In this article, the authors present (Lortie's, D. C. (1975) construct of the apprenticeship of observation--what people learn about teaching from having been students in school--as fundamentally conservative. Students, see teachers "front stage and center like an audience viewing a play," thus learning about teaching in a manner that is…

This longitudinal case study follows one high school English teacher's path of concept development over a two-year period encompassing her student teaching and first year of full-time teaching, both at the same rural school in the southeastern United States. The authors use a sociocultural theoretical framework emerging from the work of Vygotsky…

Many teachers are searching for that "silver bullet": the teaching method that always works. Many answers, often contradictory, are offered by educators far and wide, as evidenced by the 768,000 websites identified by a Google search for "best practices teaching." The quest for best practices has led many to seek ways to teach that defy even the…

This article analyzes how Sharon, a student teacher, negotiated the different conceptions of teaching that provided the expectations for good instruction in her university and the site of her student teaching and how her effort to reconcile the different belief systems affected her identity as a teacher. The key settings of Sharon's experience…

Suggests the following small group activities for improving reading comprehension: (1) introductory activities; (2) studying symbolic episodes; (3) synthesizing ideas within a literary unit; and (4) weaning students from teacher dependence. (JAD)