TEACHING PRACTICUM I 

Pregrad

Proper Classroom Management is Essential for an Effective Elementary School Classroom

I am an elementary education major and have a deep love for seeing children make connections, and learn about not only academics but moral values and life lessons. As much as I have learned in different classes over the past four years of my education, I have learned the most during my Practicum and Student Teaching experience as I really have gotten to run my own classroom. I believe that classroom management is the most important tool of strong learning. It provides the atmosphere students need to learn to their best ability. My thesis paper discusses why classroom management is essential to any effective classroom at an elementary school level. I will implement theories of some well-noted authors in the education field, along with sharing my personal experiences in my Practicum and Student Teaching journey. Explored are the reasons behind why a classroom should be managed well, safety issues, relationships, teacher reflection, and more

Understanding the Core Practices of the Student Teaching Practicum Within the Student Teacher/Cooperating Teacher Relationship: Constructing A Framework for the Student Teaching Practicum Using an Ethic of Care

Often considered an experience in instructional preparation for preservice teachers, the student teaching practicum is both a practical and relational experience for both the cooperating teacher and student teacher. In this qualitative study, I examine both the instructional and relational core practices cooperating teachers enact with and for their student teachers during the student teaching practicum. Informed by case study methods, I first identified core instructional and relational practices and analyzed them through two texts: Mary Kennedy’s Parsing the Practice of Teaching (2016) and Nel Noddings’s Caring and Moral Education (2008, 2013). Using grounded theory, I then constructed a framework for the student teaching practicum, to inform the ways the cooperating teachers supported student teachers, both instructionally and relationally. This framework stresses the importance of context, emotion, and caring in addition to the practical within the student teaching dynamic. Through semi-structured interviews of seven participants (four teachers and three student teachers) during the student teaching practicum, I identified the effects the role of caring (enacted by the cooperating teachers) on the participants and the practicum as a whole. It is in this space that power, collaboration, and collegiality were challenged and reimagined. The findings of this study build upon the ways cooperating teachers support student teachers, both pedagogically and relationally, provide a framework that teacher educators could use to inform the student teacher/cooperating teacher dynamic, and explore the role of caring in learning to teach. Implications for teacher educators and teacher educations programs suggest how the student teaching practicum should be structured or modified to address the relational and caring components of it

Learning to Teach in Indonesian High School Settings: A Case Study of Two EFL Female Pre-service Teachers

The teaching practicum has long been recognized as an important component of pre-service teacher education (Santoro, 1997) if not the most important one (Farrell, 2007). It is also the “capstone experience” in most teacher education programs (Gaudelli & Ousley, 2009, p. 931). The importance of the teaching practicum for student teachers in the process of becoming teachers is also widely recognized (Beck & Kosnik, 2002). One reason for that is that it provides opportunities for pre-service teachers to apply knowledge of teaching and learning which they gain during their university coursework (Beeth & Adadan, 2006). Due to the importance of teaching practicum in the process of becoming teachers, this field has been extensively studied for the last four to five decades, if not longer (Caires & Almeida, 2005). Abundant research has highlighted the impact of the teaching practicum on the professional development of pre-service teachers (Caires et al., 2012; Canh, 2014; Choy, Wong, Goh, & Low, 2014; Kabilan, 2013; Kayi-Aydar, 2015; Kuswandono, 2013; Leijen & Kullasepp, 2013; Moussay et al., 2011; Schoeman & Mabunda, 2012; Vetter et al., 2013). While the teaching practicum for language teachers especially in TESOL(Teaching English to Speakers of other languages) has been scrutinized widely, ESL (English as a second language) and EFL (English as a foreign language) practicums remain unexplored (Canh, 2014). My research, then, extends the little research on teaching practicum in EFL settings. Purposes of the Study The purpose of my study is to explore the experiences of two female EFL preservice teachers in an Indonesian university teacher education program in learning to teach in high school settings.Using a qualitative case study design, I aim to answer the following research questions: 1. What are the goals of the pre-service teachers’ student teaching? 2. What instructional tools do they utilize in their teaching? 3. What tensions do they encounter in the process of learning to teach in high school settings

Supporting Urban-Oriented Teacher Candidates to Value Rural Schooling: The Story of a Virtual Adapted Practicum

In the fall of 2020, due to the institutional impacts of COVID-19, the Master of Teaching Program in the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto (Canada) transitioned to a modified practicum program. In this article, I draw on self-study (Kitchen et al., 2020) to examine and share my experiences as a Practicum Advisor tasked to design and deliver a four-week virtual practicum program for 30 teacher candidates, without access to high school classrooms. I reflect on how my rural teacher and researcher selves informed my practicum design in one of Canada’s largest urban faculties of education, including teacher candidates’ development of data portraits based on one rural case study high school. A virtual adapted practicum presented me with a narrow opening, in an otherwise urban-dominant curriculum, to expand teacher candidates’ gaze beyond the metropolis

The effects of teacher talk on students' oral productions

The present study is a brief personal enquiry into the teaching and learning of EFL in the classroom with an orientation to action and personal professional development. It focuses on teacher talk, making special emphasis on questions, as well as on students' resulting oral productions. The research contains samples of empirical data, which include their interpretations in the light of relevant research literature, and a more personal overall reflection of the teaching practice. Both the analysis and the reflections derive to a large extent from the self-observation paper 1 (SO1) and the Practicum portfolio (PP) developed within the TED Masters Degree practicum stagesL'objectiu d'aquest estudi és elaborar una petita reflexió personal sobre la manera d'ensenyar i aprendre l'anglès a les aules, amb la finalitat principal d'assolir una millora d'aptituds pedagògiques i un major desenvolupament professional. Per fer-ho, s'analitza el discurs docent, fent especial èmfasi en les preguntes, i la producció oral dels alumnes que en deriva. L'estudi inclou dades empíriques interpretades segons la literatura corresponent i una reflexió més personal sobre la pròpia pràctica docent. Bona part de l'anàlisi i les reflexions s'han extret del Self-observation Paper 1 (SO1) i el Practicum Portfolio (PP) elaborats al final dels dos períodes de pràctiques del màster de formació de professorat de secundàri

IQP Teaching Practicum: Mathematics - Cecily Coia

Throughout this paper it discusses my experience of student teaching at Doherty Memorial High School in the fall of 2014. This practicum fulfills the requirements of Worcester Polytechnic Institutes Interactive Qualifying Project as well as the Massachusetts Department of Educations teaching requirements. This paper describes how I met the five Professional Standard of teaching. This follows with as account of my Worcester Polytechnic Institute education and describes the classes I taught while teaching at Doherty

Teaching Practicum

I completed my teaching practicum at Forest Grove Middle School in Worcester, MA. I worked in an eighth grade science class. After several weeks of observation, my mentor would teach all of the classes except the last one which I would teach, and eventually I began teaching all of the classes. This paper will provide evidence that I am proficient in all five professional standards set for teachers

An Evaluative Study of the School Based Practicum Course in a Pre-service English Language Teacher Preparation Programme at a College of Education, Oman

The study explores opportunities and challenges encountered by pre-service English language teachers and their college supervisors in a school based practicum course of a pre-service English language teacher preparation programme at a College of Education in Oman. It also aims at understanding the cooperating teachers’ perceptions of practicum to arrive at solutions for possible problems while helping to make recommendations for further improvements in the course. The conceptual framework of the study is based on the sociocultural theory that views teaching practice as a social activity. The study adopts Fetters, Curry, and Creswell’s (2013) case study framework. The opportunities and challenges that pre-service English teachers encountered during practicum as well as their agenda for change were explored through a sequential exploratory mixed method design. Four focus groups were employed with 26 pre-service English teachers and the findings were used to develop a semi-structured questionnaire that was distributed to 52 pre-service English teachers. In analysing the sequential exploratory design, I adopted Creswell and Clark’s (2011) method level integration procedure– integration through building. The opportunities and challenges that college supervisors encountered during practicum were qualitatively researched, while the cooperating teachers’ perceptions of the practicum course were handled quantitatively. The findings indicate that despite the fact that all study participants value the importance of practicum, some of them were clearly dissatisfied with the current practicum course. The thematic analysis of the focus groups and the one to one interviews highlights some common challenges confronted by both pre-service teachers and college supervisors. For instance, the huge perceived gap between the theoretical and practical components of the programme, communication barriers between the practicum triad and ineffective practicum assessment methods were brought out in the analysis. Additionally, the findings of the cooperating teachers’ semi-structured questionnaire reveal that most cooperating teachers request more preparation, support and power from the College in order to better guide the pre-service English teachers during their teaching practice in the cooperating schools. The present study is more exhaustive than the existing practicum studies as it covers the challenges confronted by every member in the practicum triad– pre-service teachers, college supervisors and cooperating teachers, and accordingly offers an agenda to improve the quality of practicum. The study proposes the integration of the practicum community of practice model into the school based practicum course. Based on this recommendation and the findings of the study, I propose the practicum community of practice mobile application (PCOP app) that is hoped to enhance the implementation of the practicum community of practice model and provide interconnected channels of communication between the practicum members

An Evaluative Study of the School Based Practicum Course in a Pre-service English Language Teacher Preparation Programme at a College of Education, Oman

The study explores opportunities and challenges encountered by pre-service English language teachers and their college supervisors in a school based practicum course of a pre-service English language teacher preparation programme at a College of Education in Oman. It also aims at understanding the cooperating teachers’ perceptions of practicum to arrive at solutions for possible problems while helping to make recommendations for further improvements in the course. The conceptual framework of the study is based on the sociocultural theory that views teaching practice as a social activity. The study adopts Fetters, Curry, and Creswell’s (2013) case study framework. The opportunities and challenges that pre-service English teachers encountered during practicum as well as their agenda for change were explored through a sequential exploratory mixed method design. Four focus groups were employed with 26 pre-service English teachers and the findings were used to develop a semi-structured questionnaire that was distributed to 52 pre-service English teachers. In analysing the sequential exploratory design, I adopted Creswell and Clark’s (2011) method level integration procedure– integration through building. The opportunities and challenges that college supervisors encountered during practicum were qualitatively researched, while the cooperating teachers’ perceptions of the practicum course were handled quantitatively. The findings indicate that despite the fact that all study participants value the importance of practicum, some of them were clearly dissatisfied with the current practicum course. The thematic analysis of the focus groups and the one to one interviews highlights some common challenges confronted by both pre-service teachers and college supervisors. For instance, the huge perceived gap between the theoretical and practical components of the programme, communication barriers between the practicum triad and ineffective practicum assessment methods were brought out in the analysis. Additionally, the findings of the cooperating teachers’ semi-structured questionnaire reveal that most cooperating teachers request more preparation, support and power from the College in order to better guide the pre-service English teachers during their teaching practice in the cooperating schools. The present study is more exhaustive than the existing practicum studies as it covers the challenges confronted by every member in the practicum triad– pre-service teachers, college supervisors and cooperating teachers, and accordingly offers an agenda to improve the quality of practicum. The study proposes the integration of the practicum community of practice model into the school based practicum course. Based on this recommendation and the findings of the study, I propose the practicum community of practice mobile application (PCOP app) that is hoped to enhance the implementation of the practicum community of practice model and provide interconnected channels of communication between the practicum members