Describes how writing workshops, and in particular how peer response to writing, were incorporated into a graduate level reading/language-arts-methods course with a research paper requirement. Discusses how writing-workshop sessions and peer response to writing were implemented in the course. Notes student response, and discusses positive results.…

Describes a lesson plan to develop the students' mental mapping skills that was used with preservice elementary teachers in a social studies methods course. Students deduce the location of a particular Centerville among the 38 throughout the United States. The lesson can be used with fourth grade students and above. (CMK)

Examined preservice teachers' beliefs about elementary physical education (PE) and the impact of a field-based elementary PE methods course on their beliefs. Participant surveys indicated that preservice teachers held similar beliefs about the values and purposes of elementary PE to those of PE professionals. The methods course positively impacted…

Students in business education and English education methods (n=25), randomly assigned to 9 mixed teams, developed an integrated high school curriculum unit. Survey results showed that 92% would teach the unit and appreciated its interdisciplinary potential. The one team that would not use it had experience group conflict issues. (SK)

Describes the development of the Teacher Technology Portfolio Program at Elmhurst College in Chicago, Illinois, that integrates instruction on technology and modeling of instruction in technology into the teacher training programs. Discusses the evaluation and revision of the program and its current status. (CMK)

In this paper, the author describes a partnership between the preservice elementary education students and preservice art education majors at a local university in Georgia. The goal of this partnership was to implement an interdisciplinary curriculum in the general classrooms of nearby Boulevard Elementary School. The educational objectives of the…

This article centers on the role that civic knowledge plays in the education of students who choose to major in social studies education at Purdue University. However, the authors also use this as an opportunity to join a debate regarding the content organization of history and social science that predates the origins of the social studies in…

In this article, the author, who is an educational author, speaker, and consultant, briefly discusses how the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act has played large role in her past three jobs over the past four years. Four years ago she was the president of Foxfire, three years ago she taught elementary school methods courses in a university teacher…

This research describes three beginning teachers and the development of their literacy instruction. Research questions addressed included a) what characterized their instruction throughout their beginning years of teaching and b) were they using the content from their literacy methods coursework? Additionally, as their former teacher for literacy…

Cohorts and expanded field experiences are two structures intended to promote reflective thinking in preservice teacher education programs. In this paper, two science methods classes are compared. One class had expanded field experiences and was organized as a cohort. The second was a more traditionally structured class that was not in a cohort…

This author recognized that she needed to revisit her preservice teachers' practicum experience to reassess her goals, ideas, and priorities regarding how to provide a quality teaching and learning experience of her preservice teachers. As the author reflected on the practicum experience, she identified the missing link--reciprocity. The practicum…

When the faculty of the Educational and Interdisciplinary Studies Department at Western Illinois University were asked to develop an online research methods course several years ago, the author was skeptical. How could anyone possibly teach the complexities of research over the internet? The author's face-to-face course focused on helping students…

We present a design for a junior level numerical methods course that focuses on a series of five open-ended projects in applied mathematics. These projects were deliberately designed to present many of the ambiguities and complexities that appear any time we use mathematics in the real world, and so they offered the students a variety of possible…

As a social studies teacher educator, the author wants her students, as the nation's future teachers, to aspire to engage their students in K-12 classrooms in meaningful civic activity. Toward this end, she has developed several programs for preservice teachers to gain knowledge and the direct experience of civic participation. The Social Issue…

Preparing early childhood (K-3) teachers to teach science presents special challenges for the science methods instructor. Early childhood preservice teachers typically come to the methods classroom with little science content knowledge; they also lack confidence in their own abilities to teach science. This paper presents a theoretical background,…