Among formal organizations, higher educational institutions are perhaps the worst offenders in failing to prepare staff to function successfully in their professional roles. Because of this, the University of Iowa initiated a training program for inexperienced college teachers. The primary purpose of this short-term training program was to assist…

Examines the concept of practical argument, considering how rationality manifests itself in teaching and whether the values of theoretical reasoning (universality, logical order, explicitness, and completeness) translate to the practical domain. Discusses some major philosophical difficulties in analyzing practical reasoning that must be…

Outlines three teacher coaching models. Technical coaching staff development workshops teach specific methods and pair consultants with teachers or teachers with teachers. In collegial coaching, the teacher's ability to self-coach is developed through teaching in pairs with a coach teacher. Challenge coaching helps teams of teachers resolve…

Describes a staff development project using a coaching model in which teachers team teach in the classroomn. In this model the teacher and the coach (a teaching peer) plan, execute, and evaluate performance in the class side by side. (MD)

Critiques the position that extended teacher preparation programs are likely to reduce the quality and quantity of teachers and unlikely to improve teacher performance. Argues that to improve teacher education we must attend to the process of professional education. (LHW)

Critiques the position that extended teacher preparation programs are likely to reduce the quality and quantity of teachers and it is unlikely that they will improve teacher performance. This position is empty, lacking commitment to the larger vision of advocates of extended teacher education programs. (LHW)

This paper tries to present a careful analysis of current trends and challenges to importing Japanese model of teachers' professional development. The objective is to examine what "we" can learn from Japanese approach to improving instruction, especially "Jugyou Kenkyu" (Lesson Study) as a collaborative research on the…

Asks why so many students come out of high school, college, and university training programs ill-equipped in the most basic and essential skills of acting. Presents and explores the idea that the single most important thing that a teacher must understand is that the only thing that really communicates from the stage is what the actor truly knows.…

Uses 9 years of applications of award finalists for the Hesburgh Award for innovation in undergraduate teaching to examine leading-edge efforts to improve teaching and learning in 2- and 4-year colleges and universities. Describes efforts in three major categories: improving teaching, redesigning courses, and changing the learning environment of…

Recognizing that clear standards and strong incentives alone are not sufficient to transform teaching, policymakers now discuss "capacity-building" strategies. An examination of capacity-building strategies in eight states is provided in this report. Capacity refers to the wherewithal needed to translate high standards and incentives…

Two ever-present occupational hazards that persistently weaken educational efforts in schools are (1) organizational aspects of the institution that distract from the goal of helping young people become the best possible individuals they can, and (2) infatuation with the means of education to the extent that the ends of education are not central…

The place and uses of tact are presented in two situations involving minority students in composition classes. (PG)

Learning requires students to be active not passive. The author reports on his procedures and experiments in student participation. (PG)

This interim evaluation of the Missouri Environmental Studies Approach (MESA) for the period July 1972-June 1973 measured attainment of three objectives, which state that (a) participating teachers will use Environmental Studies (ES) materials in their teaching as a result of two intensive workshops during the summer of 1972; (b) the teacher's…

Project EFFECT is a program for implementing educational change that is currently being used by the St. Louis Board of Education. After initial inservice training, the faculty of a school develops a plan for improving the school program. Subsequent phases are outlined for the inclusion of parental advice, implementation of the program, and…