Schools and teachers must create optimal instructional learning environments for increasingly diverse student populations. Achieving such a learning environment requires teacher educators and teachers to recognize the voices and ways of knowing for students with dis/abilities who must be heard and accorded legitimacy. The purpose of this case…

Developing preservice and inservice teachers' sociopolitical consciousness remains an important part of supporting the success of P-12 student experiences. The authors recognize that one way to enhance the sociopolitical consciousness aspect of culturally responsive pedagogy/teaching is through experiential opportunities that support teacher…

Despite the wide use of discussion in online courses, the quality of these exchanges varies. In this article, the authors draw on the community of inquiry (CoI) model to inform the design of what we call "first responder/connector" (FR/C) discussions, which are student-led asynchronous online discussions. The authors propose and describe…

Community in the classroom remains critical for a successful classroom climate. However, assessing classroom community features can be challenging, and P-12 students' voices are often left out of the discussion. One way to examine student perceptions of classroom community is through the use of student drawings. In this Pedagogical Implications…

This article examines how film can be used to engage students in critical thinking, and it offers a framework for using film to build citizens of character. We argue that the use of film in the classroom can help students analyze their values and decision making for the purpose of becoming effective citizens. A brief history of character education…

Online discussions enabled preK-12 teachers (n = 125) from five nations (Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, and the United States) to share their perspectives of culture and citizenship and the intersections of those concepts. Discussion moved between elements of personal and others' theory into effects of theory on practice. Teachers identified…

Citizenship preparation is recognized as a main goal of education (Parker, 2009); however, some individuals believe that only social studies teachers are required to prepare students for citizenship. At a Southeastern university, 77 teacher education students consisting of 28 men and 49 women from various content areas were interviewed on civic…

This case study examines the perspectives of a teacher and a set of students in a U.S. history classroom in a "last chance" public New York City high school--with "last chance" being a common term used to describe schools designed for struggling students, those who have a history of truancy, or those who have dropped out. The…

This article explores and examines the social studies content knowledge that preservice teachers have about commonly studies historical figures. The data indicate that preservice teachers often have shallow and decontextualized understandings of historical individuals such as Christopher Columbus and Helen Keller, despite their being repeatedly…

This article examines how two new teachers, with varied content knowledge and preparation as teachers in mathematics education, improved their use of whole-class discourse in their mathematics classes with a mentor's assistance. Discourse has long been shown to be influential in supporting students' learning of mathematics, but the implementation…

Mentors are taking increasingly significant roles in preservice teachers' preparation. Because mentoring is complex and research is evolving and sometimes contradictory, the questions guiding this qualitative study were as follows: First, how do mentors gain their expertise? Second, what support do they need to promote their continued development?…

This study used interviews and other artifacts collected during student teaching as the basis for rating 13 elementary cooperating teachers on their supervisory effectiveness. Once highly effective cooperating teachers were differentiated from their less effective peers, researchers used ex post facto methods to identify background and…

The pressure to provide qualified teachers for all students has resulted in reform efforts, including the upgrading of credential and course requirements, as well as the proliferation of so-called alternative routes to teacher certification, which seek to create differentiated pathways into the classroom. In the present study, we compared teacher…

Teachers are significant curriculum decision makers in their classrooms. How does teachers' thinking about curriculum develop in the context of teacher education coursework, and how might an analysis of a novice teacher's learning to think more complexly inform teacher education pedagogy? This article presents a case study of a 2nd-year teacher…

Owing to national emphasis on accountability, teacher education programs are under close scrutiny by federal and state-level entities to justify their purpose and usefulness in preparing future teachers. Accrediting agencies have set high standards, which ask for systematic assessment of teacher education programs and their candidates. The purpose…