A Comparison Between How Preservice Teachers and Teacher Educators Made Sense of the Changed Kindergarten

• In Event: 25.044 - Supporting Field Experiences Through Video and Virtual Technologies

Abstract

By analyzing findings of a video-cued multivocal ethnographic research study, this paper investigates and compares how samples of teacher educators and preservice early childhood educators in Texas and West Virginia made sense of the instructional practices taking place in the changed kindergarten. Investigating how each made sense of the changed kindergarten and their comparing their conceptions of practice provides insight into how the teacher education process is affecting the students it serves. It also illuminates whether such programs are training the next generation of early childhood educators in a manner that provides them with the knowledge needed to challenge policies and procedures that demand standardized teaching practices and emphasize academic outcomes that define the changed kindergarten.

Authors

• Christopher P. Brown, The University of Texas at Austin

• David Barry, Boston Public Schools

• Da Hei Ku, The University of Texas at Austin