As part of a national Middle Start initiative led by the Academy for Educational Development (AED), Mid South Middle Start is committed to working with high-poverty schools in the Mid South Delta region to build their capacity to foster students' academic excellence, support the development of young adolescents, and achieve social equity in…

This study examined the nature of teaching expertise at the postsecondary level. Using the prototype view of teaching expertise set forth by Sternberg and Horvath (1995), which focuses on domain knowledge, efficiency, and insight, the teaching portfolios of 16 award-winning teacher educators from one of the largest colleges of education in the…

Singapore primary and secondary school teachers (n=76) attending an inservice education course on motivating learners identified and described two critical lessons: one in which the teachers successfully motivated students and another in which they failed to motivate pupils. Participants recalled those critical lessons in a reflective and…

Investigated differences in reflections of preservice teachers' teaching effectiveness during a field experience, Kids' College, which provided a supportive forum in which preservice teachers, who had full ownership of their teaching, could implement innovations in a multi-age environment. Data from reflective journals, interviews, and…

In an effort to provide prospective teachers with chances to reflect on their professional competence, and to demonstrate their teaching effectiveness and growth, the teacher education program at California State University, Los Angeles, decided to require students to develop portfolios. All students were introduced to the portfolio format during…

Action research is an approach to professional development and improved student learning in which teachers systematically reflect on their work, seek feedback from colleagues, and make changes in their practice. Several benefits of action research have been cited: (1) teachers investigate their own practice in a new way, looking at what children…

Presents structuralism as an empirically based way of teaching students how to think not only about art but also about life. Suggests that teaching art aesthetically and pragmatically will help students to not only make sense of art itself but will allow them to understand their own lives as well. (VWC)

Clinical supervision as inquiry encourages teachers to reflect upon their teaching and develop and test hypotheses about what is effective and why. The paper discusses two models of thinking (the multiple intelligences theory, and identification of habits of mind) that enrich the clinical supervision experience, and makes recommendations for staff…

Stanford's preservice Secondary Teacher Education Program (STEP) undertook a self-study to investigate how its credential candidates who had previous teaching experience perceived the value of returning for formal preparation. Using a semi-structured protocol, 23 STEP graduates were interviewed from 1999 and 2000, asking them about their teaching…

This paper explores the concept of reflection and reflective practice in teacher education. Teaching is a complex achievement that brings together a number of conceptual, practical, and physical resources in an individual's professional practice. Achievement in teaching is an amalgam of at least four different discourses--science, craft, art, and…

This book offers a variety of forms to help the college instructor obtain feedback concerning instructional quality and improve instructional effectiveness. Two preliminary charts match specific forms to specific instructor concerns and compare the forms for sources of input, value, and limitations. Each form is introduced by a discussion of the…

Social practice professionals' stubborn application of the quantitative paradigm of science in social contexts has created and perpetuated the current state of affairs such as high unemployment and rampant crime. The goal is to replace the traditional quantitative beliefs and assumptions with alternatives that create and perpetuate a more…

If teachers have the skills to successfully educate students without disabilities, then they can succeed in teaching students with disabilities who are included in regular education. Preservice level teachers need skills for successful participation in the daily routines of inclusive classrooms before they actually enter the regular classroom.…

This paper reports on the conceptualization and first year of implementation of a model of preservice teacher education and training established at the University of Notre Dame Australia to meet the specific needs of the Catholic education system. In setting up an appropriate model, the notion of the graduate teacher as one who is critically…

Clinical supervision is an ongoing series of professional development cycles through which preservice and beginning teachers move from being apprentices at induction and probationary levels to being members of peer evaluation teams and self-reflective practitioners. Development of collaboration between field experience offices and local school…