Imagining Teacher Training Differently

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In taking a closer look at the origins and attributes of beliefs, this qualitative action-based study examines the effect that an individuals’ educational belief system has on their practice, and probes for creative ways of addressing these beliefs to further professional growth as teachers. Findings suggest that in heightening students’ consciousness of their belief systems during the teacher training process, they are more likely to discern and reshape or refine their educational belief systems so as to inform their pedagogical discourse and classroom practice. The central challenge of this study was to find ways to create states of cognitive dissonance that would make change possible, when educational theories or practice ran counter to an individual’s deeply rooted belief system.
In the course of the presentation I plan to share some of the tools that I developed while working with my students on their belief systems.

Stream: Teacher Training and Professional Development

Paper: A paper has not yet been submitted.

I was born in the US, raised in Switzerland, studied for my first two degrees in the States, and finally found my home in Israel. The need for creativity, innovativeness and charisma in working with young children is the same all over the world, and I am excited about finding new ways to help teachers in training to discover and develop these traits in themselves. As a teacher trainer and fieldwork supervisor I have the opportunity to work on a very personal level with my students, and delight in seeing the changes and growth in them throughout their studies. The past two years I have been the Head of the Early Childhood department, but resigned once I realized that the administrative demands threatened to extinguish my passion for education. Outside of the Teacher's College I am a karate instructor in an organization for women in the martial arts in Israel, and when the spirit moves me, I love to write poetry.