Teacher Education and the Construction of Meaning - Report Example

Professional development Student’s name Institution affiliation Introduction Developing students and making sure that they receive what is expected to make succeed is not an easy task that one easily take. It requires a lot of knowledge, and understanding of the different situations and needs that students are daily confronted with. Those who perform better in imparting knowledge into students are those with a very good foundation on their profession and they always are willing to learn new methods of succeeding in what they are doing. For students to be developed well then the teacher should use superb teaching and learning skills. For one to be a good teachers, there is need for him to have the will of forming the foundation of a good school. Always he should concentrate in ensuring that his/her skills and knowledge form one of the fundamental investments that takes a lot of his time and resources. Also, to ensure excellence in schools needs that local, national and state leadership should be dedicated in ensuring that educational facilities are supported in whatever way as they make the most important part of the economy (Kennedy, 1997). There should be wide varieties when it comes to development of students. Several options should be employed to ensure that the professional developed in the process is all round. Those methods that seem to have the greatest impact in the process of student learning should be the one that should employed. Students should be allowed on choosing the best method that they can use in learning the activities that can equip them with superb professional knowledge. Considering some of the researches on professional development procedures, I discovered that they are scattered and they relate to the subject areas that they touch on. They focus on issues that range from the classroom process that are taking place, to structures laid to ensure monitoring of students and the traits that teachers portray. In this analysis we will focus on a student X who had a problem in reading and writing of language. The student was studying English which was his second language. From the study some of the aspects that are required to see a complete professional development of the students were considered. We will look into the skills and learning needs for students, outline how various needs can be met, and develop a plan on how students can be developed on the process. Student needs and skills required Skills required Student X was a student who needed assistance in many areas when it came to learning language. He was not good in writing and speaking English. To ensure that we helped we linked to those researches that were carried out in a bid to determine the link that exist between learning of teachers and that of student achievements. The studies were carried out in two phases. The first phase started in the 1960s and it specifically focused on areas of generic teaching skills. This skills were meant to equip those imparting knowledge to students on how they could allocate class time hours so that students can have sufficient time to ensure that the comprehend what they are taught. Also, they also educated teachers on how they could provide clear demonstrations in classes that will enable students understand what they are delivering and the knowledge behind the subject matter being discussed. The research also focused on assessing the extent to which students are capable of maintaining attention during class hours, there level of comprehension during lecture hours, and the ability of the students to form meaningful groups. Since student X did not either show interest in mathematics and other then it was best for me to relate study of the factors above as they had a small moderate impact on the student acquiring skills. Skills like arithmetic operations, phonetic decoding were not much affected however, due to the actions that were taken based on the above cases, same cases of reasoning skills had improved. Taking an example of Student X who is in his first grade. He is in one of the urban school and takes mathematics. The school mostly serves students who are from the low income families in the city. When the teacher emphasized on undertaking active participation in class and ensuring that both the listening and concentration was improved for the student. The results were positive for the students as the achievement was greater for student X and all the students who were in that class. Some of the techniques that engineered this improvement included the emphasis of the teacher on the students actively participating in active whole class information, provision of feedbacks wherever they had been asked questions, frequent questioning of the students, conducting continuous reviews from both teachers and students and other measures were the major contributors. From the findings we can conclude that the achievement of the students were attained when teachers had the best technicality of presenting new materials and making sure that students were following well. This techniques is said to be guide practice where asking of questions and supervisions of various exercises took place well (McCutchenet al, 2002). Student needs Student X will be assisted throughout to ensure his needs are meet. My strategy will much focus much into deeper on student learning methods, problem solving potential amongst students and a focus on student reasoning ability. At these research the hypothesis was that it is not important to just focus on the student basic skills where we are not making them not to be more productive and problem solving in their areas of study. There is a suggestion in the course of the research that when dealing with professional development, teachers can be of great influence as they are the ones who will implement the classroom practices that are important in improving the students’ achievements. Some of the needs of the students that should be dealt with thoroughly include; some of the instructional practices that are required especially in the subject matter that the student is dealing with and also, emphasis on how the students understand it. Secondly, the focus should be on how given students learn the subject matter. Finally, there should be continuous strengthening of the knowledge of teachers on the subject matter and any additional content. Teachers should ensure that students are closely aligned with the process of professional development by relating the actual functions with class conditions as they are key (Garet et al, 2001). In conducting the studies, one of the students who was in the process of professional development was randomly selected and was placed under observation for a month in a workshop that was aimed in ensuring that to gauge the understanding that was in the students. The students who were undertaking mathematics in their professional development. Therefore it was being we sought to understand whether the students understood well subtraction and addition word problems. They also wanted to know whether the students were capable of undertaking mathematical skills in solving. We did not focus on how students learn but rather on the technicalities that assist in professional activities. Those students who participated in the workshop gained a lot of experience as they could learn a lot of skills form the teachers. On the other hand, the teachers who participated in the workshop found out that students had some complex problems when it came to solving problems. They encouraged them to involve themselves in seeking answers using different methods. However, those teachers who had not come to the workshop would always insist in basic skills like the ability of the student to recall answers, responding to the answers quickly, and they ignored the ability of working in groups preferring working in alone. The students who used the different approach than that of basics had great achievements that were consistently higher that those who used the bask skills. The students who were in the workshop portrayed advanced reasoning and unique problem solving techniques as they were given a wide field of selection instead of being tied into one. When teachers focused in ensuring that students could learn skills related to professional development and being applied in the case of learning and gauging of learning activities. From the above findings, this can be an indication that professional development is rooted in what is contained in the subject matter and the focus that is being put on students learning processes. The whole activity of professional development can have a great impact on the students’ achievement (Greenleaf & Katz, 2004). Another thing that was carried out on the case study of student X is examination of the different curriculum materials, the ability to solve mathematical problems and how teachers can impart the knowledge to the students and then finally determine the student learning activities. When the process of these activities came to an end, the students performed better on skills that dealt with conceptual understanding and also they were able to maintain those basic skills that were meant to perform computational activities. Although my case studies on professional development for both teachers and students to a large extent has dealt with mathematical studies, the same can be applied to other disciplines like literature, basic reading skills, and science. Mathematics forms the foundation of basic learning and the nature of reasoning one can have in life. In another example examination of two groups that were made up of both teachers and students. One of the group was exposed to professional development that was focused on the improvement of knowledge that students had on word structure and sounds. The other group was not exposed to ant additional training. The performance for both the groups was tracked for a year to see the changes that they could have made. Finding from the above study indicated that where teachers try to engage students with extra training they will always show an explicit performance when it comes to language. The students will have better language skills and they could have an extra knowledge from the rest who are not engaged in any extra skills learning (Greenleaf & Katz, 2004). Professional learning and real work For one to be effective in undertaking professional development, there should be a way through which what is learnt in class can be applied in practical situations. There is an indication that when undertakes professional development and apply it directly on the teaching activities, students will always perform better. It enables students to take up instructions in a better way and also, it enables the learning students to be in a position of connecting between the curriculum materials and apply it in real life situations. From the development, it will be easy for the students to understand the state and district of academic standards that will always guide them in performing activities. They will be in a position of evaluating the success that they had through accountability and assessment (Good & Grouws, 1979). Two recent studies that support focusing professional development on curriculum have implications for states striving to connect education policy to instruction. David Cohen and Heather Hill found that teachers whose learning focused directly on the curriculum they would be teaching were the ones who adopted the practices taught in their professional development. These teachers embraced new curriculum materials when they were supported by training and, in some cases, workshops about the new state-required student assessment. Through the case studies, it can be concluded that effective forms of training are the most important requirements use to ensure that the programs developed are ones that are professional development focused and the development will always lead to better achievement. In another case study that was carried out to observe how mathematics and science could be used in ensuring that professional development is undertaken in the right manner. Findings indicates that in the course that on the case that those learning activities undertaken are those that will ensure that practical skills are involved in teaching students will be more equipped that when they depend on the obvious skills. Students gain a significant important change when instructional practices are unique and better, where there is improved method of teaching and the subject knowledge is added with more details. Hence this makes professional development in all areas to be better and it can be linked directly to the experience that the student gets and it can easily be aligned to assessments and standards (Brophy & Good, 1986). How Professional Development Is Enough towards achievement of student needs Most of the studies that have been carried out have indicated that if a student or his teacher spends more time on professional development, there will be a significant change in the way they practice and participate in activities that involve learning with an aim of ensuring those communities involve themselves in these activities do optimize well the time spent on the whole process of professional development. The very reason that has encouraged most of those who are involved in professional development. They are able to achieve their needs indirectly. Some of those who are involved in the process of professional development are teachers who impart knowledge to students as they learn a lot. Though it has been indicated by many studies that professional development requires adequate time, some have argued that adequate time does not guarantee one success. There the need for concentration and having interest in the whole process is what will determine the success of a person. Therefore in the case where sessions do not majorly focus on the subject matter content and extensive research be undertaken, studies have shown that the duration spent will not have great impact to changes of the professional gains and also the whole experience of learning students. The relationship that exists between professional development and student needs is that, the student needs are practically solved by the process. Most of the professional development practices contain solutions to some of the needs that students face in their learning processes. When teachers advance their knowledge through engaging in professional development activities, it becomes easy for students to get better information that would assist them in learning (Parsad et al, 2001). Regardless of the extensive studies that have been carried out on professional development, most schools, states and districts do not understand the amount of resources that is required to see a successful professional development. Teachers and students on the other hand will continually want to be informed and updated in the developments that have happened in their subjects. The misunderstandings that is portrayed usually comes from the lack of evaluation on the number of gains that are got of the trainings undertaken in the whole process. If an effective evaluation could be carried, then many will always want their students and teachers to continually be involved in professional development. An effective evaluation is one that contains the following activities; practices that actual in classrooms, they have trainings with impact on both the student and teacher’s behavior, and those with a positive impact in the student’s learning process. Evaluation of professional development should be a continuous process that starts with the inception of the program to its end and even beyond the program (Richardson, 1999). Conclusion The impact of professional development cannot be underestimated as it forms one of the effective way through which both teachers and students can adopt the changing environment of learning. The continuous change of goals for learning and some shifts that are occurring in the curriculum has necessitated that the shift in learning method engage in deeper understanding engagements where both the students and teachers can make discoveries all together. New findings that have been made in different fields have encouraged many to engage in professional development while impacting the whole process positively. Always the participants are looking on the new methods that they can sharpen their skills and gain new knowledge regarding the subject matter content. In these whole process, what matters most is what the students and student learn. The role of Professional development activity is to ensure that both the students and their instructors have accumulated and practiced the new knowledge that is related to the subject matter in order ensure that they can perform even better than before. The process should always be made to make students engage in thinking deeper about the subject matter in order to make new discoveries. Aligning substantive alignments should be undertaken when training students and teachers in a bid to ensure that they have the actual work experience which is vital in undertaking this process. There is a great difference that is made when both students and teachers spend more time in professional development. However, this difference is seen not because of the amount of time that has been spent in the whole process. The difference is achieved due to the focus that is made on the subject content and the quality of the information that is disseminated on the trainings and the concentration that is given by the participants. The process brings about an extension of opportunities that lead to better understanding when the students are learning, when curriculum materials change and when the instructions given are the ones that guide them towards attaining goals. When students have the updated subject matter content, they will always perform better References Richardson, V. (1999). “Teacher Education and the Construction of Meaning.” In G. Griffin (Ed.) Teacher Education for a New Century: Emerging Perspectives, Promising Practices, and Future Possibilities (Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education), pp. 145–166. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Brophy, J.E., Good, T.L. (1986). “Teacher Behavior and Student Achievement.” In M.L. Wittrock (Ed.) Handbook of Research on Teaching, 3rd ed., pp. 328–375. New York: MacMillan. Good, T.L., Grouws, D. (1979). “The Missouri Mathematics Effectiveness Project: An Experimental Study in Fourth-Grade Classrooms.” Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol. 71, pp. 335–362. Kennedy, M. (1997). Defining Optimal Knowledge for Teaching Science and Mathematics (Research Monograph 10). Madison, WI: National Institute for Science Education, University of Wisconsin. Rosebery, A., Puttick, G.M. (1998). “Teacher Professional Development as Situated Sense-Making: A Case Study in Science Education.” Science Education, Vol. 82, pp. 649–677. Greenleaf, C.L., Katz, M. (2004). “Ever Newer Ways to Mean: Authoring Pedagogical Change in Secondary Subject-Area Classrooms.” In S.W. Freedman and A.F. Ball (Eds.) Bakhtinian Perspectives on Language, Literacy, and Learning, pp. 172–202. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. McCutchen, D., et al. (2002). “Beginning Literacy: Links among Teacher Knowledge, Teacher Practice, and Student Learning.” Journal of Learning Disabilities, Vol. 35, No. 1, 69–86. Cohen, D.K., Hill, H.C. (2001). Learning Policy: When State Education Reform Works. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Garet, M.S., et al. (2001). “What Makes Professional Development Effective? Results from a National Sample of Teachers.” American Educational Research Journal, Vol. 38, No. 4 (winter), pp. 915–945. Parsad, B., et al. (2001). Teacher Preparation and Professional Development: 2000 (NCES 2001-088), pp. 4–5. U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. National Staff Development Council (2001). Standards for Staff Development, rev. ed. Oxford, OH: Author. Read More