Instructional coaching guru Jim Knight suggests that how we think about coaching can enhance or interfere with our success as a coach. He suggests that coaches take a partnership approach to collaboration and adopt seven principles that define how coaches interact with collaborating teachers: equality, choice, voice, reflection, dialogue, praxis,…

As teachers learn new pedagogical strategies, they crave explicit demonstrations that show them how the new strategies will work with their students in their classrooms. Successful instructional coaches, therefore, understand the importance of modeling lessons to help teachers develop a vision of effective instruction. The author, an experienced…

A former Teach for America recruit who completed her training in a university-based program compares the two approaches to teacher preparation. In Teach for America, she learned how to design units and prepare lesson plans; in her university-based program, she had the time to learn from master teachers and build valuable skills, then practice…

Using data from the 2003-04 Schools and Staffing Survey, the authors studied how various aspects of teacher preparation affect the retention of new teachers--specifically mathematics and science teachers. They found that the preparation of new mathematics and science teachers differs from that of other new teachers in various respects, but factors…