Preservice teachers' cognitive frameworks for class management

Abstract This study examines changes in middle school student teachers' knowledge structures and beliefs related to class management during the final semester of their teacher education program. Twenty-three preservice teachers drew concept maps and participated in semi-structured interviews prior, during, and following 16 weeks of student teaching. Results of the study showed that initially student teachers are concerned with establishing and enforcing rules. They expressed discomfort with their authoritarian roles. During the middle of student teaching preservice teachers began to make connections among the variables that contribute to class management. By the end of student teaching preservice teachers experienced a conflict between their beliefs in rules, their desire to be flexible and fair, and their desire to develop positive student relationships as a mechanism to promote student learning. A framework of change for class management concepts is presented and the reported influences on the changes in student teachers' knowledge organization and beliefs are discussed.

[1]  M. Gail Jones,et al.  Putting Practice Into Theory: Changes in the Organization of Preservice Teachers’ Pedagogical Knowledge , 1996 .

[2]  Joseph D. Novak,et al.  Learning How to Learn , 1984 .

[3]  J. Greeno,et al.  The cognitive skill of teaching. , 1986 .

[4]  Frances F. Fuller.  Concerns of Teachers: A Developmental Conceptualization1 , 1969 .

[5]  Delores A. Westerman.  Expert and Novice Teacher Decision Making , 1991 .

[6]  T. Good,et al.  Process-Product Relationships in Fourth Grade Mathematics Classrooms. , 1975 .

[7]  S. Carey.  Cognitive science and science education. , 1986 .

[8]  J. J. Kennedy,et al.  Problems of Beginning Secondary Teachers in Relation to School Location. , 1976 .

[9]  Theodore R. Sarbin,et al.  Narrative Psychology: The Storied Nature of Human Conduct , 1986 .

[10]  Ellen Corcoran,et al.  Transition Shock , 1981 .

[11]  Richard S. Prawat,et al.  Teachers' Beliefs about Teaching and Learning: A Constructivist Perspective , 1992, American Journal of Education.

[12]  S. Veenman.  Perceived Problems of Beginning Teachers , 1984 .

[13]  Sandra Hollingsworth,et al.  Prior Beliefs and Cognitive Change in Learning to Teach , 1989 .

[14]  P. Tamir.  Views and Beliefs of Israeli Preservice Teachers on Teaching and Learning. , 1991 .

[15]  M. Wittrock.  Handbook of research on teaching , 1986 .

[16]  M. Latz.  Preservice teachers’ perceptions and concerns about classroom management and discipline: A qualitative investigation , 1992 .

[17]  H. Borko,et al.  A naturalistic investigation of experienced teachers' and student teachers' instructional practices , 1986 .

[18]  J. Brophy.  Classroom Organization and Management , 1983, The Elementary School Journal.

[19]  S. Elam.  The 24th Annual Gallup/Phi Delta Kappa Poll of the Public's Attitudes toward the Public Schools. , 1992 .

[20]  R. Havighurst,et al.  Youth and Society.@@@Youth: The Seventy-fourth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, Part I. , 1975 .

[21]  M. G. Jones,et al.  The concept map as a research and evaluation tool: Further evidence of validity , 1994 .

[22]  Ellen Corcoran,et al.  Transition Shock: The Beginning Teacher's Paradox. , 1981 .

[23]  J. Kounin.  Discipline and group management in classrooms , 1970 .

[24]  C. M. Charles,et al.  Building Classroom Discipline , 1981 .

[25]  John A. Robinson,et al.  Narrative thinking as a heuristic process. , 1986 .

[26]  R. Linn,et al.  Qualitative methods in research on teaching , 1985 .