(Mis)Reading the Classroom: A Two-Act “Play” on the Conflicting Roles in Student Teaching

This case study examined concentric and reciprocal notions of reading—that of high school students, a pre-service teacher, and a teacher educator. An intern charged with teaching students to read, interact with, and compose texts in an English/language arts classroom constructed her role in the classroom based on her reading the “text” of her internship experiences, relationships, and responsibilities. Using interviews and observations, a teacher educator read and interpreted the classroom “text” the pre-service teacher “composed” during her internship and then constructed a two-act “play” which details the conflict in the intern’s enacting the dual role of student-teacher and her subsequent reading of the classroom “text” from her stance as student-teacher. Concepts of classroom literacy for teachers and teacher educators are considered

Reading and Composing the Classroom As Text: Illuminating Two Second-Year English Teachers’ Meaning Making from Classroom Events through Narrative Inquiry

This presentation draws from a recent dissertation to illuminate: 1) how one teacher’s meaning-making guided her decisions while teaching poetry and 2) how another teacher’s meaning-making guided her planning, teaching, and reflection on her lesson, her students’ learning, and her perception of herself as a teacher

Learning From Exploring S-STEP Literature: Making Meaning From a Systematic Review of Discipline-Focused Self-Studies

Drawing from a metasynthesis (Edge & Olan, 2020), in order to explore the question, “What meanings did I make from conducting a systematic review of discipline-focused self-study literature?” this inquiry sought to better understand how content-area knowledge and practice is situated within multiple, interconnected systems shaped by power and privilege. Results include understanding and positioning literature as “critical friends,” extending a theoretical framework from the content areas to self-study research design and practice, and questioning privilege and power in exploration. Implications address how self-study of teacher education practices methodology can position higher education faculty for contributing to equity and justice

On the Nature of Experience in the Education of Prospective Teachers: A Philosophical Problem

In this exploratory paper, the author argues that a core, ontological assumption—the nature of experience—could be a part of the enduring problem in preparing prospective teachers. The paper begins by identifying contrasting perspectives of teaching as simple versus teaching as complex in order to illuminate how perspectives relate to a construction of reality. Positioning this literature review as creative inquiry, the author first identifies seventeen assumptions related to the preparation of teachers in the United States and analyzes the constructs of place, purposes, practice, and the nature of field experiences. Finally, the author asserts that the foundation for the purposes and practices of experience in preparing teachers resides on a problematic assumption about the nature of reality as “out there” in the field or in the future. An examination of this problem in light of extant literature calls attention to the need for teacher educators to attend to ontological assumptions rooted in experience

Paving the New Pathway: Creating a Clinical Partnership for the Preparation of Secondary Education Teachers

In August of 2013, the governing body for teacher education adopted new standards for accreditation. These five standards, particularly Standard 2: Clinical Partnerships and Practice, reflect a national strategy to transform teacher education through clinical practice. The purpose of this curriculum-development project is to advance NMU’s Educator Preparation Program locally and nationally by forging a formal and collaborative agreement with clinical partners to prepare secondary (grades 6-12) teachers through purposeful field experiences (Standard 2). In fall of 2015, NMU’s Educator Preparation Program will pilot the new pathway for accreditation under the new standards. This fall (2014), approved changes to the Secondary Education program include a new strategically situated practicum course (ED 380); this course will prepare secondary education teachers through clinical experiences and will identify data points for documenting the new standards for accreditation. Nevertheless, to meet ED 380 course objectives and CAEP Standard 2, this course must have a formal and collaborative partnership in place with local secondary school sites. Support from this grant will help utilize the summer months (1) to position NMU’s secondary education program at the same award-winning level as its elementary education program, (2) to establish data collection procedures needed to complete the standards-focused self-study required for national accreditation, and (3) to bolster NMU’s Educator Preparation Program as it paves the new pathway for national accreditation as a model institution

Story as a Transactional Space for Teachers and Students: Examining How a Second-Year English Teacher Made Meaning Before, During, and After Teaching through Stories Lived and Told

Drawing from a longitudinal (2008-2012) study of teachers’ meaning making, this presentation illustrates how one beginning English teacher drew from stories lived in order to re-envision scripted curriculum and frame student needs while planning, to create space for students to co-construct meaning while teaching, and to construct efficacy and identity after teaching

Becoming Teachers: A Phenomenological Study

This grant facilitated the scholarship of discovery and the professional development of a third-year faculty member as she continued to establish a line of inquiry focused on the scholarship of teaching. Addressing a gap in the literature, this phenomenological study sought to explore and to describe 55 methods students’ experiences with literacy strategies and representations of “becoming a teacher” in two secondary education methods courses during the winter and fall semesters of 2014. Understanding students’ lived experiences contributes to pedagogical approaches to teacher preparation as well as to a broadened understanding of literacy in the context of teacher education. More immediately, study findings will be the focus of an (accepted) international, peer-reviewed conference presentation and at least one article submitted to a peer-reviewed journal for publication. Findings will aid Dr. Edge’s professional development in that they will contribute to her ongoing line of inquiry focused on the scholarship of teaching. Findings will also help inform and guide both Dr. Edge and her department in the design and implementation of a new secondary methods practicum course

Excellence in Teaching Award

Dr. Christi Edge was the recipient of the 2016 Northern Michigan University Excellence in Teaching award. Dr. Edge is an Associate Professor in the School of Education, Leadership and Public Service