Search

The paper explores how preservice ELA teachers' expectations of teaching compare to the reality of their experiences during the first year of teaching. The authors consider common concerns of beginning ELA teachers and their implications for teacher self-efficacy. The paper is informed by narrative research, which provides practical and specific insights into the lived experiences of participants. The first data set consists of reflective writings on a self-identified topic connected to ELA teaching and/or learning throughout the semester. Two, one-hour individual interviews conducted during the first year of teaching form the second data set. The paper provides empirical insights about how preservice experiences inform ELA teachers' expectations of first-year teaching and their development of self-efficacy. Their two major concerns -- classroom management and building rapport -- identified their fears and insecurities about managing disruptive students and establishing connections with students. These struggles offer a connection between expectations, experiences and self-efficacy. Likewise, they point to the need for teacher education to address preservice teachers' self-efficacy as a way to support their successful entry into the classroom. The paper includes implications for the development of increased opportunities to study and experience critical concerns of the profession. Such learning experiences offer preservice teachers meaningful opportunities to engage with experiential learning, applied practice and critical reflection before their first year in the field. The paper fulfills an identified need to study how differences between expectation and reality can be difficult for beginning ELA teachers to reconcile, a disconnect that lends itself to considerations of teachers' self-efficacy.

Study abroad programs offer undergraduate students multiple benefits by providing academic, professional and personal learning experiences that cannot be fully replicated in the domestic university setting. Recognizing the unique positioning of preservice English teachers participating in a London summer study abroad program, the author created a qualitative study to explore the implications of the preservice teachers' experiences. This article begins by connecting the potential benefits of study abroad, generally, to preservice teachers, specifically. A description of the summer study abroad program in London is followed by an explanation of the qualitative study used to examine preservice English teachers' experiences in the program. Three themes are identified and discussed -- personal independence, engagement in learning and pedagogical connection -- as well as the implications of the independence, engagement and connection developed during study abroad when the preservice teachers enter the classroom as secondary English teachers.

Conceptions of literacy in the secondary English language arts classroom today have expanded in multiple directions, moving far beyond former emphases on reading comprehension and writing ability. This article presents the efforts of two secondary English language arts teachers in the Midwestern United States to expand the meaning of literacy in their own classrooms. Using a case study approach, the authors examine each teacher's understanding of literacy, views on enacting literacy in the classroom and efforts to engage students in multiliteracies. The authors then discuss the implications of the teachers' literacy work, focusing on the teachers' individual classrooms and the preparation of secondary English teachers.

The increasing importance of technology in today's world challenges teacher educators to create technology-proficient teachers, practitioners who can utilize existing technology, learn to work with emerging technology and adapt as needed when confronted with technological issues. Acknowledging the need for technologically proficient teachers, teacher educators across the nation now infuse some degree of technological competency into the preparation of their preservice teachers. Teacher educators face several obstacles to the implementation of technology into teacher preparation, however, among them the attitude held by preservice teachers toward the technology itself. While providing opportunities for preservice teachers to engage with technology personally, academically and pedagogically, teacher educators must also consider the attitudes toward technology that influence preservice teachers' experiences with that same technology. Technology has a place not only in preservice teachers' emerging classroom pedagogy but in their professional development as well. Reflective practice is one area currently drawing on different technologies, as teacher educators incorporate a range of technology into preservice teacher reflection. Drawing from a qualitative study in which weblogs were used for voluntary preservice teacher reflective practice, this article examines preservice teacher attitudes toward a specific technology and the influence of those attitudes on the use of that technology for voluntary reflection. The researcher uses the term "voluntary reflection" to express reflection that is undertaken by choice, outside course or programmatic requirements, with all aspects of the reflective activity (such as topic, quantity, formality and medium) determined by the preservice teacher. This article opens with an overview of reflection in teacher education and the use of asynchronous communication technologies in reflective practice, with a focus on the specific technology of weblogs. The study, in which preservice teachers volunteered to use a weblog for their personal reflection while completing a teacher preparation program, is then briefly explained. Next, the preservice teachers' use of reflective weblogs is presented, followed by a discussion of the role played by individual attitudes toward technology in the use of reflective weblogs. The article concludes by considering the implications of preservice teacher attitudes toward technology for teacher educators. (Contains 1 table.)

The article discusses conversation among teachers discussing various aspects of their students' behavior and academic progress, touching upon topics like the integration of AI in education, student writing habits, classroom dynamics, and instances of disciplinary action. Topic include Through their dialogue, the teachers reflect on the challenges and rewards of working with their students, highlighting both the difficulties and the positive interactions they experience in the classroom.

This article explores the place of teacher dispositions in English teacher preparation by contextualizing the issue of dispositions in English teacher preparation. This allows consideration for the importance of developing professional dispositions during English teacher preparation by recognizing that various stakeholders (teacher educators, university supervisors, mentor teachers, and preservice teachers) in teacher education often understand dispositions differently. The authors reflect and offer suggestions on how professional dispositions might be more effectively addressed in an English teacher education program through richer interactions among all stakeholders.

We examine preservice mathematics teachers' conceptions of writing as a tool for learning mathematics before and after participation in and reflection on writing tasks. We describe the use of two targeted activities incorporated into a secondary methods course: writing to learn mathematics (WTLM) and reflection on that writing. Prior to participation in these activities, the preservice teachers expressed reluctance toward the use of writing in mathematics and uncertainty as to how writing could be useful in mathematics, while accepting that some possible benefits might exist for students' procedural learning. Following participation in these activities, the preservice teachers expressed a willingness to accept writing as a useful tool for supporting an expanded view of teaching and learning mathematics. Specifically, the preservice teachers considered writing as a way to build connections between mathematics and other subjects, a means to assess student understanding of mathematics, and a beneficial support for student conceptual learning.

Technology plays an integral role in the English Language Arts (ELA) classroom today, yet teachers and teacher educators continue to develop understandings of how technology influences pedagogy. This qualitative study explored how and why two ELA teachers used different technologies in the secondary English classroom to plan for and deliver instruction. Analysis revealed that the English teachers, one novice and one experienced teacher, valued integrating technologies into their instruction and experienced similar challenges in that integration. The novice teacher believed that technologies played a primary role and centered her instruction on the available technologies, while the experienced teacher viewed technologies as having a secondary role, choosing to integrating technologies only if they added to her instruction.

An editorial is presented on the ELATE Summer Conference in Atlanta, highlighting its unique combination of professional invigoration and personal rejuvenation for English teacher educators. Topics discussed include the conference's emphasis on pedagogies for justice and hope, its reflections on the identity of English teacher educators, and diverse perspectives on defining English education in context of evolving societal needs and challenges.

For the "Extending the Conversation" section in this issue, the authors invited English educators from the United States and abroad to reflect on the state of English education in their countries. All five contributors have interacted through their participation in the NCTE Annual Convention, the CEE summer summits, the International Federation for the Teaching of English (IFTE) convention, and the NATE conference. They begin with initial thoughts by Shaun Hawthorne, the Deputy Principal at Western Springs College in Auckland, New Zealand; and Andy Goodwyn, a faculty member at the University of Reading in England. Then, Marshall George (Fordham University), Louann Reid (Colorado State University), and Melanie Shoffner (Purdue University) offer a "trialogue" in response. They hope these perspectives give readers insight into international contexts and advance dialogue in English education.

If teaching is a complex act, it is additionally complex for first-year teachers', who enter with the same responsibilities as veteran teachers yet encounter specific difficulties as beginning teachers. This paper uses existing research on beginning English teachers major concerns to frame the exploration of concerns faced by four beginning teachers. This exploration focuses on two guiding questions: (1) What issues of practice do beginning teachers identify in their first year of teaching?; (2) How do the beginning teachers understand these issues of practice? A qualitative methodology guided the research, with active interviewing and ethnographic content analysis used to examine the data. While the beginning teachers experienced several concerns noted in previous research, analysis of the data identified three additional first-year teacher concerns: adjustment to the profession, acceptance of students and management of emotion. Teacher educators must prepare beginning teachers for the existence of these concerns in the classroom, as well as the impact of these concerns on the beginning teacher. Reflective practice is offered as a means to meaningfully address concerns during university preparation and consider these concerns in the first years of teaching.

The authors believe that by working together, teachers and school counselors can better support students and more effectively work for their success. In this article, we present our efforts in creating a collaborative class for preservice English teachers and school counselor interns. While offering an overview of English teachers and school counselors in their daily interactions with adolescents, we focus on the university preparation of both groups, specifically the preparation at our university, a large research institution in the Midwestern United States. We provide a look at the collaborative class created for the preservice English teachers and school counselor interns, offering examples of their interaction and feedback from the students. Lastly, we close with a consideration of the meaning of such collaboration at the university level for both English teachers and school counselors. (Contains 1 note.)

This article explores one element of collaborative practice: the integration of English language learner-focused instruction and discussion in a secondary English methods course. Drawing on the authors' expertise, they examine revisions made to a secondary English methods course to better address the academic and individual needs of diverse learners, specifically ELLs. In sharing their ideas, the authors acknowledge the many expectations and demands already placed on methods coursework. As underscored by the Conference on English Education Summit, teacher educators face a wide range of work conditions in their institutions and must meet multiple expectations and accept multiple responsibilities. The authors state that they would be remiss, then, to offer the elements discussed in this article as the only way for addressing the needs of ELLs in a methods course; there are multiple ways to integrate issues related to diverse learners in secondary English teacher preparation.

Emotions and emotional states play an important role in learning to teach, encouraging teacher educators to consider the place of the affective domain in preservice teacher preparation. Preservice teacher reflection provides a means by which to constructively explore the affective domain in teacher preparation. This article draws from two qualitative studies on reflection and technology conducted at an American university to explore the affective domain in teacher preparation. Using the web-based data of online discussion posts and weblog entries, this article considers the affective issues addressed in preservice teacher reflection and the implications of those emotional concerns for teacher preparation.

This article examines the role of technology in preservice teacher reflection. Situated in informal reflection (Shoffner, 2008), preservice English teachers' choice of a specific technology medium for reflective practice is examined for satisfaction with their choice and understanding of that medium's influence on their reflection. The implications of the preservice English teachers' views on technology use for reflection are then explored, with attention to the choice of "easy" forms of technology and the elements of journal length, choice of expression, and audience awareness in reflective practice. (Contains 1 table.)

Teaching with technology is a complex issue, at best, bound by issues of access, funding, support and time for both students and teachers (Young & Bush, 2004). When English teachers effectively integrate technology into their classrooms, however, they have the opportunity to positively engage students in the learning process. Considering the specific technology of weblogs, this article will explore the need for preservice teachers to construct a working pedagogy that includes the use of technology within the content area for teaching and learning.

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses articles in the issue on topics including the influence of texts encountered daily on the attentiveness of educators, young adult literature research and pedagogy and benefits of teacher education in the classroom to students.

An editorial is presented on Duke-Carolina spectrum, foliage of daffodils, and onions a green smudge at the tree line. Topics include finding solace in numbering having gained the clarity of purpose, perhaps, or significance of connection; and pandemic's disruption of schooling where K–12 students being ostensibly on average five months behind in mathematics and four months behind in reading.

The article offers information on the author's experiences on the first day of a graduate-level curriculum theory class during summer school. The scenarios presented highlight contrasting classroom setups and the author's introspection about the significance of first impressions in teaching. Topics include contrasting classroom scenarios on the first day of a graduate-level curriculum theory class, the author's personal teaching style and the importance of withholding quick judgments.

The article discusses various reports published within the issue which includes different factors that contribute to preservice ELA teachers' commitment to antiracism in classrooms, how preservice teachers engage with the writing process and action research as intersections of theory and practice.

The article discusses a dispassionate definition of leadership tells me that to lead is to guide, to direct, to conduct, to command, to have charge of (Merriam-Webster, n.d.). Passionate personal definitions of leadership abound, as a quick dip into the Google pool of famous quotes reveals (Daskal, 2015; Kruse, 2012; Liles, 2021). Field Marshal Montgomery saw leadership as "the capacity and the will to rally men and women to a common purpose and the character which inspires confidence."

The article discusses that the multiple ELA teacher educators share assignments created for their ELA methods courses that intentionally connect to the development of critical, agentic, active, ethical, reflective, and socially just ELA teachers. It mentions that the specific objective of methods coursework addressed in the ELATE position statement Beliefs about Methods Courses and Field Experiences in English Education.

An editorial is presented on being a teacher educator is hard work on a good day, and being a teacher educator during a pandemic is a completely different level of difficult. The article discusses that the teaching load increased and my service load exploded as my university dealt with budget cuts, state restrictions, and having students on campus.

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses articles in the issue on the topics including writing by exploring trans languaging's support of linguistic and racial diversity in writing teacher education; and the development of teacher candidates' social perspective taking.

The article focuses on the significance of courageous literacy in the linguistically responsive teaching (LRT) among the English Language Learners (ELLs) in the U.S. Topics included the elements of LRT, the employment of LRT with ELLs, the diversity in linguistics, and a description of courageous literacy.

The author discusses the Teacher Education Initiative (TEI) aimed at enhancing the preparation of future teachers to use technology in effective ways to teach students. The initiative was launched by the National Technology Leadership Coalition (NTLC) in collaboration with Microsoft Corp. The initiative is targeted at teacher education faculty members, leaders and others engaged in preparation of teachers.

Although numerous benefits to teaching and learning are associated with reflective practice, reflection is not a common professional behavior among practicing teachers, despite the flexibility of approach and application. Teacher educators continue to explore meaningful options when engaging pre-service teachers in reflective thinking. The author, also a teacher educator, presents informal reflection as one such option. Informal reflection is grounded in the conceptualization of reflection articulated in the seminal works of Dewey and Schön and rests on the elements of practical theory, flexible structure, communal interaction and personal expression. Drawing from a 2004-2005 qualitative research study on weblogs in pre-service teacher reflective practice, the author situates the elements of informal reflection in both theory and practice, presenting informal reflection as one approach to assist in the formation of reflective practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author reflects on the use of technology in education. He notes the use of technology in teaching English language arts (ELA), such as Lexipedia or Visuwords. He stresses the importance of considering student learning when using technology in ELA. He states that teacher educators serve as pedagogical models for preservice teachers.