Investigated the impact of a school-based teacher-education partnership on the professional development of elementary mentor teachers. Analysis of two mentor-teacher surveys indicated that mentors perceived benefits in the areas of teaching style, addressing student needs, and program influences. Mentor teachers became more self-confident,…

Outlines one struggling second-grade reader's abilities and reading strategies, and initial instructional efforts with her. Discusses how the author determined a mismatch existed between her teaching, the teaching materials, and the child. Shows how a change of materials--to the use of decodable text accompanied by reflective, systematic,…

Discusses the influence of a reflective, explicit, activity-based approach to nature of science (NOS) instruction used in an elementary science methods course on preservice teachers' views of some aspects of the nature of science. Finds that participants made substantial gains in their views of some of the target NOS aspects. Advocates a…

Investigated beginning teachers' beliefs about diversity issues. Interviews with beginning teachers graduated from a program that emphasized the development of critical reflection and moral decision making indicated that the confluence of field experiences in professional development centers, seminar-related discourse, and critical reflection…

Investigated the major characteristics of the professional development of traditional and nontraditional adult student teachers. Data collection over one academic year included observations, interviews, and autobiographical, critically reflective student teacher journals. Results indicated that the student teaching experiences were markedly…

Explored the views of beginning teachers who had graduated from an extended teacher education program which highlighted reflection, inquiry, leadership, diversity, and schoolwide leadership projects and action research in the fifth year. Periodic post-graduation interviews indicated that their preparatory experiences, particularly fifth-year…

This paper seeks to evaluate a specific implementation of a reflective approach to teacher education in a pre-service course in teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) in a UK university. This implementation is the use of delayed debriefing (supervisory conference) after lesson observation, providing the student teacher with…

This paper reports on a 2-year study designed to investigate the trajectory of change in an urban 5th grade teacher as she introduces science inquiry using the Web-Based Inquiry Science Environment (WISE). Data for this study included videotapes and transcripts of classroom instruction, and audiotapes and transcripts of interviews conducted with…

The study focuses on teachers' perceived certainty, a concept which is understood as being made up of didactic, practical and relational certainty, and its relationship with teacher collaboration, role ambiguity and job satisfaction. Analyses draw on data from 1,153 Norwegian elementary and junior high school teachers. Results indicate that there…

This article arises from an initiative set up by four Beacon Schools to enhance the professional development of teachers and hence raise pupil attainment in all schools in the local education authority. The initiative provided opportunities for teachers to work in cross-institutional interest groups, with the aim of sharing good practice and…

A promising strategy for encouraging reflection among student teachers is the use of dialog journals--logs or records of thoughts responded to by other writers. Electronic mail (e-mail) could be used as a medium for developing an electronic dialog journal that overcomes many of the practical constraints of the usual journal. The use of e-mail as a…

This paper presents findings of a study that examined case-study teaching methods, specifically, the use of case stories in the training of educational administrators. A case story blends aspects of the case-study methods with storytelling. The case-story approach asks students to develop case stories, using their personal experience to create…

This study analyzed differences in perception of "critical incidents" in classroom teaching among inexperienced, experienced, and award-winning university professors. In past research, expert and novice differences in teaching have been attributed to differences in teacher knowledge, but the teachers were almost entirely at the…

This paper describes a school-oriented teacher education program at the Institute of Education, University of Utrecht (Netherlands). The program prepares teachers for the upper level of secondary education in a one-year post-graduate course that follows a four-year subject matter masters program. Because half of the one-year course is…

This study investigated the impact of administrators' constructive comments to preservice teachers about their micro-teaching demonstration. The project used a research model that concentrated on cognitive changes rather than changes in behavior and that used images of growth rather than measurable changes. It attempted to facilitate reflection,…