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Teaching Context (teaching + context)
Selected AbstractsDeveloping a Multicultural Curriculum in a Predominantly White Teaching Context: Lessons From an African American Teacher in a Suburban English ClassroomCURRICULUM INQUIRY, Issue 4 2005H. RICHARD MILNER ABSTRACT The author sought to understand an African American English teacher's multicultural curriculum transformation and teaching in a suburban, mostly White, high school. Building on Banks's (1998) model of multicultural curriculum integration, the study focused on a context that might otherwise be ignored because there was not a large student-of-color representation in the school. The teacher in the study was operating at one of the highest levels of Banks's model, the transformational approach. Although the teacher shared characteristics with many of the Black teachers explored in the literature, there was one important difference: much of the research and theory about Black teachers and their instruction focus on Black teachers and their effectiveness in predominantly Black settings. The Black teacher in this study taught in a predominantly White teaching context. The study suggested that even teachers highly conscious of race, culture, gender, and ethnicity may find it difficult to reach the highest level of Banks's model: the social action approach. Implications of this study suggest that multicultural curricula can be well developed and received in a predominantly White setting as long as the curriculum is thoughtfully and carefully transformed. However, the study pointed out that the pervasive discourses and belief systems against multicultural education in a school can discourage highly effective curriculum transformers, and there is a great need to help critically minded teachers persevere in the face of such adversity. [source] Reforming practice or modifying reforms?: Elementary teachers' response to the tools of reformJOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING, Issue 3 2007Leigh K. Smith Understanding the interaction between internally constructed and externally imposed aspects of the teaching context may be the missing link between calls for school reform and teachers' interpretation and implementation of that reform. Although the context of the local school culture has a profound impact on teachers, there are other external forces that are specifically aimed at influencing teachers' pedagogical and curricular decisions. These externally imposed aspects of context include some of the existing tools of reform, such as national standards, mandated state core curricula, and related criterion-referenced testing. However, little is known about how these reform tools impact teachers' thinking about science and science teaching or how teachers respond to such tools. This study examined the interactions between individual teachers' beliefs about teaching and learning science in elementary school and the tools of reform that are imposed upon them. Comparative case studies were conducted in which two elementary teachers' science instruction, teaching context, and related beliefs were examined, described, and analyzed. In this study, the teachers' fundamental beliefs about science and what it means to teach and learn science influenced their interpretations of the sometimes contradictory messages of reform as they are represented in the standards, mandated curriculum, and end-of-level tests. Suggestions about what these findings mean for needed aspects of teacher professional development are offered. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 396,423, 2007 [source] Co-Constructing Representations of Culture in ESL and EFL Classrooms: Discursive Faultlines in Chile and CaliforniaMODERN LANGUAGE JOURNAL, Issue 1 2009JULIA MENARD, WARWICK Based on qualitative research conducted in 3 university English as a foreign language classrooms in Chile and 3 community college English as a second language classrooms in California, this article examines the approaches used in teaching culture in these classrooms, the differences in how particular cultures (usually national cultures) were represented depending on teaching context, the processes by which these representations of culture were co-constructed by teachers and students, and the extent to which the observed cultural pedagogies seemed to cultivate interculturality. In particular, this article focuses on discursive faultlines (Kramsch, 1993), areas of cultural difference or misunderstanding that became manifest in classroom talk. Although teaching culture was not the primary goal in any of these classes, the teachers generally provided space for students to problematize cultural issues; however, this problematization did not necessarily lead to interculturality. The article concludes with implications for cultural pedagogies based on the observed interactions. [source] Occupational stress, negative affectivity and physical health in special and general education teachers in GreeceBRITISH JOURNAL OF SPECIAL EDUCATION, Issue 4 2006Lambros Lazuras Teacher stress has attracted considerable attention, yet few studies have focused on special education teachers. This article, by Lambros Lazuras of the South-East European Research Centre (SEERC) in Thessaloniki, reports research designed to explore differences in the stress levels of general and special educators in Greece and provides preliminary evidence for a framework to understand the process of special education teacher stress. A total of 70 teachers from general and special education schools from a large Greek city participated in the study by completing questionnaires. Measures included occupational stress deriving from interpersonal conflict, organisational constraints, workload, work-related negative affectivity and health outcomes. Data analyses allowed for inferences regarding the dynamic interaction among the study variables. Findings appear interesting in terms of advancing current understanding of the relationships between different sources of job stress within the special education teaching context and provide general guidelines for future policies aiming to counter special education teacher stress. [source] Peer observation of teaching in the online environment: an action research approachJOURNAL OF COMPUTER ASSISTED LEARNING, Issue 5 2008D. Swinglehurst Abstract This paper describes a collaborative action research approach used to explore peer observation of teaching (POT) within the online environment. Although POT has become familiar in face-to-face teaching contexts, little is understood of its potential role in online settings. We conducted ,virtual' focus groups to explore the experience and views of 28 teachers and subjected our data to a thematic analysis. This informed the implementation of an innovative programme of POT, ,Peer-to-peer Reflection on Pedagogical Practice' (PROPP) among tutors of a Web-based MSc in International Primary Health Care at University College London. Modeled on an action learning set, the programme encourages collaborative reflection on teaching practices, based on participants' specific examples of online teaching. The PROPP model is consistent with Quality Enhancement, which we distinguish from Quality Assurance. Here, we describe the implementation of the PROPP programme within an action research framework and identify the factors that we consider critical to the success of peer observation within online courses. We highlight examples of aspects of teaching that have been discussed within the PROPP programme and offer suggestions of the kinds of evidence that could be incorporated into a portfolio to demonstrate the effectiveness of such an initiative. [source] | ||||||||||