Deskilling approaches to staff development separate the conception of curriculum from execution of curriculum. The article discusses the experience of one staff developer regarding deskilling staff-development practices, shares journal reflections, and describes a set of strategies used to encourage teachers to actively participate in their own…

To respond effectively to alleged historical misrepresentations and prejudices in Afrocentric and other ethnocentric philosophies, educators must first address our society's inadequacies. Silence suggests complicity and discredits calls for reason, academic scholarship, and the value of learning. Multiculturalism is a world view that is rooted in…

Considers an action-based approach to the development of teaching skills in higher education through peer observation and collaborative reflection. The central features of a three-phase process model are described and explored, and the preliminary results of a pilot scheme at the University of Bradford (United Kingdom) are reported. (Author/LRW)

Examines some popular models of peer observation and their potential drawbacks and discusses the implementation of a more active and reflective model, where the focus is less on the observed and more on the active self-development of the observer. Relevance to staff development is also considered. (LRW)

Describes what happened and what was learned when 13 urban elementary school teachers, their principal, and a researcher embarked on a year-long inquiry project that involved meeting as a monthly study group, reading articles, and keeping journals about their teaching. Discusses the contradictions and dilemmas of keeping journals, and rethinks…

Presents strategies from six schools and two districts that won this year's U.S. Department of Education Model Professional Development Awards. Some of their strategies include teacher collaboration to plan professional development; teachers as leaders of learning for themselves and their peers; external partners providing expertise and resources;…

Explores whether reflective analysis promotes integration of theoretical knowledge presented in a course on motivation, with the practice of classroom management during a practice teaching round. Analyzes narrative accounts of practice where subjects recorded observations and reflections of experiences. Results indicate the presence of principal…

A public school teacher discusses how the process of attempting to earn National Board for Professional Teaching Standards certification was an extremely enriching experience, despite the fact that he did not earn the certification. Two of the most significant lessons he learned from the process were making time to reflect on the work of teaching…

Notes that teachers make intentional decisions during interaction with children and reflect on what occurs in the environment. Focuses on teacher behavior along several continua: soft-hard, simple-complex, open-closed, intrusion-seclusion, and high versus low mobility. Illustrates theory with a transcribed observation. Adapts Jones and Prescott's…

Describes experiences of two early childhood teacher educators during their self-study of the design and implementation of intensive summer courses focused on preschool education in a diverse society. Notes that courses incorporated active learning principles to facilitate reflective teaching and that course participants identified components that…

Addresses the issues of teachers professional knowledge and professionalism and stresses the design of school practice outside the classroom as a growing aspect of teachers work. Believes that seeing curriculum making and the designing of school work as a virtual practice opens new ways of visualizing teacher education programs. (CMK)

Describes the various tools used to promote reflection that have been introduced to prospective teachers. Those tools include portfolios, journals, cases, learning maps, stories retold, metaphors, and proverbs. Contains 58 references. (DDR)

Describes the professional development framework utilized in the Integrating Laboratory Instruction and Assessment (INLAB) project directed at changing teacher practice. The framework is based upon the establishment of an intellectual community of learners. (DDR)

Describes a reflective language learning experience that is part of one Hong Kong university's preservice program based on a reflective approach to teacher education. Participants study a language that is totally new to them. This lets them reflect on language teaching from the perspective of the learners whom they will teach when they become…

A study examined the developmental practicum experiences of five second-year graduate students in deaf education. Results indicated participants' experiences evolved through five stages: frustration, classroom engagement, emerging pupil knowledge, curriculum adaptation, and enthusiasm and positive attitude. Implications for practicum placement of…