Considers the professional life histories of two Brazilian mathematics teachers in the context of mandated curriculum change, identifying changes in thought and practice and noting experiences that influenced change. Reflection on their own thought and practice, and interest in their own development, were the most important internal aspects…

Discusses the need for college graduates who are prepared for employment and skilled in teamwork, outlines a rationale for the development of groupwork in higher education, and describes a program sponsored by British Petroleum in 10 institutions in England and Scotland to provide academics with professional development in teaching groupwork…

Examines the process of integrating technology into schools. Discusses lack of teacher preparation; underuse of technology; inadequate technical support; the need for more time and money; necessary conditions for effective technology integration; the federal government's role; the role of national organizations and of states; and improving…

Describes a nexus between teacher education, teacher education research, and state policy, tracing the past dozen years of efforts designed to both support and retain California teachers in their early years; highlighting the California New Teacher Project and the Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment Program; and noting the rapid expansion in…

Provides a history of the Instructional Technology Center at Iowa State University and describes its present operations. Highlights include an organizational chart; classroom services; instructional development services, related to faculty development and courseware creation; creative services that support multimedia, graphics, and television…

Describes active learning activities that can be useful in college faculty development workshops, including three activity types: introductory exercises (personal introductions, goal-setting, warm-ups); problem-solving activities (brainstorming, hands-on exercises, reflection); and closure (consolidating concepts, cognitive mapping,…

Discusses the teaching perspective of Systemocentrism, or teacher/learner-centeredness, and two of its main elements: (1) attention to teachers' and learners' inner experience; and (2) attention to the intersubjective systems that develop among teachers and learners. Suggests that Systemocentrism provides faculty developers with a new tool for…

Describes research by a Professional Development School (PDS) partnership which examined various aspects of the partnership and its effectiveness. Data were collected from participants from 17 PDS sites using the Interview Design Process. Findings, which were consistent with previous research, emphasized professional learning communities,…

Examined the Prairie Teachers Project, a program of support for new teachers in eight rural schools, focusing on why teachers remained or left. Teachers who remained tended to have lived in and feel committed to small communities. Rural schools likely to retain new teachers had ongoing programs of professional development, supportive colleagues…

Describes the experiences of an elementary teacher who collaborated on a science action research project with an action research group involving four teachers and a university researcher. The project allowed her to critically examine and change her instructional and assessment practices. She attributed her personal and professional growth to the…

Tries to encourage teachers, principals, and others to strive to achieve authentic practices of teacher leadership and community building. Narrates the efforts of St. Patrick School in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, Canada since 1996 to build a collaborative culture based on trust and good will so that the entire staff was transformed into a team of…

A three-step framework to help teachers examine and modify teaching practice based on data analysis includes: specify current levels of student performance, create action plans, and evaluate and communicate progress. A case study of a teacher who used the framework to pinpoint one student's writing problems, create change in practice, and assess…

Examines findings of Professional Development School (PDS) researchers on the potential of PDSs to change and improve the quality of education, discussing Holmes Group research, describing barriers that have limited the contribution from PDS research, and arguing for greater focus on professional development, leadership, and policy if the PDS…

Discusses 7 questions developed by the author to evaluate web sites. Offers a list of 42 web sites in several categories useful to middle school teachers both for classroom use and professional development: super-linkers (indexes of useful sites); reference materials; writing instruction; literacy, reading, and literature; and educational…

Describes leadership models that evolved during 15 different two-year lead teacher professional development programs in science and mathematics. Analyzes multiple data sources and discusses the views of leadership that emerged from the professional development activities conducted at each site. (Contains 50 references.) (Author/WRM)