This handbook is designed to help student teachers and beginning teachers handle the "surprises" they encounter on the job. The scenarios in the book identify critical incidents and potential situations teachers are likely to face and offer help in keeping teachers out of unpleasant situations or suggesting courses of action when they find…

This paper describes Austin College's (Texas) participation in the Benchmark Project, a collaborative followup study of teacher education graduates and their principals, focusing on the second round of data collection. The Benchmark Project was a collaboration of 11 teacher preparation programs that gathered and analyzed data comparing graduates…

This study investigated differences between the classroom management styles of teachers who were certified via a traditional university teacher training program and those participating in an alternative certification (AC) program. The study was also designed to further substantiate the construct validity of the Attitudes and Beliefs on Classroom…

The authors of an article (EC 614675) on special education teachers' lesson planning reflect on concerns surrounding the traditional comprehensive lesson planning model. The article emphasizes the need for teacher education programs to train beginning teachers to develop streamlined lesson plans instead of comprehensive lesson plans. (CR)

Examines discipline and control problems in one beginning teacher's acculturation into the high school mathematics tradition. Data from interviews and audiotapes of her classes relate these problems to certain tensions and contradictions in the mathematics tradition and suggest how efforts to cope with them serve to reflexively validate the…

Student, beginning, and experienced teachers viewed a videotape of a first grade teacher in action. Researchers compared their written responses to questions about classroom management, teacher-student interactions, and use of student knowledge. They found few differences between student and beginning teachers. Experienced teachers better…

Examined changes in preservice teachers' perceived types of conflicts and tensions and reasons and strategies for coping with them during their year-long clinical experiences and first year of teaching. Interviews indicated that there were four main conflict types. As participants gained experience and grappled with conflicts and tensions, they…

Describes problems experienced by new Montessori teachers working in public schools, focusing on dealing with students with behavior problems and difficulties in implementing Montessori ideas. Maintains that teachers in difficult situations need to be very firm, have crystal clear expectations, use repeated modeling, be extremely consistent, and…

Classroom management and effective discipline are skills that all beginning teachers must learn. Classroom management refers to those procedures or routines a teacher uses to maintain a smoothly running classroom; discipline refers to those techniques or strategies a teacher uses to respond to specific acts of student misbehavior. This booklet,…

Music educators are required not only to master the body of knowledge representing the music curriculum, but to manage instruction so that they may convey this knowledge effectively and efficiently to their students. In order to promote good instruction, teachers find that a systematic behavioral management plan is required. Unfortunately, many…

The Educational Testing Service is developing a new generation of teacher assessments--the Praxis Series: Professional Assessments for Beginning Teachers. The assessment series consists of three components. An academic skills component will assess the candidate's basic academic and enabling skills. Subject assessments will test the candidate's…

A public school district in Colorado initiated a study which addressed the issue of how to insure good beginnings for new teachers and provide direct assistance and intervention to develop the skills of competent professionals. The approach discussed here is a beginning teacher induction program, which includes a Professional Development Seminar.…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether varying levels of expertise would produce differences in selected indicators of effective teaching performance. Eighteen elementary physical education teachers were grouped based on stages of pedagogical expertise development as suggested by Berliner (1988). The three groups included…

The manual is intended to help new teachers in North Carolina provide education and related services to handicapped and gifted students. The first section discusses general resources for beginning teachers. Topics covered include getting the room ready, preparing to manage behavior, enjoying the first day of school, managing classroom problems,…

This study investigated how principals rated the competencies of University of North Florida (UNF) beginning teachers, had the principals identify weaknesses in the beginning teachers' preparation, and asked for suggestions for program improvement. The data were gathered through the use of surveys, interviews, and observations. The principals'…