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Using an emergent qualitative design and open-ended survey data, the research organizes findings around middle school philosophy, motivations to teach, and teacher preparation. Results reveal a deficit narrative about students despite admiration for middle school teachers, alongside stated needs for coursework in classroom management, adolescent psychology, and enhanced field experiences. Program implications address field experience structure and curriculum revisions.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":20,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/exam/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/current-issues-in-middle-level-education-vol-26-issue-1-article-2-teacher-candidates-perceptions-of-teaching-in-middle-school/600125/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/current-issues-in-middle-level-education-vol-26-issue-1-article-2-teacher-candidates-perceptions-of-teaching-in-middle-school/600125.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"nayy☆","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-05","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":34},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What was the purpose of the study?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"The study aimed to create a middle grades specialization/program while understanding teacher candidates’ perceptions of teaching in middle school and whether those perceptions could be changed. It also sought analytic generalizability for the program-design process and candidates’ views.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What research design and data were used?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"The research used an emergent qualitative design to gather rich data. It included open-ended survey data from diverse stakeholders on campus.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What did the study find about teacher candidates’ perceptions?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"Teacher candidates described an overarching deficit narrative about middle school students, even though they expressed admiration for middle school teachers. 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Beck\u003Cbr>Old Dominion University, [jbeck@odu.edu](jbeck@odu.edu)\u003Cbr>KaaVonia Hinton\u003Cbr>Old Dominion University, [khintonj@odu.edu](khintonj@odu.edu)\u003Cbr>Follow this and additional works at: [https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/cimle](https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/cimle)\u003Cbr> Part of the Junior High, Intermediate, Middle School Education and Teaching Commons |  |\n\nRecommended Citation  \nPerry, Bettie; Beck, Jori S.; and Hinton, KaaVonia (2021) \"“A Brave Group of People”: Teacher Candidates’ Perceptions of Teaching in Middle School,\" Current Issues in Middle Level Education: Vol. 26 : Iss. 1 , Article 2.  \nDOI: 10.20429/cimle.2021.260102  \nAvailable at: [https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/cimle/vol26/iss1/2](https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/cimle/vol26/iss1/2)  \nThis research is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. It has been accepted for inclusion in Current Issues in Middle Level Education by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. For more information, [please contact](please contact digitalcommons@georgiasouthern.edu)[ digitalcommons@georgiasouthern.edu](please contact digitalcommons@georgiasouthern.edu).  \n“A Brave Group of People”:  \nTeacher Candidates’ Perceptions of Teaching in Middle School  \nBettie Perry  \nOld Dominion University  \nJori S. Beck  \nOld Dominion University  \nKaaVonia Hinton  \nOld Dominion University  \nAbstract  \nWe set out to create a middle grades program and to inform the field about the perceptions of our  \nteacher candidates on teaching middle school. To accomplish these twin goals, we sought to  \nbetter understand our teacher candidates’ perceptions of teaching middle school and how these  \nperceptions might be changed if necessary. Our review of research included three themes to  \nframe this work: (a) middle school philosophy,(b) motivations to teach, and (c) middle school  \nteacher preparation. We chose an emergent, qualitative research design to cull rich data from  \ndiverse stakeholders including open-ended survey data. We found an overarching deficit  \nnarrative about middle school students even though teacher candidates expressed admiration for  \nmiddle school teachers. Our teacher candidates professed a need for coursework on classroom  \nmanagement and adolescent psychology as well as more field experiences to better prepare them  \nfor careers in the middle grades. Implications for middle grades programs are discussed,  \nincluding the structure of field experiences and teacher preparation curriculum. We explain  \nspecific revisions to our own program in the attempt to generate analytic generalizability.  \nThe National Center for Education Statistics [NCES] is projecting that employment of  \nmiddle school teachers will grow 8% from 2016 to 2027 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2018) .  \nThese projections indicate a greater need for teachers who can educate middle level students,  \nwhich is complicated during times of teacher shortages (e.g., Carver-Thomas & Darling  \nHammond, 2017). Motivating university students to make the teaching profession a viable choice continues to be an on-going goal of teacher education programs (Aragon, 2016) . Thus, there is a need for middle school teacher preparation specifically that prepares teacher candidates (TCs) to  \nvalue young adolescents as diverse and complete individuals (Bishop & Harrison, 2021) .  \nThe purpose of the current study was twofold. As part of the creation of a new Master of  \nArts of Teaching degree at our university, we set out to create a middle grades specialization.  \nHowever, to accomplish this goal, it was important to understand the perceptions","cbCaitTt1DFrI3Y6","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaitTt1DFrI3Y6","pdf",160963,17,"English","# Abstract\n## Study purpose and research focus\n## Research design and data sources\n## Key findings and implications\n## Related projections and motivations","[{\"question\":\"What was the purpose of the study?\",\"answer\":\"The study aimed to create a middle grades specialization/program while understanding teacher candidates’ perceptions of teaching in middle school and whether those perceptions could be changed. It also sought analytic generalizability for the program-design process and candidates’ views.\"},{\"question\":\"What research design and data were used?\",\"answer\":\"The research used an emergent qualitative design to gather rich data. It included open-ended survey data from diverse stakeholders on campus.\"},{\"question\":\"What did the study find about teacher candidates’ perceptions?\",\"answer\":\"Teacher candidates described an overarching deficit narrative about middle school students, even though they expressed admiration for middle school teachers. They also reported a need for additional preparation in classroom management and adolescent psychology, plus more field experiences.\"}]","Current Issues in Middle Level Education - Vol 26 - Issue 1 - Article 2 - Teacher Candidates’ Perceptions of Teaching in Middle School | PDF",1792090077,43]