Recent attention has focused on examining the process of becoming a teacher. Researchers have begun studying the stages of socialization that influence the beliefs, behaviors, and perspectives of those who choose to teach. The purpose of this article is to explore the earlier stages of professional socialization, focusing on four periods (pretraining, preservice, field experiences, and induction) that have the potential to significantly impact teacher development. The authors maintain that prospective teachers participate in a dialectical process, determining to some degree which beliefs they will acquire and which they will ignore. Specifically, this article supports the notion that a dialectical process exists during all four selected periods of socialization—a contest between societal expectations and the individual inclinations of prospective teachers.
The purpose of the study was to ascertain the influence of subject matter expertise on teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge. Data were collected through multiple, extended interviews with 10 teachers with expertise in at least 1 subject area in physical education. Each teacher was interviewed 4 times for approximately 1 hour, focusing on the teacher’s familiarity with 2 content areas (1 expert and 1 nonexpert) and their experiences teaching the subjects. Data were analyzed using the constant comparative technique. The findings were presented with reference to Grossman’s (1990) definition of pedagogical content knowledge. Subject experts identified their largest pedagogical problem as student motivation, while nonexperts believed finding appropriate activities was their greatest challenge. Subject experts were more comfortable and enthusiastic about pedagogical duties and could accommodate a greater range of abilities. The experts and nonexperts revealed no differences in curricular selection, perceptions of students’ understanding of the subject, or evaluation criteria.
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