This case study follows a teacher who moved from context to context as a preservice teacher, substitute teacher, long-term replacement teacher, and beginning teacher within two contexts. The study illuminates ways that particularities of placements influence what is available for teachers to come to know, what is called good teaching, and who is…

Preservice teachers get their first teaching position hoping to take the first step toward becoming professional educators and expecting support from experienced colleagues and administrators, who often serve as their mentors. In this article, the authors present the story of Kristine (a pseudonym), who works at a middle school in a large U.S.…

The purpose of the study reported upon in this paper was to determine what graduates of a teacher education program designed to prepare teachers who will work toward goals of equity and social justice were encountering in their schools and how they felt they were doing with regard to these aims and why. Eleven graduates in their second, fourth or…

This indicator of the month summarizes data from the National Center for Education Statistics School and Staffing Survey, 1993-94 (Teacher Questionnaire) regarding teacher participation in professional development (including seminars offered by schools or school districts and courses affiliated with institutions of higher education). Some findings…

This paper reports the results of a deliberate effort to help preservice science teachers improve their ability to learn from experience and take charge of their own professional development as teachers. The study was conducted by a teacher educator who simultaneously taught a physics methods course and a 12th-grade physics class and thereby…

The Mentor Teacher Program in the state of California is designed to retain capable teachers by expanding their rewards and opportunities. This report focuses on the character and quality of mentoring in an alternate route program sponsored by a large urban school district. A 30-hour required training course for mentors introduces them to their…

For the past three years a small group of teachers has been followed, first through their 1-year preservice teacher education program and then throughout their first two years of full-time teaching, in an attempt to gain insight into their development. In this paper reference is made to the stories of two of these teachers, to consider the…

This study explores the development of a beginning teacher's practical knowledge as expressed in her reflections on her actions during her first year of teaching. The view of practical knowledge constructed by Elbaz (1983) and extended by Clandinin (1986) forms the conceptual basis of the work, allied with the concept of reflection-in-action…

Data obtained through Western Kentucky University's Teacher Preparation Evaluation Program were analyzed to identify changes in teachers' perceived problems, concerns, and classroom behavior over a six-year period. Data were collected from teachers at four points: during the student teaching experience, and near the end of the first, third, and…

The monograph contains followup data on the classroom and personal - professional attitude development of 112 graduates of North Texas State University in their first year of elementary school teaching. Evaluation was accomplished through principals' reports, classroom observation, and projective and self-assessment tests that measured general…

A teacher support network, established at the University of North Florida to help first-year special education teachers solve classroom problems and also attended by preservice and veteran teachers as well as university instructors, features telephone consultation, forums, and discussion groups. (CB)

Retired Canadian educators' gave advice to beginning teachers and offered specific suggestions to a university regarding enhancement of its preservice program. The educators stressed the importance of teachers mastering a basic set of generic skills for classroom management and instructional dimensions of teaching, emphasizing the importance of…

This article reports perceptions of a first-year teacher of students with learning disabilities. First-year challenges are described, as well as views on assessment, accountability, and inclusion. Recommendations are made for new teachers and steps that teacher educators, school administrators, and experienced teachers can take to ensure the…

Finland's Reformative In-Service Education for Teachers was a one-year program that joined experienced and novice teachers in promoting change. Research on the resulting development of teachers' cognitions and on factors crucial to that development highlighted changes in beginners' craft knowledge concerning students, learning, knowledge, and…

This paper reports on an investigation into the first time implementation of a technology education unit of work by a beginning primary school teacher. The researchers monitored the teacher's implementation of the unit across a 6 week period using an interpretivist research approach. A variety of data sources were drawn upon including teacher and…