Worldwide, teacher educators and policy makers have called for teacher preparation that is more deeply linked to practice. Yet we know little about how such linkages are achieved within different international programs. We examine the degree to which programs provide opportunities to learn that are grounded in practice, during university…

Inservice teachers, participants in a prior study on mathematics anxiety, were revisited to determine whether their levels of mathematics anxiety still existed and/or continued to change after 5 years teaching experience. A 98-item Likert-type survey, informal discussions, informal interviews, and questionnaire-guided narrative interviews were…

The purpose of this study is to understand the phenomenon of the "professional journey" of elementary teacher candidates (ETC) both as learners and as teachers by exploring their learning experiences and practices regarding the virtual reality (VR) platform called Second Life (SL). Using the grounded theory approach, we designed an…

This article has two aims: (a) to offer a new model for a teacher preparation course that features reflection and teaching as integral, inseparable actions and (b) to provide empirical evidence from an exploratory ethnography to demonstrate teacher development possibilities with this model. The model, termed "Transformative Reflection,"…

In this article, Denise D. Cunningham presents a project that emerged from informal discussions with early childhood pre-service teachers during their content area methods courses at a large, Midwestern four-year university. Students stated that they needed personal experience with materials and practices that they will be expected to use in…

The practice of inclusion as a response to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act means that English teachers teach students who demonstrate a wide range of abilities in the same classroom. This qualitative study explored the developing attitudes toward differentiation of English education teacher candidates participating in a methods…

New accreditation standards for teacher preparation programs call for more seamless and effective connections between methods courses, clinical experiences, and school-based mentoring. Intentional clinical experiences and intermediate instructional strategies can foster collaboration between teacher preparation programs and teacher leaders in K-12…

The current high-stakes educational context compels many schools and school systems to encourage teachers to use restrictive literacy teaching practices, which are unlikely to meet students' diverse needs. These restrictions typically fall on novice teachers, who enter the field through various preparation routes, because they often work in…

Teacher candidates (TCs) use clinical experiences to enact concepts taught in their university courses; therefore field experiences may be the most important component of teacher preparation (Hammerness et al., 2005). TCs require support and guidance as they learn to adapt curriculum materials for effective use in the classroom (Davis, 2006). They…

Teacher education programs across the United States must prepare teachers who have the content area knowledge, pedagogical expertise, and cultural competence needed to teach an increasingly diverse student population. One consistent suggestion for programs committed to preparing culturally responsive teachers is to incorporate investigations of…

During field experiences, preservice teachers are typically required to observe mentor teachers in schools, but what exactly are they seeing? This research examined the patterns and variations that existed with regard to preservice teachers' classroom observations during recent field experiences. Data were collected from 24 preservice teachers…

Pre-service teachers spend an inordinate amount of time observing teaching and learning in classrooms with the goals of understanding the complexities of that space and impacting their teaching. Consequently, teacher educators are responsible for scaffolding pre-service teachers in the use of appropriate and effective observational skills and…

This investigation explores the effectiveness of a teacher preparation program aligned with situated learning theory on preservice science teachers' use of technology during their student teaching experiences. Participants included 26 preservice science teachers enrolled in a 2-year Master of Teaching program. A specific program goal was to…

Teacher education programs have been criticized as too theoretical with university courses disconnected from the practical realities of classrooms. This single case study investigates a model of teacher education that worked to bridge the coursework-fieldwork gap in teacher education. The Mediated Field Experience (MFE) is a field experience…

The purpose of this action research study was to better understand and improve my efforts as a Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) instructor to transform the attitudes, beliefs, and understandings of preservice teachers (PSTs) with regard to issues of social justice, specifically by achieving equality by providing opportunities and…