ERIC Number: ED443855
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2000-Apr
Pages: 13
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
An Analysis of University/School Alignment during Student Teaching.
Smagorinsky, Peter; Cook, Leslie Susan; Fry, Pamela; Jackson, Alecia; Konopak, Bonnie; Moore, Cynthia; O'Donnell-Allen, Cindy
This paper describes research that is part of an effort to understand the transition made when teacher education students leave university programs and enter the workforce. The emphasis in this study was on the alignment between the pre-service teacher's university preparation and the actual work of student teaching. The theoretical framework for this research was taken from activity theory. The case study of a pre-service elementary school teacher as she worked under the guidance of a cooperating teacher in a third grade class is presented. The student teacher's pre-service program emphasized a constructivist approach to learning, but in the classroom, her efforts to use the conceptual tool of constructivism and the practical tools under its umbrella were discouraged by the guidance she received. The substantial misalignment between the values of her pre-service program and those of her student teaching setting made her wonder if she would become the traditional teacher she had been taught to critique. From the perspective of activity theory, the researchers note that a strong misalignment can have consequences for teachers' early career identity as conceptions of teaching must be accommodated to techniques they have been taught to consider ineffective or even detrimental to children. (SLD)
Publication Type: Reports - Research; Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A