Uses an analogy with a mother's cooking skills to illustrate how teachers spend years building their own "intuitive" style of teaching; how they need to constantly watch, think, and reflect, all the while dealing with multiple demands, juggling everyone's needs, seeking balance. (TD)

Explores a structured approach to support student teachers in the use of reflective self-evaluation as part of ongoing professional development. Reviews the Scottish context of initial teacher education, and describes elements of the approach: classroom climate, pairing of student teachers to encourage peer discussion, and…

A preservice-teacher educator discusses the importance of teachers becoming designers of classroom research and generators of learning theory, and describes her own development as a teacher-researcher. Stages of teacher research are outlined, including posing questions, developing a research plan, collecting and analyzing data, and sharing and…

Reviews strategies for helping prepare preservice and inservice English-language and content-area teachers to help students to function in English-as-a-Second/Foreign-Language classrooms in elementary, secondary, and tertiary educational contexts around the world. Strategies are drawn from three models of teacher development: craft or training,…

Presents a detailed case study of a ninth grade science teacher to explain how school science constrains the development of her professional knowledge. Concludes that the version of experiment and inquiry seemingly prescribed by the institutional science of school is antithetical to the sort of explanatory inquiry the teacher uses when planning…

Describes how one university's teacher education program infuses issues of inquiry, reflection, equity, and diversity, examining reasons for preparing teachers this way and arguing that school-based inquiry and reflection should be deeply imbedded in teacher preparation programs, which are linked to practical experiences. Examples of collaborative…

Describes an early field experience program designed to help student teachers develop and enhance reflective thinking skills and value reflections and to model collaborative learning. Data from observations, interviews, and journals indicated that the program enabled student teachers to grapple more effectively with the complexities of the…

A discussion of implementing the inclusion of students with disabilities in regular classes in Britain considers: teaching techniques, the appropriate use of learning support assistants with special needs students and a proposed framework for inclusive classroom practices. The framework emphasizes the integration of teaching techniques, various…

Discusses teacher confession as a pedagogical tool that can prepare teachers for the reality of diversity, arguing that confession is a necessary precondition to preparing present and future teachers to attempt anything critical in their classroom. The paper summarizes literature on critical pedagogy, distinguishes between personal and…

Examined changes in preservice teachers' perceived types of conflicts and tensions and reasons and strategies for coping with them during their year-long clinical experiences and first year of teaching. Interviews indicated that there were four main conflict types. As participants gained experience and grappled with conflicts and tensions, they…

Examined preservice teachers' journeys toward becoming reflective professionals within the context of a reading/language-arts methods course and elementary field experience. Observations, journals, surveys, and interviews indicated that participants' behaviors were grouped into three categories: questioning as a way of learning, constructing a…

Diverse teacher educators met regularly to discuss their beliefs about educational philosophy, teacher education, constructivist pedagogy, and authentic assessment. Participants made reflections, then listened to constructive criticism by other group members. Processes they used to explore their thinking about teaching practice and student…

Describes how one high school implemented schoolwide action research teams as a comprehensive change management strategy to develop teacher leaders, teachers as change agents, and a collaborative reflective culture. The three-year case study showed that work on action research teams did not come naturally or easily, but teachers improved over time…

Explores an eight-week inquiry into the use of Retrospective Miscue Analysis (RMA) between the authors and a struggling reader in a juvenile corrections center. Outlines preparation for the RMA sessions. Finds powerful potential for empowering at-risk and troubled readers by exploring their existing strengths and from them developing greater…

Describes an action research inquiry conducted by a primary science tutor, focusing on his work with preservice and inservice teachers. The paper examines parallels between the research process and the researcher's approach to teaching adult learners. Both were underpinned by explicit epistemological assumptions based on a constructivist view of…