Problems in Developing a Constructivist Approach to Teaching: One Teacher's Transition from Teacher Preparation to Teaching

Abstract

This article reports a case study of an elementary school teacher moving from her university teacher education program into her first full-time job teaching a K/first-grade class. Using activity theory, we analyzed her conceptualization of teaching as she moved through the key settings of her university program, student teaching, and first job. This conceptualization began with the university's emphasis on constructivism, a notion that diffused as she moved from the formal environment of the university to the practical environment of the schools. Data for the study included preteaching interviews, classroom observations, pre-and postobservation interviews, group concept map activities, interviews with supervisors and administrators, and artifacts from schools and teaching. Data analysis sought to identify tools for teaching and the ways in which those tools were supported by the environments of teaching. Results center on 2 aspects of constructivist teaching: the teacher's use of integrations and the decentering of the classroom. The analysis showed that the teacher, rather than developing and sustaining a concept of constructivist teaching, instead developed what Vygotsky calls a complex, that is, a less unified understanding and application of the abstraction. Implications of the study concern ways of thinking about the common pedagogical problem teacher educators face when students of their programs abandon the theoretical principles stressed in university programs.During her elementary teacher education coursework, Tracy, described by her university supervisor as being "first or second in her class" in terms of accomplishment, spent an entire semester in a language arts methods class learning ways to help students construct their own knowledge. The professor in the course encouraged Tracy to design lesson plans that gave students choices in their reading and conduct. Tracy

The different learning opportunities afforded student teachers in four secondary school subject departments in an initial teacher education school–university partnership in England

“…Previous research highlights the considerable influence of the school setting and the social practices of school departments on student teacher learning (Cook et al 2002). This suggests that it is important that more critical stances than just those coming from a university PGCE course are apparent in order to engender debates on the learning situation.…”

Evaluation of Student Teachers Grouped According to Teaching Subjects: Students’ Perception

“…This is a theoretical framework that has been used increasingly to investigate the world of professional development (Cook et al, 2002;Engeström, 1999;Grossman et al, 1999;Grossman et al, 1993;Roth and Tobin, 2002;Spillane et al, 2001;Spillane, et al, 1999). Activity theory is an outgrowth of the work of Soviet psychologist, Vygotsky and his colleague, Leont'ev (Engeström and Miettinen, 1999;Leont'ev, 1978).…”

Adjusting Personal Expectations: An Analysis of Early-Career Teacher Narratives

“…Nevertheless, these experiences still reinforced his existing expectations of himself in the role, as he attributed his failure to the practicum school context, which, he reasoned, did not fit his teaching approach. Similarly, other studies (Cook et al, 2002;Flores & Day, 2006;Pittard, 2003) suggest that preservice teachers maintain their images of themselves of teachers, in spite of schooling contexts that may challenge these ideals. Like the preservice teachers in Pittard's (2003) study, Charlie was "biding time" until the time when he would have his own class, where he could do his "own thing" (p. 19).…”

“…Studies such as that by Herbert and Worthy (2001) have highlighted that early-career teachers' expectations about teaching and students often conflict with the realities of school contexts and as such, can be a source of anxiety and frustration. Research on the mismatch of early-career teacher expectations and the reality of teaching has drawn attention to a variety of factors: expectations of pedagogy and instructional practice (Cook, Smagorinsky, Fry, Konopak, & Moore, 2002;Shkedi & Laron, 2004); expectations about students (Hong, 2012;Lassila & Uitto, 2016), and expectations about the demands of the teaching profession (Gardner, 2010;Hagger, Mutton, & Burn, 2011;Kyriacou & Kunc, 2007). Another body of research has analysed and evaluated early-career teachers' expectations of themselves as teachers (Le Maistre & Paré, 2010;Manuel & Brindley, 2005;Tait, 2008;Trent, 2016).…”

“…Thus, whilst these authors agree that processes of identity development begin in preservice education, it is also accepted that it is once these teachers graduate and begin working in schools that the most significant changes to their expectations occur (Sutherland et al, 2010). Many studies, including those by Bullough (1997), Cook et al (2002), Pittard (2003) and Flores and Day (2006), suggest that their optimistic anticipation of the future is likely because preservice teachers perform to suit the conditions of their practicum placement and "cope with the dilemmas of student teaching in ways that maintain their beliefs" and "their conceptions of themselves as teachers" (Bullough,p. 83).…”