Promoting Professionalism in Master's Level Teachers through Research Based Writing

McMillen, Paula S.; García, Jesús; Bolin, David A.

doi:10.1016/j.acalib.2010.06.007

Cited by 11 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Besides helping graduate students in the research methods class to deal with their discomfort about the ambiguity of the research process, to understand important concepts, and to collect and analyze data, the multiple sign systems that many of the graduate students used, especially the visual system, also appeared to push their professional development as good teachers. This finding is consistent with the work of McMillen, Garcia, and Bolin (2010) whose review of the literature on the reflective and research writing of teachers suggests that the benefits of "practice-based writing by teachers" include "deepen [ing] and broaden[ing] the writer's understanding of the teaching profession, increas[ing] confidence and sense of self as a professional and expert, and empower[ing] one to promote change" (p. 428). In the case of the present study, it was not writing about their research alone that helped graduate students to grow in professional knowledge-though it seemed to-but also the multimodal composing in which they engaged, especially when they constructed their visual portraits.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 85%

Visual Images as Tools of Teacher Inquiry

Bailey

Harken

2014

Journal of Teacher Education

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As aspiring professionals, pre-service teachers must become good consumers of educational research as well as competent researchers who can use tools of inquiry to improve their practice and conduct their own educational research. Many, however, resist learning research skills or find difficulties in doing so. This article presents ways in which learning in a graduate research class was prompted by methods of multimodal analysis and composition. The graduate-level teacher candidates in the class were taught, in particular, to use visual images as analytical and generative tools, and in doing so, they came to learn about the research process and their role as researchers. Moreover, working with visual images allowed the pre-service teachers increasing clarity in observations and interpretations of what they were seeing in classrooms where they were observing. By using visual images, teacher candidates seemed to arrive at theoretical insights that were possibly predictive of future, productive classroom practices.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 85%

Visual Images as Tools of Teacher Inquiry

Bailey

Harken

2014

Journal of Teacher Education

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“…Concerning writing in business education, Clinebell and Clinebell (2008) similarly point to tensions between academic rigour and real-world relevance. It has further been suggested that the perceived 'artificial divide' in writing for academic and professional purposes can be tackled by research-based writing courses (McMillen, Garcia and Bolin, 2010). Briefly, in previous studies on the final degree project in the Swedish ECEC context we have identified a strong 'semantic gravity' (Maton 2009, also see Maton 2013), i.e.…”

Section: Writing At Universitymentioning

confidence: 94%

Extended Writing Demands – A Tool for ‘Academic Drift’ and the Professionalisation of Early Childhood Profession?

Erixon

Arreman

2017

Education Inquiry

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This study explores the extended demands for writing in the Swedish public service sector of early childhood and how academic writing in the higher education programmes aimed at professional work in that sector is perceived to be of value for early childhood practice among practitioners. Empirical data was collected in individual interviews and focus groups among 65 early childhood staff in two different communities. The study points to an overall focus on assessments and evaluation in professional writing which tends to challenge everyday communication, i.e. everyday discourse for an internal audience (staff, parents and children). The study further indicates that professional writing holds implications for social relations and contributes to strengthened hierarchies among early childhood staff; younger generations more trained in academic writing tend to be 'ranked' higher than staff more experienced in practice. Whether the twin demands for 'professional' and 'academic' writing will contribute to a 'professional' early childhood staff community, as suggested in policy and teacher union rhetoric, remains an open question.

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“…Students could rewrite their pieces as many times as they wanted after receiving feedback and using the rubrics. McMillen et al (2010) converted a core course in a graduate-level teacher education program to a seminar with a “focus on developing professionalism through writing” (McMillen et al, 2010, p. 427). The revised course included writing two research papers that were acceptable for a journal or conference submission.…”

Section: Writing and Teacher Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Only 30% of postgraduate students understand why their thesis should include a critique of the existing literature on a topic, and even fewer understand how this literature could inform them about a new direction of research on the topic (Bitchener & Turner, 2011). Graduate students have no or little interest in writing for publication and “see themselves neither as competent writers nor as active participants in the scholarly exchange of their chosen field” (McMillen, Garcia, & Bolin, 2010, p. 428).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%