This article outlines the methodology and findings from an interpretive collective case study exploring the professional learning of three elementary music teachers. Participants were purposefully selected based on their differing career stages, background, and teaching situations, and each participant was interviewed five or six times over the…

Many teachers today struggle to meet the differentiated needs in their classrooms. Mentorship programs are often available to teachers in the first five years of teaching, but after the initial induction process there is little support for teachers. In the past, when teachers were identified as struggling in the classroom, they were evaluated…

Based on a qualitative case study that examined elementary teachers' understandings of a professional development policy, we question the conceptual disconnection between professional learning and professional practices in some conceptualizations of professional learning communities. We analyse the research data using Actor-Network Theory and…

Math is often taught poorly emphasizing rote, procedural methods rather than creativity and problem solving. Alberta Education developed a new mathematics curriculum to transform mathematics teaching to inquiry driven methods. This revised curriculum provides a new vision for mathematics and creates opportunities and requirements for professional…

This article reports comprehensive findings from a national study of the teaching and assessment of writing in classrooms across ten Canadian provinces and two of three territories. Through interviews with 216 grade 4-8 teachers and observations and interviews in 22 classrooms (1 to 3 classrooms in each province), we gathered information about…

This article addresses a gap in the literature by developing a theory that bridges lesson study and self-efficacy. Since self-efficacy has been linked to student achievement, the theory is important as an explanatory mechanism linking lesson study to student achievement. The theory was developed using grounded theory based on primary source data…

Teachers' professional identities are associated with an ongoing commitment to professional development and the explicit aim of improving practice in order to increase student learning. During the last century, professional development initiatives took many forms, including laboratory schools, lesson study, video clubs, and demonstration…

This case study traces the development of one teacher as she participated in Teachers As Artist, a four-year professional development program for teachers. I have used transformation theory, an articulation of the complex processes involved in life-altering adult learning, to examine her development from early dispirited participation in the arts…

This paper is intended to provide a basis for discussion about staff development in the mathematics education community. It is directed to those who plan staff development programs intended to improve elementary mathematics teachers' classroom practice. Discussion includes the importance of establishing program goals and considerations of the…

Studied collegial interactions of four Canadian elementary teachers and their partners participating in the Supervision for Growth program to determine the effects of collegiality on teachers' work. Using field notes and interview transcripts, found that the quality and quantity of collegial interactions covered a broad spectrum and that the…

Eight preschool and primary school teachers participated in workshops on planning creative dance instruction. Four months after the workshops, all eight were using dance as an educational tool. Reasons for teachers' choice to use dance in the classroom are discussed. (MDM)

Reports an 18-month ethnographic study of mentoring in two Canadian primary classrooms. Videotapes of student teachers' practices and audiotapes of coaching conversations with their mentors suggested that the contexts of mentoring structured the student teachers' experiences and that the mentors' practices resembled their teaching practices.…

This study explored the relationship between teachers' sense of efficacy and their willingness to engage in a work-focused, trusting, professional relationship with colleagues. Interviews and conference transcripts were gathered from 10 dyads of teachers from three elementary schools in a large Canadian city. Each dyad engaged in at least four…

The training of teachers of second languages and linguistics in universities located in the Province of Quebec, Canada, is examined in this article. University degree programs in English, French, modern languages, linguistics, and teaching methods or education are outlined, including general program requirements for the B.A., M.A., and Ph.D.…

This report covers progress in a Comprehensive Teacher Training Project (CTTP) from its inception in 1987 to 1992 including background, current status, problems and solutions, upcoming internal evaluation, future events, and feedback on the project. CTTP, a project of the Organization for Cooperation in Overseas Development, a Canadian-based…