November 10 | International Portal of Teacher Education

Nov. 10, 2009

Dear subscriber,

MOFET ITEC Portal Newsletter

We are delighted to be sending you another edition of the MOFET ITEC Portal update with a selection of the latest articles and significant trends published in academic journals focusing on teacher education, pedagogy and instruction.

We would like to draw your attention to the new MOFET ITEC Twitter page which will keep you abreast of everything pertaining to teacher education throughout the world.

Through Twitter, we hope to create an informal arena in which teacher educators, researchers, and educators can engage in a fruitful dialog. Please feel free to join our followers on Twitter.

As always, we welcome your comments and insights.

The MOFET ITEC Portal Team

November 10, 2009

International Portal of Teacher Education

November 2009

Featured Items

Conceptualizing the Work of Leading Mathematical Tasks in Professional Development

The purpose of this article is studying how leaders learn to cultivate mathematically rich professional development environments. The authors adapted two frameworks from classroom-based research to support leaders’ understanding of facilitation of mathematics professional development: sociomathematical norms and practices for orchestrating productive discussion. They describe the use of these frameworks in their work and argue for a third framework—the mathematical knowledge for teaching. 24 NW leaders and 12 SW leaders participated in the seminars developed by the authors.

Voices Less Silenced: What Do Veteran Teachers Value in School–University Partnerships and Initial Teacher Preparation?

The purpose of this article is to describe how veteran teachers understand and experience the development of a Professional Development School (PDS) partnership. Furthermore, it describes how they participate in initial teacher preparation program reform. The author presents a case, which examines the voices and participation of veteran teachers in developing a PDS in depth. Evidence from this study demonstrated significant findings about what veteran teachers valued in initial teacher preparation in this particular case: character, structure, and multiple forms of collaboration.

Grappling with Classroom Management: The Orientations of Preservice Teachers and Impact of Student Teaching

This study examined the beliefs about classroom management that preservice teachers developed during their university coursework. It also examined whether those beliefs changed as a result of their student teaching experiences. 71 preservice teachers participated in the study. Results indicated preservice teachers demonstrated inconsistent beliefs with regard to philosophies of classroom management developed as part of university coursework.

Preparing Teachers to Make the Formative Assessment Process Integral to Science Teaching and Learning

Formative assessment provides a means to successfully scaffold learning. Unfortunately, few teachers understand the pedagogical implications of such scaffolding or their role in utilizing formative assessments. The purpose of this study was to develop an understanding of the experience of being a teacher that is seeking to improve learning through formative assessment and using that understanding to improve our practices in teacher education.

Engaging with Faculty to Develop, Implement, and Pilot Electronic Performance Assessments of Student Teachers Using Mobile Devices

This paper discusses the development and implementation of a technology-supportedstudent teacher performance assessment that supports integration with a larger electronic assessment system. Of the 20 supervisors who were invited to the field test, 18 completed the survey and 8 participated in the focus group. Supervisors were overwhelmingly positive about the experience, the value of the updated assessments, and the ongoing plans to support field observations with mobile technologies. However, issues related to training, support, and trust loom largely for successful adoption, diffusion, and successful use of technology-supported assessments.

An Educational Psychology Success Story: Social Interdependence Theory and Cooperative Learning

The widespread and increasing use of cooperative learning is one of the great success stories of social and educational psychology. Its success largely rests on the relationships among theory, research, and practice. Social interdependence theory provides a foundation on which cooperative learning is built. The purpose of this article is to describe how social and educational psychology has contributed to educational practice.