This study investigated the struggles of two preservice elementary teachers in a mathematics methods course. Kay and Aaron elected mathematics as their content minor and indicated they had always been "good" in mathematics. In the methods course, they were challenged to rethink the nature of mathematics learning in a constructivist…

This paper reports on the influence of a graduate course, "Methods for Masters," designed to broaden the pedagogical repertoires of cooperating teachers by providing experience in six instructional models (cooperative learning, concept attainment, group investigation, learning contracts, simulations, and synectics). The course used…

This dramatic reading was created from the questions generated by a class of drama education majors at the University of Alberta (Canada) and is used to describe a case study assignment approach to teacher education in drama. Education in a democratic society is underpinned with the willingness to listen. The mythology which claims that the gulf…

This paper reviews changes in an elementary teacher education program based on several studies regarding the content of the program. The nature of each study and its implementation in the program are described. Three changes have been made in the program as a result of the studies: student teachers are required to complete a junior year practicum…

This paper describes an intervention which was designed to: (1) provide opportunities for preservice teachers to collaborate with and network with inservice teachers; (2) create an environment which facilitated collaboration and interaction among early childhood, elementary, and special education majors; and (3) model collaborative teaching and…

This study compared a measure of theoretical orientation and a measure of style orientation administered to 107 classroom teachers in graduate and undergraduate language arts methods courses, examined their responses to holistic curriculum structures, and examined the types of support that students/teachers needed to modify traditional beliefs.…

Noting that many teachers and some states have abandoned traditional testing methods of public school students in favor of authentic and performance-based assessment, this paper shares alternative assessment methods used by two teacher educators. After a brief introduction to the issues of authentic assessment in reading education courses, the…

This role-play activity is designed for use by teacher educators in a general or content area methods class to help education majors become knowledgeable of role expectations in the student teaching experience and build good interpersonal role relationships. Students conduct library research and interviews concerning role expectations, use the…

This paper describes a graduate course using biographical materials for teachers to work through their understandings of reading and writing as personal, valuable processes. The course consists of three parts; each session begins with the reading of a children's picture book that deals with reading and writing; next, the class reads the…

This paper (1) examines correlations of pre- and post-course scores on the Theoretical Orientation to Reading Profile with scores on the Gregorc Style Delineator; (2) augments these correlations with qualitative data from journals and interviews; and (3) proposes that, given this data, the supervisory support structures needed for pre- and…

This paper reports program changes in the junior year internship that were made to bring practice closer to the theoretical goals of the Catholic University of America's teacher education program in Washington, D.C. The changes had the goal of increasing the quality and scope of education students' thinking about education, and they involved…

A study examined students' perceptions of what it is that distinguishes effective from ineffective university supervision. Subjects were 83 early childhood education majors enrolled in two field-based reading methods courses offering six weeks of university instruction and four weeks of classroom experience. Students responded to questionnaires…

This paper discusses ways to ensure sex equity in teacher education. Teachers, teacher education, textbooks, and the materials teachers choose to use in the classroom tend to stereotype and discriminate on the basis of sex. Teacher educators have a responsibility to try to intervene. Such intervention is especially appropriate since research has…

The use of nontraditional adolescent literature in the secondary classroom and teacher training for this usage are discussed in this paper. After outlining a humanistic approach to adolescent literature, in which students are taught to use literature to illuminate their lives, the paper contrasts such an approach to the teaching of traditional…

This paper describes a preservice health education course for elementary educators that incorporated a technology component to help the students gain computer literacy. All students received instructional computer accounts and had access to a class bulletin board. One class session focused on learning the systems. Throughout the semester, students…