High school teachers

The purpose of this explanatory mixed methods study was to understand the impact of a large school district’s professional development, Transgender Student Guidelines and Procedures, on middle and high school teachers’ perceptions of their role as a teacher, on classroom practices, and on the school policies relating to Transgender students. In this study, teacher perceptions of Transgender students were defined as the attitudes, opinions, impressions, and awareness of Transgender students, or individuals who were born as one sex and identify and express themselves as a gender different from the sex assigned at birth. This study was significant as it addressed teacher perceptions and practices as well as the heteronormative and cisnormative structures that are perpetuated and valued within schools. The data were collected via two phases: the quantitative, web-based survey responses, followed by the qualitative, individual interviews. The sample population consisted of 117 middle and high school teachers. Out of the 117 teachers, 90 participants participated in the pre-survey, 71 participants participated in the post-survey, 89 participated in the professional development, and 8 participated in the individual interviews. Five major findings emerged from the data analysis of the interviews as factors influencing and impacting middle and high school teachers’ perceptions of their role and experiences, actions and classroom practices, and perceptions of school policies relating to Transgender students. These findings include (a) teacher experiences, (b) teacher support, (c) lack of understanding, (d) school policy, and (e) school support.

Little is known about teacher questioning behavior in World and American literature courses as taught in high schools, although most teachers from primary through college generally use the memory level question and do not plan questions in sequence. This study focused on the specific questions selected teachers of secondary literature asked their students in order to determine the frequency of questions asked at each cognitive level and the presence or absence of questioning patterns. Teacher characteristics such as age, sex, years of teaching experience, and academic preparation were examined to determine their relationship to the number of types of questions asked by teachers. Matched for similarity in size, socio-economic level, and geographically representative of their area, three secondary schools were chosen from Brevard County, one each from North, Central, and South Brevard. Twenty-two out of 26 cooperating teachers of students of average and above average ability in World and American literature courses participated. Using a cassette recorder, each teacher taped one discussion lesson per week for six consecutive weeks in the fall of the 1979-1980 school year. Rogers' checksheet, The Teacher Oral Question Observation Schedule was used to code four randomly selected tapes from each teacher. Memory questions totalled 56.4% of all questions asked, while interpretation totalled 20% and procedure 16.8%. The remaining categories (pupil input, translation, evaluation, application, analysis, synthesis, affective and textbook) accounted for 6.8% of the total number of questions asked. One of every two questions asked was a memory question; nine questions out of every 10 asked were either memory, interpretation or procedure. Generally, teachers with masters' degrees asked fewer questions than those who earned only a bachelor's degree. Teachers generally did not pattern their questions hierarchically. Patterns indicated a reliance on lower cognitive and procedural questions. Only three significant relationships were uncovered in correlating teacher characteristics with question level of frequency. Interpretation questions, 20% of all questions, were negatively correlated to the number of quarter hours' training the teacher had in English. Procedural questions, which totalled 16.8% of all questions, were positively correlated to the prior training a teacher had in classroom techniques. Pupil input questions, totalling 3% of all questions, were positively correlated to the teacher's number of years' experience. Hypothesis I, IA, and IB were rejected. The frequency of questions asked by teachers varied; however, the percentage use of categories remained constant. Teachers are choosing lower cognitive and procedural questions nine times out of 10. Hypothesis II was rejected. Teachers are choosing combinations of lower cognitive and procedural patterns of questioning. Hypothesis III was accepted. Except in three instances, teachers used a consistent pattern of questioning, no matter what their background was. The more quarter hours' training the teacher had in English, the fewer interpretation questions he asked. Training in classroom techniques tends to encourage the asking of procedural questions. Teachers who have taught longer generally ask more pupil input questions.