Scholarship & Research
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Item First-year seminar instructor experiences: embracing an identity, an autoethnographic case study(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2024) Blanchard, Deborah Lee; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Tricia SeifertScholarship about first-year seminar programs tend to focus on success outcomes related to transition to college, retention, and persistence initiatives from the student perspective rather than the faculty experience. This autoethnographic case study explored two areas of the first-year seminar instructor experience: how facilitating academic-themed, interdisciplinary first-year seminar courses impact faculty perceptions of personal and professional identity and what first-year seminar components help or hinder the FYS instructor experience. This study found that the development of the first-year seminar instructor identity begins during the application process and continues to develop and evolve as an instructor becomes more experienced. Components that help or hinder the first-year seminar instructor experience include the ability to navigate challenging topics in the curriculum well, managing classroom interactions in a positive manner, and the way that the institution supports or does not support first-year seminar instructors. Instructors found increased confidence and self-efficacy when students engaged in classroom discussion positively and when they were able to connect and support students. This study offers suggestions for programs and institutions for supporting instructors teaching first-year seminars including: clarifying the purpose, intention, and goals of the first-year seminar so instructors can clearly articulate that for students, support faculty-student connection by elevating the role of first-year seminar instructors institutionally, creating opportunities for instructors to engage with one another in faculty learning communities and in relation to the campus more broadly, and providing adequate training and support so first-year seminar instructors can successfully support student transition to college.Item Determination of beginning teacher needs and the North Dakota school administrators' practices in supervision(Montana State University - Bozeman, 1963) Gefroh, PeterItem Suggestions for beginning teachers on handling the problem of cheating(Montana State University - Bozeman, 1960) Hollinger, Edward J.Item Distance-mediated mentoring : a telecommunication-supported model for novice rural mathematics and science teachers(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 1998) Luebeck, Jennifer LynItem Novice teacher's perspectives on principal mentoring in a K-8 rural school setting(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2008) DeBruycker, Kimberly Michele; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Ann deOnis.Teacher turnover is a common theme in the literature for schools in our nation. Several rural Montana districts have a difficult time recruiting and retaining teachers. Many statistical studies indicate teachers move to other professions after teaching between three and five years. What remained unheard in Montana were the voices of the teachers who might stay in education if support and encouragement were made available directly from the principal or in a minority of cases, if the support available from the principal could be improved. Principals working with novice teachers in rural K-8 schools must understand the needs of their new hires in order to implement and deliver effective mentoring strategies. The purpose of the study was to probe specifically what principals can do in their mentorship of K-8 teachers in a rural setting by eliciting the thoughts of novice teachers. With this knowledge, the principal could then take steps to ensure that these practitioners remain pleased in their profession and that they experience job satisfaction. An additional benefit of the study was a resource for principal mentoring in Montana rural schools. This qualitative study captured the voices of novice teachers through semi-structured interviews. These interviews provided a description of the needs and wishes of rural teachers. The investigation focused on the actions that might be provided to novice teachers by their principal to increase educators' job satisfaction and longevity. The findings indicated Montana rural K-8 teachers would prefer increased principal interactions in the areas (in random order) of 1) introduction and orientation, 2) honesty and expectations, 3) professional growth, learning, and forgiveness, and 4) availability. These four themes of teacher expectations, gleaned directly from the voices of rural teachers, provided the basis for a 76-page resource for Montana rural principals to create and implement their own district procedures for principal mentoring.