A Catholic-school teacher of grades five and six reflects on her first year of teaching and describes how Foxfire training led her to introduce group decision making and planning into her classroom. Resulting class projects including a newspaper, a play, and a booklet of ghost stories are described. (SV)

A special educator recounts lessons learned from her first year of teaching, in her case in a special class of students with multiple disabilities. Lessons include analysis of early mistakes and the importance of student file review, direct student observation, utilizing the advice of experienced educators, and planning for change. (DB)

Discussion of the research/practice gap in higher education suggests the importance of considering the forces influencing new faculty and researchers, including tenure and promotion policies and practices, institutional socialization, disciplinary culture, journal editors, and senior scholars. Offers suggestions for bridging the gap between new…

Describes the author's first year of teaching (1972). Discusses six lessons she learned, including how: (1) collaboration and choice build ownership and enthusiasm; (2) excitement and passion are vital supports for learning; (3) reading and writing for audiences beyond the classroom are powerful motivators; and (4) openness to new ways of viewing…

In this article, Peter Sipe compares his first year as a middle school teacher in Brooklyn, New York, to that of a rookie corrections officer at Sing Sing prison. Sipe explores what he considers to be disturbing similarities in these experiences, namely, a preoccupation with control, immersion in an adversarial social dynamic, and the prevalence…

Beginning teachers in Northern Ireland and the United States conducted structured inquiry projects in which they investigated elementary children's understanding of history and social studies. Interviews with the teachers and analysis of their written assignments indicate that these investigations challenged their beliefs about children's prior…

Personal narratives from first-year English teachers reveal that the social system of the schools in which they teach, the instructional system and its accompanying curriculum requirements and restraints, and the nature of the student population become dominant in determining teachers' behavior and their attitudes toward teaching. (HOD)

The quality of an educational institution is determined by the quality of its faculty. The first professional position will mold the attitudes and abilities of the young professor. Recently, new professors were surveyed as to their experiences as novices, and their responses are discussed. (JN)

Presents the reflections of beginning music teachers taken from 20 interviews. Focuses on the biggest challenges they faced, successful teaching strategies and methods, mentor programs and social support systems, effective professional growth experiences, important aspects of teacher preparation, and their views of the future. (CMK)

This article discusses problems of beginning teachers and suggests two categories of solutions: increased support during the initial year and increased involvement of principals in the preservice preparation program. Several responsibilities for principals in relation to student teaching are recommended. (IAH)

Discusses how teachers learn to teach through direct experiences and participation as students and beginning teachers. Direct experience provides cause-and-effect inferences about what works; as time goes on, teachers use the knowledge acquired to improve their teaching. Strategies for school improvement work in much the same way. (SM)

In this interview, an Educational Testing Service (ETS) staff person outlines the three program components, as well as program development, pilot testing, and implementation plans for "The Praxis Series: Professional Assessments for Beginning Teachers." Issues related to equity and computer-assisted testing are also examined. (IAH)

John Goodlad believes the imminent teacher shortage could provide an opportunity for centers of pedagogy to prepare reading and math head teachers to work with teams of primary teachers. By democratizing school conditions, students could be educated for "civitas," or human goodness. Technology is no substitute for human infrastructure.…

Explains tenants of quality professional development using a beginning teacher's experiences for illustration. Suggests that professional development should: focus on single subject; focus on participants' needs; be ongoing and sustained; engage participants in pursuit of answers to genuine questions, problems, and curiosities; provide…

Describes a first-year teacher's experience teaching unruly seventh graders and how she has learned, to a degree, to smile and to be patient, and find consolation in those students who have written to her to express how much she has helped them through her teaching and counseling. (TB)