Analyzes the teaching portfolios of eight novice geography teachers focusing on how useful portfolios are for teacher development, what the portfolios reveal about their teaching philosophies, what can be learned about the experience of novice teachers, and the extent of discipline-specific material present in the portfolios. (CMK)

Argues that the mentoring process can help to prevent new teachers from leaving the teaching profession. Explains that mentoring programs that focus on training, support, and retention can help create an environment that fosters psychological and cognitive growth. Adds that these programs can also be used as recruiting tools. (Contains eight…

Qualitative differences between 24 expert teachers and 24 novice teachers in think-aloud protocols related to solving classroom discipline problems were investigated. Results suggest that expert teachers have procedural plans for solving discipline problems and are able to put more attention into defining the problem than are novice teachers. (SLD)

This article summarizes research findings related to teacher burnout, examines the literature on induction programs, proposes ways in which an induction program can be an effective means of reducing stress and burnout for the purpose of retaining beginning teachers, and describes a seminar developed as part of an induction program. (IAH)

Paper reviews a collection of essays on the experiences of beginning teachers. The essays were written mainly by English and elementary school teachers after many years of successful teaching. All of the authors became effective career teachers. The authors write about the rewards of affecting and changing lives. (SM)

Describes a successful mentoring program for beginning teachers developed at a Baptist (K-12) school with 700 students and 11 new faculty members. Program mentors were experienced, but not lead teachers. The most frequently discussed problems between mentor and protege were discipline, classroom management, and the frustration of never having…

Interviews with 160 experienced and less-experienced teachers in northern England at a time of upheaval in the British school system documented (1) the destruction of experienced teachers' career timetables, their disillusionment, and motivational crises; and (2) the highly motivated career building of beginning teachers. (SK)

Presents information on beginning teaching experiences from the journals and taped conversations of six novice teachers. The article discusses the influence of teacher background and examines teachers' opinions that they learn more through teaching and daily encounters with students than through inservice workshops and university courses. (SM)

The Colorado State University Professional Development School Partnership involves more than preparing preservice teachers to enter classrooms. The partnership aims to engage all teachers in inquiry into educational practices, professional- development activities, and exemplary instructional practices. Preservice, novice, and veteran teachers…

Designs for Learning is a California-based professional-development program organized around 10 design elements central to teachers' teaching and learning process: student data, planning, release time, leadership development, content and pedagogy, inquiry, collaboration, adult learning, administrative and community support, and accountability.…

The term service-learning does not simply imply that one provides a service for a particular target group; the service participants must also strive to learn how to augment and reform their own knowledge base. Brown (2005) has redefined service-learning for teacher candidates and asserts that service-learning must include a five-point outcome…

Teachers' professional learning takes place in an organisational context, in which issues of power, influence, and control can play an important part. In this article, we argue that learning how to deal with these inevitable micropolitical aspects of their work lives, constitutes an important dimension in teachers' professional development and…

This study used a variety of qualitative methods within the context of an exploratory single case study to examine the use of digital video as a means for a preservice teacher to capture personal teaching episodes and reflect on them as an integral part of her professional development. Results demonstrate how an urban preservice teacher's work…

Teacher retention has been the subject of much study, yet recent estimates of teachers who choose to leave the profession within the first three years to pursue other careers remains at an unacceptably high level of 33.5 percent. These figures are alarming in light of the fact that schools desperately need qualified teachers. Several authors…

This paper reports a study of two beginning teacher educators making the transition from classroom teacher to university-based teacher educator. A hybrid qualitative methodology, combining case study and self-study of teacher education practices, was used to investigate features of the institutional context they encountered, the knowledge bases…