This book explores the concept of the "best-loved self" in teaching and teacher education, asserting that the best-loved self is foundational to the development of teacher identity, growth in context, and learning in community. Drawing on the work of Joseph Schwab, who was the first to name the "best-loved self," the editors…

The evolving landscape of higher education has forced many institutions to reorganize, remove administrative layers, and subsequently, reexamine criteria and processes. In particular, efforts to consolidate and combine departments has prompted a need to explore options for a systematic and objective framework for evaluating performance. This paper…

This study addresses how the autonomy of teachers in higher education, in relation to education policy and reform, can be understood. By taking a narrative-in-action approach, we studied health profession teachers' activities and reasoning within their ongoing practice during one year. The findings show how the teachers created their own policies…

Argues that to teach effectively, instructors must remember what it was like to be taught and give students the consideration and respect they wish they had had as students. (MM)

A faculty member discusses how his own gradual loss of vision had unexpected favorable results in his advising activities. Based on these personal experiences and additional research, practical suggestions for increasing professional effectiveness are offered to other academic advisors. (Author/MSE)

Composing and telling stories can allow a person to resist and revise those confining stories drafted by others. As an illustration of the powerful role narrative plays in English teachers' research and teaching, a pre-service teacher's autobiographical story narrates her refusal of the oppressive roles she had been assigned. The teacher's story…

Describes the personal and professional qualities that made Dora V. Smith a great teacher. (MM)

Examples from academia and management suggest that, if higher education is to improve, its teachers must love their subject; be committed to its importance; and want to convince students that it is exciting to learn and important not only to one's job, but also to one's life, philosophy, and value system. (MSE)

In contrast to studies of "effective instruction," this study plumbed the human depths of classroom life and educational practice. It sought to uncover, from students' perspectives, what makes some teachers "inspirational." Analysis of over 100 preservice teachers' written narratives showed that inspirational teachers were…

A review of literature concerning the relationship between college teaching and faculty research activities looks at the historical and organizational origins of faculty work, then examines three approaches in the literature: (1) personal commentaries; (2) correlations of effectiveness and productivity measures; and (3) faculty attitude and…

A Rollins College (Florida) professor's survey of alumni concerning their memories of the institution elicited vivid and specific character narratives about faculty, pointing up the important role of faculty in students' college experience. The narratives reflected students' discovery of the pleasure of ideas, realization of teachers' concern for…

Undergraduate students and recent graduates of an urban teacher education program met regularly to discuss becoming reflective, effective teachers. Qualitative analysis of conversations highlighted the complex learning involved in teaching and factors in teacher education and schools that supported and hindered new teachers' work. The study…