A description is given of the Social Studies Professional Semester at the State University of New York at Albany, a program attempting to provide the elements necessary for the development of reflective teaching. The 16-week program is designed to reduce the separation between clinical field experiences and professional education studies for preservice secondary teachers. The program has three phases: (1) university-based methods course and directed field experience; (2) student teaching; and (3) post-student teaching. The program's focus is on encouraging continuous reflections or theorizing about teaching practice, and throughout the semester teaching is presented as an investigative activity. Journals, observation assignments, and the discussions they generate, serve as a backdrop for the treatment of specific teaching methods. Student teachers are encouraged to engage in the action research cycle (planning, acting, observing, and reflecting) in order to discover possibilities, to identify patterns and/or relationships in their practice, to judge and appraise practice, and to take actions based upon analysis of their past practice. During the post-student teaching phase of the semester students discuss and present their projects and link their findings to earlier discussions of specific approaches to teaching. (JD)