As teacher educators in an alternative certification and master's programme, we support Teach For America (TFA) teachers who are developing understandings of learning, teaching, and curriculum while they are already working full-time in classrooms. Using critical discourse analysis, we analysed 109 metaphors for curriculum created by 27 novice TFA…

This article highlights two key problems of practice the author faced as the instructor of an elementary literacy methods class for Teach for America corps members in a large, northeastern city during an era characterized by strict state and district control: the deficit perspectives the corps members held of their students and the lack of…

When defending educational foundations, Isabel Nunez and Pamela Konkol sometimes find themselves responding to the question of "why?"-often phrased, "But WHYYYYY do we have to take a class on this stuff??? (We want to take more methods!)." As distressing as this can be for teacher educators whose own work reveals rather a…

The present study investigated the strengths and areas of improvement for elementary music teacher preparation from the perspective of multiple members of a single body of music teachers. Subjects for the study were elementary music teachers from an urban school district in the southern United States. All elementary music teachers in the school…

In an effort to correct criticism of elementary curriculum blocks, the University of Delaware introduced the concept of graduate clinical responsibilities. This concept was divided into three levels: observation/participation, planning and implementing limited instructional units with emphasis on team teaching, and extended student teaching. The…

Under a feasibility grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare for a Model Elementary Teacher Education Program (METEP), the University of Massachusetts' School of Education set up a language arts education program based on performance criteria, in that it is the performance of the student that is crucial, not the method…

A national survey of all (676) teacher preparation programs in speech communication was conducted during 1976 and 1977. Responses were received from 266 (42%) institutions; of these responses, 219 (34%) were usable. This paper reports the informational and attitudinal responses on the following subjects: the department and the institution; state…

Argues that recent research on women challenges long-held generalizations that are taught to future teachers. Examines the implications of feminist research and theory for teacher education, focusing on: foundations of education, educational psychology, and curriculum and methods courses. Proposes various changes to correct for current imbalances.…

This course is a team taught, 12 quarter-hour block course, which combines a general teaching, competency segment and a specialized subject area methods segment. It is required of all students seeking secondary certification and is supported out of the regular secondary department budget. The teaching competency segment has the following three…

This paper describes a model for utilizing national science reform initiatives in an elementary science methods course. By focusing particularly on Project 2061 benchmarks, the reform movement initiated by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), teacher candidates were able to successfully analyze, integrate, and utilize…