Taking Teaching Seriously: How Liberal Arts Colleges Prepare Teachers to Meet Today's Educational Challenges in Schools

by Bjork,Christopher

• ISBN13: 9781594513633
• ISBN10: 1594513635
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-05-15
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Taking Teaching Seriously expands and enriches discussions about teacher preparation in the United States. Its authors describe the unique contexts for teacher preparation offered by liberal arts institutions and analyze the effects of these programs on their graduates and on K'12 schools. They emphasize that the goals and conditions for teacher preparation differ from larger public institutions in several key respects including supervisor-student teacher relationships, philosophical foundations, and approaches to clinical fieldwork. Taken together, the essays provide compelling evidence that educational studies programs in liberal arts colleges and universities constitute a vital component of the teacher education system in the United States.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
Contested views of effectiveness and professionalism in undergraduate institutions	p. 5
Teaching to higher standards : from managing to imagining the purposes of education	p. 7
Teacher education in liberal arts institutions : an "intellectual-educational" endeavor	p. 11
Standardization and its discontents : the standards movement and teacher education in the liberal arts college environment	p. 31
Cultivating liberally educated teachers : distinctive approaches of liberal arts institutions	p. 51
Working the tensions : constructing educational studies within a traditional liberal arts context	p. 54
"The power of a teacher" : teacher education for social justice	p. 80
Looking back : liberally educated teachers reflect on their education	p. 100
Principles-based teacher education : a liberal arts contribution	p. 119
Generally educated teachers : engaging the friction between local and global knowledge	p. 132
Opportunities and obstacles for liberal arts programs in recruiting and retaining new teachers	p. 149
Voices from the field : viewing teacher policy from the perspective of New York City teachers	p. 151
Urban hurdles and creative strategies : striving to teach the children	p. 176
A distinctive profile : liberal arts graduates as teachers	p. 198
Conclusion	p. 217
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