This conceptual essay explores the role a teaching philosophy plays in the experiences of K-12 classroom teachers who are firmly established in a school context. We draw on our experiences as in-service teacher educators and K-12 teachers to examine the extent to which teachers make decisions that are grounded in a well-thought out and clearly…

Experience may influence beliefs and beliefs may influence practices. Following these premises, we investigated teacher candidates' post experience reflections nine months after an international practicum where they taught for three weeks in rural Kenya. Teacher candidates were placed in non-governmental organization (NGO) sponsored schools on the…

What do we mean by reflective practice? What does it involve? How can it help you develop as a teacher? "The Teacher's Reflective Practice Handbook" is an essential source of advice, guidance and ideas for both student and practising teachers. Helping you to translate pedagogical knowledge into practice, this "Handbook" guides you through studying…

While supervising a student teacher in school, an incident occurred that highlighted a contradiction between my practice and my beliefs and prompted me to question why I do not always live the values I profess. The aim of this article is to investigate how self-study can help me to understand the complex and context-based situations of my…

This study chronicles a 2-year school wide portfolio initiative in a British elementary school, teacher resistance to the initiative, and factors that contributed to acceptance of the portfolio initiative. Critical components to teacher engagement in this context included teacher ownership of the process and product, a child-centred focus to the…

Verbal and non-verbal communication interactions have a strong influence on the social construction of gender. Therefore understanding the classroom interaction structures and the subsequent socio-cultural context is a vital commitment for any teacher. Furthermore, since gender is constructed in the day-to-day interactions of children's lives,…