Suggests that good fourth-grade teaching is an expert activity--a complex activity that is not amenable to scripted materials, standardized lessons, or any one-size-fits-all plan for the organization of instruction. Shows that the 30 exemplary teachers discussed produce superior educational gains as measured on standardized achievement tests--not…

Describes and illustrates how the Reflective Framework for Teaching in Physical Education (RFTPE) can be used as a pedagogical tool to facilitate reflection and connect theory to practice during field experiences. It also includes potential advantages of using the RFTPE, comments from preservice teachers on using the RFTPE, and hints for…

Describes an examination of a reading invitation (social learning experiences designed to help students think deeply and broadly about books they have read) that occurred in a multi-age and mixed-ability primary classroom at a rural public school. Analyzes this invitation from a reflective practitioner's point of view. Discusses implications of…

Book review recommends "Teachers and Teaching," edited by Tom Russell and Hugh Munby, to educators who envision a symbiosis of professional practice and research to promote teacher researchers, suggesting that the book's strength lies in its diversity of forms of enquiry--from narrative dialogs between educators, to case studies, to more…

Refers to a literature review on reflection, focusing on strategies that assist its development in preservice programs. The paper then outlines an Australian research project that defined and applied reflection to an analysis of student writing. A framework for types of reflection as a basis for further research development is proposed. (Author/SM)

Reports on a refresher training program that introduces experienced physics teachers to a reflective lesson-planning model and a more constructivist approach to physics teaching. Three instructional strategies developed by participants in the program and the corresponding suggestions made by their peers are presented and analyzed. (29 references)…

Investigates what two teachers learn from each other as they engage in the three-month coteaching of an engineering curriculum to Grades four and five. Provides direct and indirect evidence of teachers' knowledgability. Contains 34 references. (DDR)

Teacher educators must produce teachers who see their own learning as a lifelong enterprise. Successful models of lifelong learning partnerships between universities and schools must assert connections between thinking, planning, and practice through self-generated supported reflective work at multiple levels, which is appropriate to the lifelong…

Discusses how teacher educators can critically examine their own conceptual frameworks, teaching methods, strategies, and techniques, and how they can maintain dialog with colleagues to make more thoughtful decisions about their own teaching practices and to more effectively link course content and the learning process. (Author/KB)

Presents information on a project to promote young students' mathematical thinking in which teachers attempt to explore ways to foster students' mathematical development by watching a CD-ROM containing student interviews. Discusses the role that technology might play as a catalyst for teachers to reflect upon their teaching experiences against the…

Describes an English-teacher educator's teaching/learning process that honors the voices of the students and builds on their needs and questions. Describes how she combines reflection on her teaching with "refraction": finding a new view on teaching using the oblique light from students' responses from their various dialogs. Includes responses…

California is field-testing a model to help new teachers become competent professionals via planning, teaching, reflecting, and applying. Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment/California Formative Assessment & Support System for Teachers acknowledges that teachers learn good practices gradually through consulting with colleagues and…

Presents a reflective account of a science teacher's endeavors to use the referent of critical constructivism to transform her pedagogical practices. The context of the action research is a Year 10 bioethics unit taught at an independent girls' school. Contains 44 references. (DDR)

Reports a longitudinal study of the mentoring relationship between an experienced middle-school teacher and a novice teacher (which was supported by a university educator), highlighting what the experienced teacher learned about herself as an educator through the relationship. Data from observations, journals, and transcripts of research and…

Describes the "Book Club Plus Inquiry Group," a group of classroom teachers and university teacher educators in Michigan involved in practitioner research. Offers perspectives from the group on the question of what counts as teacher research. Concludes with a model of their conception. (SR)