This paper presents case studies of four middle school preservice teachers' experiences with multicultural education during their approximately 16-week student teaching practicum in the southeastern United States. Student teachers were male and female, aged 21 to 42 years; one was African-American and three were European-American. The study was…

This paper reports on a study that examined the thinking of 49 elementary and secondary education student teachers who had completed a curriculum based on a teacher reflection conceptual framework. To investigate the relationship between students' actions and their ideologies (understood as pervasive belief systems and knowledge bases) when…

This paper describes and interprets an action research project that supported student teachers learning to teach physical education in a community-based, after-school games program. Ten student teachers taught 10 lessons to elementary school children, under the guidance of 3 supervisory teachers, who were graduate students, and one program…

This study sought to determine how student-teachers perceived their competence as they proceeded through a 2-year certificate program and to identify what changes occurred in their perception during the first year of teaching. The subjects were student teachers in a new Certificate of Education Program (in primary education) at the Hong Kong…

The case method is a popular teaching tool that can be applied to training for diversity and particularly the preparation of general education teachers for the inclusion of diverse learners in their classrooms. Case-based methodology teacher training activities focus on actual classroom experiences and prompt reflection and personal involvement. A…

This paper explores the use of ethnographic biography as a source of information and reflection for student teachers. Ethnographic methods combine observation of a subject's teaching environment or context, examining the present rather than the past. Information can then be made available to student teachers in need of a personal viewpoint on…

This paper explores the development of preservice student teachers' development of reflection, in the context of a teacher education course in which the teacher educator explicitly attempted to model reflective practice. Modeling took place through open access to the teacher educator's journal and through "thinking aloud" in class about…

This study focused on the "failure" experienced by four female novice teachers who were successful in university course work but experienced considerable difficulty in their initial teaching assignments. The difficulties these women encountered are examined through analysis of observation notes, interview transcripts, journals and autobiographical…

Preparation of teachers for home-school-community partnerships will be most effective if it is based on a foundational approach that makes teachers aware of the social and political context of teaching and cognizant of the economic, social, and political demands that are placed on schools. A foundational approach to home-school-community…

This ethnographic study relates the differences reported by student teachers as they experienced teaching in a culturally diverse elementary school that contained a large population of minority students and compared that placement with a rural school that had few or no minority students. The methodology involved preplacement interviews, journals,…

Northern Michigan University and the Marquette Area Public Schools are working collaboratively to improve both K-12 education and teacher education. Through several cooperative ventures, students and teachers in both institutions are benefitting from increased professional collaboration, becoming allies to reform and renew education. The main…

Collaboration between university and school board seems essential in matching core objectives of teacher training with the critical skills and knowledge needed by teachers in new environments. Therefore, Brock University (Ontario, Canada) and the Niagara South Board of Education (Ontario, Canada) established a collaborative early primary teacher…

A quasi-experimental, treatment-control group investigation was designed to test the effects of a preservice training course on effective instruction. Research findings from teacher effects research and cognitive strategy instruction were translated into two direct instructional models: one model for explicit or well-structured skills and one…

Data are presented on characteristics of secondary school teacher education candidates at Indiana State University (ISU). Most of the 11 charts present comparisons of students' grade point averages (GPA) in relation to another variable, such as major, Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) score, etc. There is a 10-year difference between the student…

This study evaluated a new secondary school teacher education program initiated in 1980 at Pennsylvania State University. Major differences between this program and the old program were: (1) an increase of three credit-hours in foundations and methods courses; (2) the addition of five credit-hours of field experiences; (3) an increase of two…