Although there are numerous calls to enhance the professionalism of teachers, there is little empirical research in the United States that examines educators' understanding of the concept. This exploratory case study compared the conceptualization of professionalism by faculty and students in a college of education vis-à-vis the…

During field experiences, preservice teachers are typically required to observe mentor teachers in schools, but what exactly are they seeing? This research examined the patterns and variations that existed with regard to preservice teachers' classroom observations during recent field experiences. Data were collected from 24 preservice teachers…

Perhaps no other words occur more frequently than standards in today's discourse on educational reform. There is much debate about standards. Instead of taking sides on the debate, this paper argues that the problem with standards does not lie so much in standards themselves as in how they are viewed by those who make them and those who are held…

The present study examined the concerns of teacher candidates in an early field experience. Thirty-five teacher candidates completed the Teacher Concerns Checklist (TCC, Fuller & Borich, 2000) at the beginning, middle and end of their early field experiences. Results showed that teacher candidates ranked impact as the highest concern, self as the…

Global education advances global perspectives and prepares globally competent citizens. Globally competent citizens know they have an impact on the world and that the world influences them. Global competency is often viewed in terms of three attributes: knowledge, attitudes, and skills. Given the importance of preparing pre-service teachers who…

This study reports on an analysis of preservice teachers' dialogue journal entries for evidence of ways in which teachers develop conceptual understanding for writing instruction. Teachers' propositional statements were identified and coded at a specific level for three themes: (1) level of instructional scaffolding, (2) focus of proposed…

The Urban Professional Development School (PDS) Network represents a group of professional educators from a large, urban university and six public and private schools in the same metropolitan area committed to providing progressive models of professional development for teachers across the lifespan. This paper demonstrates how participants in this…

As African American mothers and teacher educators, the authors' investment in teacher education is both personal and professional. The authors build upon these personal and professional investments in their teaching practices with primarily White pre-service teachers, in the hopes of better preparing them to teach African American children. This…

The flexible, multi-contextual use of language is essential to integrated learning and thinking. Likewise, learning and thinking in an integrated way is essential to multi-dimensional teaching. This study examines the ways pre-service secondary teachers define their subjects. Students enrolled in a secondary reading methods course were asked to…

As universities strive to produce the best mathematics teachers possible through both graduate and undergraduate programs, teacher educators must constantly work towards helping teacher candidates create their own conceptual understanding of mathematics. This pilot study examined the effect teaching in a constructivist manner had on teacher…

Assessing student performance is one of the most critical aspects of the job of a classroom teacher; however, many teachers do not feel adequately prepared to assess their students performance. In order to measure and compare preservice and inservice teachers' assessment literacy', two groups wee surveyed using the "Classroom Assessment Literacy…

This study examines the role of lesson plan design in helping teacher candidates to meet diverse learning needs. The authors studied student teachers who had been taught to use a differential lesson plan to see if they were differentiating in their planning, assessment, and instruction. They concluded that, indeed, lesson plan design does…

Of the innumerable problems facing American schools today, one of the most pressing is the shortage of teachers equipped with the skills necessary to help diverse students achieve academic success. Lack of aggressive efforts to include strategies to help preservice teachers understand and develop culturally sensitive and relevant pedagogy will…

A longitudinal study of 117 teachers from the beginning of their preservice education through their fifth year of teaching found that attitude toward teaching as a career remained constant during teacher preparation but was less positive after five years of teaching. This attitude was related to 6 of 15 academic and personal characteristics…

The proportion of time that teacher candidates in field-experience programs spent on eight types of classroom tasks was examined for two field-experience programs that differed in constancy of placement. In both programs, teacher candidates spent most of their time on clerical tasks and little time on whole-class teaching (their most valued task).…