Transitioning From Teacher Preparation Into Teaching: Graduates' Professional Visions for Teaching Elementary School Mathematics

• In Event: 35.083 - Poster Session 7
  In Poster Session: 35.083-8 - Research in Mathematics Education SIG Poster Session

Abstract

We investigated how novice teachers experienced transitioning from teacher preparation into their workplaces in relation to professional visions. In this study, we conceptualize the transition from school to work as a process. Rather than considering it to be possible to eliminate differences between settings, we seek to understand the inevitable experience of negotiating discontinuities between settings as a process of boundary crossing. We sought to identify discontinuities between graduates’ own professional visions, expectations in teacher preparation, and expectations in their workplace. Self-reports from 81 graduates suggested that teacher preparation appeared to influence graduates’ professional visions (e.g., teaching for conceptual understanding). Graduates navigated some different expectations at work, including pressure for content coverage and test preparation.

Authors

• Amanda Jansen, University of Delaware

• Heather Gallivan, University of Northern Iowa

• Emily Miller, University of Delaware