Democratic practices in teacher education and the elementary classroom

Democratic teacher education is occurring as one method of programmatic reform. This paper describes research that identifies effective democratic practices in a graduate teacher education program and the effects of that practice on the participants’ elementary classrooms. The practices of dialogue, negotiated content, constructivist roles, community and authentic assessment provide the structure and processes teachers need to make changes in their classroom. The changes teachers implement after participating in the program are varied, but student voice, participation and responsibility, and giving children more behavior and curricular choices are common. Teachers perceive that these democratic practices have a positive influence on children’s attitudes about school and learning.