Creating the most effective and well-educated teachers possible has been always the clear focus of the Teacher Education Department at the University of Nebraska at Kearney (UNK). During the academic year of 1999-2000, a tripartite task force was created for the College of Education at UNK to identify areas in need of revision or elimination from…

The purpose of this study was to examine prospective physical education teachers' conceptions of caring during their student teaching experiences. This study was conducted through a qualitative research design that included semi-structured interviews, field observations, and document analysis. Four student teachers (1 male and 3 females) from…

Productive student teachers lead learning by emergently sensing and honoring the hidden wholeness of life in classrooms. That hidden wholeness mirrors seven contextual concerns which learners reflect upon in the everydayness of classroom life: What are we going to do in class today? What am I going to have to do in class? What counts in today's…

The student teaching practicum is the capstone event of a new teacher's sequence of formal education and shapes the beginnings of one's foray into to the teaching profession. Vital to that experience is the influence of the cooperating teacher. This study sought a better understanding of that influence, particularly the various aspects of…