The first chapter of this book makes a case for preparing teachers to be lifelong students of teaching. Impediments to that goal are enumerated, and suggestions are made on how they might be overcome. Some of the means by which teachers can be made more reflective about their teaching are presented. In chapter 2, teachers are encouraged to become…

Outlines the challenges that well-taught physical education poses during early years' education. Revises some basic notions of why such activities are deemed "good" for children's development and highlights significant difficulties that teachers encounter when faced with delivery of such material. Suggests a model of how teachers might…

Addresses the issues of teachers professional knowledge and professionalism and stresses the design of school practice outside the classroom as a growing aspect of teachers work. Believes that seeing curriculum making and the designing of school work as a virtual practice opens new ways of visualizing teacher education programs. (CMK)

A kindergarten teacher relates her teaching experiences as she reexamines her role as teacher and shifts her focus from reading readiness to teaching reading. She reflects on her teaching practices, on learning new skills herself, and the challenge of incorporating new knowledge and practices into classroom instruction. (TJQ)

Several years ago the author attended a week-long orientation for a new job she was taking as an English teacher in an affluent suburb of Chicago. On the first day, the school's director of student activities led all of the new teachers in an "icebreaker," wherein they were taught how to juggle. However, the author could not juggle. When it was…

Mentoring is proposed as an effective strategy for helping novice teachers develop professional knowledge. However, a recent analysis of mentor-novice conversations in the United States about teaching reveals that they may not be important to the development of teachers' reform-minded practice. While this might be the case involving student…

The author leads a program that teaches teachers in a public university, most of whom work in struggling urban schools serving students from predominantly poor and minority backgrounds. The courses in her program share a common purpose: to develop understandings about the active nature of children's learning and to use these understandings to…

Reflecting on past experiences is an important problem-solving technique when teachers face new situations. In fact, teachers' attitudes and practices are highly influenced by their prior experiences as both learners and teachers. This paper is based on the premise that growth as an effective teacher is enhanced when one reflects more deeply about…

A discussion of lesson planning for classroom instruction, a teacher draws on personal experience in teacher education and other life experiences. Examples that accompany the discussion apply to second language teaching. The first chapter offers background information on his early training in planning in the fields of both education and…

Presents a detailed case study of a ninth grade science teacher to explain how school science constrains the development of her professional knowledge. Concludes that the version of experiment and inquiry seemingly prescribed by the institutional science of school is antithetical to the sort of explanatory inquiry the teacher uses when planning…

This study examined the relationship between training in Cognitive Coaching and a number of qualitative and quantitative components of teacher cognition and behavior hypothesized to be positively impacted by such training. Cognitive Coaching involves a planning conference between coach and teacher, classroom observation, and a reflecting…

In this study, the implementation effects of a program for teaching coaching skills to Dutch primary school teachers acting as supervising or cooperating teachers for teachers-in-training are described. Coaching is a form of in-class support intended to provide teachers-in-training with feedback on their functioning and, thereby, stimulate…

A study investigated the impact of training and reflective frameworks (concerning effective instruction and problem solving) on reflective patterns of seven preservice special education teachers. Results indicated that the effective teaching frameworks had minimal impact on problem solving. However, direct training and use of a problem-solving…

Describes the experiences of art educators participating in the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) certification program for early-adolescent and young-adult art. NBPTS candidates are asked to collect data on their own teaching, observe videos of their classes, and analyze their teaching through reflective writing. (MJP)

The development of beginning teachers' practice during a school placement is a multiplicity of mediated interaction between university and school based systems. Both systems have the common aim of training effective teachers. However day-to-day internal institution matters can cause tension between the learning goals set out for the beginning…