Award Date

1-1-1996

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Instructional and Curricular Studies

Number of Pages

273

Abstract

Growing numbers of career change adults are entering alternative certification programs to become teachers. These adults bring to the classroom many of the same characteristics of traditionally-prepared teachers. They also come with some unique characteristics, among them age, reasons for entering teaching, prior career experience and well-developed personalities that include learning preferences; This study conceptualized non-traditional teachers as mature adults, persons whose personality types and learning styles preferences had been well developed and also reinforced by their previous career choices. The study explored the effect of non-traditional teachers' personal learning styles on their teaching styles. Four participants for this multiple-case study were identified through the use of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Each participant chosen for the study was representative of one of four learning styles quadrants based on the 16-type MBTI. Observations and interviews were used to gather data from the participants and their supervisors using the methodology framework of Yin (1991), and the methods of qualitative data analysis developed by Lecompte and Preissle (1993). In addition, videotaped teaching sessions were viewed and coded by the researcher and a peer for triangulation; Consistent with previous findings on the relationship between teaching and learning styles of traditional teachers, this study found that non-traditional teachers tend to select instructional strategies and media that support their preferred learning styles. They do so regardless of other influences such as administrative support, availability of resources, and educational coursework. They were found to comply with school district and school curriculum mandates in ways uniquely their own, again, drawing on their preferred modes of learning to plan curricula, teach and assess; The findings suggest that learning styles are an important consideration for teacher educators. Not only is it important for teacher educators to consider prior experience and learning styles in developing teacher education courses, it is also important for them to communicate the impact of personal learning styles preferences to preservice and inservice teachers for their future work in the classroom.

Keywords

Briggs; Career; Career Change; Change; Indicator; Learning; Myers; Nontraditional; Personal; Styles; Teachers; Teaching; Traditional; Type; Career Change

Controlled Subject

Teachers--Training of; Personality; Curriculum planning

File Format

pdf

File Size

6297.6 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

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Rights

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