This article revisits a phenomenological case study in which I used metaphor to explore, over a seven-year span, the blossoming and wilting of an early childhood teacher's career due to the complex interplay between a range of personal, relational and contextual influences (Sumsion 2002). Following Kamler (2001), I now bring a critical lens to my…

This paper concludes our report of an investigation of two beginning teacher educators making the transition from classroom teacher to university-based teacher educator. The authors combined case study and self-study of teacher education practices to investigate features of the institutional context they encountered, the knowledge they employed in…

This study examined the evolution of the accuracy and thoroughness of novice through expert teachers' recall of their own and their students' specific classroom behaviors. Elementary school teachers were observed teaching in a natural setting. Their classes were audiotaped, and detailed notes of the teachers' and students' specific classroom…

This study examined whether expert-novice differences exist in the ability to engage in self-analysis, a form of reflection about one's own teaching performance. Expert (N=6) and novice (N=5) sixth-grade teachers were videotaped while teaching and were interviewed after viewing their own lessons. Expert teachers, in comparison to novices,…

This study explores beginning elementary teachers' instructional computer use, with emphasis on the ways in which these teachers use the computer, influences on these uses, and the impact of these uses on their teaching and socialization into the profession. A qualitative case study research design, drawing on ethnographic methods, was used to…

The following articles are included in this publication on beginning teacher induction: (1) "The Teacher Induction Process: Preserving the Old and Welcoming the New. An Introduction" (Judy Reinhartz); (2) "A Synthesis of Research on Teacher Induction Programs and Practices" (Leslie Huling-Austin); (3)…

This study examined 665 elementary and secondary teachers with different levels of experience to discover differences and similarities in selected teaching behaviors. Of the 57 behaviors, 16 were clustered into teacher response to student response to a question or to a student initiation. Sixteen related to teacher response to inattentive or…

This study was designed to investigate relationships between selected teacher characteristics and changes in attitudes and concerns toward teaching during preservice training and the first five years of inservice teaching. Six groups of subjects (N=1,193) were used in the study; three groups of prospective teachers at various stages of preservice…

The investigators in this preliminary study (currently underway at the University of Towson, Maryland) used the experiences of preservice elementary teachers as revealed by their journals and interviews to obtain insights that will enable them to develop a more satisfactory and professional induction to teaching for beginning teachers. A content…

This study gathered information from 94 first-year teachers (graduates of Memorial University, Newfoundland, Canada) regarding their attitudes towards teaching, methodological and technical competencies, and the adequacy of their teacher preparation. The teachers were asked to give background information that included degree received, type of…

The process of teachers' gaining a professional identity may be impeded by teachers' autonomy and by their relative isolation within individual classrooms. As a result, teachers and school administrators tend to operate under a logic of confidence--a good faith assumption that teachers will perform their jobs in an acceptable manner without the…

The organization and content of subject matter knowledge of arithmetic teachers was explored. Experienced and beginning fourth grade teachers were observed. They were evaluated on their lessons to teach fractions. Implications of their knowledge differences were discussed. (DWH)

This paper reports on an evaluation of a unique 3-year program designed to support new teachers in a school district. The emphasis in the evaluation was on the participation of the multiple stakeholders in the evaluation process, which was endorsed by the teachers union, school district administrators, and entry-year teachers. The people who are…

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)