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This study describes the challenges and successes of student teachers (N=111) in a high school setting as they shift from the role of narcissistic student to that of other-centered teacher. The study attempts to capture their inner feelings as they begin the process of learning to teach. Throughout a 12-week assignment, the student teachers were asked to keep journal-like logs of learning-to-teach experiences. Seminars were held on a bi-weekly basis with student teachers working in groups reviewing, analyzing, and discussing each other's progress and setbacks. Toward the end of the experience, participants were asked to reflect back on the entire experience and identify their most and least successful lessons, describing each in detail. Utilizing student teachers' voices, successful and unsuccessful lessons are examined and discussed. Results suggest the emergence of three broad themes: (1) learning to teach is a very personal endeavor; (2) one's teaching self needs to be discovered; and (3) the classroom is a complex environment. Results imply that teacher education programs might be built around the natural concerns and feelings preservice teachers bring to teacher education. (LL)

A field test of an evaluation of a teacher education program at Glassboro State College (New Jersey) used 19 preservice teachers as subjects. The evaluation model adopted for the study, CIPP, is an acronym for the four types of evaluation incorporated into one model: context, input, process, and product. Tests administered to students were the Minnesota Teacher Attitude Inventory (MTAI) and the National Teacher Examinations, including both the Weighted Common Examinations Test (WCET) and the appropriate Area Exam for each of the three major areas of study from which these students were drawn. Evidence from this longitudinal study indicated that the scores on the MTAI increased from the freshman year to the middle of the junior year, with the mean for this group dropping somewhat when the students were measured following student teaching. Results from analysis of academic achievement using the WCET scores indicated that there was no change in these students' academic achievement. Four possible explanations are offered for the lack of significant differences over the four years on the general studies portion of the WCET. (JM)

A sociolinguistic study of pupil interpretations of the functions of teacher praise in lessons involved 165 pupils in six classes in a single multiethnic, lower socioeconomic status, elementary school. Procedures involved videotaping six language arts lessons in each classroom. After playbacks of videotapes, pupils were asked individually, "What did you hear anyone saying in that part of the lesson?" and were presented with a set of teacher praise statements made in the lesson. Pupils perceived teacher praise as occurring primarily because pupils had good ideas. There were significant relationships among pupil perceptions of teacher praise, pupil participation in class discussions, and pupil "success" in school. There were no significant ethnic differences in pupil perceptions of the functions of teacher praise, or in pupil participation in class discussions, and minimal ethnic differences in pupil success in school. As praise increased in intensity, it decreased in frequency of teacher use, but was reported by pupils in increasing proportions. (Authors)

This study examined whether selected protocol materials in classroom management, used in inservice courses, would bring about long-term significant changes in teachers' classroom performance. Fifteen teachers participated in the study by taking an inservice course on classroom management and discipline. Two modules of classroom management behaviors were taught. The first module consisted of group alerting behaviors, including questioning techniques, recitation strategy, and alerting non-performers that they may be called upon to recite; the second module demonstrated teacher behaviors that encourage "withitness" in the students, including desisting from off-task behavior, describing desirable behavior, suggesting alternate behavior, and praising non-deviant behavior. For each module, both positive and negative behaviors were introduced to the inservice teachers, and, after completing the overview, the subjects practiced identifying the specific behaviors on transcripts of actual classroom interaction. The group observed a film of a class in which the teacher demonstrated the behaviors in the module. Teachers were asked to identify and label the behaviors as they were used. Following the film, there was a discussion of the behaviors. Teachers were observed in their classrooms immediately following completion of the modules, and two observations were made three and six weeks later. Findings indicated that, while the teachers used newly learned behaviors immediately following the training sessions, long-term changes in behaviors were difficult to determine. (JD)

A study used an information-processing model to examine the thoughts of student teachers during the act of teaching. A review of related research on teacher information-processing included studies by Marland (1977), McNair and Joyce (1978), and Morine and Vallance (1975). The study used the method and categories of concerns of McNair and Joyce who, in their study of elementary school teachers, identified major concerns of inservice teachers: (1) pupil learning, attitudes, and behavior; (2) lesson content; (3) procedures; (4) instructional materials; and (5) time block restrictions. These teachers' major concerns were pupil learning and learning tasks, followed by pupil attitudes. Ten elementary school level student teachers participated in the study. Lessons taught by the subjects were videotaped, and stimulated recall interviews were conducted during replaying of the tapes. The student teachers' greatest concerns were pupil learning and pupil attitudes, followed by tasks or learning activities. Results are analyzed in terms of implications for teacher education. (JD)

This paper reports on the degree to which teacher educators have addressed the current calls for reform in teacher education. The data were taken from the Institutional Questionnaire of the Research about Teacher Education (RATE) Project of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE). The 90 respondents, each representing one institution, answered 10 items on the survey questionnaire regarding their institution's actions on each current reform proposal. The items, drawn from various national reports on teacher education, involved: (1) raising admission standards for entry into teacher education; (2) offering scholarships and other incentives intended to attract teaching candidates; (3) instituting a 5-year program that terminates in a Master's degree and a teaching certificate; (4) instituting extended programs, e.g., MAT, M.Ed., etc.; (5) developing formal partnerships with school(s); (6) using teachers as teacher educators; (7) changing the liberal arts curriculum for preservice teachers; (8) instituting a recruitment program to attract better students; (9) changing exit standards; and (10) instituting an alternate certification program for literary arts graduates. A discussion is presented on the survey results in the light of how they reflect changes in teacher education and indicate new trends in change. (JD)

Mathematical modeling is new to many teachers, especially in the United States. To complement studies of the effectiveness of professional learning programs, we use retrospective methods to elicit modeling teachers’ perceptions of experiences that contributed to their capacities to understand mathematical modeling and to facilitate students’ mathematical modeling experiences. Empirical evidence suggests a trajectory along which teacher understanding of mathematical modeling and the teaching of it might develop. Results inform the design of teacher professional learning activities as well as advance inquiry in mathematical modeling teaching and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]