The ongoing focus on dispositions demonstrates the need for teacher educators to help preservice teachers develop from self-as-student to self-as-teacher. Our qualitative study examined preservice teachers' perceptions as they transitioned from university students to teaching professionals in a field experience program prior to student teaching.…

Research shows that teachers' efficacy relates to pupil achievement. Strong efficacy, or a self-belief that one can positively impact pupil learning, is risked when teachers develop concerns related to pupil learning. This study explored the perceived concerns of teacher candidates (N = 3) throughout an eight-week clinical field experience.…

Examined the developmental concerns of preservice elementary teachers in a paired peer placement peer coaching program who were randomly paired for their first teaching experience. Data from students' observations, feedback, and reflections on their teaching experiences indicated that students developed across a continuum of concerns from…

The article describes the Social Studies Professional Semester at the State University of New York at Albany as a capstone experience for prospective secondary social studies teachers. Promoting development of critical rather than technical rationality in beginning teachers, it encourages a realistic perspective on the context and processes of…

The model Iowa-UPSTEP (Undergraduate Preservice Science Teacher Education Program) practicum series of field experiences at the University of Iowa is described. Participants begin in elementary schools (to change their behaviors away from the traditional teacher-centered science classroom) and progress to full student teaching in a science…

Investigated field-based teacher educators' perceptions of their contribution to preservice teachers' personal-professional development. Focus groups data indicated that respondents perceived wisdom, authenticity, and passion as particularly valuable in working with student teachers. Their work with student teachers constitutes a transformative…

The paper describes facets of the teacher education program at Alverno College (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) that facilitate teacher empowerment, especially the use of multicultural education to empower urban educators. It discusses aspects of urban teacher development, describes the teaching/learning and assessment processes that develop teachers, and…

Four studies examined teacher socialization processes from four perspectives to document what happens during the learning process and what transition pattern occurs. Analysis of student/teacher journals indicated that preservice and beginning teachers go through similar transition processes in becoming teachers. Six themes dominated the transition…

This paper examines definitions of reflection and the concept of reflective teaching, and then documents attempts to implement a reflective approach taken by second-year undergraduate teaching students at the Australian Catholic University, Queensland Division. Sixteen students completed their first field experience, which included 12 half-day…

The purpose of this longitudinal qualitative inquiry was to describe the socially constructed, negotiated, and contextual nature of an early field placement in an urban elementary school. The objectives were to document subtle changes over time in preservice teachers' reading/language arts subject matter knowledge and teaching beliefs and…

This study was designed to explore the ways in which preservice teachers' reflective judgment levels influenced their perceptions of and decisions about complex and ill-defined dilemmas they encountered in their field placement classrooms. Participants were ten traditional-aged juniors in a college teacher preparation program who were completing a…

This paper describes a student teacher's experience in a school-university partnership and investigates the converging influences of the school and the university on the student teacher. The study examined the experience of a student teacher in the Puget Sound Professional Development Center Middle School Preservice Teacher Education Program, a…

Researchers analyzed journals and essays from an elementary teacher education course, examining white prospective teachers' changing views about inner-city schools with minority children as they completed fieldwork and relevant readings. The experiences helped them question old assumptions about urban students and teaching and about the value of…