Pre-service teacher preparation in the United States is becoming progressively more challenging with respect to the demands on teachers. This study examined the impact of tutoring approach on pre-service teachers? skills to work with English language learners through a qualitative research design. Content analysis was used at the thematic level on…

English teacher education programs often look for ways to help preservice teachers engage in critical reflection, participate in communities of practice, and write for authentic audiences in order to be able to teach in the 21st century. In this article, the authors describe how they used Twitter to provide opportunities for reflection and…

This article concerns the interpretation of a semester-long email mentoring correspondence related to social studies teaching between the two authors. Analysis interpreted the mentee's growth along O'Malley's stages of professional reflection. The analysis found that the mentoring process fostered the mentee's establishment of professional…

Much has been written about the importance of reflective practice. What is missing is reflective work on the part of teacher educators to address the mismatch between university-based methods courses and the realities of classroom life. With examples from a third grade mathematics classroom as well as a university-based mathematics methods course,…

Many future teachers have had little guidance on how to develop and foster home-school connections, especially when working with culturally and linguistically diverse families. This qualitative action research study aimed to identify what two different groups of preservice teachers enrolled in methods for teaching English learners courses (104…

The traditional structure of field experiences poses a dilemma for urban teacher preparation. Research shows that teachers of low-income, urban students often have negative beliefs about, and attitudes towards, their students. Yet, large numbers of cooperating teachers are routinely utilized as mentors in urban classrooms. This practice…

Service-learning provides community service as well as authentic, curriculum-driven learning experiences (Furco & Root, 2010) and has been an effective component of teacher education courses (García, Arias, Murri, & Surna, 2010; Mitton-Kukner, Nelson, & Descrochers, 2010; Spencer, Cox-Petersen, & Crawford, 2005). With these…

This study explores the outcomes of reflective journaling among novice Graduate Teaching Assistants during the initial stages of their professional development. It seeks to establish whether there were common concerns addressed in their journals and if different levels of reflection were achieved. By means of content analysis of 177 entries, nine…

During field experiences, preservice teachers are typically required to observe mentor teachers in schools, but what exactly are they seeing? This research examined the patterns and variations that existed with regard to preservice teachers' classroom observations during recent field experiences. Data were collected from 24 preservice teachers…

One of the growing interests in teacher education lies in how and what teachers learn across time and space in the complex ecologies and technologies of today's society. Teacher research has been implemented in teacher education programs as a powerful, exploratory tool for teacher candidates to inquire about educational problems and to improve…

In an ongoing effort to address the needs of 21st century teachers, a service-learning project was designed which coupled structured reflection and technology. The reflective practitioner model through the use of traditional methods coursework has long been viewed as the most appropriate model for the development of teachers (Hall, 2012). However,…

Critical reflection is defined as an educational imagination that allows candidates to look at themselves and their situations with new eyes, and in the process, become conscious of the multiple ways they can interpret, critique, challenge, confront, and reconstruct teaching. This study examines the effectiveness of using explicit instruction in…

The researchers investigated the reflections of preservice middle school teachers (PSMTs) who were enrolled in an activity-based middle level social studies methods course. These reflections concerned the students' past educational experiences. Through weekly journals, the PSMTs were encouraged to reflect on course activities and relate them to…

We provide an interpretation of authority in schools among a convenience sample teacher candidates. We analyzed responses of a convenience sample of thirty-one undergraduate interns enrolled in two cohorts of block methods courses at a southern urban university. Approximately four of five students consented to have their reflections analyzed. The…

This study focuses on the structure and theoretical foundations of the book club for promoting multicultural understandings in science teacher education. The book club was defined as an informal, peer-directed group discussion that met regularly to discuss an ethnographic, multicultural text regarding issues pertinent to science teaching and…