Full Description
How can we best prepare pre-service teachers to succeed in the classroom - and to stay in teaching over time? The onesize-fits-all model of traditional teacher education programs has been widely criticized, yet the most popular alternative - fast-track programs - have at best a mixed record of success. An increasing number of districts and charter networks are trying to fill this void with a third option: "grow-your-own" teacher preparation programs tailored to specific school contexts and the needs of the populations they serve.
In Inspiring Teaching, leading teacher educator Sharon Feiman-Nemser and her colleagues investigate this "contextspecific" approach to teacher education. They draw on the Choosing to Teach study, a detailed multiyear investigation ofthree selective, mission-driven teacher preparation programs - the Urban Teacher Education Program at the University of Chicago, the Alliance for Catholic Education at the University of Notre Dame, and the Day School Leadership through Teaching program at Brandeis University - that traces each program's impact on graduates during their first few years of teaching.
Feiman-Nemser and her colleagues show how teacher education programs like these can help teachers develop the understanding, commitment, tools, and strategies they need to teach in specific settings. By tracking the professional growth of teachers in these programs and documenting the challenges they encounter in their respective school sectors, the book explores and illustrates the ways in which these mission-driven programs select and prepare teachers for particular school environments.
Contents
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
Teacher Preparation in Context 1
Sharon Feiman-Nemser
CHAPTER 1
Preparing Teachers for the Chicago Public Schools 17
The Urban Teacher Education Program, University of Chicago
Kavita Kapadia Matsko and Karen Hammerness
CHAPTER 2
Preparing Teachers for Urban and rural Catholic Schools 33
The Alliance for Catholic Education Service Through Teaching Program, University of Notre Dame
Christian Dallavis and Anthony Holter
CHAPTER 3
Preparing Teachers for Jewish Day Schools 55
The Day School Leadership Through Teaching Program, Brandeis University
Sharon Feiman-Nemser
CHAPTER 4
Choosing to Teach 75
Identity and Agency among Beginning Teachers
Bethamie Horowitz
CHAPTER 5
Visions of Good Teaching 103
Variation, Coherence, and Opportunity to Learn
Karen Hammerness
CHAPTER 6
Exemplary Teaching 123
Putting Principles into Practice
Eran Tamir and Karen Hammerness
CHAPTER 7
Support for New Teachers 147
Principal Leadership and School Culture
Eran Tamir
CHAPTER 8
Teacher Retention and Career Commitment 177
Staying, Moving, or Leaving
Eran Tamir
CONCLUSION
Inspiring Teaching 195
Sharon Feiman-Nemser
NOTES 211
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 233
ABOUT THE EDITORS 235
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS 237
INDEX 239
