Exploring Teaching

The contributors of this book write of their experiences developing an innovative teacher education course. Teacher educators and graduate students provide a detailed portrait of the beliefs about pedagogy, learning, and schools that teachers bring with them to the classroom. It also presents concrete ideas about how to help prospective teachers reconsider these beliefs. Some chapters focus on a specific project - an in-class or field experience - some draw illustrations from student writing, and other chapters address the challenges of being a teacher or student. All engage readers in fundamental questions about education, grounding them in the practical realm of the classroom. The contributors seek an environment that regards pre-service teachers as students who can construct their own understandings. Pedagogical practices that foster conceptual change within the teacher are the desired ends, for then these practices will have an impact on students' thinking.