Teacher Preparation As An Inspirational Practice

How can teacher educators provide prospective teachers with a philosophical foundation for dimensions of teaching associated with responsiveness to students? How can they help focus teacher candidates, during their through coursework and, especially, during clinical experiences, on developing their capacity to be responsive to students as unique human beings? Drawing from the literature base on teaching’s moral dimensions, this book establishes a conceptual framework for responsiveness, describes obstacles to its actualization, and suggests approaches for nurturing responsive capacities in teacher candidates. Voices of teacher candidates and teacher educators animate the conversation about responsiveness . Philosophy and practice are situated within the context of tensions between standardization and teachers’ commitments to remain true to the unique needs of students. The book provides multiple entry points for approaching the topic of responsiveness, including scholarly literature, qualitative data analysis, the author’s personal voice as a teacher educator, and the voices of other teacher educators and of teacher candidates discussing personal experiences, including successes and challenges within clinical experiences. Philosophy and practice are intertwined and practice-based interventions are suggested.

How can teacher educators provide prospective teachers with a philosophical foundation for dimensions of teaching associated with responsiveness to students? How can they help focus teacher candidates, during their through coursework and, especially, during clinical experiences, on developing their capacity to be responsive to students as unique human beings? Drawing from the literature base on teaching's moral dimensions, this book establishes a conceptual framework for responsiveness, describes obstacles to its actualization, and suggests approaches for nurturing responsive capacities in teacher candidates. Voices of teacher candidates and teacher educators animate the conversation about responsiveness . Philosophy and practice are situated within the context of tensions between standardization and teachers' commitments to remain true to the unique needs of students. The book provides multiple entry points for approaching the topic of responsiveness, including scholarly literature, qualitative data analysis, the author's personal voice as a teacher educator, and the voices of other teacher educators and of teacher candidates discussing personal experiences, including successes and challenges within clinical experiences. Philosophy and practice are intertwined and practice-based interventions are suggested.

How can teacher educators provide prospective teachers with a philosophical foundation for dimensions of teaching associated with responsiveness to students? How can they help focus teacher candidates, during their through coursework and, especially, during clinical experiences, on developing their capacity to be responsive to students as unique human beings? Drawing from the literature base on teaching’s moral dimensions, this book establishes a conceptual framework for responsiveness, describes obstacles to its actualization, and suggests approaches for nurturing responsive capacities in teacher candidates. Voices of teacher candidates and teacher educators animate the conversation about responsiveness . Philosophy and practice are situated within the context of tensions between standardization and teachers’ commitments to remain true to the unique needs of students. The book provides multiple entry points for approaching the topic of responsiveness, including scholarly literature, qualitative data analysis, the author’s personal voice as a teacher educator, and the voices of other teacher educators and of teacher candidates discussing personal experiences, including successes and challenges within clinical experiences. Philosophy and practice are intertwined and practice-based interventions are suggested.

This text focuses upon professional discourse that revolves around induction efforts resulting from educators working together to inform one another’s practice. It also serves as a tool for promoting professional discourse concerning the classroom teachers as associated teacher educators.

Inspiration and Innovation in Teaching and Teacher Education is an edited collection that offers a variety of conceptual and research-based discussions on teaching and teacher education in Canada and internationally. The ideas, research, and practices presented in the book focus on three broad themes: the essence of teacher education, innovative practices in teacher education, and emerging issues in teacher education. The book includes chapter contributions from a group of international scholars, teacher educators, and teachers who are adopting innovation in how they are conceptualizing teaching and teacher education and in how they are engaging in the practices of teaching and teacher education. The contributions examine emerging issues that have far-reaching implications for what we do in teacher education, elucidating the successes, opportunities, and challenges inherent in teacher education. The contributors to this book are inspiring others to examine their own beliefs and practices about what constitutes effective teacher education.

The onesize-fits-all model of traditional teacher education programmes has been widely criticized, yet the most popular alternative - fast-track programs - have at best a mixed record of success. There is a third option: "grow-your-own" teacher preparation programmes tailored to specific school contexts and the needs of the populations they serve. In Inspiring Teaching, Sharon Feiman-Nemser and her colleagues investigate this "context specific" approach to teacher education.

The authors in this volume propose expanding the topic of motivation in the preservice teacher education program by including contemporary research. Margaret W. Cohen reviews a body of research and theory concerned with the effects of extrinsic reinforcers on intrinsic motivation. She notes that contemporary research in the area of intrinsic motivation has consistently demonstrated that extrinsic reinforcers may undermine rather than facilitate performance on and interest in activities that are intrinsically motivating. Carole Ames addresses the implications of attribution theory for the teacher preparation curriculum. She believes it is important for teacher educators to help preservice teachers understand the positive and negative effects of types of classroom structure and evaluation on attribution. Dale H. Schunk suggests that social comparison is an inherent factor in every classroom and can have positive or negative motivation effects. M. Kay Alderman suggests that the preservice component in motivation should provide the preservice teacher with a repertoire of motivation-linked strategies, such as goal-setting, in order to facilitate learning and to educate students with high-achievement patterns of thought and action. Drawing from research on teacher effectiveness and decision making, Mary Rohrkemper argues that if preservice teachers are to be adequately prepared, they need concrete skills that will enable them to observe motivation, diagnose the need for motivational strategies, and assess the effectiveness of strategy implementation. Bibliographies accompany each of the articles. (JD)

Educators and those who prepare teachers are facing increased scrutiny on their practice that include pressures to demonstrate their effectiveness, meet the needs of changing demographics and students, and adapt to ever-changing learning environments. Thus, there is a need for innovative pedagogies and adoption of best practices to effectively serve the needs of digital learners. The Handbook of Research on Innovative Pedagogies and Best Practices in Teacher Education is an essential research book that takes an in-depth look at the methods by which educators are prepared to address shifting demographics and technologies in the classroom and provides strategies for focusing their curricula on diverse learning types. It takes a look at the use of innovative pedagogies and effective learning spaces in teacher education programs and the decisions behind them to enhance more inquiry learning, STEM initiatives, and prove more kinds of exploratory learning for students. Covering topics such as higher education, virtual reality, and inclusive education, this book is ideally designed for teachers, administrators, academicians, instructors, and researchers.