From Student To Student: Publication Service Teaching Internships 2006

From Student To Student: Strategies for Successfully Gaining Graduate Teaching Experience Publication Service Teaching Internships 2006 This paper focused on only one area — Teaching

3-Way Career Mismatch “Doctoral students persist in pursuing careers as faculty members, and graduate programs persist in preparing them for careers at research universities” — Golde & Doring, 2001 Research-extensive jobs will be available to only 1/3 of graduates in the hard sciences and only 5-10% of graduates in soft sciences. — Cage, 1995; Gaff, % of graduate respondents in one survey feel teaching experience is of high importance. Less than 1/2 on another survey feel they are getting that experience. — Smith and Pedersen-Gallegos 2001; National Association of Graduate and Professional Students, 2001.

Research Questions (1) What strategies do students use for succeeding as graduate teachers? (2) How do graduate teachers construct and represent their teaching experiences?

Design & Methods Researchers: 4 researchers — Doctoral students in Instructional Technology at different universities All have been teachers (K-12, preservice, or graduate levels) Each attempted to sample participants and conduct interviews in each of the four areas

Design & Methods Participants Sampled by the researcher, through consultation with faculty members. Female, international student (preservice course) Male, nontraditional (preservice, adjunct, graduate co-teach) Male, master’s student (preservice, alternative)

Design & Methods Researchers as participants RW — preservice, co-taught graduate DP — K-12, preservice, co-taught graduate SW — preservice, co-taught graduate SP — preservice

Design & Methods Co-constructive interviews Semi-structured Co-constructive with the researcher Researchers also reflectively answered interview questions separately Analysis methods Inductive/thematic (to draw out strategies) Narrative of 2 cases (to understand their conceptualization of experience)

Thematic Findings Codes created and developed through constant comparison 115 total codes 29 “significant” codes where indicated by two teachers or by one teacher at least 3x These significant codes focused on why gaining teaching experience is important, how to find teaching opportunities, and how to succeed as a graduate teacher

Why Teach? 1. To learn 2. To gain experience 3. To further other career goals 4. It’s rewarding

Finding Teaching Opportunities A.Undergraduate Courses B. Graduate courses C. K-12 D. Workshops E. Anything!

Coping Strategies!

Succeeding: Learning Content A.Teach yourself B.Workshops/Tutorials C.Bring in experts D.Teach your strengths

A.Be Creative B.Involve the learners C.Seek feedback from students D.Record yourself E.Sharon Steal Succeeding: Learning to Teach

Narrative Analysis

Narrative Analysis: Cases Cases selected because of depth and narrative, and because of contrasting themes Robert: nontraditional student, taught preservice, as well as co-taught a graduate course, and adjunct at satellite campus Ron: Master’s student, K-12 certificate, taught preservice and created other teaching opportunities for himself (K-12 as well as collegiate).

‘’ Ron: Labov-method of analysis

How Did Ron Construct His Experience? Autonomy - creating his own experiences “I will do it my own way.” “There you go.” “I’ll do the assignments myself”

Robert: Disjointed Narrative “They are virtually the same course [with different section numbers]. We teach them in a team approach with a full time coordinator and many TAs. We divide up the schedule and we support each other. We have offices in the same area, which is a good idea.... There is an instructional team, and we share ideas, and it’s a supportive environment for teaching. I’ve really enjoyed that part of my experience.”... I have to say that I haven’t hesitated when I see another TA do something that is superior to what I am doing I will incorporate it, adopt it and adapt it to meet my needs.” Did you see the narrative? We didn’t at first either…

Robert: A Clue “I am an artist. I am more intuitive sometimes easy going and a little on the impulsive side.” We found Robert’s narrative style to be: disjointed impulsive scattered throughout the discussion reflective

Look again … is there a story? “They are virtually the same course [with different section numbers]. We teach them in a team approach with a full time coordinator and many TAs. We divide up the schedule and we support each other. We have offices in the same area, which is a good idea.... There is an instructional team, and we share ideas, and it’s a supportive environment for teaching. I’ve really enjoyed that part of my experience.”... I have to say that I haven’t hesitated when I see another TA do something that is superior to what I am doing I will incorporate it, adopt it and adapt it to meet my needs.”

How Did Robert Construct His Experience? Teamwork, collaboration, and support “A team approach.” “I don’t have experience.” “I am a comfortable teacher.”

Conclusions: What did we learn about our questions? Inductive analysis Strategies for finding teaching opportunities, and succeeding as inexperienced teachers Narrative analysis Two students describing their teaching experiences very differently But … they also had a lot of agreement

Conclusions: What did we learn about our questions? Inductive analysis Strategies for finding teaching opportunities, and succeeding as inexperienced teachers Narrative analysis Two students describing their teaching experiences very differently But … they also had a lot of agreement Conclusions: What did we learn about research? Inductive analysis Useful for quick answers, but does it really show the depth of the data? How much does context and individuality matter? Narrative analysis What is narrative? Can narrative be discerned from straightforward answers to interview questions?

Conclusions: What did we learn about our questions? Inductive analysis Strategies for finding teaching opportunities, and succeeding as inexperienced teachers Narrative analysis Two students describing their teaching experiences very differently But … they also had a lot of agreement Acknowledgments Thank you to My collaborators on this project Dr. Kathy Roulston (UGA) for reviewing drafts in class and pushing me to do narrative analysis Advisors (Drs. Charles Graham & Michael Hannafin) for research mentoring and opportunities for growth.