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Exploring the Radical Middle between Theory and Practice: A Collaborative Self-Study of Beginning Teacher Educators
This paper is a collaborative self-study of the authors' development as beginning teacher educators over the course of an academic year. The purpose of the authors' self-study was their shared interest in the role of theory and of practice in teacher education programs. Both authors kept personal journals of the ideas they explored during their discussion meetings. Their analysis suggests that theory and practice are densely interwoven aspects of teaching which can be tacitly separated by coursework in teacher education.
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Rudderless as Mentors: The Challenge of Teachers as Mentors
The purpose of this study was to contribute to and expand the scholarship on teaching and mentoring. The questions guiding this qualitative study were as follows: First, how do mentors gain their expertise? Second, what support do they need to promote their continued development? The context of this study was a teacher training academy. Data were collected from eight mentor teachers in three ways--through individual interviews, focus group interviews, and participant observation. Results indicate that mentors conceptualized their work into two distinct roles: teaching and mentoring. Recommendations are provided for developing and supporting mentors' practice.
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Talking About Our Troubles: Using Video-Based Dialogue To Build Preservice Teachers' Professional Knowledge
This study explores the preservice teacher learning in the context of conversations about their field-based challenges. First, a review of the literature investigates studies that highlight the role of evidence-based conversation as a mechanism to approach the inevitable problems faced by teachers in the classroom. The subsequent case study provides an analysis of how a group of preservice teachers approached a colleague's challenge through a structured conversation and used digital videotapes and artifacts to add specificity to their analysis.
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Developing a Vision of Teacher Education: How My Classroom Teacher Understandings Evolved in the University Environment
The objective of this research was to examine the development of the author's vision of teacher education as he moved from teacher to teacher educator. A qualitative self-study methodology was used to identify and describe sources of tension and growth that contributed to the evolution of his classroom teacher understandings as he forged a distinct vision for teacher education. Data were collected in the form of field texts over the three-year period when the author worked as a graduate teaching assistant in a teacher education program. The author identified four primary sources that contributed to the development of his vision of teacher education.
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Pathways to Teacher Certification: Does It Really Matter When It Comes to Efficacy and Effectiveness?
In this study, the authors compared teacher candidates who followed three pathways leading to certification in adolescence education while attending the same university. A limited number of factors were held constant among pathways, and only factors inherent to the routes were varied. The dependent variables were (1) teacher effectiveness, as measured through Danielson's Observation Scale, and (2) teacher efficacy, as measured through Gibson and Dembo's Teacher Efficacy Scale. No significant differences in efficacy or effectiveness were found.
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Experience, Theory, and Practical Wisdom in Teaching and Teacher Education
In this article, the authors discuss what it means to be a professional teacher with practical wisdom. Furthermore, they discuss how practical wisdom is related to theory and experience. These questions are especially relevant as nowadays, in many countries, teacher education becomes more school-based. Building on theories on the functioning of the human mind in general, and teacher behavior in particular, the notions of practical wisdom, theory, and experience are connected in a triangular model.
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