Summary

Winner of the 2015 AERA Division K Award for Exemplary Research in Teaching and Teacher Education

Amid the chorus of demands for change in teacher education, Teacher Preparation as an Inspirational Practice focuses on an equally important but seldom discussed question: What should stay constant? This book provides a compelling answer--nurturing the capacities of prospective teachers to be responsive to their future students, while also being responsive to teacher candidates themselves.

This book draws from the literature base on teaching's moral dimensions to establish a framework for responsiveness in teacher education, describes obstacles to its actualization, and suggests approaches for nurturing responsive capacities in teacher candidates. Teacher educators will find personal relevance and resonance in the familiar, daily language of practice used in this book.

Voices of teacher candidates, preservice teacher educators, and school administrators animate the conversation about responsiveness through reflections about personal experiences, aspirations, and challenges. Philosophy and practice are situated within the context of tensions between standardization and teachers' commitments to remain true to the unique needs of students and teacher candidates.

Choice Review

In a climate where the current focus seems to be on standardized assessments and test scores, Sherman (Lake Forest College) offers a refreshing view of education with the focus on the importance of building responsiveness in teachers to bring the personal qualities of teaching back to the heart of the practice. In addition to describing approaches for fostering responsiveness in teacher candidates, Sherman discusses ways that teacher educators can be responsive to the teacher candidates who are their students. Throughout the book, which has relevance and applicability to K-12 classrooms across the disciplines, she refers to the literature on the merits of responsive teaching, including notable recent publications. In each chapter, Sherman refers to the idea of responsiveness from the perspective of both a classroom teacher and a teacher educator. Cclearly delineated sections discuss the implications for teacher education, including specific strategies that can be used to build responsiveness in teacher candidates. This volume is inspiring and reminds educators that the human element is what makes all the difference. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduate, graduate, research, and professional collections. A. L. Hsu State University of New York College at Old Westbury