Examines ways to understand the experiences of student teachers facing their first practicum work. Preservice teacher education has some of the character of initiation into a community, and it must help student teachers see the deeply ethical and ecological character of their responsibilities. (SM)

A project designed to rethink student teaching practicums using collaboration encourages teaming between teachers and student teachers and offers opportunities for creating new curriculum and instructional methods. The paper presents two case studies. Interviews, narratives, and logs indicate that certain dimensions of collaboration must be…

Examined beginning teachers' role in reconceptualizing classroom instruction. After learning about teaching inquiry and completing a student-teaching practicum, student teachers completed surveys about teaching inquiry during the practicum. Few taught inquiry or saw their associate teach it during the practicum. This made them less enthusiastic…

Study analyzed the writing assignments of two secondary preservice teachers involved in a university teacher education practicum designed to promote reflective thinking. Found that written assignments were more useful in making participants' cognitive processes explicit than in their actively constructing knowledge about teaching and learning.…

During a practicum teaching experience, preservice English-as-a-Second-Language teachers provided narrative statements on their beliefs about second-language teachers and teaching, teaching intentions, and perceptions of instructional practice. Images from prior experiences within formal language classrooms significantly affected teachers' images…