This book represents the results of a 15-year study based on case studies of the development of four teachers' pedagogical thinking. It illustrates how teachers' thinking (about children's behavior, development, learning, and teaching) develops over time based on their personal and professional life experiences. Data come from regular, periodic…

This how-to guide to classroom inquiry takes educators through the process step-by-step, from beginning to end, answering critical questions on developing the research plan, collecting and analyzing the data, and writing and publishing the results. Seven chapters include: (1) "Teacher Inquiry Defined" (e.g., what teacher inquiry is and how it…

This paper evolved from a conference panel presentation on the preparation of prospective high school history teachers. The four papers excerpted here are entitled: "Using History Departments to Prepare Secondary Social Studies Teachers: A Challenge for the Profession in the 21st Century" (Donald Schwartz); "Why and How Should History Departments…

Becoming a better teacher through active reflection is at best encouraged in graduate school, however Teaching Assistant (TA) training often focuses so intently on the "how" of teaching writing that it never reaches the "why" of teaching; TAs are left with an eclectic grab-bag of activities that they know "work,"…

Offering 16 essays by presenters at the first Middle School Mosaic (held in Detroit, Michigan, in 1997), this book connects the themes of literacy, reflective practice, and the special characteristics of middle level teaching. In the first section, Literature and Literacy at the Middle Level, the authors examine questions of literacy by looking at…

Proposes three thought experiments on various contexts of teaching mathematics. The experiments are intended to raise questions about the mathematics curriculum and to engage discussion about what topics should have high priority in arithmetic teaching. (DDR)

Provides details of the Gender and Ethnic Equity in Science Education (GEESE) program that gives preservice science teachers the opportunity to use clinical observations and reflection as vehicles for discovering the disparate school experiences of the diverse students in their science classrooms. Contains 71 references. (DDR)

Presents the experience of an assistant professor in a university English-as-a-Second-Language program who lost her job because of budget cuts. The writer, currently teaching at another university, reflects on her experience and offers suggestions to teachers facing job loss. (three references) (Author/CK)

Presents stories describing one teacher's knowledge in practice, arguing for the epistemological role of caring in teaching. The teacher's narratives describe what she knows from having caring relationships with her students and how that alters her pedagogy. The paper suggests that complex relationships between caring and knowing involve constant…

The American Psychological Association's "Learner-Centered Psychological Principles" comprise a knowledge base organized around certain cognitive, affective, developmental, personal, social, and individual-difference factors. Teachers need self- assessment and reflection tools to assess fundamental beliefs and assumptions about learning,…

Asserts that developing personal and professional critical consciousness about racial, cultural, and ethnic diversity should be a major component of preservice teacher education; discusses how teacher education students avoid engaging with racial issues in education (silence, diversion, guilt, and benevolent liberalism); and suggests strategies to…

Presents findings from a study about what a group of teacher education graduates learned about race as they prepared to teach in multicultural classrooms. Findings suggest that field experiences potentially teach passivity toward culture, learning about race needs to go beyond being a personal benefit to white teachers to competence in teaching in…

Presents perspectives and experiences of prospective science teachers who developed science lessons and small educational projects in collaboration with practicing elementary and middle school teachers. Concludes that prospective teachers perceived themselves to be more confident and more competent to teach science after the collaboration. (SOE)

Notes how as a teacher educator, the author incorporates poems of Langston Hughes in hopes of preparing pre-service teachers to teach diverse students. Shares pre-service teachers' reflections to Hughes' poem "Dreams" in one literature class. Begins with an overview of poetry in children's lives, describes the setting and presents how…

Explores the extent to which a reflective approach to English-as-a-Foreign/Language teacher training is suitable for teaching undergraduate students a course in methodology at the University of Alcala in Spain. (Author/VWL)