Concerns Expressed by Agricultural Education Preservice Teachers in a Twitter-Based Electronic Community of Practice

Abstract

Student teaching is an important capstone experience in which preservice teacher candidates begin to learn the skills they need to become effective teachers. During this experience, candidates develop concerns for themselves as well as for their students. As preservice teachers encounter challenges and obstacles, it is important for them to communicate these concerns. Preservice teachers from Iowa State University participated in a Twitter-based electronic community of practice to express their teaching concerns. This study was designed to identify preservice teachers' concerns and determine if they aligned with Moir's (1990/2011) phases of first-year teaching. By understanding preservice teachers' concerns in real time, teacher educators can better address the candidates' self-adequacy concerns throughout the teacher preparation program. We recommend that preservice teachers express their concerns during student teaching through an electronic community of practice so teacher educators can address concerns in a timely manner.

Examining the Reasons Agricultural Education Teaching Graduates Choose to Enter, Leave, or Stay in the Teaching Profession

“…When asked to elaborate on the necessary training, skills, and knowledge required to become successful high school agricultural educators, respondents indicated a desire for more time in an actual classroom with students and training in classroom and laboratory management. These findings align with current research (Fritz & Miller, 2003;Garton & Chung, 1996;Knobloch & Whittington, 2002;Mundt & Connors, 1999;Myers et al, 2005;Paulsen et al, 2015;Touchstone, 2015). Compounding the decision of entering the teaching profession, these performance skills enter into the Rots et al (2010) model before individuals reveal their intentions to enter the profession.…”

“…Objective two sought to identify potential reasons for an agricultural education teaching graduate's decision to leave the profession. Similar to the never entered group, major factors influencing this decision included work-life balance (Lemons et al, 2015;Sorensen et al, 2014;Tippens et al, 2013), careers outside of education with competitive salaries, and administrative leadership dissatisfaction (Fritz & Miller, 2003;Knobloch & Whittington, 2002;Lemons at al., 2015;Paulsen et al, 2015). Aligning with Rots et al (2010), these items largely fit into external influences, having a direct and profound impact on the individual's choice to enter and remain in the teaching profession.…”

“…By identifying pre-service teachers' concerns about becoming career educators, teacher educators can better address these concerns through teacher preparation programs (Paulsen, Anderson, & Tweeten, 2015;Roberts, Greiman, Murphy, Ricketts, Harlin, & Briers, 2009;. Preservice teachers have repeatedly described working conditions, self-efficacy, classroom management, and lack of support as career concerns (Fritz & Miller, 2003;Knobloch & Whittington, 2002;Paulsen et al, 2015). The student teaching experience is portrayed as a "critical period" in the development of teacher candidates (Edgar, Roberts & Murphy, 2011) and may be a challenging time for pre-service teachers (Knobloch & Whittington, 2002).…”

Student Teacher Dialogue in an Electronic Community of Practice: Cognition Level Related to the INTASC Standards

“…However, it was assumed that Planning for Instruction and Instructional Strategies would be the standards most often discussed based upon Moir's (2011) premise as well as the findings of Paulsen et al (2015), Smalley et al (2015), and Torres and Ulmer (2007) that curriculum development and lesson planning require the majority of student teachers' focus and time commitment during their student teaching experience.…”

“…Smalley et al (2015) found student teachers determined planning for classroom instruction to be the most important activity of the student teaching experience and evaluation of student performance ranked highest among the relevance of student teaching activities. Paulsen, Anderson, and Tweeten (2015) found that student teachers frequently shared concerns about lesson planning and implementation. Additionally, Torres and Ulmer (2007) found that 26% of agricultural education student teachers' time was devoted to instructional planning.…”