Palpable teacher preparation: Preliminary and professional evolvement of prospective urban teachers

This study examined the longitudinal qualitative inquiry of seven beginning teachers' teaching experiences in urban schools and the sources of their knowledge. The purpose of this study was to describe the socially constructed and contextual nature of an internship in urban schools for preservice teachers and their beginning teaching experiences, and the entities from their backgrounds that influenced their thinking and helped to develop attitudes and skills essential to teach in an urban school.The objectives were to document subtle changes over time in the beginning teachers' knowledge and teaching beliefs and behaviors during their first few years of teaching and their internship, and to determine how the contextual influences of an urban elementary school contribute to these changes in both positive and negative ways.Data sources were formal and informal observations, interviews, field notes, dialogue journals, questionnaires, and final reflective statements were used to add depth to the study and triangulate the findings. The data were processed using the constant comparative and content analysis method to generate the grounded theory. The design of this study was based on the naturalist and participant-observer approach to inquiry. Qualitative methods were used for collecting data, with interviews serving as the primary mode.Results indicated that the teachers feel their university coursework did not prepare them to teach children in urban schools. The finding suggest that specific skills and beliefs are required to teach children in urban schools. The findings further suggest that the beginning teachers agree that those specific skills and beliefs encompass having knowledge of the community, being acquainted with the home, being able to manage student behavior, and instruction.The findings from this study reveal that family members, former teachers, positive efficacious administrators and teachers play a major role in influencing the perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors of beginning teachers. The findings can also serve as a heuristic device for teacher educators, prospective teachers, and educational researchers.The cardinal significance of the study is that it offers a category scheme for examining prospective teachers' knowledge of teaching coupled with the sources of their knowledge that can be useful for subsequent quests.U of I OnlyETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permissio