Mindfulness offers a pathway for preservice teachers to develop self-awareness, which is an essential part of personal and professional growth. However, supporting teacher self-awareness is rarely given much attention in teacher education programs. The authors studied the use of mindfulness meditation in an early childhood college course with…

Middle school teachers teach energetic, curious adolescents rigorous content at a time in their lives when many changes are occurring. Those entering the teaching profession as middle school teachers must be prepared for this unique environment. This study examines 16 pre-service middle school teachers' developments as they participate in a…

Despite the fact that early childhood preservice teachers are typically being prepared to work with children from birth through age 8, preservice field experiences with infants continue to be largely missing in early childhood teacher preparation programs Since the education and care of infants often takes place in vastly different settings than…

"Courage Work," based on the writings of Parker Palmer, often involves the use of poetry as a vehicle for exploring and examining teachers' inner lives. This paper discusses how poetry was used with a group of undergraduate preservice elementary teachers in the Fall 2004 term, to explore how students responded to the poetry, particularly in light…

Changes in preservice teachers' level of reflective thinking over a three-quarter period were explored by analyzing their journal entries on readings and field experiences. Even without specific reflection training, levels of reflection increased significantly due to simply asking preservice teachers to reflect. However, only one participant…

Examines preservice teachers' exchange of dialogue journals with sixth graders. Finds that preservice teachers experienced the value of journal-based written and oral discourse activities for understanding and fostering both their own social and academic development and that of their younger partners. (PA)

Comments from Australian student teachers' field experience journals identified complex developments among student teachers, who moved from teacher-centered to student-centered views of instruction, from personal to professional views of teacher-student relationships, and from control to holistic views of classroom management as they advanced in…

Student teachers' journal entries during a 3-week practicum experience were analyzed to determine their perceptions of effective teaching. The students were given no guidance about journal content; they were simply asked to write abut issues or experiences that concerned them, to write reflectively, and to attempt to write daily. From analysis of…

This paper reports on a study of developmental thinking and qualities of reflection exhibited by two groups of music student teachers at two universities using different cooperating teacher training programs. The study examined the weekly journals of 19 music student teachers at Institution A (with trained cooperating teachers) and 26 students at…

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…