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ERIC Number: EJ729519
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2006-Feb
Pages: 12
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1066-5684
EISSN: N/A
Crossing Borders: Developing an Innovative Collaboration to Improve the Preparation of High School English Teachers
Friedman, Audrey A.; Wallace, Elizabeth Kowaleski
Equity & Excellence in Education, v39 n1 p15-26 Feb 2006
Broad (1999) observed that "troubled borders crisscross the geography of teacher preparation in English" (p. 373), calling for collaboration where preparation is a university responsibility (Gregorian, 2001). This research documents a three-year complex case study that addressed the question: What happens when English, education, and high school faculty cross borders to prepare secondary English teachers to teach in urban schools? This study looked at faculty mentors and preservice teacher mentees as they collaborated on multi-leveled projects to improve teacher preparation of secondary English teachers. Interventions included collaborative seminars, collaborative mentoring, and individual mentoring of preservice English teachers by English, education, and high school faculty. Results indicate that interventions challenged biases of stakeholders, enhanced the quality of teacher preparation, and revised instructional practices of university English and education faculty and preservice teachers. Results indicate that mentees incorporated suggestions made by mentors that reinforced pedagogical content knowledge. Most mentees regarded content mentors favorably, noting that their focus of observation was different from those of clinical supervisors and cooperating teachers. English and education mentors assimilated changes in personal pedagogy based on observations and discussions with urban high school teachers. Such discussions also challenged personal beliefs about urban students and schools. Content mentors also adjusted syllabi to include materials used in high school curricula. The implication of this study is that "crossing borders" improves and alters how university faculty can better prepare preservice teachers.
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A