Describes one professor's personal struggle and growth in facing the challenges and perplexities of planning and developing strategies to initiate the critical process of teaching multicultural concepts to teacher education students early in their education by providing them field experiences in urban schools. Student attitudes and attitude…

The overall assessment of teacher education students by means of testing may not be the best indicator of competence in a professional field. Assessors must possess both valid and reliable ways of discerning which students have the necessary skills to be effective in the classroom. Portfolio analysis is one way to get better, more valid data about…

In an effort to establish a quality middle grades teacher education program that would be responsive to local needs, the Middle Grades Education (MGE) faculty at Georgia's Valdosta State University implemented Reality 401, a field based program, in Fall 1992. The program is a senior year teacher education program designed to provide a…

In 1995, 17 graduate students at the University of Wisconsin attended a summer course titled Education 570: Integrating the Curriculum. This course was based on a constructivist view of knowledge development, and participating teachers represented a wide range of subject areas and grade levels. A study of participating teachers followed 16…

Professional Development Schools (PDS) are designed not only to educate novice teachers but also to be places where university and school faculties can collaborate on research and development. This study, the initial phase of a longitudinal study, attempts to discover if an early PDS experience can develop a stronger beginning teacher than a…

This annual journal's premier issue features the work, thoughts, adventures, and musings of distinguished and respected teachers. An introduction reports that the journal was born of the desire by faculty to recognize college teaching as a profession and to bring to it its own language and traditions and to establish an academic culture for…

A preservice teacher was interviewed 10 times during his last year of teacher education, when he participated in several mathematics teacher education courses and field experiences, and his first year of high school teaching. The case study was designed to develop an understanding of the teacher development process by considering how one teacher…

Six student teachers who were committed to the tenets of whole language were studied to determine how they manifested their whole language perspectives in light of the enabling and constraining factors they faced in their specific field sites. Results indicated that the six student teachers were forced to alter their teaching behaviors…

An educator who teaches physics to grade 12 students and a physics curriculum and methods course to preservice teachers analyzes the impact of context on teaching practice. A paper by A. Richert titled "Voice and Power in Teaching and Learning To Teach" is used as the foundation for interpreting the author's experience of teaching…

The purpose of this study is twofold: (1) to identify beginning teachers' perceptions of the role parents play in their children's education; and (2) to investigate the congruency of beginning teachers' perceptions with information presented in teacher education courses. A survey, completed by 178 second- and third-year teachers in Missouri,…

This qualitative study, conducted at Mississippi State University-Meridian Campus, examined the journal of a student who was given directions to reflect on her student teaching experiences in prescribed areas and ways, and the journals of two students who were not given any directions concerning the content of their journals. The directed student…

This task force report addresses three questions fundamental to the reform of teacher preparation: (1) what do teachers need to know? (2) what academic, professional, and practical experiences should be provided? and (3) what are the most efficacious relationships between a Faculty of Education, other faculties and schools in the University, other…

Teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) may be regarded as developing through several major phases that require time and guided practice. This paper describes a graduate class titled "Learning and Development in Exceptional Individuals" in which teachers learn about pedagogy and tie it to content teaching as they work with…

A study investigated the nature, dynamics, and scope of the induction process for beginning vocational teachers. Ten purposefully selected groups of beginning vocational teachers from eight different states participated in nominal group technique sessions. Two groups were selected for intensive follow-up for case study. A mail survey of a…

The University of Northern Colorado Teacher Induction Partnerships program is designed to accomplish the transition from beginning or re-entry teacher to experienced professional in a smooth and effective fashion. The program provides a reality-based educational experience designed to assist beginning and re-entry teachers in developing and…