Teaching practice in schools is an essential component of the professional practice courses for primary student teachers at the University of Waikato (New Zealand). During the first three years of their training, students have a combination of short term placement in normal schools, and longer blocks of teaching practice in other schools. During…

This teaching case was written by "Neil," a student teacher who tried to teach brilliantly, who put himself to the test, and concluded he failed. Neil uprooted his family to move to Alaska to reenter school in order to obtain a teaching certificate. He also wanted to escape the fast-paced life of California and a stagnant job. Neil…

In this paper, Luther College and the Decorah (Iowa) Public Schools suggest that a clinical model for field experience offers a better approach to the problem of teacher empowerment. The model, which shifts instructional methods and student teaching to a public school that consciously identifies itself as a teacher training institution, enhances…

This ERIC Digest focuses on the student teacher, the school-based cooperating teacher, and the university supervisor, all of whom form a supervisory triad. Barriers to improved student teaching supervision such as incongruent role expectations and lack of substantive communication and collaboration among triad members are discussed. Some efforts…

This paper provides an overview of a teacher evaluation system designed to improve the education of preservice teachers at Auburn University (Alabama) by promoting self-assessment, reflection, and professional growth. The system uses a portfolio approach which includes a simulation exercise in pedagogical decision making. The portfolio contains…

Preservice peer coaching is a collegial relationship between student teachers who provide reciprocal, in-class assistance to one another as they attempt to incorporate new teaching skills, strategies, and approaches into their teaching. The typical peer-coaching cycle includes a preview conference, during which the student teachers discuss the…

This report examines the ways in which New Zealand's six colleges and schools of education have reacted to new responsibilities and challenges in producing better teachers and adapting to changed governmental requirements. It is based on interviews conducted with senior staff at the six institutions which are the main providers of teacher…

To further national goals for educational technology use, the College of Education at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign established a new Office of Educational Technology (OET) in the fall of 1996, which is supporting faculty with the integration of technology using multiple means. The means of support include co-teaching of technology…

The Teachers College at Emporia State University in Kansas is now utilizing World Wide Web technology for automating the application procedure for student teaching. The general concepts and some of the key terms that are important for understanding the process involved in this project include: a client-server model, HyperText Markup Language,…

This report examines the first generation of professional development schools (PDSs) sponsored by the Centers for Professional Development of Teachers (CPDT) in Texas, noting challenges faced, issues raised, and lessons learned. Section 1 offers an introduction and overview. Section 2 presents the background of the PDS. Section 3, Texas CPDT and…

A pre-experimental, static-group comparison study explored effects of delivery of an integrated agriculture and science curriculum to six students in the 1996-97 agricultural education Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) cohort at Oregon State University. The control group contained 15 members of the previous 5 cohorts currently teaching secondary…

Cognitive apprenticeships have three essential characteristics: (1) they make use of the learner's prior knowledge; (2) they allow that learned procedures for solving problems may be modified in new situations; and (3) they acknowledge that individuals generate their own solution paths, often through a collaborative process. Preservice elementary…

The Virginia State Department of Education funded four, 3-year pilot clinical faculty programs to provide training and compensation to cooperating teachers for the purpose of improving the supervision of student teachers. Two of the programs which received grants were collaborative projects: partners Virginia Tech University and Hollins College…

The study described here was conducted to examine the impact of reforms made to an elementary education program which include broadened supervised practicums experience for all education methods courses thereby creating a link between theory and practice. Specific attention was given to prospective teachers' perceptions of the usefulness of their…

This model of student teacher supervision focuses on providing new lenses through which teacher candidates can view and interpret their own perspectives. The model further assists teacher candidates in broadening their vision to develop an increased awareness of diversity and a need for multiple teaching strategies. This supervision approach…