In this article we describe the MentorBlog project, which facilitated the mentoring of trainee teachers in the postcompulsory education sector through the use of blogs. In an experimental design, the study compared their experiences with students who received traditional mentoring. Blogs were used by the trainees to communicate with their mentors…

Critical thinking and knowledge construction have become essential competencies for people in the new information age. In this study, we designed an interactive learning environment involving three forms of interaction: individual reflections, group collaboration and, class discussions. The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to…

Students entering teacher preparation programs often exhibit a desire to be shown the magic bullet of teaching practice. When they fail to be presented with recipes for success, or when the instruction they receive in methods classes does not match their own understanding of instructional methods and what they believe methods should be, they can…

It was Friday, right before Memorial Day weekend. The Social Science Division was quiet. The author was standing in his office when he realized he had finished his 10th year of teaching a week before. He pondered the milestone for a minute. Like most faculty, he has floor-to-ceiling bookshelves in his office. His favorite shelf sits at the top of…

The principal new to the school enters an environment that is oftentimes a mix of excitement and apprehension. Before the new principal can begin to initiate an agenda for change that will have long-lasting effects, it would be wise to clearly understand not only the current status of the school but also the best path to take toward success. The…

There are four common stages in the consultative journey: (1) preparing for the relationship; (2) making the most of the experience; (3) committing to change; and (4) acknowledging separations, endings, and good-byes. Two Early Head Start program leaders recount their own experiences of these stages while working with infant mental health…

Death is an unavoidable fact of human life, which cannot be totally ignored in education. Children reflect on death and raise questions that deserve serious answers. If an educator completely evades the issue, children will seek other conversation partners. It is possible to find arguments both from secular and religious sources, which alleviate…

The author was born during the Second World War, in Sydney, Australia, and was educated in public schools and at a state teachers' college, largely during the 1950s. He began his working life as an elementary school teacher in the early 1960s, and entered higher education as a lecturer at a small teachers' college in the early 1970s. He retired…

Service-learning researchers and practitioners agree that reflection is the essential link between community experience and academic learning: "reflection is the hyphen in service-learning" (Eyler, 2001, p. 35). The theoretical and pedagogical foundations for service-learning reflection pay scant attention to the emotional content and context of…

This article discusses the findings of a project that sought to understand the professional, and perhaps the personal, benefits gained from participating in an overseas teaching practicum. Using in-situ classroom observations, semi-structured interviews and informal discussions, it became apparent that the participating students believed they had…

Traversing a rock-strewn terrain of essentialist methodologies historically employed for teaching Islam, the author espouses a non-Essentialist pedagogy that combines critical reflection, analysis of historical methods, and development of an appreciation for alternative notions about Islam and global interdependence. In this essay the author…

In this article, the authors expose, for critical review and public scrutiny, their challenge to the critical paradigm as an adequate location for the transformational practice development and research approaches that they are developing in healthcare. Whilst they accept the fundamental assumptions of the critical paradigm, in their view it does…

The article is a "theoretical conversation" that addresses a new perspective on an often omitted or unrecognized process that is related to current issues in teacher education. Identified and explored is a sequence of forms in a teacher's professional, pedagogic life, and it is argued that these forms are synchronous with R. G. Collingwood's…

In "Elk Grove Unified School District v Newdow" ("Elk Grove"), the Supreme Court, in an 8-0 judgment, with three concurrences, upheld the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. In light of the uproar caused by "Elk Grove", this article is divided into three parts. After reviewing the history of the Pledge the second section examines the…

There has been vast evidence to support the potential of electronic portfolios (e-portfolio) as tools for enhancing reflective thinking and professional development of student teachers. However, no study has been carried out to specifically determine English as a Foreign Language (EFL) student teachers' perceptions on the role of e-portfolios in…