 schooling practices is incomplete. The paper includes implications for research and the teaching practice.
“Developing Preservice Teachers’ Instructional Design Skills Through Case-Based Instruction: Examining the Impact of Discussion Format” examines the impact of case discussion facilitation strategies on the development of preservice teachers’ problem-solving skills. Adrie A. Koehler, Peggy A. Ertmer, and Timothy J. Newby of Purdue University compared instructor-facilitated and instructor-supported discussion formats. Their findings indicated that preservice teachers who participated in the instructor-facilitated discussion demonstrated significantly higher scores on course activities and designed instructional activities at higher cognitive levels.
Authors of “It Was . . . the Word ‘Scrotum’ on the First Page”: Educators’ Perspectives of Controversial Literature” analyze discussions by preservice teachers and school librarians as they responded to a controversial children’s book, and found that many would choose to engage in preemptive censorship rather than create controversy in their classrooms and schools. Sue C. Kimmel of Old Dominion University and Danielle E. Hartsfield of the University of North Georgia recommend ways that teacher educators can support preservice teachers and school librarians in promoting the professional value of intellectual freedom.
”Investigating the Role of Social Status in Teacher Collaborative Groups” explores how teachers managed variable status to maintain a collaborative group process. Authors Paul S. Sutton of Pacific Lutheran University and Andrew W. Shouse of Washington: STEM found that the high-status teacher shaped inclusive collaborative routines that offered novice teachers the space to initiate discussions focused on problems of practice.
“Do I Belong in the Profession? The Cost of Fitting In as a Preservice Teacher With a Passion for Social Justice” reports on a preservice teacher’s perceptions of herself as an inclusive educator as she approached the final year of her undergraduate degree. The analysis by Loraine McKay and Heater Manning of Griffith University exposed the dissonance between the layers that separate the preservice teacher’s core qualities and the environment. The authors discuss the consequences for her emerging identity as an inclusive educator and sense of belonging in the profession.
“Analyzing Student Learning Gains to Evaluate Differentiated Teacher Preparation for Fostering English Learners’ Achievement in Linguistically Diverse Classrooms Researchers” compares pre/post classroom assessment scores of K-12 students taught by teacher candidates to determine if a differentiated teacher education program prepared them to support English learners’ (ELs) achievement in classrooms, including native and nonnative speakers of English. Authors Matthew Ryan Lavery of Bowling Green State University, Joyce Nutta of the University of Central Florida, and Alison Youngblood of Western Kentucky University share the results and discuss the Implications for teacher preparation.
In the article, “Critically Compassionate Intellectualism in Teacher Education: The Contributions of Relational–Cultural Theory,” Amy Rector-Aranda of Texas A&M University applies the tenets of relational–cultural theory (RCT) to enhance existing understandings of the critically compassionate intellectualism (CCI) framework—critical pedagogy, authentic caring, and social justice–oriented curriculum. RCT expands the original framework to account for varied experiences of privilege and vulnerability when applying CCI beyond its original contexts while retaining core emphases on relationships, empathy, and associated aspects of authentic caring.
Tags: diversity, equity, inclusion, pedagogy, research, social justice, teacher quality, urban education
