In secondary science, the 2011 Teacher Performance Assessment (TPA) was designed to represent a teacher candidate's ability to both apply their understanding of their science content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge, and to allow the candidates to reflect on student learning. Specifically, Task 2 of the TPA requires teacher…

Dewey (1933) provided the foundation for reflective practice in education with the notion that learning is not in the doing, but rather it is in the thinking about the doing that creates learning. Evidence is growing about the importance of reflection for improving teaching and learning practices to increase student achievement (York-Barr, et al.,…

Teachers make a difference. White female middle-class teachers represent 84 percent of Americas' teachers. How does culture influence the self-reflective problem-solving behaviors of urban teachers? Urban schools fail youth by opening the doors for a mass exodus. The problem solving behavior of urban teachers may contribute to the student exodus…

Despite the appealing and intuitive nature of the writings about thoughtfully adaptive teaching, no one has systematically collected empirical evidence to support such claims (Duffy, Miller, Kear, Parsons, Davis, & Williams, 2008). In response to this need, the current study focused on planning as well as on-the-fly adaptations, included a student…

The purpose of this study is to examine the coaching interactions of two literacy coaches and four classroom teachers in order to explore how these interactions serve to support teacher learning. The analysis of the study describes how the coaches support teacher reflection and teaching for processing strategies during guided reading lessons. The…

If practicing teachers are expected to be reflective practitioners, as teacher standards require, they must understand what reflection means. The problem addressed in this research study concerns the confusion about the meaning of the term reflection in education. The purpose of the study was to develop substantive theory about the relationship…

This narrative study will allow my reader a glimpse into real situations I have faced as an asynchronous online instructor in hopes to help me and my audience better understand how I, as a self-directed online practitioner, utilized action research recorded in a journal as a method to build capacity for continuous professional development to…

This dissertation study examined a high school mathematics coach in the context of a three-year project called MAST (Mathematics Achievement Success Today) that provided summer content courses, lesson study, and mathematics coaching for high school teachers. This study focused in particular on the work of the MAST project coach as she interacted…

The purpose of this study was to determine if online reflections through social networking affect students' sense of community and levels of perceived conceptual learning in Algebra I courses. Social constructivism, connectivism, and computer-mediated communication in relation to reflective practices form the theoretical and practical framework…

While mathematics education researchers have long characterized student performance marked by mathematical explanations, arguments, and justifications as evidence of mathematical reasoning and understanding (e.g. Schoenfeld, 1992), current education policy has begun to move in a similar direction, emphasizing sense making and mathematical…

Teaching, in the 21st century is a complex vocation that necessitates high quality professional development to fortify and sustain it. As a core profession, and a critical representative of change in contemporary society, it is apparent that leaving no child behind also entails leaving no teacher behind (Stoll & Seashore-Louis, Eds, 2007).…

The purpose of this qualitative research was to describe and analyze the ways in which newly inducted supervisors (in the first three years of their work) tasked with clinical supervision, cognitive coaching, and similar forms of developmental instructional supervision were engaged in a "reflective dialogue" between their supervisory…

Though attention to academic language is a key component of the Teacher Performance Assessment and the new Common Core Standards, little has been researched regarding how pre-service teachers build academic language knowledge and integrate it into their practice teaching experience. This study focuses on the construction and delivery of academic…

The purpose of this research was to better understand affordances and constraints of the Candidate Mentor Supervisor Model (CMSM) as experienced by teacher candidates and their mentor supervisors. The results indicated perceived benefits to teacher candidates. Candidates participating in the CMSM reported a sense of nested support within their…

The purpose of this study was to explore one Indiana elementary teacher's perceptions of her Latino immigrant students as they become English-language proficient by providing an in-depth analysis of a 4th and 5th grade teacher at a local school. Findings are based on interviews with the focus teacher and with the personnel she works with such as…