The Professional Development Practices of Two Reading First Coaches

To establish job-embedded, ongoing professional development recent policies and initiatives required that districts appoint school-based coaches. The Reading First Initiative, for example, created an immediate need for coaches without a clear definition of coaches’ responsibilities. Therefore, the purpose of this case study was to investigate how two Reading First coaches interpreted and enacted their professional development responsibilities. Cross-case analyses identified similarities and differences in coaches’ enactments. Findings revealed that while each coach engaged in similar professional development responsibilities (e.g. modeling, observing, and classroom walkthroughs) their approach to these responsibilities differed — collaborative versus expert driven. These differences in approaches indicate that the preparation for coaches should include development of knowledge about how teachers learn and methods and strategies for developing and implementing effective professional development within schools

Understanding Preservice Teachers’ Beliefs and their Constructions of Knowledge for Teaching Reading to Struggling Readers

This study examined six preservice teachers’ beliefs about struggling readers, as well as their constructions of knowledge for how to teach reading. Interview and artifact data were analyzed to relate preservice teacher beliefs to knowledge construction. Analyses revealed that without practical experiences with reading instruction, preservice teachers’ beliefs centered on student and home deficits, and their construction of knowledge consisted of simple solutions. With more practical experiences, however, preservice teachers’ beliefs shifted to focus on the role of teachers and instruction, and their knowledge construction became more sophisticated. Implications for structuring teacher education programs are discussed

Uncovering and Informing Preservice Teachers’ Prior Knowledge About Poverty

This study explored 30 preservice teachers’ knowledge on issues related to poverty. In an openended questionnaire, preservice teachers’ perceptions of poverty and how teachers should respond to students from poverty were explored. Results indicated that preservice teachers’ knowledge was nonspecific and lacked focus on the relationship among poverty, schools, and students. These results indicate a need for us as teacher educators to provide preservice teachers with (a) specific details about realities of poverty, (b) opportunities to discuss and observe the relationship among poverty, teachers, and schools, and (c) examples of children and families from poverty who have positive attributes

Insulin-like growth factor I and its binding protein-3 are regulators of lactation and maternal responsiveness

Adaptation to motherhood includes maternal behaviour and lactation during the postpartum period. The major organizing centres of maternal behaviour and lactation are located in the hypothalamic medial preoptic area (MPOA) and the arcuate nucleus, respectively. Insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) is an effector of the growth hormone axis; however, its function in the brain is largely unexplored. We identified increased maternal IGF binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) expression in preoptic rat microarray data and confirmed it by RT-PCR. In situ hybridization histochemistry showed markedly elevated IGFBP-3 expression in the MPOA and the arcuate nucleus in rat dams. Prolonged intracerebroventricular injection of IGF-I or antagonism of brain IGFBP-3 with an inhibitor (NBI-31772) using osmotic minipumps increased pup retrieval time, suggesting reduced maternal motivation. Suckling-induced prolactin release and pup weight gain were also suppressed by IGF-I, suggesting reduced lactation. In addition, IGF-I-induced tyrosine hydroxylase expression and its specific phosphorylation in tuberoinfundibular dopaminergic neurons suppress prolactin secretion. Thus, IGF-I may inhibit both behavioural and lactational alterations in mothers. Neurons in the MPOA and arcuate nuclei express IGFBP-3 during the postpartum period to neutralize IGF-I effects. IGFBP-3 can prevent the blockade of maternal behaviour and lactation exerted by IGF-I, suggesting a novel modulatory mechanism underlying the behavioural and hormonal effects during central maternal adaptations