For the past 2 1/2 years, the current population of undergraduate preservice teachers have persisted in their education programs despite unimaginable obstacles. As students, they moved in and out of remote instruction, often taking practicum and student teaching courses without access to in-person K-12 classrooms. At the start of the 2021 academic…

The purpose of this project was to produce a videotape of outstanding cooperating teachers and to use the tape to demonstrate effective methods for maintaining classroom discipline to student teachers. A set of six criteria for effective teaching was defined in terms of student behavior and the criteria were used to select seven teachers, five…

The "window-wall" in the San Diego State University/Cajon Valley Union School District Model Education Center provides a mechanism for linking theory to practice for preservice teachers at this professional development school. Several observation activities are described, and the value of the window-wall to school and university faculty…

Examines the use of modeling techniques in a methods course to help prepare prospective English teachers, focusing on: demonstrations and explicit instruction, use of class assignments and explicit modeling, and ongoing modeling and reflective analysis. Each section contains a description of instruction and a description of student and instructor…

Reports on a study that examined the effects of modeling the writing process on preservice teachers' attitudes toward writing. An instructor modeled the role of teacher. After writing on self-selected topics, students revised, edited, and bound books and shared them with the class. Student attitudes toward writing became more positive from pretest…

The idea that breaks from experience are necessary and salutary in teacher education is a response to an enduring problem of teacher education: the fact that aspiring teachers come to their preparation with set ideas about teaching, learning, and schooling that fit with the larger ideal and institutional order into which they were born. Typically,…

This study compared experienced physical educators' observation skills in teaching situations to those of first- and final-year student teachers. Participants viewed slides from gymnastic lessons and reported what they saw. There were significant differences between groups in several areas. Final- year and experienced teachers were similar in…

Placing education majors in field-based experiences before student teaching has become a common practice in teacher preparation. Two introductory education courses offered at Northwest Missouri State University were designed to provide education majors with classroom experiences early in their program of study. The courses, Observation and…

Most criticism of teacher preparation programs has been leveled at schools, departments, and colleges of education. However, a case study at one university indicates that faculty in the School of Arts and Sciences deliver 61 percent of the credits in a typical elementary education program, and 74 percent in the secondary program. Because most of…

Jersey City State College (New Jersey) has assumed, as its primary mission, the challenge to address urban concerns, including urban teacher preparation. The revamped Junior Field Experience Program (JFE) is a required course for all prospective teachers. This requirement intends to prepare prospective teachers to deal with cultural diversity by…

Potential influences on the student teaching experience relate to the characteristics of the placement site, the supervision of the student teacher, the requirements of the program, and the abilities of the student teacher. This study of the ecological factors that influence a student teacher's development examined the evolution of student…

Legislation requiring multicultural education for teacher preparation programs could help dispel misconceptions about the homogeneity of rural American (all redneck farmers/ranchers, no poverty). Using field experiences in rural areas/schools for beginning teachers to observe cultural pluralism may have serendipitous effects of promoting positive…

Early field experiences for preservice teachers can serve as a catalyst for the development of new insights and instructional techniques, particularly if they are in diverse settings. This study provided one preservice teacher with two 30-hour field experience components at two diverse sites. The project involved a comparative analysis of two…