This study investigated the relationship between task-based teacher training and novice English language teachers' cognitions and implementations of tasks in Honduran bilingual schools. After participating in a four-week training program on task-based language teaching, teachers with little or no prior teaching experience designed task-based…

We used survey and administrative data from Washington State to assess the degree to which special education teacher preparation, district literacy instructional practices, and the alignment between preparation and practice were associated with the reading test score gains of students with high-incidence disabilities taught by early-career special…

We use a novel database of the preservice apprenticeships ("student teaching placements") of teachers in Washington State to investigate the relationship between mentor effectiveness (as measured by value added) and the future effectiveness of their mentees. We find a strong, positive relationship between the effectiveness of a teacher's…

Background: Lack of content knowledge (CK) is problematic in teaching in classroom subject areas and in physical education. There is a dearth of data-based research on interventions aimed at helping teachers acquire CK and, in turn, on the effects of CK on student learning. Aim: To investigate the effect of professional development, in the form of…

This comparative study explores the experience of two first-year teachers in starkly different school systems, one in a small city on the northern plains and the other in a Midwest urban community. Using this comparative method, the authors looked at the similarities and differences of two different educational settings to collect data regarding…

A first-year teacher was observed and interviewed weekly to find out what happens to the beginning teacher as he or she tries to fit into an institutionally prescribed role. Problems encountered and the novice's responses to them are examined to see how these responses relate to the development of expertise. (MT)

Richard Locke began his first full-time job teaching seventh grade social studies at Francis W. Parker School in Chicago a quarter of a century before writing this article. Here he writes that as a young inexperienced teacher just out of college he was filled with enthusiasm and convinced that education could play a progressive role in society.…

Explores what constitutes an explanation for a science teaching event, noting conceptual-analysis-of-teaching and task-analysis approaches. Examples of various categories and distinctions are provided, drawing on data from pre- and postlesson discussions of an experienced teacher's seventh grade science lesson. The Science Teacher Thinking…

Presents an account of a teacher's first year of teaching, focusing on her central metaphors for teaching. The metaphor "teacher is buddy" represented a driving force in her thinking about teaching and working in the classroom. The article discusses the benefits of using metaphors as windows into beginning teachers' thinking and…

A case study of the experiences of a Native American teacher (Joseph) during his first year of teaching examined the transition from the idealistic world of college to the stark realities of actual teaching. Data were gathered through bimonthly semistructured interviews, classroom observations, and telephone communication. Joseph picked a…