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This hermeneutic phenomenological study explores the lived experience of beginning teachers defining their pedagogical way of being. Many beginning teachers have found frustration and disillusionment during their first year in the classroom, leading to high levels of attrition. Those beginning teachers who remain in the classroom may develop a way of being that opposes how they are as an individual and that pulls them further from the students in their care. How do the individuals who experience this phenomenon make meaning of that experience? What insights about the preparation and support of beginning teachers can be drawn from these experiences? This research is conducted in the tradition of hermeneutic phenomenology, grounded in the work of philosophers such as Heidegger (1962), Gadamer (2006/1975), and Merleau-Ponty (1962). Drawing from these philosophers, van Manen (1997) provides a detailed process used to conduct this form of research. This methodology serves to uncover the essences of this phenomenon, eliciting lived experience through hermeneutic conversation. To uncover the nature of the lived experience of beginning teachers defining their pedagogical way of being, six participants were recruited from urban, suburban, and rural secondary public schools in a south central county in Pennsylvania. The phenomenological text from this study not only reiterates the often noted "challenges" inherent in the first year experience, but also identifies a language of beginning. I seek to understand this language by connecting it to the three Buddhist ways of being, which guides my questioning of the "basics" of the beginning teaching experience, offering a new way of being in the flowing language of becoming. The experiences shared by the participants in this study uncovered many insights that may assist those charged with the care of beginning teachers during the periods of pre-service "formation" and in-service "orientation." I suggest the importance of "reflective conversations" to elicit the language of beginning, facilitated by a caring mentor. As the languages of "blockheadedness" and "splitheadedness" emerge, varying supports may be implemented to permit reflection and growth. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

When performing stationary tasks, individuals must perform continual muscle contractions to maintain stability of the body, resulting in fatigue of the postural muscles. When the muscles perform these contractions in a prolonged manner, the body potentially responds through small changes in body movements—known as micromovements, likely occurring in the cervical and lumbar spine, shoulder, and upper extremities. Further, mental load also appears to play a role in the muscle response during tasks that require prolonged low-level exertions where increased mental demands has produced more muscle coactivity. The purpose of this study was to evaluate impact of mental load on micromovements. The micromovements were measured during three different mental conditions; low, medium, and high. The NASA-TLX score was used to evaluate the perceived mental workload. In total, 25 subjects (13 males and 12 females) recruited from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and completed the study. All of the mental workload contained all of the tasks (radio frequency dials for communications, resource management through control of fuel tanks, vigilance tasks, with the primary task as the tracking task). The number discrete events occurred more often with the assigned workload. In addition, the tracking targets were smaller with the increase in assigned workload. Regardless, the primary task was the tracking task. The participants performed various tasks relevant to flight operations such as changing the radio frequency based on air traffic control messages (low mental demands), balancing the fuel levels in simulated fuel tanks (medium mental demands), and aiming a reticle in a designated moving target using the cyclic control (high mental demands). Micromovements were defined by changes and standard deviations of the center of pressure of the seat. It was found that the high mental demands had the highest NASA-TLX scores. The neck area had the highest overall levels of discomfort followed by X and X. The highest standard deviation for COP shift and number of micromovements occurred for medium mental demands. While there were some interesting trends, few trends reached a statistical significance due to the low number of subjects and high variability among subjects for the outcome variables. Further studies will need to investigate how micromovements can impact the long-term discomfort during static postures and intense mental demands in areas such as flight operations, machine operating, and office work.