It is notoriously difficult to classify occupations as professions and to define professional work. Numerous authors have provided criteria for categorising occupations as professions but the judgement still remains a difficult one. Freidson (1991) is clear that professional work is Good Work. It has a moral purpose and arguably that sense of…

The purpose of this research was to understand how one teacher reflected on different classroom situations and to understand whether the teacher's approach to these reflections changed over time. For the purposes of this study, we considered reflection as the teacher's act of interpreting her own practices and students' thinking to make sense of…

The inaugural column in the "Content Literacy" department discusses the importance of teachers' assisting students in grades 4-6 to develop content literacy skills. The discussion centers on levels of literacy and diversity issues facing teachers and then identifies three fundamental elements that should be a part of every teacher's content…

The task of creating organizational policies and systems that promote and support reflective teaching is multifaceted and seldom enumerated in early childhood professional literature. One of the best overviews the author has found comes from Carol Brunson Phillips and Sue Bredekamp (1998). The author opines that if the early childhood profession…

This document contains the Phase III report from the "What Works in Oklahoma Schools" study. As opposed to describing the findings from the study that was conducted, it provides a tool-kit that can be used by Oklahoma principals and teachers to determine the best courses of action for their schools and classrooms. The tools provided in…

This article will discuss issues concerning the potential of videopapers, drawing on a research project investigating the use of videopapers as a tool for reflecting on practice and as an assignment in initial teacher education. Student teachers engaged in initial teacher education programmes often find it difficult to "see" what is…

Although teachers are engaged in many field-trips, they seldom have the pedagogical knowledge and experience to enact them. This article presents an effort to support reflective practice of teachers in the outdoors. The teaching experience of five pre- and in-service teachers included preparation for teaching in the outdoors, designing learning…

The socioemotional factors, which influence students' trajectories on their pathways to reading success, are often overlooked in literacy screenings and reading instruction. This article outlines the connections between personality factors, in particular resilient personalities, and early literacy success. It also offers teachers a series of six…

Suggests that the insights of educational action research, especially in connection with the reflexive nature of knowledge, must be taken seriously by educational philosophers and that it will not be, until they take seriously the fact that philosophy of education can become genuinely synoptic. (Author)

Inquiry-based staff development alters the way participants conceive of their roles as teachers and colleagues. Collegial communities can sustain significant changes in issues participants identify as important and support leadership efforts beyond the local context. (SK)

Brings together 25 years of experience of keeping journals, thinking about landscape, and attending Quaker meetings. Suggests that good writing happens not despite our "busyness," but rather because we have found ways to attend to our outward lives by attending to our inward lives. Considers how the journal becomes a doorway to the…

Discusses the concepts of reflective practice and communities of practice as they relate to faculty development, and offers an extended example from a program at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis. (EV)

Argues for a more deliberate emphasis on teacher training by reinvigorating "techne" as a concept that is far more than instrumental or prescriptive. Suggests that if teacher educators prepare prospective teachers to master the "techne" of teaching, they encourage them to become user-centered, reflective practitioners who…

Transformative learning theory provides a framework for development of authentic, individuated, critically reflective practitioners. Strategies for transformative professional development include action plans, reflective activities, case studies, and critical theory discussions. (Contains 17 references.) (SK)

Describes the author's experience teaching Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants." Reflects on the author's teaching style and how teaching Hemingway affected his classroom experience. (SG)