This paper reports on an exploratory study designed to investigate what aspects of practicum pre-service teachers narrate as meaningful experiences and how these narratives help them promote teacher awareness and professional development. The study is conducted with 21 fourth-year pre-service teachers attending the practicum at the time of the…

A critical incident is an unexpected event that occurs in the classroom. Teachers can uncover a new understanding of the teaching and learning process through reflecting on these critical incidents. This study explored the writing and discussion of critical incidents among six student teachers with their cooperating teachers in a practicum under…

This qualitative case study investigated the changes in mental models of a group of White, rural and suburban, teacher candidates in a rural midwestern college and their increased capacity to understand race and culture after their short-term practicum experience in Guatemala City. The study used individual written reflections, whole-group…

Drawing on activity theory, this qualitative case study examines the emotional experiences of Maria, a preservice teacher of English as an additional language (EAL) during the practicum in an Australian secondary school setting and the factors shaping these emotions. Data included interviews with the preservice teacher before and after the…

In implementing a university-wide programmatic innovation to prepare graduate students to become more effective instructors in their future careers as university educators, a faculty development center encountered various types of resistance, ranging from the structural to the cognitive to the affective. Elaborating upon models of organizational…

This article reports on how a program based on educative supervision supported the supervisory knowledge and practices of three cooperating teachers. The program was planned as a kind of practicum: the cooperating teachers participated in the program while working with a student teacher. The program included activities where the cooperating…

In 2010 a group of teacher educators from four universities, experienced in rural and remote education, formed the Tertiary Educators Rural, Regional and Remote Network (TERRR Network). The collaborative goal was to improve the quality of graduates taking appointments beyond the metropolitan areas of Western Australia. The TERRR Network developed…

The practicum provides an opportunity for preservice teachers to apply knowledge and skills in actual classroom settings. Thus, it serves as a central component of virtually all teacher education programmes. This study focused the views of 16 preservice science teachers on their practicum experiences. Individual interviews were made to construct a…

This paper reports a study of three beginning secondary mathematics teachers and how their reflective practice developed during a one-year university teacher education program and concurrent professional fieldwork experience or practicum. The participants were interviewed three times during the practicum and once more in their first year of…

This study aimed at investigating the role of electronic portfolios in fostering pre-service teachers' reflective thinking. The research was conducted with pre-service English language teachers enrolled in a practicum course in an undergraduate teacher education programme in Turkey. The data were collected through e-portfolios and interviews. The…

This article presents the findings of a study that investigates pre-service English teachers' reflections on their teaching performance after watching their videotaped lessons in company with their university supervisor. This study, conducted during the spring semester practicum program in the 2007-2008 academic year, examines how the teacher…

This qualitative case study explores the potential of technology integration teaching cases to develop preservice mathematics teachers' Pedagogical Technology Integration Content Knowledge (PTICK). A cohort of eight mathematics education students was enrolled in a technology integration course at a large southeastern university that emphasizes…

This article discusses the findings of a project that sought to understand the professional, and perhaps the personal, benefits gained from participating in an overseas teaching practicum. Using in-situ classroom observations, semi-structured interviews and informal discussions, it became apparent that the participating students believed they had…

Students entering teacher preparation programs often exhibit a desire to be shown the magic bullet of teaching practice. When they fail to be presented with recipes for success, or when the instruction they receive in methods classes does not match their own understanding of instructional methods and what they believe methods should be, they can…