Background/Purpose: Teacher educators should be a role model who can model the use of best practices because the way they teach is the message of teacher education. While teacher educators are good examples to pre-service teachers, there is little systematic research about the practice of teacher educators' modeling. The purpose of this study was to examine how teacher candidates perceive modeling of the teacher educator and what roles it plays on their identity development.
Method: Eight participants were selected from students who were enrolled in an elementary PE methods course in a university located in Seoul, Korea. The course was designed by the thematic framework of learning to teach (Feiman-Nemser, 2009) to offer experiences such as to know, think, feel, and act like a teacher. Data were collected from teacher candidates' reflective writing, participant observation, and interviews with participants. Data were analyzed inductively, and triangulation and member check were used to enhance trustworthiness of data.
Analysis/Results: Findings revealed that teacher candidates perceived both implicit and explicit aspects of teacher educator's modeling. Teacher candidates attempted to copy some aspects of teacher educator's modeling and also use it as springboard to form their own teacher identity. Teacher candidates' initial images of a PE teacher have been changed: (a) from a skilled athlete to a facilitator, (b) from a static statue to a dynamic actor/actress, and (c) from safety personnel to a tour guide.
Conclusions: Findings showed that a methods course designed with a specific focus of modeling can be helpful for teacher candidates' identity development.
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