This article examines the psychological processes involved in constructing professional identities among novice teachers as expressed in stories they wrote about their induction year. The examination of these processes through narrative analysis with a literary dimension focuses on the teachers’ struggles with the conflicts, tensions, and gaps that arose during this year. The findings reveal that every story emphasizes one of the three aspects with which the novice teachers cope: has conflict, tension and gaps with which the novice teachers must cope.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the researcher's attempt to address the research/practice divide from the position of a teacher educator. The findings revealed that although the university at which this research was conducted offered students practicum placements throughout their time in the teacher education program, the preservice teachers had difficulty making connections between information learned in university classrooms and experiences in area elementary schools. To address the disconnect between methods coursework and the preservice teachers' practicum placements, the author intentionally planned three class field trips to elementary school. This article has implications for both teacher education programs and for the individual methods course instructor.

This study aimed to address the expressed needs of recent teacher education graduates. In an effort to assist these new educators in meeting their professional development needs, this study designed free, voluntary workshops to target some of the issues. The participants were 56 undergraduate and graduate college students majoring in teacher education. They were divided to two groups: a treatment group and a comparison group. The findings reveal that as the conclusion of the semester, the treatment group’s perceived knowledge in this area significantly improved, more so than their peers in the comparison group. Furthermore, in general, student teaching experiences yield changes in its participants. Through their fieldwork experiences, the comparison group demonstrated significant overall gains, and most specifically in lesson planning and working with diverse students.

The authors examined the preservice teachers' evolving attitudes regarding the use of advanced digital technologies in teaching and learning mathematics, particularly in relation to the influence of their field placements. They also studied preservice teachers’ design of technology-rich lessons and the extent to which these lessons promoted inquiry and learning for understanding. The data focuses on two principal dimensions: (a) the interplay between the effects of the methods class and the field placement on the preservice teachers’ experiences of and attitudes toward technology, and (b) the evolution of the preservice teachers’ lesson plans over the course of the semester.

This study explores changes over time in assessment strategies and identifies variables that facilitate that change by examining assessment practices of secondary teacher candidates enrolled in a one-year postbaccalaureate teacher education program that prepares candidates for teaching in rural and urban settings in Alaska. There was a change in emphasis and range of assessment strategies between the first and second semester of the teacher education program. The extent of change varied between rural and urban candidates indicating a need for more attention to the specifics of rural education. The variables that changed candidates’ emphasis and range of assessment strategies the most included mentor teachers, field experiences inclusive of unit planning, and the university coursework.

This study investigates the relationship between new teachers' beliefs about instruction and teaching practices. It also discusses some possible reasons for the relationships between teacher beliefs and teacher practices within national and international contexts. To examine the relationships between new teachers’ beliefs and their instructional practices, the authors selected new teachers in four OECD countries including Hungary, Korea, Norway, and Turkey. The findings showed that the instructional practices of new teachers from the four selected countries were neither consistent nor aligned with their beliefs about instruction. One of the reasons for this result may be that new teachers’ self-reported instructional practices might differ significantly from their actual performance.