Browsing by Author "Dr. John Pettitt, Committee Co-Chair"

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Exploring the Development of Teaching Expertise: Novice and Expert Teachers' Reflections upon Professional Development.
(2003-11-19) Crawford, Paula Hickman; Dr. John Pettitt, Committee Co-Chair; Dr. Diane Chapman, Committee Member; Dr. Saundra Wall Williams, Committee Co-Chair; Dr. Carol Kasworm, Committee Member
The purpose of this study was to examine novice teachers' (n=7) and expert teachers' (n=7) learning experiences and how these experiences were integrated into the teachers' practices. The participants reflected upon experiences from professional development and their classroom during a semi-structured audiotaped interview. Data were analyzed using concept maps and matrices to distill the multipage interview transcriptions into manageable and comparable elements. Theoretical constructs underlying the analysis drew from expertise and situated learning theories. Comparisons between novice and expert teachers found that the acquisition of the knowledge bases in developing teaching expertise is a nonlinear process and that there are many factors upon which this development is predicated. The knowledge bases that are constructed as a part of developing teaching expertise are not acquired in a certain sequence, after a designated amount of time, nor as a result of particular experiences in a teacher's practice. While there are distinct differences between novice and expert teachers, the findings indicate that most teachers seek guidance from colleagues rather than from staff development opportunities. Novices and experts both expressed concern regarding lack of time and that student academic diversity demands impact the quality of their job. Novices' concerns included classroom discipline, inability to level lessons for student needs, and insufficient time to observe more experienced teachers. The most significant difference between novices and experts was the directly inverse proportional relationship between experts' abilities to properly level instruction and manage the classroom and the novices' inability to do so.
Let the Dialogue Begin: Diversity and the White Preservice Teacher
(2005-06-10) Dingle, Jesse M.; Dr. John Pettitt, Committee Co-Chair; Dr. Edgar Boone, Committee Co-Chair; Dr. Peter Hessling, Committee Member; Dr. Conrad Glass, Committee Member
The purpose of this qualitative study has been to explore the various experiences that may have an influence on the perceived readiness of White preservice teachers (students at Deep South College) to successfully teach and communicate with cultural minority students. Ten White preservice teachers who attend a private, 4-year, liberal arts college, were given the opportunity to describe in their own words, in-depth insight into the various everyday cultural life experiences of White preservice teachers. This study revealed that these women had their own unique traits and cultural life stories. Their friendships, educational, personal, and religious experiences all played a vital role in shaping how they viewed their cultural selves as well as how they acted in a multicultural world. These factors have also had a profound effect on the professional development of each woman. Further the interviewees revealed that prior to this research; none of them had ever really had to think about who they were racially. The issue was a non-issue. For most of their lives family, friends, and the media had helped to shape their normative view of Whiteness and what it actually means to be White. Another important aspect that surfaced over the course of this research was the perceived importance of opportunities for White preservice teachers to have field experiences in which they can go into communities which are much like the ones in which they will ultimately be teaching. For almost every single woman in this study that meant going into a situation where they are the cultural minority.