Problems of early field experience students of teaching

Field experiences provide a time for professional growth and for practicing pedagogical skills. This research investigates two questions related to pre-student teaching field experiences: First, what problems do preservice teachers confront during field placements? Second, what underlying constructs can be inferred from the problem statements of field experience students? Data were collected from 272 early field experience students in a midwestern state. Using factor analysis, the researchers identified and described seven factors that characterize pre-student teacher problems during early field experiences.     

The role of communications in technological innovation

Technological innovation can be represented as a complex net of communication paths linking the various stages of the innovation process. This paper briefly reviews some of the more significant empirical works which have related innovative success to good communications, describes the sources of ideas leading to, and utilised during, innovation, considers the patterns of information flow found to occur during innovation and discusses the role of individuals in technology transfer.     

The shadow and substance of specific language disability

Conclusion The rewards of teaching adults are tremendous, as are the frustrations. One never knows which direction their reading programs will take and must be on the alert. Their lives are not as controlled as those of younger people and the pressures placed upon them by life itself must be carefully and constantly weighed and evaluated by those working with them. Sometimes it is possible to accomplish great things, but sometimes one must settle for more limited achievements, like Fred’s “survival level” of literacy. One must be very sensitive to the pressures in the student’s life and, where possible and necessary, help him to get expert counseling to alleviate them. One can always try, and sometimes succeed, even succeed spectacularly. There are no miracles, of course. The teacher must call on all the knowledge, skill, patience, and ingenuity she can marshal and the student will need to bring to the task persistence, sustained motivation, and resilient hope to draw upon in periods of slow progress. It is, by and large, well worth the effort.     

Individual and family influences on the rehabilitation process

The rehabilitation process is considered in light of the individual's reaction to the disability, the family's reaction to the disability, and the family's capacity to influence the disabled person's adjustment for better or for worse. A number of implications for counsellors are outlined.Paper presented at the Third International Consultation on Counselling Disabled People and Their Families, July 4–8, 1987, Vienna, Austria.