Teaching as Interaction: Challenges in Transitioning Teachers’ Instruction to Small Groups

Abstract

Although small group instruction is often endorsed in teaching young children, teachers are rarely given explicit instruction on how to move instruction into small groups where effective adult-child interactions can take place. This study examines how 14 early childhood educators transitioned their instruction from whole to small group teaching after participating in a year-long program of professional development. The results indicate teachers' previous definitions of ''teaching as dissemination'' interfered with their ability to take on new roles, design tasks, and manage time. Implications include the need for teacher educators to focus on how teaching through interaction shifts these aspects of the teaching process.

What May Characterise Teaching in Preschool? The Written Descriptions of Swedish Preschool Teachers and Managers in 2016

“…From an international perspective, research indicates the significance of preschool teachers to the quality of activities and thus to children's learning and development (e.g., Chambers, Cheung, & Slavin, 2016;Guo, Wang, Hall, Breit-Smith, & Busch, 2016;Sullivan & Bers, 2016;Sylva, Melhuish, Sammons, Siraj-Blatchford, & Taggart, 2010;Wang, Firmender, Power, & Byrnes, 2016;Wyatt & Chapman-De-Sousa, 2017). In a literature review including 1 The paper is based on a three-year research project, -2018.…”

Small-Group, Emergent Literacy Intervention Under Two Implementation Models: Intent-to-Treat and Dosage Effects for Preschoolers at Risk for Reading Difficulties

“…The NBS! professional development may also require changes, as grounded in the extant literature (Hamre et al, 2017;Wyatt & Chapman-DeSousa, 2017;Zucker et al, 2013), informed by lessons learned over the course of this study (see also Piasta et al, 2021), and aligned with a revised theory of change (e.g., incorporation of strategies for small-group and behavior management, more opportunities to practice lessons and ongoing feedback, sharing implementation challenges and brainstorming solutions). As acknowledged in other work (e.g., Hamre et al, 2017), ongoing support and troubleshooting through coaching or communities of practice may be valuable.…”

“…Whereas these are often effective under more controlled conditions, small-group interventions may be challenging for preschool teachers to implement. Their implementation requires additional time for lesson preparation and planning as well as considerable classroom and behavior management (Wasik, 2008; Zucker et al, 2013); preschool teachers rarely receive formal training on the latter (Wyatt & Chapman-DeSousa, 2017). Time and management constraints may make small-group intervention untenable for many preschool teachers without the aid of another adult in the classroom (Farley et al, 2017), contributing to less-than-ideal implementation and affecting intervention dosage in particular (i.e., amount of the intervention delivered/received; Piasta et al, 2021).…”

Teachers’ Perceptions on Factors Influence Adoption of Formative Assessment

“…As implied, teachers of elderly ages would perceive more difficulties in formative assessment in comparison to younger teachers (Lampert, 2003;Furtak et al, 2016). On the other hand, teachers with higher level of agency in formative assessment were found to be inconsistent in their efforts to implement formative assessment due to their elderly age levels (Verberg et al, 2016) and accordingly they identify some suitable roles, designed the tasks, and managed their assessment practices (Wyatt & Chapman-DeSousa, 2015).…”