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Graduate Intervention Specialists' Responses to an Introductory Practicum: Implications for Teacher Educators.

2006; Project Innovation Austin; Volume: 127; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

0013-1172

Catherine D. Keener, Mary Ellen Bargerhuff,

Collaborative Teaching and Inclusion

Special education research is conducted to help those in the field better understand the strengths and needs of students with disabilities for the purpose of improving teaching practices and, ultimately, life outcomes for children receiving special education services in our nation's schools. As a result of recent research, we now know more about prevention, treatment, care, and instruction of children with disabilities than ever before. Researchers, however, often lament the time-gap that exists between initial research findings and their becoming a part of routine practice. Unique to education research are the separateness of the research and practice communities, limited application of research, failure to articulate manageable interventions, and generally weak opportunities for professional development (Greenwood & Abbott, 2001; Vaughn, Klingner, & Hughes, 2000; McLeskey & Waldron, 2004). The accusation that education research fails to impact practice in a timely manner extends to teacher preparation programs as well. Many researchers are critical of teacher education, asserting that pre-service teachers do not even recognize that a gap exists between research and practice. Furthermore, these researchers claim that teacher education programs do not adequately provide future teachers with the necessary knowledge regarding effective practices, nor do they offer experiences where students may learn to apply the research-based practices about which they should be learning (Greenwood & Maheady, 2001; Fuchs & Fuchs, 1994). Through discussions and problem solving, teachers can actively merge research and practice (Malouf & Schiller, 1995). In fact, aiding teachers in the assessment of student learning during instruction, while clarifying links between theory and practice, have actually been the primary goals of many recent staff development activities. Pre-licensure teachers should also be encouraged to form connections between research and practice so that they may contribute to a narrowing of the existing gap. In order to accomplish this, preparation programs should place strong emphasis on research-based theory while encouraging students to experience, early on in their programs, what it is like to interact with individuals who have disabilities. In this way they will learn to use research to inform their instructional decision-making and daily practice, while still having immediate access to teacher educators who are knowledgeable in theory and practice (Pugach & Johnson, 1995). We viewed student reflection from the lens of professional development (Greenwood & Abbott, 2001; Vaughn, Klingner, & Hughes, 2000; McLeskey & Waldron, 2004), and merging of theory and practice in teacher education (Greenwood & Maheady, 2001; Fuchs & Fuchs, 1994). As our analysis progressed, Spilkova's (2001) framework emerged as one that captured our idea of supporting professional development through the use of reflective journaling. This framework offered a lens for viewing reflection on practice by pre-licensure teacher candidates through two areas: 1) analysis of their own teaching attempts; 2) reflection on what is behind my activity (2001). Teacher candidates used a variety of self-reflection tools, including reflective diaries, focused writing essays, targeted questions, as well as individual and group activities. The purpose of this paper was to examine an initial field practicum assignment in an introductory special education course at Wright State University, to determine the impact of the assignment on the perceptions of pre-licensure, graduate intervention specialist majors. We wanted to see if the combination of course content, taught by persons knowledgeable in theory and practice who could give ample feedback (Pugach & Johnson, 1995), together with an opportunity to observe and interact with persons with disabilities, would help our students begin to span the breach between research and practice. …