A description is given of the Teacher Enhancement Program developed by the University of New Mexico in conjunction with the Albuquerque (New Mexico) Public Schools. In developing this program, designed to discover and address the needs of mid-career teachers, the developers first examined the rationale behind preservice and first-year supervision…

This study examined the phenomenon of student teachers' practical knowledge of what constitutes a successful classroom lesson. One student teacher's personal orientation of practical knowledge and implicit understanding of what is needed to make sense out of the experience of success in classroom lessons was explored before and after the student…

The situations and attitudes of a total of 15 teachers and former teachers were investigated as part of a followup study conducted four years after a study at the completion of the teachers' first year of teaching. Using many of the same questions as in "The First Year Teacher Study," interviews were conducted, and three survey instruments were…

Findings are reported from two descriptive studies of preservice teacher education students' conceptual change in response to reading methods instruction. The first study, involving 14 preservice teachers, focused on how students applied what was taught in the reading methods course; the second study (14 participants) examined students' conceptual…

Programs designed to improve the teaching skills of graduate students may serve two purposes: (1) to improve the quality of teaching received by undergraduates enrolled in courses taught by graduate student teaching assistants, and (2) to help prepare the graduate student for future professional teaching responsibilities. Several academic units at…

This article discusses a competency based teacher education program in which education majors, mid-way in their college training, are required to have a sixty-hour field experience during the semester. A method of eliminating some of the problems of evaluation of field experiences that are faced by the cooperating teacher and the college…

From a special 8-part series, describing the individual summer experiences of 79 typical elementary teachers.

From a special 8-part series, describing the individual summer experiences of 79 typical elementary teachers.

This document focuses on the difficulties associated with offering college students an introductory course in human services. The need for an introductory course to provide a survey of the field, to offer students a chance for self-exploration, and to lay the groundwork for career choice and an understanding of the vast array of human services is…

Ohio State University's College of Education has created the Student Information System (SIS) as a means of receiving feedback and evaluating its teacher education programs. SIS is based on the documented experiences, from the variety of perspectives of those involved in the teacher education process, and will be used for program planning,…

This paper discusses the nature of teacher induction programs and of research on this topic in European, North American, and Australian countries. Research studies and induction program content and processes in the various countries are explored and compared. Among assertions and conclusions made from this study, which is meant to stimulate…

Judging by negative feedback regularly received from preservice program graduates, teacher educators have ignored their own experiences and the literature on learning. Some educational and general theory courses are not as effective as experientially-oriented classes, yet teacher educators still depend to a disproportionate degree on a lecture…

This essay advocates eradication of the line that divides preservice and inservice teacher education. However, when teacher education programs are considered in this unified way, several problems arise. It is these problems that form the basis of discussion here. One problem is the obscurity that exists between noninstructional and instructional…

Developed through in-depth interviews with experienced "bush" teachers from interior Alaska, this booklet is the product of a five-day workshop in the design of vocational education curriculum materials for rural Alaskan secondary schools. The statements in this booklet represent the edited responses of experienced teachers to the…

The history and philosophy of the free university, defined as an organization that offers noncredit classes to the general public in which "anyone can teach and anyone can learn," is explored. Offered is practical advice for starting a free university center or exchange and ensuring its success. Three contemporary versions of free…