Inspiring Teaching

In Inspiring Teaching, leading teacher educators and scholars investigate the "context-specific" approach to teacher education through a detailed comparative analysis of three selective, mission-driven teacher education programs serving urban, Catholic, and Jewish schools. The book follows the professional growth of teachers in these programs and documents the challenges they encounter as they make the transition into teaching. "Successful mission-driven schools are places of high purpose and deep learning. Inspiring Teaching richly depicts how three very different programs prepare and support teachers in their work. It offers valuable insights for any teacher educator or administrator who seeks to develop skilled, committed, and effective teachers." -- Susan Moore Johnson, Jerome T. Murphy Research Professor, Harvard Graduate School of Education "This powerful comparative analysis of teacher education programs is both enlightening and inspiring. It provides the kind of perspective that only superb research can offer. Feiman-Nemser and her colleagues give readers a vantage point that sharpens our sense of the powerful role of context and the indispensable power of mission in teacher education." -- Lee S. Shulman, president emeritus, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education, Stanford University "Inspiring Teaching convincingly argues that context matters in teacher preparation. Drawing on richly illustrated case studies, the editors show that learning to be a good teacher involves a complex and dynamic interplay of person, preparation, and teaching place. As a teacher educator and reader, I am convinced. Let's hope policy makers are as well." -- Anna E. Richert, Edward Hohfeld Professor of Education, and director, Mills Teacher Scholars, Mills College Sharon Feiman-Nemser is the Mandel Professor of Jewish Education at Brandeis University and the founding director of the Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education. Eran Tamir is a senior research associate at the Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education and a lecturer in education at Brandeis University. Karen Hammerness is an associate professor and director of program research at Bard College.