UTA's Teacher Induction

What research says and does not say about getting a exceeds expectations on your first appraisal…

Eroogan, Mehme. (2010). A qualitative study on classroom management and classroom discipline problems, reasons, and solutions: a case of information technologies class. Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice, 10 (2), 881-891.

The researchers conducted a qualitative study on parents, teachers, and students to try to determine the causes and potential solutions for classroom management problems within technology classrooms. They determined that although different parties attributed the problems to different reasons, there were effective solutions such as reorganizing the seating plan and coordinating meetings with parents and teachers of other subject areas.


Howe, Christine. (2009). Collaborative group work in middle childhood: joint construction, unresolved contradiction, and the growth of knowledge.  Human Development, 52, 215-239.

This researcher analyzed many sources of existing data to determine the effect of collaborative group work in the middle childhood years. She focused on the areas joint construction, which supposes that children can accomplish more intellectually by working together than independently, and unresolved contradiction, which means the failure to understand when observations do not fit within the child’s current perception or schema. The results showed that collaborative grouping has benefits and that unresolved contradiction’s place within group processes can contribute.

Kobus, Tina. (2008). Increasing motivation of elementary and middle school students through positive reinforcement, student self-assessment, and creative engagement. Saint Xavier University, 1-111.

Primary and secondary school classrooms were analyzed to determine how to increase motivation. Researchers used a classroom behavior checklist, a student survey, and a parent survey. Motivation increased when students were given creative engagement opportunities such as collaborative groups and hands-on activities, as well as when students were allowed to self-assess their work and when students were given immediate, positive feedback from their teacher.

Salinas, Moises F. (2008). Long-term learning, achievement tests, and learner centered instruction. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 8 (3), 20-28.

The authors studied higher-education classrooms to compare traditional classrooms to learner-centered classrooms to determine which teaching style created better assessment scores and knowledge retention. The participants were asked to take a comprehensive test one semester after the completion of the course. The results showed that while neither group retained as much as was anticipated, the learner-centered group outperformed the traditionally taught group.
Smith, Christine, et al. (2003). How teachers change: a study of professional development in adult education. National Association of Adult Learning and Literacy: Harvard Graduate School of Education, (25), 1-193.
The researchers investigated three different types of professional development and their effect on teachers’ effective use of training. They determined that between multisession training, mentor teacher workshop, and practitioners’ workshop, there was no one that produced more significant change over others. They determined that teacher motivation was an important determinant of the amount of change they made as a result of their training.