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Transformational Teachers: Undergraduate Education Teacher Candidates Assessing Their Impact on Student Learning Through Action Research
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Transformational Teachers: Undergraduate Education Teacher Candidates
Assessing Their Impact on Student Learning Through Action Research
Section I: Content
A. Statement of the IssueTeachers as researchers and teachers as reflective practitioners are common phrases found in many of the teacher education conceptual frameworks. These phrases are an attempt to capture the concept that effective teachers are decision makers. They facilitate learning not only in the minds of the children they teach but also in their own minds by continually reflecting on what works and why.
Traditionally research has been the focus of the work of teachers in graduate programs. However, if schools of education are going to meet the charge to “…design programs that help prospective teachers to understand deeply a wide array of things about learning, social and cultural contexts, and teaching…” (Darling-Hammond, 2006, p. 302), then research can no longer be the exclusive charge of graduate programs but must become a habit of mind of emerging teachers. Thus, accepting the charge of an undergraduate conceptual framework built on the concept of developing transformational teachers who accept the challenge to impact student learning through informed decision making meant building research into the undergraduate curriculum in a meaningful way.
The purpose of the Action Research Study is for teacher candidates to develop systematic inquiry and investigation skills in order to understand the interrelationship between developmental factors, learning, motivation, and teaching. (Chval, 2004) The ultimate goal of this assignment is for beginning teachers to strengthen the learning of students a through systematic data collection coupled with critical analysis that leads to informed instructional decision making.
In the Spring of the Junior Year, teacher candidates, who are trained in a field-based, cohort, “blocked” schedule design, develop a hypothesis/research question concerning the impact of their teaching on student learning. The candidates then write a research grant proposal, submit the proposal to appropriate funding sources, and implement the research study in the Fall of the Senior Year the semester prior to student teaching. Action research becomes the process that encourages teacher candidates to conduct a solution oriented investigation of a hypothesis related to the effectiveness of their teaching within a community of practice.
Never has accountability for teachers to prove that they are impacting student learning through effective teaching been stronger than now. Action research provides teachers with the tools and techniques to use quantitative and qualitative data to answer the accountability challenge. But even more critical, “emerging evidence suggests that educators engaged successfully in action research are no longer just teachers: they become and remain concentrated, thoughtful learners, discovering better ways to practice their craft and expand their voices as effective professionals.” (Serve, 2006, p. 1)
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| | Authors: Emery, Margaret., Jumper, Joanne. and Bruce, Todd. |
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Transformational Teachers: Undergraduate Education Teacher Candidates
Assessing Their Impact on Student Learning Through Action Research
Section I: Content
A. Statement of the Issue
Teachers as researchers and teachers as reflective practitioners are common phrases
found in many of the teacher education conceptual frameworks. These phrases are an
attempt to capture the concept that effective teachers are decision makers. They
facilitate learning not only in the minds of the children they teach but also in their
own minds by continually reflecting on what works and why.
Traditionally research has been the focus of the work of teachers in graduate
programs. However, if schools of education are going to meet the charge to “…
design programs that help prospective teachers to understand deeply a wide array of
things about learning, social and cultural contexts, and teaching…” (Darling-
Hammond, 2006, p. 302), then research can no longer be the exclusive charge of
graduate programs but must become a habit of mind of emerging teachers. Thus,
accepting the charge of an undergraduate conceptual framework built on the concept
of developing transformational teachers who accept the challenge to impact student
learning through informed decision making meant building research into the
undergraduate curriculum in a meaningful way.
The purpose of the Action Research Study is for teacher candidates to develop
systematic inquiry and investigation skills in order to understand the interrelationship
between developmental factors, learning, motivation, and teaching. (Chval, 2004)
The ultimate goal of this assignment is for beginning teachers to strengthen the
learning of students a through systematic data collection coupled with critical analysis
that leads to informed instructional decision making.
In the Spring of the Junior Year, teacher candidates, who are trained in a field-based,
cohort, “blocked” schedule design, develop a hypothesis/research question
concerning the impact of their teaching on student learning. The candidates then
write a research grant proposal, submit the proposal to appropriate funding sources,
and implement the research study in the Fall of the Senior Year the semester prior to
student teaching. Action research becomes the process that encourages teacher
candidates to conduct a solution oriented investigation of a hypothesis related to the
effectiveness of their teaching within a community of practice.
Never has accountability for teachers to prove that they are impacting student
learning through effective teaching been stronger than now. Action research provides
teachers with the tools and techniques to use quantitative and qualitative data to
answer the accountability challenge. But even more critical, “emerging evidence
suggests that educators engaged successfully in action research are no longer just
teachers: they become and remain concentrated, thoughtful learners, discovering
better ways to practice their craft and expand their voices as effective professionals.”
(Serve, 2006, p. 1)
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