This article uses three vignettes to illustrate the pitfalls that must be overcome if classroom experience during teacher preparation is to serve the broad purposes of learning to teach. These pitfalls mislead prospective teachers into believing that central aspects of teaching have been mastered and understood. (MT)

This article presents a conceptual framework that relates facts about the student teaching experience to what ought to be learned. Two cases of student teaching illustrate how the relative influence of program, setting, and participant interaction shape opportunities for learning. Suggestions for teacher educators are offered. (Author/MT)

This paper describes an exploratory study of conceptual change in 91 students enrolled in an introductory course at Michigan State University designed to help beginning teacher education students examine critically their preconceptions. The data consist of essay responses written at the beginning and end of the term. The authors were interested in…

The realities of teacher preparation are not self-evident. Researchers, educators, and policymakers need a framework to describe what goes on in teacher education programs and to determine how they do or do not measure up as preparation for teaching. This paper presents such a framework. The framework rests on a conception of the central tasks of…

This study investigates beginning teacher induction programs; what is known about experienced teachers acting as mentors; what mentors do and how they think about their work; and what novices learn from their interactions with them. This case study describes how one support teacher, Pete Frazer, a 30-year veteran, defines and enacts his role with…

This paper offers a comprehensive approach to creating a data base on learning to teach. It is organized chronologically around a learning-to-teach continuum. The first section deals with the pretraining phase, before prospective teachers even realize they are learning things that will shape their future teaching. The second section looks at the…

This paper presents a conceptual framework that relates empirical aspects of student teaching (facts about the experience) to considerations of value (what student teachers ought to learn). First, the report explains what is meant by calling student teaching an "occasion for teacher learning." Next, based on observational and interview…

The limitations and unique contributions of experiential learning across the learning-to-teach continuum (pretraining phase, preservice phase, inservice phase/on-the-job learning) were examined. Three vignettes are presented that describe specific examples of firsthand experience: student teaching, exploratory field experiences, and the field as a…

Learning to teach ought to be a major province of inservice rather than of preservice teacher education. A "learning to teach continuum" consists of four phases in a teacher's development. During the pretraining phase, which begins with the first childhood exposure to school, patterns and ideas of teaching are formed, and a model of teaching is…

The Mentor Teacher Program in the state of California is designed to retain capable teachers by expanding their rewards and opportunities. This report focuses on the character and quality of mentoring in an alternate route program sponsored by a large urban school district. A 30-hour required training course for mentors introduces them to their…

Presents findings from a survey of avocational teachers at the beginning and end of a three-year project to recruit and prepare volunteer teachers for a religious school. Reveals that participants joined to improve their children's education and enhance their own Jewish learning, and that the quality of the school improved. (DSK)