Section archive - Theories & Approaches

This paper investigates what can be learned by comparing and contrasting teacher education focused on core practices with other approaches that might also be called “practice-based,” including those dating back to the 19th century.

The purpose of this study was to examine the partnership and roles of an informal educator and a classroom teacher. The authors also sought to define this relationship in order to gain insight into the roles of each educator. In addition, this study explored student outcomes as a result of the partnership. Findings suggest that a partnership of only moderate commitment may be needed for students to learn from programs and that during the programs each educator hold distinct roles. Furthermore, the roles played by the classroom teacher included classroom management, making connections to classroom activities and curricula, and clarifying concepts. Consistent with previous examinations in science education of educator roles, the informal educator’s role was to provide the students with expertise and resources not readily available to them.

This article examines the written narratives and poetry of new teachers in two different pathways into teaching to deepen our knowledge about how teachers construct a professional identity, to further understand the role of narrative and inquiry in teacher learning, and to add to conversations about the design of teacher preparation programs. An analysis of the teachers’ narratives reveals that their professional identities were shaped by their membership in a range of knowledge communities, including the Narrative Writing Group and also their schools, network of friends, and the preparation programs. The narratives of professional identity development were shaped in relationship to other people, including mentor teachers and students.

This article explores an effort to rethink curricular decision-making with a group of public pre-K teachers working in a context of curriculum escalation and commitment to play-based pedagogy. Through a professional development program designed to support developmentally and culturally responsive early mathematics, the authors examine how teachers took up the idea of engaging in mathematics with 4-year-olds in a way that married content knowledge and home practices.