Teacher induction: personal intelligence and the mentoring relationship

This article is aimed at probationer teachers in Scotland, their induction supporters, and all those with a responsibility for their support and professional development. It argues that the induction process is not merely a mechanistic one, supported only by systems in schools, local authorities and the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS), but a more complex process where the relationship between the new teacher and the supporter is central to its success. In particular, the characteristics and skills of the induction supporter in relation to giving feedback are influential. This applies to feedback in all its forms – formative and summative, formal and informal. The ability of the probationer to handle that feedback and to be proactive in the process is also important

First Women at Jefferson: Oral Histories

Poster promoting: The Thomas Jefferson University Archives and Special Collections has conducted oral history interviews with some of the first women to attend Jefferson. The interviews explore how each woman became interested in the sciences or medicine, their time at Jefferson, and where their careers took them after graduate school

Student with Twice-Exceptionalities IEP Meeting Assignment Description

General education teachers should remember that all students are general education students, first. We need to be prepared to work with students of all abilities in our classrooms. As general education teachers, we have an active role on a child’s IEP team and an active role during the IEP meeting. This assignment asked preservice teachers to develop a script of what they would say at an IEP meeting of one character from four different novels that would be considered a child with twice-exceptionalities.https://digitalcommons.pittstate.edu/oer-teaching/1000/thumbnail.jp

Journey “Box” Assignment Description

The Journey “Box” allows preservice teachers to explore and share their own historical narrative as they different aspects of their own family’s journey to America. The Journey “Box” first asks preservice teachers to explore themes by reading children’s literature and then positions preservice teachers as interviewers as they seek out different facets of their family’s historical narrative from members of their family. Preservice teachers then use their experience with a Journey “Box” to design an inquiry that could be used in their field experience. The Journey “Box” integrates social studies standards and best practices with ELA standards.https://digitalcommons.pittstate.edu/oer-teaching/1004/thumbnail.jp

Working and Negotiating with Publishers: The Devil\u27s in the Details

Several people have expressed interest in meeting to talk about what’s involved in dealing with publishers, what kind of questions should one ask, and what aspects of a contract are especially important to pay attention to. Join Julie Hendon, Scholarly Communications Librarians Janelle Wertzberger and Chris Barnes, and special guests Dan DeNicola (Philosophy) and Radi Rangelova (Spanish/LACLS) for an informal discussion of these issues based on your concerns or questions. We also welcome questions related to journal publishing or being a contributor to an edited volume. We’re not lawyers or literary agents but we have experience with publishers, especially those involved in academic or scholarly publishing. Sponsored by the Johnson Center for Creative Teaching and Learning

Creating a Gifted-Friendly Classroom

The goal of undergraduate teacher preparation programs is to equip future teachers to work with all learners. Gifted and talented learners are likely found in every classroom regardless of where they reside. According to Rinn et al. (2022), Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Nebraska do not require undergraduate teacher candidates to take university coursework on gifted education. The goal of this presentation is to provide a general overview of gifted education specific to Kansas. This presentation aims to address myths and misconceptions about gifted education and gifted learners, characteristics of gifted learners, a basic overview of a general identification process, and strategies to create a gifted-friendly classroom.https://digitalcommons.pittstate.edu/oer-teaching/1001/thumbnail.jp

Exploring Professional Dispositions with Preservice Teachers Assignment Description

The dispositions needed to be an educator is vast. Some dispositions come naturally to teacher candidates and others are nurtured by teacher education programs. According to the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (2008), professional dispositions expected of teacher candidates include “the ideal of fairness and the belief that all students can learn (p. 22). This assignment provides teacher candidates an opportunity to explore, analyze, and discuss various professional dispositions needed by educators using six examples of children’s literature, all of which by the author, Patricia Polacco.https://digitalcommons.pittstate.edu/oer-teaching/1002/thumbnail.jp

Investigating the Potential for Unanticipated Consequences of Teaching the Tentative Nature of Science

If you are reading information supportive of climate science, you may well read that climate science is “settled science.” If you are reading something from a climate science skeptic, you may well read that climate science is “just a theory.” Given that the science education community strongly supports teaching the tentative nature of scientific knowledge, one might think that the skeptic has a legitimate argument. Experts will quickly object that such a deduction is quite wrong, and we agree. Nevertheless, we can’t help but wonder to what extent teaching the tentative nature of scientific knowledge might undermine confidence in science, especially for those who have not grasped important epistemological nuances. Our paper reports the findings from an initial exploration of this possibility