This article describes a seven-session workshop to train cooperating teachers. Workshop activities include a review of recent research, reflection upon and composition of a lesson observation guide, and a simulated supervision episode. In addition, a series of idea exchanges were interspersed throughout the workshop. (IAH)

A collaboration between Queens College (New York) and an urban middle school places graduate students at the school site for three full days each week. Prospective teachers spend time with a variety of teachers and a variety of situations and gradually move toward total responsibility. (MLF)

Discussion of preservice teacher education in computer technology focuses on a survey of teachers who had completed their first year of teaching that examined their perceptions of how prepared they were to use computers in the classroom. Course recommendations, computers in student teaching, and suggestions for teacher educators are discussed. (29…

Presents research that questions the effectiveness and necessity of student teaching as part of the teacher education curriculum. Proposes that practice in teaching skills should occur in the college of education program where mistakes and ideas are valuable openings for discussion and where discussion is immediate. (KS)

Discusses a 1986 appeals court decision which held that the St. Cloud State University (Minnesota) teacher education program may not allow students to satisfy their student teaching requirements in parochial schools. The court held that such a policy would violate the first amendment prohibition against "an establishment of religion."…

Examines and compares the responses given by 480 Minnesota Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (MCTFL) members on their perceptions of their preprofessional preparation in terms of its quality and usefulness. (GLR)

Describes the author's experience as a student teacher teaching a drama class composed of students from grades 9, 10, and 11, all working at different levels of experience and expertise. Details challenges he faced as well as successes and failures. Offers comments from a veteran theater educator and suggests supplemental reading, activities, and…

Explains what inquiry-based science instruction means and points out the difficulty of creating this kind of instruction for teachers who are inexperienced in teaching. Presents a case study of a preservice teacher who explored whether it is realistic to expect preservice teachers to create and carry out an inquiry-based classroom. (Contains 38…

The study examined the influence of learning to teach in pairs on eight first-year teachers. Each participated in an experimental program during student teaching, a peer-teaching model, where two student teachers worked with one mentor. Some worried that the peer-teaching model would not prepare them adequately for the realities of classroom…

According to Hanes and Schiller (1994), "The student teacher experience is the traditional transition from theories of the university to practical realities of public schools. It is in this experience that critical changes occur and determine the manner of practice that preservice teachers tend to adopt for their future classrooms" (p. 218). The…

This paper investigates the mentoring practices of 16 cooperating teachers as they prepared student teachers to integrate technology into teaching and learning activities. Data were gathered from multiple sources during a semester of student teaching. A complex variety of contextual and conceptual factors influencing the integration of technology…

A sociocultural perspective on teacher learning was used to investigate how three beginning teachers' conceptions of classroom management affected their developing teaching practices. Students were followed from student teaching through their first 2 years of teaching. Data sources included interviews, classroom observations, and teacher education…

Much of what teachers need to know to be successful is invisible to lay observers, leading to the view that teaching requires little formal study and to frequent disdain for teacher education programs. The weakness of traditional program models that are collections of largely unrelated courses reinforce this low regard. This article argues that we…

This article analyzes how Sharon, a student teacher, negotiated the different conceptions of teaching that provided the expectations for good instruction in her university and the site of her student teaching and how her effort to reconcile the different belief systems affected her identity as a teacher. The key settings of Sharon's experience…

Despite the growing appreciation among professional educators, teachers unions, school districts, and university researchers of the need for effective school-based mentors, many new teachers still report a "sink or swim" experience as they enter the profession. Not surprisingly, about one third of new teachers in the United States leave…