Connecting to the Research

I do understand that the source from my previous post is Marketplace, a media outlet that is focused on business and economics. Being critical of the sources in which we all gather our information, I found this story a compelling piece. Nevertheless, I have made myself aware of the recent journal articles within the Teacher Education research.

The Journal of Teacher and Education has published similar items within the last couple of years.

For instance, in his article, Zeichner really puts his finger on the issues we are facing and the approaches (I think) the PDS is attempting to take. This includes rethinking the connection between campus courses and field experiences.

Another articles which is much in the same vein is Futrell's article. This article was really aligned with Jamie's comments today about breaking down silos. Essentially, seeing teacher education as a partnership between pre-service teachers, university faculty, and practicing classroom teachers.

Finally, Cuddapah and Clayton really try to apply Wenger's theory of Community of Practice to teacher education programs. I'm certainly a big fan of Wenger's work and it was an interesting take on how this could be applied in practice. Although I think communities of practice really need to be grown organically, it was interesting to see these authors try to apply it.

Of course all of these articles point out issues that we already know from our own experience, but implementing these items require much more thought, coordination, and buy-in.

For those of you that would like access to any of these full journal articles (8-10 pages each) please let me know. As I understand it, University faculty and staff do have access to this journal through our library.