Set against an organized school reform backdrop, this inquiry features four challenges I faced as a result of working alongside teachers and principals whose urban schools were awarded major school research grants for a 5-year period. In addition to teasing out the origins of the dilemmas I encountered and showing how they impacted my teaching…

This article describes an action-learning project that helped teachers to rethink their approaches to children who challenge. The project enabled and encouraged teachers to reflect critically on why and how particular children challenged them and then to use their critical reflections to strengthen their capacity to work with those children. The…

This self-administered self-study examined a high school teacher's thought processes during the planning and teaching of lessons, and after the lessons had been completed--identifying levels of reflectivity, interactive thoughts, and decisions. Video tapes, teacher journal entries, and peer interviews were used to help stimulate recall and explore…

This report presents a collection of teaching models to help college faculty improve their teaching. Six categories of teaching models are presented: (1) assessment and feedback models, including the Classroom Assessment model created by Angelo and Cross and already widely used among community college faculty; (2) discussion and sharing models,…

As reflective teaching has been a major concern in education with the movement for increased teacher professionalism and involvement in all aspects of school decision-making, the 10 articles in this volume address reflective practice in the social studies with an emphasis on how reflection and inquiry can contribute to both teacher and curriculum…

This paper puts forth techniques for the promotion of reflection which can be used in university seminars for preservice teachers. The techniques are based on the idea of reframing, i.e., looking at experiences from a new perspective. From a cognitive psychological point of view, this means that the person's cognitions about a situation or…

The purpose of the paper is to examine potential reasons for the lack of influence that reflective inquiry has had on social studies theory and to suggest an alternative perspective. The first two sections of the paper discuss the reasons for reflective inquiry's failure to impact on practice and include: (1) the interpretation of the inquiry…

Many educational philosophers and researchers have argued the importance of including ethical study and reflection in educational preparation programs, both for prospective teachers and administrators. Among other potential benefits, a moral foundation allows educators to evaluate current practices and assess their work amidst a seemingly…

"Stepping Up to Science and Math" invites teachers to step back and rethink the way they teach both of these essential subjects. Then it illustrates how teachers can step up the pace with Standards-based activities that make learning more effective and efficient. (New lessons featuring gummy worms, school buses, or the planet Mars help teachers…

This study examined the meaning of learner centeredness from the perspectives of practicing elementary, secondary, and postsecondary teachers who were constantly working to live out this concept in their teaching lives. The primary data sources were teacher interviews collected from each participant during a larger study on how teachers came to…

Based on an analysis of the nature of theory that is relevant to teachers, this paper presents an approach to teacher education, the realistic approach, and reports on its use in two countries. The paper uses the concepts of episteme and phronesis to introduce a new way of looking at theory that is relevant for teacher development. Section 1…

In this remarkable collection of articles, teachers reflect on the complex worlds of their classrooms to gain a better understanding of their students, themselves, and the act of teaching. The contributors to Class Acts represent a diversity of backgrounds, subjects, grade levels, and educational philosophies. But they share a common approach:…

Illustrates how Exploratory Practice (EP), a form of practitioner research, offers a successful and coherent approach to doctoral research and how learner and teacher/researcher understanding can be developed together. EP principles were used to integrate teaching practices and research in an applied setting to aid both the students and the…

Describes the University of Virginia's Commonwealth Center Invitational Team Case Competition, a yearly activity focusing attention on case-method teaching to encourage reflective thought and action. Teams, who are presented with the same classroom case, compete to analyze the situation effectively and defend their positions. (SM)

The article outlines the use of reflective journal writing to help develop preservice teachers as reflective practitioners. Journals allow students to determine their own focus and what they want to understand, and to have their ideas seriously valued as knowledge being personally constructed. The importance of collaboration is examined. (SM)