The literature base is clear that when teachers reflect on their practice, they can identify areas of strength and areas of growth--both of which can improve the quality of their teaching (Jaeger, 2013). However, the realities of teaching today often mean teachers have many competing responsibilities and very little time between classes and after…

This self-reflection article explores the collaboration with a nongovernmental organization serving underserved students in Malawi and a private Midwestern university educator preparation program which provided research-based pedagogical culturally responsive practices to teachers. Through strong partnerships, education programs can combine their…

This Reflection on Practice is based upon a change in the undergraduate course "Family and Community Relations." Historically, this course has been taught on campus in a lecture format, as well as small and large group activities. However, during a spring semester at a midsized Midwestern University, it was altered to provide more direct…

This article comprises some critical reflections on the teaching of a second year undergraduate module called "Children's Cultural Worlds" in which students are required to engage with original studies which are then used to stimulate self-reflection and engagement with wider issues relating to our understanding of children's place in…

This article provides readers with five lessons the author has learned over the years as a mentor teacher to several preservice teachers: (1) Build confidence; (2) Be patient, flexible, and honest; (3) Listen and learn; (4) Be ready for extra work; and (5) Embrace the experience. Included in her reflective thoughts are comments from two of her…

Assessing the potential impact and utility of course assignments are often a matter of informed, yet personal judgment. Here, in this article, doing our own assignments before assigning them to students is explored as a quality assurance measure and as a means to ensure an empathetic and critical approach to developing course work.

This article presents the author's keynote address from the 2011 CEE Summer Conference at Fordham University in which he challenges educators to rethink what they do and how they do it. He talks about English teacher education as literacy teacher education. He tries to sketch a picture of the status quo and its limits, and an alternative picture…

May Sarton's (1961) novel, "The Small Room", provides a rich and compelling description of the complex relations among teachers, students, and subject matter at Appleton College. This article explores that "wild triangle of relations" in the context of teacher education, arguing that teacher educators and their students (prospective teachers)…

Social foundations courses, and in particular any course that has to do with multiculturalism or diversity, can be land mines for teacher educators seeking to provide experiences that may be "partisan" but also "educative". This article explores the tensions of teaching multiculturalism classes to undergraduate teacher…

The issue of how to produce high quality teachers is an ongoing concern for teacher educators worldwide. Research studies consistently conclude that despite the best efforts of teacher educators to provide programs that equip new teachers well for their work in schools, many new teachers find it difficult to enact what they have learned in…

In this paper, I offer my own counterstory of matriculating through a teacher education program as an African American student on a predominately White campus as a reference point for thinking through how racism operates through teacher education's dominant discourse and practice of teacher reflection. It is an important story to tell primarily…

In this article, I argue that the social studies methods course is an appropriate place to practice and reflect upon doing democracy. I review the literature on kinds of citizens the methods course might support. I consider pre-service teachers' prior and present experiences with doing democracy. I pose a framework for doing democracy centered on…