This qualitative study examined a group of aspiring teachers who completed a pre-collegiate Grow Your Own (GYO) teacher program. The goals of the GYO program were to recruit and introduce high school students to the teaching profession and facilitate their transition to a teacher education program and eventually back to teaching in their…

Many initiatives aim to ensure students can access inquiry-based learning that positions them to address global problems such as climate change and economic inequality. However, in the U.S., curriculum that centers students' positions as activists is rare, particularly in schools that serve marginalized students. In this study, inquiry and…

This study explores the use of critical conversations in a field-based practicum setting to develop dispositions toward, and understandings of, equitable teaching practices. To date, few studies have examined how mentors and mentees use shared reflection to examine issues of equity alongside learning how to teach. Using self-study methods and…

Research suggests that relational trust is important for teacher collaboration and shared learning. This study examines relational trust with a new population: teacher candidates and classroom mentor teachers (CMT). Our results suggest participants' (n = 16) perceptions of trust in mentoring relationships align with published facets of trust.…

Research highlights the challenges of teacher preparation programs in adequately preparing teachers to meet the needs of diverse students often served in high-needs urban schools. Teacher preparation programs that include culturally relevant pedagogy, coursework specifically related to school-community interaction, and most importantly,…

Using video to reflect on practice is an important concept in the field of teacher education because it allows practitioners to review their practice in a timely manner and receive professional feedback from supervisors who are not always able to be physically present during instruction. This article analyzes qualitative data from preservice…

The similarity of teaching assignments between mentor and novice teachers are typically regarded as necessary prerequisites for successful mentoring relationships. Yet, due to the personnel shortages and specialized teaching assignments in special education, it is not always possible to match novice special educators with veteran special…

This study examines the perceptions of relationship quality and satisfaction held by student teachers and their cooperating teachers within the context of an instructional coaching framework-focused student teaching experience. Cooperating teachers operated as instructional coaches who then provided turn-around training for other cooperating…

This study examines how three novice teachers experienced feedback in their learning-to-teach journeys, from their yearlong student teaching experience through their first-year teaching. As student teachers, the participants received frequent, focused feedback. During their first-year teaching, they continued to desire feedback, yet had different…

This qualitative study used a phenomenological methodology and an expectancy-value framework to understand nontraditional preservice teachers' motivations for choosing a teaching career. Nontraditional preservice teachers in the current study are described as teacher candidates for whom teaching was not their first career choice. Ten students…

Much like preservice teachers, who cite cooperating teachers as influential to the learning-to-teach process, this study and its findings center the work of cooperating teachers as essential to teacher education for democratic education. The mentoring practices of cooperating teachers often reflect their teaching practices with students in their…

This qualitative study analyzes the retention data of an urban teacher residency program, a recent approach to developing quality teachers. The authors identify patterns of movers, leavers, and stayers and draw on interview data to better understand residents' (program graduates) perspectives on ways the program informs their practice after…

Although the call for increased clinical experiences is clear and the influence of clinical preparation is recognized as the most influential portion of teacher preparation programs, more attention is being directed at investigating the role of cooperating teachers in the transformation of clinical practices. This study focused on how cooperating…

Drawing upon discursive psychology as a theoretical and methodological framework, the author analyzes a set of five postobservation debrief conversations between novice teachers and their mentors. The author presents analysis and findings by highlighting how the interpretative repertoires of the rubric and protocol documents may be used to shape…

Drawing on situated learning and communities of practice, this teacher-research study examined multiple stakeholders' perspectives about the purpose, design, and inaugural implementation of the edTPA, a teacher performance assessment mandated for state certification. Participants included teacher candidates, mentor teachers, a field placement…