When Dr. Sara Harms was a cooperating teacher in a high school classroom, it was a good experience, but she never really felt like she knew what she should be doing. That became the seed for her dissertation.
“I leaned into that topic of cooperating teachers because I really enjoyed working as a mentor and I wondered what we could do to help cooperating teachers feel better supported, and more competent in their role,” she said.
Her dissertation, “Focus in the Chaos: Cooperating Teachers’ Perceptions of a Structured Conferencing Guide,” earned the 2024 Association of Teacher Educators Distinguished Three-Article Dissertation in Teacher Education Award. This is the first year the Association of Teacher Educators (ATE) honored a three-article dissertation.
Harms earned her doctorate in Illinois State University’s School of Teaching and Learning in 2023. In 2003 she earned her bachelor’s in fashion merchandising, and in 2006, a second bachelor’s in Family and Consumer Sciences. She taught high school is Oswego for five years before relocating to Normal and returning to the Illinois State classroom.
For her dissertation, she began by working with Dr. Jill Donnell to develop a weekly structured conferencing guide to facilitate conversations between cooperating teachers and student teachers. This 14-week guide was put to use, and data was gathered on cooperating teachers’ perceptions of the guide. Revisions were made, and the updated guide will be rolled out this fall.
“A big part of these questions is having two-way conversations,” Harms said. “It’s not just the student teacher asking the cooperating teacher all these questions like they are the only person who has the answers. It’s acknowledging the student teacher has something to bring to the table too. They have answers, they have knowledge.”
That type of communication also gives the cooperating teacher insight into what the student teacher is learning in the university classroom, she added.
“The questions start out as a way to build the relationship and help the student teacher get a better understanding of the classroom and students they will be working with. As the semester goes on, the questions dive deeper into pedagogical topics, such as assessment. When I started my research, I really wanted to have something that I could put into action, some sort of product that could help support cooperating teachers. That was important to me.”
Cooperating teachers who have used the guide have shared positive reactions, she said. The guide includes the topic of how to have difficult conversations, such as managing and meeting expectations.
Harms was the first person to earn the ATE award for a three-article dissertation. The articles can be published separately.
“I was excited and honored to win at a national organization,” she said. In addition to receiving the award, she presented at the national ATE conference in March in Anaheim, Calif.
