Role Enactment and Types of Feedback: The Influence of Leadership Content Knowledge on Instructional Leadership Efforts

Instructional leadership is a primary task of school leaders, but this work may be complicated when leaders and teachers do not share content area or grade level expertise. Work around leadership content knowledge (LCK) acknowledges that school leaders cannot know everything about teaching in the content areas, but suggests leaders can work to bridge this divide. Still, little is known about how leaders’ LCK intersects with their efforts to support improvements in teaching and learning. The purpose of this study was to explore ways in which LCK facilitates or, in its absence, hinders instructional leadership efforts. Thirty-one teachers and school leaders were interviewed about experiences receiving or providing instructional feedback. Analyses revealed factors that teachers perceived as foundational to instructional leadership efforts. Further, depending on their LCK, school leaders enacted a range of roles and provided different types of feedback

Socioscientific Issues-Based Instruction: The Messier Side of (Leading) Science Teaching

The present case centers on a socioscientific issues-based lesson taught by a preservice teacher (PST) in an AP Biology class. The PST designed and delivered a lesson on disease transmission and ways to avoid infection with connections to the COVID-19 pandemic mask mandates and vaccine reticence. The Principal received several emails from parents (positive and negative), citing the incorporation of political issues and critical race theory into the science lesson. With this framing, the case depicts how the Principal, PST, university supervisor, and cooperating teacher navigate the situation. The case highlights the role of school leader as instructional leader. In particular, to interact with teachers and other stakeholders about content and pedagogy, leaders must develop leadership content knowledge (LCK). The present case offers school leaders an opportunity to build LCK around the Nature of Science and socioscientific issues, while exploring how they might address challenges to curriculum and pedagogy

Preservice Teachers’ Transforming Perceptions of Science and Mathematics Teacher Knowledge

Teacher Education Programs (TEPs) are intended to prepare students to become qualified professionals in the field of education. Yet, many preservice teachers (PSTs) have difficulty recognizing their new roles, not simply as students in the TEP, but as future educators. As PSTs progress through their coursework, field experiences, and student teaching, their perceptions of teacher knowledge evolves. Teacher educators may assist in positively influencing such transformation through reflective exercises, learning activities, and thoughtful discourse. The present research examines four classroom discussions centered on a mathematics and science activity. These discussions illustrate the changes in perspective with respect to mathematics and science teacher knowledge, among a cohort of elementary PSTs between the beginning and end of their first year in a TEP.  &nbsp

The Evolution of One Teacher\u27s Interactions with Students Working in Small Groups to Improve Their Communication, Self-Regulating and Problem-Solving Skills

This study examines effective ways for teachers to interact with students when they are working collaboratively. Through prolonged daily engagement with one class of students working in groups, the nature and experience of one teacher\u27s interventions are documented using practitioner action research. Specifically, small-group dynamics and teacher interventions are recorded, analyzed, and then modified throughout the research process ultimately indicating interventions that promote student communication in the mathematics classroom

An Examination Of The Implementation Of Mathematics Lessons In A Chinese Kindergarten Classroom In The Setting Of Standards Reform

In China, the 2001Kindergarten Education Guidelines (Trial), or New Outline, delineates what constitutes high-quality, developmentally appropriate practices in all early childhood education curriculum domains, including mathematics. The New Outline is known for advocating a child-centered, play-based approach to teaching and learning, a significant change from teacher-directed instruction. Research highlights a gap between the intended practices set forth in the New Outline and the enacted practices in Chinese kindergarten classrooms. This descriptive study examines the implementation of 10 mathematics lessons, delivered over a 6-month period, from one Chinese kindergarten classroom in light of the New Outline. The analysis revealed that the lessons reflected aspects of the New Outline. However, overall, the lessons lacked critical components to provide students with opportunities to construct an understanding of the mathematics and become independent learners in five areas: (1) opportunities to inspire autonomous and life-long learning, (2) strategies for differentiated instruction, (3) use of resources to represent mathematics concepts, (4) student-centered instructional approaches, and (5) ways to foster communication