Walking the Talk in Initial Teacher Education: Making Teacher Educator Modeling Effective

This self-study investigated student teachers' perceptions of teacher educators modeling practices within a large lecture class in an initial teacher education program. It also studied factors that affected student teachers' developing ideas and practice. Phase 1 collected data from student teachers through focus group interviews and course and teaching evaluations, as well as data from lecturers. Phase 2 collected further qualitative data from teacher educators to inform questions arising from Phase 1 findings. While student teachers' perceptions of critically reflective processes and teaching models modeled by lecturers were varied, they affirmed the positive value of lecturer modeling. Data highlighted gaps between lecturers' intentions and the student teachers' perceptions. Data confirm that effective modeling is difficult to achieve, particularly in large lectures. Student teachers were challenged by the demands of engaging critically with new content while also being attentive to modeling. Recommendations include explicitly unpacking our teaching practices, using training strategies to support student teachers in developing the ability to reflect critically, and increasing opportunities for student teachers to practice various teaching models and strategies.     

应对挑战创新教师教育事业的思路

结合教师教育主题,对教师教育中存在的问题发表了看法,进行了客观的分析,指出作为教师培训机构,离不开学科带头人的作用.要重视并加强学科带头人队伍建设,建设一支高素质、高水平教师队伍,教师培训机构要率先构建成为学习型组织,要求我们的教师要成为终身学习的模范.     

Making Ends Meet: Bringing Bilingual Education and Mainstream Students Together in Preservice Teacher Education

In some institutions offering certification for bilingual education and ESL teachers, the corresponding mainstream programs do little to ready their students to work effectively with language minority children. Yet today's mainstream classrooms are linguistically and culturally diverse, and all teachers must appreciate the role of language and culture in teaching and learning. This study describes one effort to consciously combine preservice bilingual and mainstream education teachers in a bilingual education methods cohort. Students reported promising gains in cross-cultural understanding and in cross-program appreciation. Some losses took place as well, however, and further innovation and research are needed in order to ensure that such efforts to combine programs strengthen, but not weaken, each program.     

On Teacher Development:The Making of a Good Teacher

教师发展在近些年越来越受到教学界的关注。因为教师是教学中的灵魂和灯塔,在他的影响和指引下,学生的学习才有保证。该文作者在此提出了教师应具备的三种知识,这三种知识让教师对教授对象,教育政策,和教学动态发展有一个清晰的认识,从而更好的来进行和安排教学,提高教学效率。     

Ten Years of Teacher Workshops in an Environmental Problem-Solving Model: Teacher Implementation and Perceptions

Abstract

In this study, the authors focus on quantitative and qualitative methods to examine the training model for Investigating and Evaluating Environmental Issues and Actions (IEEIA). The authors examined (a) the relationship between IEEIA implementation rates and type of training; (b) workshop participants' perceptions of support for their use of IEEIA and the relationship between those perceptions and implementation; and (c) workshop participants' perceptions about the impact of the instructional approach on themselves, students, administrators, colleagues, parents, and the community. A direct-mailed questionnaire was used to collect data from 132 teachers who had participated in IEEIA training between 1990 and 1999. Interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 8 workshop participants. More than half of the teachers used the approach. Participants of extended or multiple trainings tended to use IEEIA more than their counterparts. Support after the workshop was important to implementation; IEEIA teachers perceived that it had positive impacts on themselves, students, and others.     

Making Research Relevant in Preservice Early Childhood Teacher Education

Increasingly, researchers, teacher educators and governmental agencies underline the need for early childhood professionals to be able to conduct and use relevant research in their practice. In contrast, early childhood teachers tend to draw exclusively on practical advice rather than research evidence to evaluate and develop their teaching. To address these contradictions in expectations, recently developed preservice early childhood teacher education programs have included a core research subject that aims to foster an appreciation of the value of research and its contributions to professional practice. This study examines the effectiveness of teaching and learning approaches designed to make research relevant to undergraduates at an Australian regional university by tracking students' changing views about research during a one-semester teaching period. The findings of this study show that relevant learning experiences, such as designing and conducting a simple research project, modeling research, collaborative inquiry, focused reading, and organizing a research conference, significantly changed student perceptions of the relevance of research to their teaching and their future role as early childhood professionals.     

Political Education in a Democracy: the Implications for Teacher Education

Abstract

The relationship between prior field experience and professional development has been frequently documented in teacher education (Denton, 1982; Calderhead, 1988). There is less research, however, which has explored the relationship between students' prior experiences and their initial images of teaching and professional development. This paper outlines some, findings from a UFC research project into experiential learning in higher education. It concentrates specifically on teacher education and focuses primarily upon the experiences of student teachers prior to their professional training. The paper examines the extent to which prior experiences influence students' images of teaching and professional development. It describes the nature of those experiences and explores the relationship between prior experience and students' preconceptions about professional development.     

Religious students in a public-secular college: feeling unique in a milieu of diversity

ABSTRACT

The current study examined the case of religious students who opted to study in a secular teacher-training college despite the fact that there are religious colleges that would have suited their needs. This phenomenon is unusual because the education system in Israel is segregated and each educational sector has its own teacher-training colleges. Findings of this qualitative study indicate that the majority of participants did not wish to depart from the religious framework, but rather sought to forge reciprocal relations with the secular society and carve a space for themselves where they could express their identity, which does not entirely conform to the demands of the religious society. These findings highlight an interesting dynamic that developing between students from a minority group and the mainstream secular society in Israel that promotes multiculturalism. An academic campus that adopts a multicultural approach is a safe space for minority students, whose sectorial framework does not fully provide for all their needs.     

对教师培训回归原点的思考

教师的成长首先应该是人的成长,然后才是专业的成长。教师培训绝不是简单的教学技能的传递。作为教师教育者——研训教师来说,要关注不同阶段教师专业成长规律和成年人学习规律,帮助一线教师在学习探索的过程中认清自我、发展自我,结合多样化的学习方式,回归教师教育的原点。     

综合大学举办教师教育的条件

美国综合大学是否具备教师教育资格,需要教师教育专业标准组织"国家教师教育鉴定委员会"认可,而能够举办教师教育的综合大学一般都有"师范学院"的历史基础,它保证了大学后期教育专业培养的质量。目前我国符合举办教师教育条件的综合大学有两类:保留"师范大学"名称但实际已经或正在发展为综合大学的学校和具有师范教育传统的已更名的综合大学的学校。我国综合大学举办教师教育的基本取向是在"师范性"和"学术性"之间确定合理的平衡点,在其限度内维持这一必要的张力。我国应该发展这两类综合大学举办的教师教育,通过教师教育资格认证,给予教师教育办学方向和培养规格的政策指导。     

Using Case Study Analysis and Case Writing to Structure Clinical Experiences in a Teacher Education Program

This study reports on the design and results of a two-semester study on the use of case study analysis and case writing in clinical experiences in an undergraduate teacher education program. Findings indicated that structured experiences with case studies and case writing increase preservice teachers' informed decision making on educational issues.     

为多元文化社会培养教师:美国教师教育历久弥新的主题

如何为适应中小学课堂的文化多样性、实现教育平等和社会正义而培养合格教师,是当代美国多元文化教师教育研究的核心议题,诸如招收更多具有多元文化背景的师范生、丰富多元文化教师教育课程体系、增加教育实践场所的文化多样性以及教师教育者自觉示范等实践创新亦蔚然成风.面对多元文化教师教育发展中的困难,研究者呼吁组织、课程和个人等多层面的变革,开展高水平合作研究,建设多元文化教师教育学科.     

美国教师教育的新发展:“城市教师驻校模式”及其对我国的启示

城市教师驻校模式是当前美国教育改革中新出现的一种教师培养模式,是在美国传统的教师教育模式发展无力和美国教师结构短缺现状的背景下应运而生的。这是一种职前职后一体化的教师培养模式,实施过程包括计划的组织和管理、驻校生的招录、教学点和指导教师的选拔、驻校期培养、驻校毕业生的安置以及新教师的入职指导六个部分。它为城市薄弱学校招聘、培养和留住优秀教师提供了一条有效途径。     

Voices in Education: Politics and Teacher Education

Abstract

This research examined the legal climate regarding admissions and retention in teacher preparation programs as well as the current practices of selected programs. The study utilized legal/archival research and an on‐line survey of 27 universities. Findings indicated that the legal parameters regarding admission and retention fall under the expectations established for other types of professional training. University officials have great latitude to make professional judgments. The survey found that most institutions have formal admission and retention policies, though the admission policies are more fully developed. Many universities reported having formal policies to consider student dispositions for teaching, though no single policy is used by more than one third of the universities surveyed (most employ informal means). Conclusions include that teacher preparation programs have more legal latitude than is being employed for admission and retention decisions, and it is recommended that the field establish professional norms for retention policies and assessing student dispositions for teaching.