Preparing early childhood educators to support effective instruction of English language learners (ELLs) is an important dimension of teacher preparation programs, yet often difficult to enact. This article reports on a collaboration between early childhood education (ECE) faculty and teachers of English to speakers of other languages (TESOL)…

A significant focus in the literature related to the preparation of early childhood teachers is the increasing emphasis on quality field-based experiences. Central to the effectiveness of these experiences is a cooperating teacher who is prepared with the necessary skills to provide prospective teachers with a powerful learning opportunity.…

The purpose of this descriptive study was to show the extent to which early childhood teacher educators are informed about, engage in, teach about, value, and collaborate with others in teacher research. Teacher research was defined as research (systematic data collection and analysis) teacher educators do on their own, primarily to better…

The articles in this special issue make clear that the field of early education is characterized by a breadth and depth of knowledge unimaginable 200 years ago, even to someone as exceptional as Elizabeth Peabody. This radical feminist used early 19th-century ideas of the "woman's sphere" to suggest that a career in early childhood education was…

Synthesizing research with practice in a meaningful manner continues to be a challenge, particularly in relation to securing the place of play in the school setting. The struggle for early childhood teacher educators in dealing with the realities of this research-to-practice dilemma requires constructive action. A theoretical framework that is…

It is well documented in the literature that relationships influence the lives of young children (birth to second grade). Consequently, it is essential that young children's caregivers and teachers build professional relationships with children's parents, because these relationships influence the children's present and later learning environments…

Given the prevalence of popular media in the lives of young children today, early childhood teacher education stands to benefit from fostering critical media literacy practices. Through the use of critical media literary practices, early childhood teacher educators can facilitate a process whereby preservice teachers learn how to critically…

This qualitative case study reports how 5 first-year kindergarten/primary teachers utilized knowledge and skills from their teacher preparation program as a means of approaching curricular decision-making for instructional practice. In many ways, participants drew from university courses, field experiences, or both to help them make sense of their…

The immigrant teacher perspective has been largely missing from local and national debates on early childhood pedagogy and has certainly been marginalized in debates about language in early childhood settings. Interviews with dozens of preschool teachers in multiple U.S. cities about children of immigrants' language choices at school (as part of…

This research examines the perceptions of early childhood preservice teachers in relation to earning the techniques of pedagogic documentation with young children. Data sources are preservice teachers' written responses to questions related to using technologies associated with pedagogic documentation such as photography and video recording, as…

National educational organizations highlight the importance of preparing preservice teachers to work with diverse families. As teacher educators in an interdisciplinary early childhood teacher education program, we developed a project using eco-maps to help students learn about children and their families. We analyzed students' written reflections…

How do college professors prepare for class? Teachers often approach the lesson planning process differently. Some, though quite different in their methods, come out with remarkably similar results. Two highly effective teachers engaged each other in peer-reflection as they explored their own methods of lesson preparation. As they conferred with…

Teacher research served as both the content and frame of analysis for this study. Parallel teacher research projects took place over the course of a year as preservice teachers engaged in their first experience with teacher research as part of an infant-toddler development course and the first author (their instructor) engaged in teacher research…

Federal, state, and local policy makers' high-stakes standards-based accountability reforms are transforming the early childhood teacher education process. These reforms affect how early education teacher candidates figure their role as teachers. By employing Holland, Lachicotte, Skinner, and Cain's conception of figured worlds to analyze the…

This article describes challenging practicum situations that provided three early childhood education students with leadership opportunities to promote best practices in child care centers. Using excerpts from student journals and meetings, the article documents students' initial discouragement at practices observed, inspiration through…