U.S. teacher education has largely overlooked a sociopolitical-historical context that affects both immigrants and nonimmigrants: American empire. To address the pressing need for teacher education to acknowledge U.S. imperialism, the author stages an argument in three parts. First, she argues that the field should account for empire and its…

Working on teaching as a collective practice--understanding it, specifying it, and improving it--is crucially important and too often ignored. But setting up a choice between improving teaching and improving teachers is problematic for several reasons. To begin with, it seems that the very methods Hiebert and Morris outline for improving teaching…

This article presents the authors' response to the comments of their article about extending ideas on improving teaching. The authors continue the conversation about improving teaching by focusing on two points that deserve further consideration: (1) the willingness or motivation of teachers to engage in the work of improving teaching; and (2) the…

Parker Palmer is correct in his claims that good teaching depends more on the capacity for connectedness than on technique and that helping teacher candidates cultivate a strong sense of personal identity is crucial. However, to what extent are Palmer's claims compatible with the various constructivist models of learning that are now prevalent in…

This article explores the nature of self-study of teacher education practices by examining what self-study is and how it might be conducted and reported. In working through these ideas, the article makes an argument for the need for learning through self-study to be documented in ways that might not only be accessible to others but also meaningful…

Schools of education typically prepare their prospective teachers to work with amorphous "average students"--who are by implication middle class, native, English speaking, and White. They are then given some limited opportunities to adapt these understandings to students with diverging profiles--children of poverty, second language learners, and…

Much of what teachers need to know to be successful is invisible to lay observers, leading to the view that teaching requires little formal study and to frequent disdain for teacher education programs. The weakness of traditional program models that are collections of largely unrelated courses reinforce this low regard. This article argues that we…

This article argues that with changes in attitudes and actions in classrooms, teachers can alter what happens in urban schools and transform the lives of students. Ten precepts are offered to assist them in that role: teach more, not less, content to poor, urban children; ensure all children gain access to conventions/strategies essential to…

Teacher effectiveness research is presented within the context of research about the teaching of reading in an effort to guide preservice teachers to make deliberate judgments in selecting instructional strategies from conflicting research findings. Suggestions for teacher educators are offered. (Author/MT)

Although ethnographic studies sometimes reveal ways in which incongruity contributes to inequity, the research does not imply that teachers should always promote cultural congruity. Unless teachers understand the problems underlying endorsements of cultural congruity, they may contribute to the miseducation of future teachers and their students.…

The research base in the study of teaching is broader than it has ever been. The most obvious use of this research is in teacher education programs. Pedagogy must become a laboratory-based field of study, with environments in which to experiment with producing cognitive and affective change in children. (MT)

Although teaching and teacher education are related, the knowledge base for teacher education is not the knowledge base about teacher education. Differences are described and implications of research are discussed. The study of the professional development of teachers needs to be informed by multiple conceptions of the world. (MT)

Although research suggests that teachers make a difference in student performance, the variables are too numerous and the interactions too complex for the researcher to confidently identify the degree of a teacher's influence. But research can and should inform teacher educators about probable outcomes or products of the teaching process. (MT)

An important issue for adult education teachers is the capability of the instructor to choose appropriate methodology to suit both the student and situation. A review of research dealing with adult learners is presented along with implications for adult preparation programs. (DF)

The growing number of adult learners in college classrooms makes an evaluation of instructional strategies important. Teaching strategies and student perceptions towards faculty and the institution are relevant considerations for the educator of adult students. Recommendations for improving university instruction are given. (DF)