Engaging Beginning Teachers in Teaching for Understanding: A Multi-Case Study

This multi-case study examined the capacity of beginning teachers to teach for understanding; it also explored their development as they used a specific pedagogical framework to design and teach a unit. The participants were four second-year teachers, all of whom had completed a graduate teacher preparation program and were working in well-resourced high schools in the Mid-Atlantic region. During their teacher preparation program, they were introduced to the Teaching for Understanding (TfU) pedagogical framework. In their first year of teaching, they participated in a support group---as part of a pilot study---that concentrated on issues of student understanding. The research focused mainly on their second year, as they planned and taught a TfU unit. The conceptual framework for the study detailed the effect of beginning teacher development and teacher efficacy on novice teachers' capacity to teach for understanding. A definition of quality teaching formulated by Fenstermacher and Richardson (2005) informed the conceptualization of the interplay of these constructs. The research examined the study participants' evolving views of teaching and learning issues; behaviors and reflections as they planned for and used TfU in their practice; and beliefs in their capacity to reach all students. Data sources comprised transcripts of audio-taped planning sessions before the TfU unit was taught; notes from classroom observations prior to and during the unit; post-observation interview transcripts; documents provided by the participants; and survey responses. The study found that beginning teachers face many obstacles to their being able to teach for understanding, although three of the four participants showed the capacity to use principles of the Teaching for Understanding framework, namely planning long-term, engaging students in activities designed to deepen their understanding of subject matter, and effectively assessing student learning. In all four cases the TfU framework enabled the teachers---albeit to varying degrees---to set specific goals for student understanding. Finally, the study exposed weaknesses in purported efforts to support beginning teachers and recommended specific actions schools and teacher preparation programs should take to ensure that beginning teachers are carefully guided and encouraged to focus on student achievement.