Designed to promote equitable and fair student teacher practicum supervision and evaluation, contextual supervision (CS) can be used by both college and school-based supervisors. This approach is supported by current reforms in teacher education, contemporary supervisory models, and validation in actual practice. (IAH)

In contextual supervision (CS) (an adaptation of situational leadership), the student teacher's (supervisee's) level of confidence and competence determines level of supervisory support and task orientation. CS also encourages a global view of all contextual variables. Observation of 49 untrained pairs of practicum students and cooperating…

Asserts that many preservice elementary art teachers have negative feelings about their precollegiate art education. Relates preservice teachers' experiences with unsupportive and negative teachers. Contends that students can avoid this behavior by paying attention to individual needs and by encouraging creativity. (CFR)

Describes the infusion of computer technologies into a preservice teacher-education course that promoted critical reflection on the learning-to-teach process. Discusses three recurring categories that emerged from students' projects (pedagogical, affective, and procedural) and highlights two examples of each. Presents the benefits and concerns of…

Investigated the usefulness of preprofessional benchmarks and competencies as a metric for learning to teach for preservice students entering teacher-preparation programs. Preservice and cooperating teachers completed the Preprofessional Accomplished Practice Indicators Survey before, during, and after student teaching. Results indicated that the…

Studies how the organization of teachers' work affects students in their early years of high school. Results from 11,692 students and 9,904 teachers show significant achievement gains in schools where teachers take collective responsibility for students' academic success or failure rather than blaming students for their own failure. Achievement…

Using the concept of well-remembered events, this study examined how members of 13 elementary school cooperating teacher/student-teacher dyads interpreted the same teaching events. Qualitative differences were found which are discussed in terms of expert-novice studies, teachers knowledge as event structured, and personal narrative in teaching.…

A study of 43 student teachers of science studying lesson planning found that students working in partnership with a supervising teacher achieved 12% higher gains than teachers working entirely at a university and that teachers using computer-mediated delivery achieved 15% higher gains than those using traditional delivery methods. (PEN)

Describes why school districts and universities should create professional-development school partnerships. Argues that besides increasing student and teacher learning, professional-development schools can improve education in schools and universities by reforming them both, taking on new roles and new work, reducing teacher-student ratios, and…

Teaching practicum requires a philosophy to give directions to values and actions. The philosophy proposed here aims for the development of a reflective and reflexive learner who learns through situational analyzing, theorizing, hypothesis testing, inquiring, experimenting, and justifying. Such development has to be built around the searching and…

In this article, the author shares some of the lessons she learned after she completed a semester as a secondary English teacher-intern. She relates that her experiences during her practicum range from struggles on classroom management to failed attempts to implement a writing workshop. She also discusses how those experiences have dramatically…

The purpose of the study was to determine if student teachers' perceptions of the student teacher/cooperating teacher relationship were predictive of their decisions to enter the teaching profession. The target population of this study consisted of preservice agricultural education students at Texas A&M University. The accessible sample…

Research supports teacher preparation programs to recognize stress factors and to assist students and new teachers with effective coping mechanisms. Twenty-five to fifty percent of beginning teachers resign during their first three years of teaching (Fleener, 2001; Roulston, Legette, & Womack, 2005). Among all the causes, stress from teaching is…

Recently, researchers and policymakers have begun to question the role of professional education in learning to teach. This inquiry reflects skepticism about the contributions of teacher education, which is, in turn, fueled by popular ideas about the work of teaching: teachers are born not made, or that "real" learning begins once novices arrive…

This study examines the effect and effectiveness of the "bug-in-the-ear" (BIE) intervention strategy used with early field placement teacher education students to see whether meaningful feedback early in training would significantly help with developing teaching competencies. The BIE strategy involves a one-way communication device to…