This report outlines a study which examined certain approaches to- and practices of peer observation of teaching. Participants observed and free-form evaluated the effectiveness of two different teaching scenarios. These were evaluated both before and after identifying their own dominant perspective on teaching and attending a workshop which…

Using reflective journals to promote learning has been a common practice in the teaching profession. How learners present reflections in what are judged to be high-quality reflective writing remains under-researched. This paper explores the discourse features of teaching practicum reflective reports written by six pre-service student teachers of…

The roles and responsibilities of special educators in both special and regular school settings are changing rapidly. More than two decades ago the move towards more inclusive practices disrupted the traditional, niche separatism of special educators to the extent that they are now an integral part of the regular school teaching staff. Today the…

To investigate benefits and challenges to engage teacher candidates in Japanese lesson study, defined as a collaborative, reflective, and iterative teacher development process, we analyzed reflective papers submitted by 60 teacher candidates studying at an Ontario faculty of education, engaged 20 practicum associate teachers in a group discussion,…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to ask how we can think about critical reflection as a pedagogical practice given the "confessional turn." By the "confessional turn," the author refers to the idea that "subjective, autobiographical and confessional modes of expression" have expanded exponentially across a wide range of social spheres,…

Although classroom-oriented instructional development (ID) models have the potential to help teachers think and plan for effective instruction with technology, research studies have shown that they are not widely employed. Many of these models have not factored in the complexities that teachers faced when planning for instruction in…

The struggle to equitably serve low-income students of color in U.S. schools is as significant as ever. The nation is also struggling to prepare enough teachers to serve these students. These challenges are exacerbated when these students are more likely to attend substandard schools. Combined, a tension exists between producing enough teachers…

This study examines the experiences of ten first-year English teachers in various school contexts in two Northeastern states. Through a phenomenological approach to in-depth interviewing, teachers were interviewed at the end of their first year of teaching. Commonalities in teachers' experiences include former teachers' influences on their teacher…

In an effort to promote a critical reflective stance in the beginning teacher, this study developed an instructional model for preservice teachers at the undergraduate level. Its sample consisted of students in two sections of a student teaching seminar course taken during their last semester of undergraduate course work. The work took place at a…

While video has long been used to capture micro teaching episodes, illustrate classroom cases and practices, and to review teaching practices, recent developments in video annotation tools may help to extend and augment teacher self-reflection. Such tools make possible the documentation and support self-analysis using verifiable evidence as well…

School-based curriculum development has been a highlight of China's new curriculum reform since 1999. This reform introduces a curriculum policy change towards devolving partial power in curriculum decision-making to teachers, and invites their active involvement in transforming their role from being book-knowledge transmitters to curriculum…

Fifty-one sixth graders participated in three rounds of online literature circles and three face-to-face literature circles. The authors describe how the online literature circles were introduced and organized in the classroom and discuss the tensions, struggles, and successes from their implementation. An analysis of qualitative data yielded…

This paper explores narrative inquiry practices in pre-service teacher education program. Written dialogue by teacher candidates provided deep and long term reflection during a 5-year initial teacher education program. This 4-year longitudinal study with 30 teacher candidate participants considers participants' knowledge formation in becoming…

This empirical study, conducted in a Canadian university, argues that the objective knowledge growth framework (OKGF), a self-directed reflective approach, can contribute to the professional development of pre-service teachers in dealing with the complexities of teaching. The paper seeks to answer the following research question: How do…

Academic learning traditionally involves research, and the production of journal papers, books, etc. "Learning in academia" refers to academics becoming more skilful in what they do. It is what legal or medical clinicians would refer to as continuing professional education (or development) (CPE/D) which, by analogy, invokes the notion of CPE in…