ERIC Number: ED493791
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2006
Pages: 176
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: ISBN-0-8058-5430-4
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Learning to Teach Inclusively: Student Teachers' Classroom Inquiries
Oyler, Celia
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates (Bks)
This book--co-authored by a teacher educator, a diverse group of five pre-service student teachers, and their student teaching supervisor--takes a unique, illuminating look at the experience of student teaching from the perspective of student teachers. It is premised on learning to teach as an inquiry process enriched by collaborative conversations. Readers are invited into student teachers' dilemmas and decisions as they negotiate between their public school placements and their university-based coursework. Throughout the year of student teaching, the authors document their discussions and reflections about teaching in inclusive classrooms that shed light on the complex process of learning to teach and also offer insights into issues of teaching for equity. Each of the central chapters is written by an individual student teacher and tracks a specific question over the course of two semesters. Topics include: (1) contrasting models of inclusion and teachers' differing orientations toward issues of community, difference, and normalcy; (2) how teachers foster peer relationships; (3) classroom management and discipline; (4) heterogeneous instruction; and (5) school-wide culture and systems that promote or mitigate against inclusion. A new perspective on what can be learned from student teaching is provided by the student teachers' supervisor. In the concluding chapter, the teacher educators address the connections among the student teachers' inquiries and offer an analysis from a disability studies/disability rights perspective on how inclusion fits into a social (rather than a medical) model of disability. All of the authors of this book seek to contribute to conversations that place advocacy, inquiry, contestation, and challenge at the center of the teacher's role. This volume is their invitation to readers to join in a larger conversation about the challenges of, and necessity for, becoming inclusive teachers. Following a preface, this book is divided into the following chapters: (1) Learning to Teach in Heterogeneous Elementary Classrooms; (2) Carine Allaf's Inquiry: My Search for the Perfect Classroom; (3) Barbara Wang's Inquiry: How Teachers Foster Peer Relationships; (4) Scott Howard's Inquiry: Investigating the Challenge of Managing a Classroom Full of Individuals; (5) Leslie Gore's Inquiry: Designing Accessible Instruction; (6) Jen Lee's Inquiry: Struggle and Change in School Communities; (7) Scaffolding Student Teachers' Reflective Inquiries (B. Hamre); and (8) Being an Inclusive Teacher (B. Hamre and C. Oyler).
Descriptors: Learning Processes, Elementary Education, Teacher Educators, Student Teaching, Classroom Techniques, Student Teachers, Preservice Teacher Education, Inclusive Schools, Mainstreaming, Teacher Role, Peer Relationship, Teacher Attitudes, Discipline, School Culture, Disabilities, Personal Narratives, Student Diversity, Scaffolding (Teaching Technique), Inquiry, Reflective Teaching
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 10 Industrial Avenue, Mahwah, NJ 07430. Tel: 800-926-6579; Fax: 201-760-3735; e-mail: orders@erlbaum.com; Web site: http://www.erlbaum.com
Publication Type: Books; Collected Works - General
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Students
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A