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Learning to Teach Locally: A Case Study of Graduate Students' Teaching Philosophies and Classroom Practices

James, Caleb Acton
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1493981597133484

Abstract Details

2017, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, English (Rhetoric and Writing) PhD.
This dissertation explores the ways that teaching assistants (TA) in the Rhetoric and Writing program at Bowling Green State University experience the teacher-development program, including the practicum course, peer mentoring, graduate student orientation, and teaching itself. Primarily I was interested in how writing teachers develop as pedagogues in relation to the efforts designed to foster pedagogical development. Employing survey methods, I inquired about TAs’ teaching and teacher-development experiences, teaching philosophies, and classroom practices. In an effort to triangulate data, I conducted observations of online course spaces, textual analysis on teaching materials, and follow-up interviews with two graduate students to add richness to their survey responses. My findings suggest that TAs’ classroom practices are largely influenced by requirements of their assistantships, such as the happenings within the practicum course or in mentoring groups; however, although TAs’ teaching philosophies are somewhat influenced their direct training, they are also influenced by a wide range of factors, such as their personal beliefs and program courses outside of the teacher-development program. The central claim in this project, then, is that teacher-development programs in rhetoric and composition should be more purposeful in fostering the pedagogical identities of TAs by acknowledging that many pedagogies can exist within the parameters of a single program’s curricula. Further, by inviting TAs’ pedagogical differences into negotiation with programmatic standards, writing program administrators and other faculty members involved in teacher development foster pedagogical identities in TAs that are more likely to successfully transfer from the role of TA to that of faculty. With this dissertation, I not only seek to contribute to the discipline of rhetoric and composition, but I also seek to build on the teacher-development program already in place for English TAs at BGSU.
Lee Nickoson, PhD (Committee Chair)
Sue Carter Wood, PhD (Committee Member)
Kris Blair, PhD (Committee Member)
Michael Zickar, PhD (Committee Member)
Composition; Curriculum Development; Education; Rhetoric; Teacher Education; Teaching
teaching of writing; teacher training; teacher development; transfer; resistance; teaching philosophies; writing pedagogy

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • James, C. A. (2017). Learning to Teach Locally: A Case Study of Graduate Students' Teaching Philosophies and Classroom Practices [Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1493981597133484

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • James, Caleb. Learning to Teach Locally: A Case Study of Graduate Students' Teaching Philosophies and Classroom Practices. 2017. Bowling Green State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1493981597133484.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • James, Caleb. "Learning to Teach Locally: A Case Study of Graduate Students' Teaching Philosophies and Classroom Practices." Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1493981597133484

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.