Mitigating the ‘Trial by Fire’: The Experiences of Residency Teachers Participating in a Post-Graduate, Pre-Service Teaching Residency Program

• Author / Creator

  Harding, Kelly J

• This is a case study of the experiences of five teachers who returned to university for an after degree diploma in effective teaching and learning in urban contexts. The ten month school based residency was facilitated by a partnership between a large school district and university. The residents maintained a weekly online journal, they completed assignments for their university professors, they participated in the full range of activities and responsibilities as their cooperating teacher partners, and they invested heavily in reflective and responsive processes. At the conclusion of their residency, they were asked to identify which components of the residency were the most significant in their development. The findings have implications for university program developers and school board leadership.
  Length of practicum, the nature of the relationships that occur within the practicum, and the activities that encourage, guide and support new teacher growth are essential. All of the residency participants identified the brevity and superficiality of their student-teaching practicum as a significant weakness in preparing them for the realities of the classroom and the challenges of the career. Learning to teach, and shifting one’s identity from student to teacher is a complicated process that requires on-site supportive and critical relationships. Schools that take on the responsibility of preparing teachers must have in place a culture that expects and models reflective and responsive processes; moreover, rather than student-teacher placements based on the availability of mentors, there should be a process by which cooperating teachers are selected because of their commitment to inquiry, collaborative learning activities and life-long growth.
  Especially for new teachers, professional learning must be relevant to their student and subject context, connected to the challenges they are facing in their teaching assignment, and afforded time and space to practice, get feedback and integrate changes to improve their practice.
  
  Finally, if teachers are going to be effective learning leaders regardless of the student variables they encounter, they require expansive experiences working with diverse student populations where they can explore, practice and apply a wide range of intervention strategies to mitigate the impact of issues predominant in urban classrooms.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Pre-service
  • diversity
  • residency
  • relationships
  • action research
  • case study
  • professional learning
  • urban
  • teacher researchers

• Graduation date

  Fall 2015

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Doctor of Education

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R38W3873B

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.