To explore why teachers rejected videotaping as an observation and coaching method, researchers interviewed 29 teachers enrolled in teacher supervision classes to determine the human and the technical issues involved. About one-quarter of the problems were technical malfunctions and limitations, and the rest resulted from human responses to…

Challenges educators to embrace the spiritual aspects of life in their image of education, suggesting the importance of including spirituality in one's approach to life and letting that sense of life infuse one's teaching. An alternative image of some of the basic principles of curriculum and instruction is sketched. (SM)

Emphasizes the importance of helping students develop a sense of moral and spiritual value, undoing the violence that they have been taught in schools over the years and teaching them in a creative, rigorous manner about peace and the lives and works of prophets, peacemakers, feminists, and earth keepers. (SM)

Discusses how co-teaching is useful for teaching important aspects of teaching to preservice educators, presenting an episode of masterful questioning from a study about teaching and learning in a science classroom co-taught by an experienced science teacher and a preservice teacher completing an internship. Their work suggests that preservice…

Describes Connecticut's ongoing school reform efforts, which began around 1985. The reform process involves creating, supporting, and revising a coherent set of policies for improving teacher learning that are also aligned with standards for students. Planning includes state department staff in collaboration with teachers and principals. The state…

Reflection and professional development are two key practices that characterize an effective teacher and that are frequently overlooked in preservice training (Bowles, 2003; Halen-Faber, 1997; Patrick & Reinhartz, 1999). Reflection can be defined as the type of thinking that serves to challenge notions of prior learning (Halen-Faber, 1997), and…

As reformers urge elementary and secondary school teachers to teach mathematics in new ways that highlight problem solving and engage students in important mathematical ideas, researchers have been pointing out that few public school teachers know mathematics in the ways that they would need to know it in order to teach in these new ways. These…

This book is a practical guide for teachers at the postsecondary level to improve their teaching by utilizing the principles of adult learning and becoming critically reflective teachers. Chapter 1 lays out the concept of reflection in general terms and then focuses on explaining what is distinctive about critical reflection. Chapter 2 explains…

The aim of this paper is to develop a dynamic view of training and professional development of teachers, focusing particularly on the training of less effective and innovative teachers and on the relationship between teachers' self-efficacy and teacher learning. Teachers' self-efficacy is regarded as the extent to which teachers expect they can…

Jessup Elementary School (Maryland), Towson State University (TSU) (Maryland), and Anne Arundel Community College (Maryland) have joined in a effort to change the notion of partnership in professional development schools (PDSs). The focus is not only the preparation of early childhood teachers but also the professional development of faculty and…

This paper describes the development of the Teachers' Activity Centers (TACs) in Malaysia. The TACs evolved from Local Resource Centers and District Resource Centers of the 1970s and 1980s. The 350 TACs in the country were initially supplied with basic tools for the production of teaching-learning resources. With administrative reorganization, the…

This study assessed the feedback-seeking behaviors of faculty in their third year of employment at five colleges and universities. A total of 121 faculty completed a mailed questionnaire on their feedback- and information-seeking behaviors, and a subset of 86 responded to interview questions about feedback. Statistical analyses of the survey and…

A qualitative study examined the uses to which 14 adult learners put their acquired knowledge from a graduate-level course in organizational behavior both in and outside classroom settings. The course goal was to empower learners to use organizational theory to improve the performance of vocational education personnel. The 14 learners, who ranged…

This paper spells out the specific steps that have been taken and will be taken by the Rutgers University President in addressing the school's undergraduate educational needs for the 1990s. Areas examined include the following: (1) the restoration of balance between teaching and research, including valuing and rewarding teaching; (2) the…

This publication reports on a seminar held over five days which brought together teachers and administrators from the Albany (New York) area schools and colleges and universities to discuss teacher preparation and professional development. Opening sections introduce the seminar, list participants, and detail the six procedural steps that the…